ancient Greece or Rome. Department of Greek and Roman Art. The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1000 B.C.1 A.D. Our system collect crossword clues from most populer crossword, cryptic puzzle, quick/small crossword that found in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Herald-Sun, The Courier-Mail, Dominion Post and many others popular newspaper. ), War and Society in the Greek World, London: Routledge, 1993, pp. Belonging, or pertaining, to Megara, a city of ancient Fighting in the tight phalanx formation maximised the effectiveness of his armor, large shield and long spear, presenting a wall of armor and spear points to the enemy. According to Thucydides following the defeat of Persia, Athens begins to reconstruct the long walls which connected the main city of Athens to the port of Piraeus around 478. Updates? ThoughtCo, Feb. 16, 2021, thoughtco.com/dorian-invasion-into-greece-119912. In 1981 archaeology pulled back the curtain on the darkest phase of all, the Protogeometric Period (c. 1075900 bce), which takes its name from the geometric shapes painted on pottery. During the prothesis, relatives and friends came to mourn and pay their respects. 432Peloponnesian WarThis marked the end of the Pentecontaetia, as Athens and Sparta engaged in all-out war, which eventually led to the demise of the Athenian Empire. ), Hoplites: The Classical Greek Battle Experience, London: Routledge, 1993. [4] This maneuver was known as the Othismos or "push." When this was combined with the primary weapon of the hoplite, 23m (6.69.8ft) long spear (the doru), it gave both offensive and defensive capabilities. Discover the most famous ancient Greek myths You will find below 29 Greek myths: Odysseus, Jason and the Argonauts, Theseus, the Amazons, Persphone and many more myths. Socrates. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 82nd & Fifth: Monsters by Kiki Karoglou, 82nd & Fifth: Naked Authority by Joan R. Mertens, The Artist Project: Adam Fuss on a marble grave stele of a little girl. 125166. There were several tribes amongst The Dorians which included Hylleis,Pamphyloi, and Dymanes. Our system collect crossword clues from most populer crossword, cryptic puzzle, quick/small crossword that found in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Herald-Sun, The Courier-Mail, Dominion Post and many others popular newspaper. Phenomena such as the tension between Dorians and Ionians that have their origins in the Dark Age are a reminder that Greek civilization did not emerge either unannounced or uncontaminated by what had gone before. However, most scholars believe[citation needed] it was an act of vengeance when Megara revolted during the early parts of the Pentecontaetia. (He does, however, speak of Greece settling down gradually and colonizing Italy, Sicily, and what is now western Turkey. According to the ancient Greeks, it is possible there could have been such an invasion. The enemy of NATO is also Greece's enemy, so I would argue that Russian and Chinese interests greatly conflict with NATO's interests, and, in turn, Greece's. Now, onto the traditional enemy of Greece; Turkey. Alexander's fame is in no small part due to his success as a battlefield tactician; the unorthodox gambits he used at the battles of Issus and Gaugamela were unlike anything seen in Ancient Greece before. The Peloponnesian War marked a significant power shift in ancient Greece, . Athens would eventually spend 1200 talents to fund the war through the Delian League's treasury. Whatever the proximal causes of the war, it was in essence a conflict between Athens and Sparta for supremacy in Greece. 432The Megarian Decree: With Sparta's aid, Megara urged Athens to drop their decree against them since it was hurting their economy; they were forbidden to use Athens' markets and harbors. They also restored the capability of organized warfare between these Poleis (as opposed to small-scale raids to acquire livestock and grain, for example). Darius was already ruler of the cities of Ionia, and the wars are taken to start when they rebelled in 499 BC. Athens, suspecting a plot by the Spartans to overthrow the democracy and to prevent the building of the Long Walls, then attacked the Spartans at Tanagra in Boeotia with a force of 14,000. Tensions resulting from this, and the rise of Athens and Sparta as pre-eminent powers during the war led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw further development of the nature of warfare, strategy and tactics. In the third phase of the war however the use of more sophisticated stratagems eventually allowed the Spartans to force Athens to surrender. Someone who is hostile to, feels hatred towards, opposes the interests of, or . According to the Heracleidae, the Dorian land was under the ownership of Heracles. On early reliefs, it is easy to identify the dead person; however, during the fourth century B.C., more and more family members were added to the scenes, and often many names were inscribed (11.100.2), making it difficult to distinguish the deceased from the mourners. The End of Athenian Democracy. In about 1100 B.C., a group of men from the North, who spoke Greek, invaded the Peloponnese. A united Macedonian empire did not long survive Alexander's death, and soon split into the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Diadochi (Alexander's generals). Uprooting trees was especially effective given the Greek reliance on the olive crop and the long time it takes new olive trees to reach maturity. Tactically, the hoplites were very vulnerable to attacks by cavalry[citation needed], and the Athenians had no cavalry to defend the flanks. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. Gill, N.S. After burning Eretria, the Persians landed at Marathon. Enter a Crossword Clue The Spartans were victorious, but they found themselves stuck in this foreign land. They then proceeded to tear down Tanagra's fortifications. The rise of the Macedonian Kingdom is generally taken to signal the beginning of the Hellenistic period, and certainly marked the end of the distinctive hoplite battle in Ancient Greece. 460Athens' Clash with Corinth over Megara: Megarians joined the Delian League due to a war between Megara and Corinth. As the Thebans attempted to expand their influence over Boeotia, they inevitably incurred the ire of Sparta. Since there were no decisive land-battles in the Peloponnesian War, the presence or absence of these troops was unlikely to have affected the course of the war. The Greek Dark Ages (ca. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Spartans were victorious in this battle. The Dorians also brought The Iron Age (12001000 B.C.) Hanson, Victor D., The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. Campaigns would therefore often be restricted to summer. To this end, the Greeks were able to lure the Persian fleet into the straits of Salamis; and, in a battleground where Persian numbers again counted for nothing, they won a decisive victory, justifying Themistocles' decision to build the Athenian fleet. from tragedy, which is symbolized by the buskin. Enemies of the ancient Greeks Crossword Clue The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "Enemies of the ancient Greeks", 7 letters crossword clue. A typical Athenian slave formed part of his master's household and was initially . Sparta was an exception to this rule, as every Spartiate was a professional soldier. Late invasions were also possible in the hopes that the sowing season would be affected but this at best would have minimal effects on the harvest. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Fearing he was about to be captured while hiding on Crete, Hannibal took a dose of poison that he carried with him and died. The Dorians were considered the people of ancient Greece and received their mythological name from the son of Hellen, Dorus. 5481. The Dikasteria. 447Athens' forces were defeated at Coronea, causing the Athenian army to flee Boeotia. Thucydides, the great ancient historian of the 5th century bce, wrote a sketch of Greek history from the Trojan War to his own day, in which he notoriously fails, in the appropriate chapter, to signal any kind of dramatic rupture. Plato. Sekunda, Nick, Elite 66: The Spartan Army, Oxford: Osprey, 1998. Athletics in Ancient Greece; Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece; Greek Art in the Archaic Period; Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece; Ancient Greek Bronze Vessels; Art and Craft in Archaic Sparta; Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition; Classical Antiquity in the Middle Ages; Classical Cyprus (ca. This hilltop not only housed the famous Parthenon, but it also included temples, theaters, and other public buildings that enhanced Athenian culture. The basic political unit was the city-state. Ancient Greek civilization flourished from the period followingMycenaeancivilization, which ended about 1200BCE, to the death ofAlexander the Great, in 323BCE. But just because that's how we imagine ancient Greece to be, that doesn't mean it's how it was. Remains of horses were found as well; the animals had been buried with their snaffle bits. An Overview of the Dorian Invasion Into Greece. Two walls were constructed from the city to the sea, one to Phaleron and the other to Piraeus. At the end of the fifth century B.C., Athenian families began to bury their dead in simple stone sarcophagi placed in the ground within grave precincts arranged in man-made terraces buttressed by a high retaining wall that faced the cemetery road. Parke, Herbert W., Greek Mercenary Soldiers: From the Earliest Times to the Battle of Ipsus, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. Unable to maintain professional armies, the city-states relied on their citizens to fight. Thucydides casually but significantly mentions soldiers speaking the Doric dialect in a narrative about ordinary military matters in the year 426. This established a lasting Macedonian hegemony over Greece, and allowed Phillip the resources and security to launch a war against the Persian Empire. It is believed that an enemy, Eurystheus of Mycenae, is the leader who invaded The Dorians. Power and rich architecture were amongst several of the influences from the Dorians. A grave, rich by the standards of any period, was uncovered at a site called Lefkandi on Euboea, the island along the eastern flank of Attica (the territory controlled by Athens). Much more lightly armored, the Macedonian phalanx was not so much a shield-wall as a spear-wall. 3d ed., rev. At least in the early classical period, hoplites were the primary force; light troops and cavalry generally protected the flanks and performed skirmishing, acting as support troops for the core heavy infantry. The allied navy extended this blockade at sea, blocking the nearby straits of Artemisium, to prevent the huge Persian navy landing troops in Leonidas's rear. For he first ventured to tell them to stick to the sea and forthwith began to lay the foundations of the empire. (1.93 [5]) Thucydides credits Themistocles with the determining point in which Athens becomes an empire creating the divide between Sparta and Athens. During 450, he implemented a state salary of two obols per day for jurors to increase public participation from citizens. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Set-piece battles during this war proved indecisive and instead there was increased reliance on naval warfare, and strategies of attrition such as blockades and sieges. Chattel slavery in ancient Greece was widespread. Although alliances between city-states were commonplace, the scale of this league was a novelty, and the first time that the Greeks had united in such a way to face an external threat. 450The Peace of CalliasAlthough this peace treaty is subject to scholarly debate, allegedly Athens and Persia agreed to a ceasefire.[2]. ancient Egypt; a nomarchy. They were a force to be reckoned with. In Themistoclesspeech to the Spartan assembly Thucydides points out that at this point Athenian independence was highlighted. The Pentecontaetia was marked by the rise of Athens as the dominant state in the Greek world and by the rise of Athenian democracy, a period also known as Golden Age of Athens. Undoubtedly part of the reason for the weakness of the hegemony was a decline in the Spartan population. Pomeroy, Sarah B., et al. Its object If battle was refused by one side, it would retreat to the city, in which case the attackers generally had to content themselves with ravaging the countryside around, since the campaign season was too limited to attempt a siege. After fighting in Macedon, which ended when the two countries came to terms with each other, Athens came to Potidaea. A large ship of burden, in ancient Greece. The goddess Themis was a female Titan, a goddess from the generation before Zeus. If the Athenians were to turn their backs on Sparta, the city would not be able to protect itself. Nevertheless, it was an important innovation, one which was developed much further in later conflicts. The rise of Athens and Sparta during this conflict led directly to the Peloponnesian War, which saw diversification of warfare. -- used as a symbol of comedy, or of the comic drama, as distinguished Athens in fact partially recovered from this setback between 410 and 406 BC, but a further act of economic war finally forced her defeat. The legend is that when the Dorians were pushed out of their homeland, the sons of Herculeseventually inspired the Dorians to battle their enemies in order to take back control of the Peloponnese. Cimon was able to defeat the Persian army swiftly and the war profits were used to finance Athens' city walls. These democratic ideals are reflected in the use of personal names without a patronymic on inscriptions of casualty lists from around this time, such as those of the tribe Erechtheis dated to 460/459BC [3] and the Argive dead at the Battle of Tanagra (457 BC). 83124. A. M. and Scullard, H. H., (eds. The scope and scale of warfare in Ancient Greece changed as a result of the Greco-Persian Wars, which marked the beginning of Classical Greece (480323 BC). If there was one, it might explain the loss of the Mycenaean civilization. Aristotle. The eventual breakdown of the peace was triggered by increasing conflict between Athens and several of Sparta's allies. ARMIES AND ENEMIES OF ANCIENT GREECE AND MACEDONIA . These events permanently reduced Spartan power and prestige, and replaced the Spartan hegemony with a Theban one. In 476, Athens fought against the pirates of Scyros, as the Delian League wanted to reduce piracy around the region and capture the important materials for itself. This surely implies that Greece was settling down after something.) The later years of the Pentecontaetia were marked by increasing conflict between Athens and the traditional land powers of Greece, led by Sparta. Ancient Greek civilization was concentrated in what is today Greece and along the western coast of Turkey. Van der Heyden, A. The major innovation in the development of the hoplite seems to have been the characteristic circular shield (aspis), roughly 1m (3.3ft) in diameter, and made of wood faced with bronze. The persuasive qualities of the phalanx were probably its relative simplicity (allowing its use by a citizen militia), low fatality rate (important for small city-states), and relatively low cost (enough for each hoplite to provide his own equipment). While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. [4] Without the patronymic or demotic it would have been impossible to identify the particular individual being referred to when multiplicity of the same name occurred, thus both reducing the impact of the long list and ensuring that individuals are deprived of their social context.[5]. Following the death of Epaminondas and loss of manpower at the Battle of Mantinea, the Theban hegemony ceased. It was the period in which the harder and cheaper metal iron replaced bronze as a material for weapons and farm implements. Delbruck, Hans, Warfare in Antiquity, History of the Art of War, Volume 1, Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. Democracy in Athens during the Pentecontaetia, Victor Ehrenberg and P.J. 480 . Amphipolis was immensely important to Athens since it controlled many trading routes. Garland, Robert. Amongst the allies therefore, Athens was able to form the core of a navy, whilst other cities, including Sparta, provided the army. Death, Burial, and the Afterlife in Ancient Greece. In, Painted limestone funerary stele with a woman in childbirth, Painted limestone funerary stele with a seated man and two standing figures, Marble stele (grave marker) of a youth and a little girl, Marble funerary statues of a maiden and a little girl, Painted limestone funerary slab with a man controlling a rearing horse, Painted limestone funerary slab with a soldier standing at ease, Painted limestone funerary slab with a soldier taking a kantharos from his attendant, Painted limestone funerary slab with a soldier and two girls, Terracotta bell-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water), Marble akroterion of the grave monument of Timotheos and Nikon, The Julio-Claudian Dynasty (27 B.C.68 A.D.), Athenian Vase Painting: Black- and Red-Figure Techniques, Boscoreale: Frescoes from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor, Scenes of Everyday Life in Ancient Greece, The Cesnola Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Art of Classical Greece (ca. A Greek vase painting, dating to about 450 B.C., depicts the death of Talos. The Greeks believed that at the moment of death, the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. Thousands of years before machine learning and self-driving cars became reality, the tales of giant bronze robot Talos, artificial woman Pandora and their creator god, Hephaestus, filled the imaginations of people in ancient Greece. Constant warring between the city states weakened Greece and made it difficult to unite against a common enemy like Rome. Not all answers shown, provide a pattern or longer clue for more results, or please use, Make trip before fateful date in March brings dangerous currents. Click the answer to find similar crossword clues . However, such were the losses of Theban manpower, including Epaminondas himself, that Thebes was thereafter unable to sustain its hegemony. Corrections? It is believed that the Dorians owned land and evolved into aristocrats. Important for the understanding of the Archaic and Classical periods, however, is the powerful belief in Dorianism as a linguistic and religious concept. The poorer classes in Greece began to rebel against the aristocracy and the wealthy. Athens benefited greatly from this tribute, undergoing a cultural renaissance and undertaking massive public building projects, including the Parthenon; Athenian democracy, meanwhile, developed into what is today called radical or Periclean democracy, in which the popular assembly of the citizens and the large, citizen juries exercised near-complete control over the state. Pentecontaetia (Greek: , "the period of fifty years") is the term used to refer to the period in Ancient Greek history between the defeat of the second Persian invasion of Greece at Plataea in 479 BC and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. With this evolution in warfare, battles seem to have consisted mostly of the clash of hoplite phalanxes from the city-states in conflict. celebrated confederation known as the Amphictyonic Council. Streets were cleaner because people weren't just pooping in them (probably), attitudes were more refined, and it was a society conducive to allowing some of the world's great thinkers to just think. Konijnendijk, Roel, Classical Greek Tactics: A Cultural History. The battle would then rely on the valour of the men in the front line, while those in the rear maintained forward pressure on the front ranks with their shields. 1200 BC- 800 BC) refers to the period of Greek history from the presumed Dorian invasion and end of the Mycenaean civilization in the 11th century BC to the rise of the first Greek city-states in the 9th century BC and the epics of Homer and earliest writings in alphabetic Greek in the 8th century BC. The visionary Athenian politician Themistocles had successfully persuaded his fellow citizens to build a huge fleet in 483/82 BC to combat the Persian threat (and thus to effectively abandon their hoplite army, since there were not men enough for both). A native of either ancient or modern Greece; a Greek. Their name also derives from Doris, a small place in the middle of Greece. A crown for a king! "An Overview of the Dorian Invasion Into Greece." The Athenian general Iphicrates had his troops make repeated hit and run attacks on the Spartans, who, having neither peltasts nor cavalry, could not respond effectively. However, these kingdoms were still enormous states, and continued to fight in the same manner as Phillip and Alexander's armies had. As the massive Persian army moved south through Greece, the allies sent a small holding force (c. 10,000) men under the Spartan king Leonidas, to block the pass of Thermopylae whilst the main allied army could be assembled. He was 66. But this was unstable, and the Persian Empire sponsored a rebellion by the combined powers of Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos, resulting in the Corinthian War (395387 BC). Marble monuments belonging to various members of a family were placed along the edge of the terrace rather than over the graves themselves. Thucydides does indeed display sound knowledge of the series of migrations by which Greece was resettled in the post-Mycenaean period. [11] This gave the Athenian army a small window of opportunity to attack the remainder of the Persian Army. Hornblower, Simon, "Sticks, Stones, and Spartans: The Sociology of Spartan Violence," in Hans van Wees, War and Violence in Ancient Greece, London and Swansea: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales, 2000, pp. by aristocratic families of Attica in private burial grounds along the roadside on the family estate or near Athens. Pertaining to an Earl of Arundel; as, Arundel or A myth appears in the stories of Ancient Greece about the birth of Paris, for when pregnant, Hecabe had a premonition of Troy being destroyed by a flaming torch or brand. However, a united Greek army of c. 40,000 hoplites decisively defeated Mardonius at the Battle of Plataea, effectively ending the invasion. However, Persia decided to take the opportunity to support Samos even though they have signed the Peace of Callias with Athens. The CroswodSolver.com system found 25 answers for enemy of ancient greece crossword clue. The losses in the ten years of the Theban hegemony left all the Greek city-states weakened and divided. Following the prothesis, the deceased was brought to the cemetery in a procession, the ekphora, which usually took place just before dawn. However, Thebes lacked sufficient manpower and resources, and became overstretched. Conversely, the Spartans repeatedly invaded Attica, but only for a few weeks at a time; they remained wedded to the idea of hoplite-as-citizen. Athens alone was home to an estimated 60,000-80,000 slaves during the fifth and fourth centuries BC, with each household having an average of three or four enslaved people attached to it. 5782. This alliance thus removed the constraints on the type of armed forces that the Greeks could use. Cartledge, Paul, The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse, New York, NY: Vintage, 2004. Thucydides wrote that Sparta contemplated an invasion of Attica in order to help free Thasos. Engels, Donald, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978. Along with the rise of the city-states evolved a new style of warfare: the hoplite phalanx. Themistocles through his cunningness asserts an independent and strong Athenian identity. ancient enemy of athens Crossword Clue The Crossword Solver found 30 answers to "ancient enemy of athens", 6 letters crossword clue. For instance, the Agrianes from Thrace were well-renowned peltasts, whilst Crete was famous for its archers. The Greek navy, despite their lack of experience, also proved their worth holding back the Persian fleet whilst the army still held the pass. Indeed, the ghost of the great hero Achilles told Odysseus that he would rather be a poor serf on earth than lord of all the dead in the Underworld (Odyssey11: 48991). He makes it clear after the walls have been secured (ensuring Athenian strength) that Athens is independent and is making self-interested decisions. These disputes, along with a general perception that Athenian power had grown too powerful, led to the breakdown of the Thirty Years Peace; the Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BC. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-honored rituals. At the end of the fifth century B.C., Athenian families began to bury their dead in simple stone sarcophagi placed in the ground within grave precincts arranged in man-made terraces buttressed by a high retaining wall that faced the cemetery road. The two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, went to war with each other from 431 to 405 B.C. The Dark Age ended when the Archaic Age began in the 8th century. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1985. Gill, N.S. The Thebans marched into Messenia, and freed it from Sparta; this was a fatal blow to Sparta, since Messenia had provided most of the helots which supported the Spartan warrior society. Although by the end of the Theban hegemony the cities of southern Greece were severely weakened, they might have risen again had it not been for the ascent to power of the Macedonian kingdom in northern Greece. The defeat of a hoplite army in this way demonstrates the changes in both troops and tactic which had occurred in Greek Warfare. During the course of this conflict, Athens gained and then lost control of large areas of central Greece. Who is ancient Greece's long time enemy in the north? Following this victory, the Thebans first secured their power-base in Boeotia, before marching on Sparta. The peace treaty which ended the Peloponnesian War left Sparta as the de facto ruler of Greece (hegemon). The first modern Olympic Games took place 1503 years later, at Athens in 1896. The war ended when the Persians, worried by the allies' successes, switched to supporting the Spartans, in return for the cities of Ionia and Spartan non-interference in Asia Minor. After several days of stalemate at Marathon, the Persian commanders attempted to take strategic advantage by sending their cavalry (by ship) to raid Athens itself. Ultimately, Mantinea, and the preceding decade, severely weakened many Greek states, and left them divided and without the leadership of a dominant power. 445The Thirty-Year Peace Between Athens and Sparta: After losing Attica, Boeotia and Megara, Athens agreed to a thirty-year peace in return for all the conquered areas in the Peloponnesian region. Ancient literary sources emphasize the necessity of a proper burial and refer to the omission of burial rites as an insult to human dignity (Iliad23: 71). Spartan feeling was at that time very friendly towards Athens on account of the patriotism which she had displayed in the struggle with Mede. Currently, there is a lack of evidence, despite 200 years worth of research. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Although tactically there was little innovation in the Peloponessian War, there does appear to have been an increase in the use of light infantry, such as peltasts (javelin throwers) and archers. Lamentation of the dead is featured in Greek art at least as early as the Geometric period, when vases were decorated with scenes portraying the deceased surrounded by mourners. Arundel in 1624. This first-hand experience allows a look into the mind of a person at the center of the ordeal. Every man had to serve at least two years in the army. (Mnemosyne, Supplements 409). Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is believed that an enemy, Eurystheus of Mycenae, is the leader who invaded The Dorians. Lazenby, John F., The Peloponnesian War: A Military Study, London: Routledge, 2004. Troy, Greek Troia, also called Ilios or Ilion, Latin Troia, Troja, or Ilium, ancient city in northwestern Anatolia that holds an enduring place in both literature and archaeology. 458The Battle of Tanagra: According to Thucydides, the Spartans, motivated by ethnic solidarity, sent out 1500 Hoplites and an additional 10,000 from their allies' forces to suppress the Phocians' army invading Doris. the vessel of an enemy; a beakhead. The rise of Macedon and her successors thus sounded the death knell for the distinctive way of war found in Ancient Greece; and instead contributed to the 'superpower' warfare which would dominate the ancient world between 350 and 150 BC. At least in the Archaic Period, the fragmentary nature of Ancient Greece, with many competing city-states, increased the frequency of conflict, but conversely limited the scale of warfare. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dbag/hd_dbag.htm (October 2003). The Dorian Invasion is connected with the return of the sons of Hercules (Heracles), who are known as the Heracleidae. One is bound to notice, however, that archaeological finds tend to call into question the whole concept of a Dark Age by showing that certain features of Greek civilization once thought not to antedate about 800 bce can actually be pushed back by as much as two centuries. Leonidas (Mid 6th century-480 BCE) was the king of Sparta who led the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE)..