The Dorian invasion occurred from 1207 to 1103 BC when the Dorians of northern Greece migrated south and destroyed the Mycenaean and Theban civilizations. The Dorians were said to be the descendants of Heracles reclaiming their ancestral lands in the Peloponnese, but their arrival heralded death and destruction, and the Peloponnese would be sparsely populated until the 10th century BC. The ensuing period of Greek history, marked by a lack of historical records, came to be known as the Greek Dark Ages.
Background[]
The Dorians were wild northern Greek tribes inhabiting Epirus and southern Illyria. Culturally, they seemed inferior to the Achaeans of Greece with their palace centers and rich cities. By contrast, Dorians were simple farmers and pastoralists. They were, however, distinguished by their cohesion, their high discipline, stable generit traditions, and the pride and simplicity of their way of life - this made them good, hardy warriors.
Invasion[]
In what became known as the "Return of the Heracleidae", the Dorians - said to be descendants of Heracles and his exiled progeny - reclaimed the dominion that Heracles had held in the Peloponnese. The Dorians swept down upon the Peloponnese, destroying the major city of Mycenae, the palace of Iolcos, the palace of Thebes, and the cities of Tiryns and Pylos, and ending the Mycenaean civilization. The Pre-Doric Greeks were pushed into exile in the Arcadian mountains, while the Ionians were either confined to Attica or forced to flee to Asia Minor, establishing the region of Ionia. The Dorians soon spread the Proto-Greek language across Ancient Greece, forming a mixed dialect in Boeotia and adopting the existing dialect in Thessaly.
Aftermath[]
The Greek Dark Ages set in as the Peloponnesian kingdoms were replaced by a Dorian caste system. In the sub-Mycenaean period, the Peloponnese was sparsely populated, and it would not recover until the 10th century BC; Sparta was founded by the Dorians in 950 BC. In 750 BC, the Dark Ages came to an end with the rise of archaic/orientalizing Ancient Greece, which adopted the Phoenician alphabet and came to develop a new civilization blending Dorian, Ionian, Achaean, and Aeolian cultures.