Western Civilization I / Unit 3 WC1 0202 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Dark Age and the Return of Writing, 1100 to 800 BCE
Captions available
The idea
After the Mycenaean collapse about eleven hundred, Greece lost trade, writing and cities; the anchor cites an estimate of ninety percent population loss. Recovery came through Ionia and Phoenician trade, and Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet about eight hundred.
In practice
The earliest Greek literature by about seven fifty; Latin's alphabet descends from it.
Where people slip
Linear B had vanished. The alphabet was a fresh borrowing.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it