Antique era

Up to now, most of the documents and historical materials about this period are concentrated in the poems of the poet Cicada (about 750~700 BC), which is called the Cicada period by historians. This is the period when the Greek polis was first formed.

At the end of Homer's era, with the extensive use of iron, the development of Greek society accelerated. From the end of 9th century BC to the beginning of 8th century BC, luxurious tombs of nobles (even called "royal families") appeared in Athens and Ubeia Island in central Greece, and the production of iron and bronze also developed greatly. Lefkondi of Ubeia established a trading post in Al Mina, Syria, and resumed maritime trade and cultural ties with the East.

Within Greek society, class differentiation was obvious, slaves gradually increased, and finally reached the level of establishing a city-state-an early slave country. First, the coastal areas and Aegean islands adjacent to eastern civilization were established, as well as the most culturally developed areas such as Athens and Youpeia in Greece, followed by the Peloponnesian Peninsula and Crete occupied by Dorians, and the central and northern parts of Greece also quickly caught up and built a city to establish the country. So between 750 and 700 BC, many city-states appeared in the Greek world, shining like stars in the sky.

At this time, the productivity of all parts of Greece has been improved. Iron is widely used. There are heavy plows such as iron plows, hoes, axes and shovels in agriculture, so the mountainous and barren land in Greece has been reclaimed and deeply cultivated. In addition to planting two cash crops, grapes and olives, the grain output has also increased greatly, especially in pottery, shipbuilding and metallurgy.

The factor of special significance to the formation of Greek city-states is the connection with the East. At this time, the commercial ties between Greece and the East have recovered or even surpassed the level of Aegean civilization, among which small Asian countries and Youpeia Island are the most active. The communication between Greece and the East is not limited to commerce, and Greece has also made great achievements in absorbing the advanced heritage of Eastern civilization. Later civilized Greece, thousands of years later, quickly made use of the rich achievements of eastern civilization. These developments show that the Greek city-state stood at a high historical starting point when it was formed, which was not the same as when the ancient oriental civilization was just founded thousands of years ago.

During the Hysiad period, while the city-state was established, a series of important developments marked the glory of Greek civilization appeared in the Greek world: Greeks copied Phoenician letters and created their own characters; The first Olympic Games was held in 776 BC, which made the Greek states have the same traditional festivals and historical years. After Homer, the peasant poet Hissiad began to write poems, which not only opened a new chapter for Greek literature, but also left an immortal model for the treasure house of world literature.

Hissiad was born in Biotia, central Greece. His poems, such as Divine Spectrum, have been handed down from generation to generation. These poems describe Greek myths and legends, while the latter describes agricultural labor and rural life, which is the main and most vivid material to understand the social situation at that time. He described the hardships and tiredness of small farmers with simplicity and sincerity, and also exposed the polarization between the rich and the poor and land annexation in society. The fable of the falcon bullying the nightingale in the poem reveals the cruel oppression of the nobles on small farmers. He said that "might is right" at that time revealed the essence of class oppression in civilized society. In the form of exhorting his brothers, he advised the world to work hard on farming, and had better try to get a cow and one or two slaves as assistants, and if necessary, go out to sea to do some business, which shows the connection between Greek small-scale peasant economy and slavery and commodity economy at this time.

It can be seen that although Hissiad is a native peasant poet, his vision is very broad and his cultural level is very high. This reflects that the cultural popularization in the early days of the formation of the Greek city-state has achieved good results, and the quality of ordinary citizens is not low. This is related to Greece's convenient shipping, easy personnel exchanges and fast information dissemination. It is also related to the simple and easy-to-learn alphabet used at that time and the relatively free and relaxed life of city-state citizens. Therefore, Hissiad's poems also explain to some extent that the Greek city-state system has its own characteristics different from other ancient civilizations.

Generally speaking, all ethnic groups in the world entered civilized society from primitive society, and the earliest countries were small city-states and then evolved from small countries to big countries and even empires. The characteristic of Greek civilization is that it has kept the situation of constant disputes among small city-states far longer than other civilizations, and it reached the peak of its civilization and prosperity under the city-state system. So, what are the characteristics of the Greek city-state system? It should be said that the most essential feature of this small country with few people is that its civil politics has been fully developed and even slavery democracy has been established. From military democracy to class countries, the earliest small countries usually have kings (from military or religious leaders to kings). The Greek city-states are no exception. All the city-states had legendary kings and dynasties at the earliest. There are also aristocratic meetings and civic meetings. However, in the process of development, kingship is not as powerful as that of eastern countries, but gradually declines; The vast majority of city-states eventually abandoned the monarch and practiced * * * and; Then it restricted the power of the nobility, even overthrew the aristocratic rule of some city-States, and established the democratic politics with the most developed civil rights in ancient times. Therefore, hundreds of years after the establishment of the polis, Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher, summed up the civic politics of the polis in Politics: "(1) Anyone who has the right to participate in the deliberation or trial function can be said to be a citizen of that city; (2) The general meaning of a polis is a citizen group with a sufficient number in order to maintain a self-sufficient life. " "No matter what type of city-state, its highest governance must be pinned on the' citizen group', which is actually the city-state system." "The majority decision of citizens who enjoy political rights, whether in oligarchy, aristocracy or civilian regime, is always the final judgment and has the highest authority." This essential feature of city-state civil politics contributed to the formation of small-scale private ownership and relatively developed commodity economy in Greek slave economy, and had a great influence on the outstanding achievements of Greek culture. After the establishment of the Greek city-state, there was an overseas colonial movement. The above-mentioned Ubeia Island, which was the first commercial post station in Syria, sailed westward around 750 BC and came to Piticu Sa Island near Naples, Italy, where it established a colonial settlement and formed the earliest colonial city-state. Soon after, Chumi City was built on the Italian land opposite the island. Archaeological excavations in recent years have confirmed these colonial activities. From then until the 6th century BC, for more than 200 years, Greek colonists embarked on the road of sailing across the sea to establish a country and carried out extensive colonial activities in the Mediterranean region. In addition to establishing a few trading posts in Egypt and Syria in the east because of the existence of eastern countries, they arrived in Libya in Africa, Tunisia coast in the south, Italy, Illyria (now Yugoslavia and Albania) in the west, Spain and France coast in the south, Thrace in the north, entered the Probantes Sea through the Heiles Strait, and then entered the vast areas of the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait (including modern Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Russia). According to statistics, during this period, there were 44 city-states in Greece (including colonial city-states and neo-colonists), and at least 139 colonial city-states were established in these places. According to the Greek metaphor, these new countries are widely distributed in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, just like frogs around the pond after the rain. This kind of overseas colonial activity is unprecedented in ancient times because of its wide scope and far-reaching influence.

The overseas colonization of Greece is not only different from the general national migration in ancient times, but also different from the capitalist colonial aggression in modern times. From the process, overseas colonization is usually initiated by a city-state, which is called the mother country; The mother country emigrated some citizens overseas and established another home, which is a sub-country-colonial city-state. Therefore, this colonial activity is a measure taken by the city-state (mother country) to solve its own development problems, and it can also be said that it is a manifestation of the formation and diffusion process of the Greek state in ancient times. Those who participated in the colonization were members of the citizens' groups of the motherland, and those who participated in the colonization were members of the citizens' groups of the new country. The colonial city-state and the motherland were equal in political and economic relations. All yabang are new members of the Greek world, and they are similar to the Greek native states in politics, economy and culture. Southern Italy, the most concentrated overseas area of colonial city-states, is also called "Greater Greece".

Overseas colonization not only eased the internal contradictions in the development of Greek city-States, but also greatly promoted the economic development of the whole Greek world, especially the development of commodity economy. There are many reasons for colonization. The most common reason is that due to the increase of population and the limited arable land, people go overseas to find land, and some people go overseas to make a living because of land merger, bankruptcy and loss of land. Another important economic reason is that it is not obvious in the early stage of business development to find raw materials and open up markets, but it is more and more important in the later stage. Some were sent abroad or placed abroad because of the failure of political struggle; In the face of severe famine, some colonized overseas to tide over the difficulties. Therefore, in general, overseas colonization is to solve the difficulties within the city-state, but it is an organized activity of the city-state. Motherland often provides leaders, ships and all means of production needed by immigrants, so that agricultural, industrial and commercial activities can be carried out smoothly after arriving at colonial sites. As a result, there are frequent economic exchanges between sub-countries and their home countries, colonial areas and Greece, and Greece's commercial trade has benefited a lot. Greece can get food, copper, iron, tin and other raw materials from the colonies, and at the same time exchange local industrial products, oil and wine with each other. Both sides benefited, making the slave commodity economy in the Greek world develop more fully, which can be said to be the greatest contribution made by overseas colonization to Greek civilization.

Extensive and close trade ties have further expanded overseas markets, making the Greek world connect with eastern civilized areas such as Egypt, Syria and Babylon in the east, Africa in the south, the Black Sea in the north, and the inland of Central Europe and Western Europe in the west, forming an unprecedented largest trade circle and economic circle in the Mediterranean, interwoven with the mainland and connected with the east and west, far exceeding the scale of Aegean civilization. This larger active world had a positive influence on the Greek city-state politically and culturally. It contributes to the stability of the citizens' collective and the consolidation of the city-state system. With the development of economy, the industrial and commercial slave class has also strengthened the power of the civilian camp, which is helpful to the struggle of the civilians against the nobility and the establishment of democratic politics. The cultural exchange that developed almost simultaneously with the colonial movement greatly promoted Greece to absorb the fruits of oriental civilization. It not only made the 7th century BC, when the colonies were prosperous, known as the "Orientalization Period" in Greek history, but also broadened the horizons of the Greeks, enriched their understanding of the world and history, and helped them explore a scientific way to gain wisdom through comparative analysis. With the development of overseas colonization, the aristocratic autocracy that existed in the early days of the formation of Greek city-states was challenged, and the struggle of civilians against aristocrats became increasingly fierce. At this time, the nobles mostly established their privileges by ancient clan relations. Their main tool is the aristocratic meeting evolved from clan and tribal councils. Through this meeting, they mastered the military, political and financial power of the city-state, and the citizens' meeting was useless. They own many slaves and large tracts of land, and oppress ordinary people, mainly small farmers, through land annexation and usury exploitation. At that time, debt slaves prevailed, and citizens who were bankrupt in debt often became debt slaves or even sold abroad. Thus, it is the inevitable trend of the development of city-state politics that civilians oppose aristocratic oppression. What's more, the economic development brought by colonization has also made a few civilians who run industry and commerce rich and become new industrial and commercial slave owners. They generally can't attend aristocratic meetings, their political status is relatively low, and they are also very dissatisfied with aristocratic autocracy. Therefore, they often approach civilians and oppose nobles in political struggles. However, under the specific conditions at that time, this kind of struggle between civilians and nobles did not directly lead to the democratic politics in which civilians were in power, but instead gave the tyrant who used civilian power to establish personal rule an opportunity.

The word tyrant comes from Xiaoya and is synonymous with king. At this time, it was used by the Greeks to refer to the autocratic leaders who usurped power by force and illegal means in city-state politics. They put aside the citizens' assembly, hold the lifelong dictatorship power without going through the citizens' election, and can also pass on the position of the tyrant to their descendants. In order to gain the support of the masses and consolidate their rule, these tyrants often pursued the policy of cracking down on nobles and wooing civilians, attached importance to colonial activities and promoted industrial and commercial development, so they were welcomed by industrial and commercial slave owners. Of course, after all, tyrant dictatorship runs counter to the principles of city-state civil politics, not to mention that most of the tyrants in later generations are arrogant and cruel, and even spurned by the people, so tyrant rule cannot last long. But in its early days, tyrant politics objectively had a certain progressive effect. From the mid-7th century BC to the mid-6th century AD, when this early tyrannical politics prevailed, Argos, Corinth, Megara, Sishivan, Naxos and Samos established tyrannical rule and made their national strength strong.

Feidong in Argos was called the earliest tyrant (about 670~660 BC). He is descended from the royal family. After taking power, he decided to revive Argos's hegemony in the Peloponnesian Peninsula, control Iriz where Olympia was located westward, and became the backstage host of the 28th Olympic Games (about 668 BC), thus greatly enhancing Argos's international reputation. But Feidong's activities are mainly to turn Argos into a military and political power, and he has never been able to put more energy into the economy.

The tyrant established in Corinth by Gupseros supported by Fidon ruled shine on you better than Blue, making Corinth one of the largest industrial and commercial cities in Greece. Gupselos (about 657~625 BC) is said to be related to Bachadai, a clan aristocrat who has been ruling Corinth, but he claimed to be the nemesis of Bachadai. After he came to power, he ended the rule of this noble family. His leader was killed, many people were exiled, and his land was confiscated and distributed to ordinary people who supported the tyrant. Gupselos often prides himself as a civilian leader and pays attention to winning the hearts of the people; At the same time, it supported the development of industry and commerce, and successively established three colonial cities, which provided Corinth with abundant silver, copper and high-quality timber, and also opened up a broad market for Corinth's industrial and agricultural products. He also strongly funded the construction of temples and statues in Olympia and Delphi, and was full of enthusiasm for the Olympic Games, thus enhancing Collins' international reputation.

During the reign of Pirand, son of Gupseros (625-585 BC), the industry and commerce of Corinth reached its peak. One of the great things he did was to build a special stone tow rope across the isthmus of Corinth, which was called "Trail" (Coase, Dior) in ancient times. It is about 6.5 kilometers long, and the stone road surface is engraved with grooves for trailers to travel, which plays the role of rails. Ships and goods on both sides of the Corinthian isthmus can "sail on land" on this straight and wide path, which greatly facilitates the navigation between the two sides. With this trail, the Aegean Sea in the east is connected with the Corinthian Bay in the west, which brings huge financial resources to Corinth and greatly promotes the prosperity of Corinthian industry and commerce. At this time, Corinth has developed into the main center of Greek maritime trade, ceramics, textiles, metal processing and shipbuilding. Piland also formed two colonial city-states, one on the northern shore of the Ionian Sea in the west and the other on the northern end of the Aegean Sea in the east, which shows that Corinth has moved from the traditional west to the Aegean Sea and even the Black Sea in the east. Pireland also set up a local court to replace the aristocratic court, which further attacked the aristocratic forces. He also advocated literature and art and recruited poets and scholars. He himself was once called one of the seven sages of Greece. However, the luxury of the tyrant's court caused people's dissatisfaction. After his death, he was succeeded by his nephew. In less than three years, he was overthrown by the people. All the family houses were razed to the ground, and even the bones were dug out and abandoned. This shows the deep hatred of the masses for the tyrant's dictatorship.

The actions and results of tyrants in other city-states are similar to those in Corinth. Generally speaking, the early tyrant rule contributed to the decline of clan nobles and promoted the development of industry and commerce. After Megara established the tyrant's rule, its aristocratic poet Theognis once lamented: "The city is still the same, but people have changed their faces and become the older generation. They don't know what the law is, wearing tattered sheepskin and living in the wild like elk. This generation is now a noble family, and the noble family is now an ordinary person! " It vividly reflects the new situation caused by tyrant politics.