But vast invasions swept over Greece, and a ruder civilization displaced
this early culture. In the latter half of the eleventh century B. C.,
the Dorians ravaged Greece. They were a coarser, hardier stock than the
peoples they conquered, but they brought to Greece a new vigor and a new
robustness, which when toned and harmonized by the finer influences of
the land, produced that civilization which is the world’s marvel for all
time.
II. PERIOD OF MIGRATIONS AND FORMATION OF STATES.--The first
governments of Greece were small monarchies, and they continued such
until after the Trojan war. Soon after this we find the country
involved in fatal civil wars, in which the people, under a number of
petty chieftains hostile to each other, suffered extremely from
calamity and oppression. These evils led to change in the form of
government, and the substitution of the _popular_ instead of the
_regal_ system. The same evils also probably contributed to the
spirit of emigration, which so strikingly marks the period. During
this period of colonization we notice the origin of the four
principal dialects in the Greek language. In this period two of the
Grecian states are chiefly conspicuous--Athens and Sparta, whose
special effort was to provide themselves with a suitable political
constitution, civil code and government.
These great migrations which swept over Greece created a congestion of
the population which was eventually relieved by widespread colonization
on the west coast of Asia Minor and in the neighboring islands of the
Ægean Sea. These colonies were settled by the three races, the Æolians,
Ionians and Dorians. The Æolians colonized the northwestern part, the
coast of Mysia, and the island of Lesbos. The Ionians settled in the
central part, on the coast of Lydia, and in the islands of Chios and
Samos. The Dorians occupied the southwest corner of Asia Minor (the
coast of Caria) and the adjacent islands. Of all these by far the most
important, wealthy and powerful were the Ionians.