Chester G. Starr

The Origins of Greek Civilization

"A complete, critical and readable account, alone of its kind, of the critical formative centuries of Greek civilization." —Moses Hadas

When the great citadel of Mycenae, then the center of the Aegean world, went up in flames about 1100 B.C., what followed was a "dark age" that left no written records. But rich archaeological records show conclusively that there was a radical discontinuity between Mycenaean-Minoan culture and Greek civilization. Chester G. Starr argues that true Greek civilization was swiftly and spontaneously generated in a remarkably autonomous renaissance during the two centuries from 850 to 650 B.C. Supporting his thesis with archaeological evidence previously unavailable to historians, he offers a masterly reconstruction of an obscure and important period of Greek history.

"A challenging thesis about Greek prehistory—that the miraculous jump into the Greece of out history was made in the eleventh century B.C. during the pre-Christian Dark Ages. . . . An exciting book to read, eloquently written and beautifully illustrated." —The New Yorker

"[Starr] works primarily from the remains of Greek vases, the single continuous thread linking age to age and excavation to excavation. With good plates to illustrate his points he magically constructs whole social systems and outlooks from the changing shape of decoration of the pottery. It is an exhilirating interpretation. . . . An admirable collection of archaeological and historical data and authorities, a challenging de-emphasis of literary evidence." —Christian Science Monitor