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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS

I. THE LANDS OF THE WEST AND THE RISE OF GREECE TO ABOUT 500 B.C.

Em. Macron, Rediscovering the Path to Europe

» Contents of this Chapter

* Physical Europe   * Greece and the Aegean   * The Aegean Age (to about 1100 B.C.)   * The Homeric Age (about 1100-750 B.C.)   * Early Greek Religion   * Religious Institutions—Oracles and Games   * The Greek City-State   * The Growth of Sparta (to 500 B.C.)   * The Growth of Athens (to 500 B.C.)   * Colonial Expansion of Greece (about 750-500 B.C.)   * Bonds of Union among the Greeks

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ANTIQUITY OF AEGEAN CIVILIZATION

These discoveries in the Aegean enable us to place another venerable center of civilized life by the side of Babylonia and Egypt. As early as 3000 B.C. the primitive inhabitants of the Aegean were giving up the use of stone tools and weapons for those of metal. Bronze soon came into general use, as is shown by the excavations. The five centuries between 1600 and 1100 B.C. appear to have been the time when the civilization of the Aegean Age reached its highest development.

THE FINE ARTS

Remarkable progress took place during Aegean times in some of the fine arts. We find imposing palaces, often splendidly adorned and arranged for a life of comfort. Wall paintings, plaster reliefs, and fine carvings in stone excite our admiration. Aegean artists made beautiful pottery of many shapes and cleverly decorated it with plant and animal forms. They carved ivory, engraved gems, and excelled in the working of metals. Some of their productions in gold, silver, and bronze were scarcely surpassed by Greek artists a thousand years later.

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THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents

url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp

IN PRINT

Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy