This thread is a consolidation of other related topics.
Origins of the Greek language
Do Ancient Greeks have African Origins?
Dorian Tribe
A primary chronology, which will be built upon and edited as required.
4000 BC to 2500 BC - Late PIE
2700BC to 1450 BC - Minoan Civilisation
1600 BC to 1200 BC – Mycenaean Civilisation
1200 BC to 1000 BC - Dark Ages
1000 BC to 800 BC - Dorians and Ionians
800 BC - Advent of Hellenes
Stripping the events down in this order has been a good exercise, I have noticed several inconsistencies where it concerns the common claims of modern Greeks about their elusive ancient Greek 'ancestors'. Mycenaean is dubiously claimed as Greek, I would like to see a list Mycenaean words further to the one's already posted on this forum, which I will post here in this thread soon.
Origins of the Greek language
Do Ancient Greeks have African Origins?
Dorian Tribe
A primary chronology, which will be built upon and edited as required.
4000 BC to 2500 BC - Late PIE
The Kurgan cultures are identified as existing during this period, originating at the Pontic Steppe. Another culture branches off to the west of the assumed homeland around Ukraine, and is called Globular Amphora. The area it covered was defined by the Elbe the west and the Vistula on the east, extending southwards to the middle Dniester and eastwards to reach the Dnieper. At about 3000 BC the Centum-Satem change takes place, and by 2500 BC it is assumed that groups from the Globular Amphora area commenced outward migrations, some to the Balkans and others to Asia, that would eventually develop into the Pelasgian and Indo-Iranian cultures respectively. Interesting to note is that the Globular Amphora area roughly corresponds with the dividing line of Satem-Centum, and the area where the 'Slavic' name is first used to identify a people.
The Minoan civilization arose in Crete, the language was written in Linear A. Both the language and alphabet remain un-deciphered. Africans were present in their society and employed by the Minoans as auxiliary soldiers. It is unknown whether the Minoans were related to the migrating Indo-European speakers from the Globular Amphora culture, but according to the Kurgan hypothesis, it is likely that the early Indo-Europeans migrated from the Balkans into Anatolia. At about 1750 BC, an Anatolian people of Indo-European origin called the Hittites established a kingdom in north-central Anatolia.
Mycenaean culture became dominant as Minoan was dying out. The Mycenaean alphabet was an adaptation from Linear A, known today as Linear B. It was written in a language that appears to be a form of archaic European.
The end of Mycenaean civilization, language and the Linear B alphabet occured at this point, which corresponds with the period of time in which the (Dorian) Proto-Greek-speakers are likely to have entered the region. It is possible that battles took place that culminated in the Trojan War, as the story was recorded by Homer up to 500 years later, much time had passed for a tradition to develop in which Greece could be claimed as the "original" home of the Greek-speakers. During the the same or near period, constant wars had resulted in the destruction of the Hittite kingdom, which split into several smaller states that were often subordinate to other powers in the region. Africans also seem to have maintained a presence during this period. As there is no distinct Dorian cultural trait surviving in the material record for the two centuries or so after 1200 BC, the time of their arrival is disputed.
It was not until the start of the Geometric period at about 950 BC that evidence appears which could be confirmed as the new 'Dorian' culture. The Ionic dialect must have split from 'Dorian' at some point shortly afterwards. The question is, where did they come from? Was their language a hybrid of Mycenaean and Dorian, was it mainly Dorian, or did it split into dialects because one or the other had more admixture from Mycenaean? If the Mycenaeans and Dorians were both Proto-Greek-speakers and related, why the adoption of the foreign Phoenician alphabet and significant contrasts in culture? Which language would have been closer to modern Greek, Dorian or Mycenaean?
The first signs of Greek-speaking city-states appear, together with a variant of the Phoenician alphabet, originally used to write Semitic languages. Even Africans appear on the Greek coins of Phocis, Delphi, Lesbos, and Athens. The Hittite states disappeared from history at approximately 700 BC.
Stripping the events down in this order has been a good exercise, I have noticed several inconsistencies where it concerns the common claims of modern Greeks about their elusive ancient Greek 'ancestors'. Mycenaean is dubiously claimed as Greek, I would like to see a list Mycenaean words further to the one's already posted on this forum, which I will post here in this thread soon.
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