Dorians

Dorians people of ancient Greece. Their name was mythologically derived from Dorus, son of Hellen . Originating in the northwestern mountainous region of Epirus and SW Macedonia, they migrated through central Greece and into the Peloponnesus probably between 1100 and 950 BC, defeating and displacing the Achaeans. They rapidly extended their influence to Crete and established colonies in Italy, Sicily, and Asia Minor. Sparta and Crete are generally considered as having had the most typical form of Dorian rule—the invaders maintained their separate societies and subjected and enslaved the conquered population. The arrival of the Dorians marked the disruption of the earlier Greek culture and the beginning of a period of decline. Although the cultural level of the Dorians was below that of the Achaeans, the Dorians did contribute to the culture of Greece, e.g., in drama, poetry, sculpture, and especially in the huge stone buildings that marked the beginning of the Doric style of architecture.

Dorians The tribes speaking the Doric dialect of Greek who probably entered Greece from the north c.1100–1000 BC and by the 8th century BC had settled most of the Peloponnese, the southernmost Aegean islands, and the south-west corner of Asia Minor. While culturally distinct in architecture and dialect, the Dorians retained their political system only in Sparta and Crete where the ruling military class subjected the local peoples as serfs and dependants. The Dorians were responsible for the oldest and simplest orders of Greek architecture, known as the Doric order.

Dorians Greek-speaking people, who settled n Greece c.1200 bc. They displaced the culturally more advanced Mycenaean civilization, seemingly because they had mastered the use of iron. Their arrival marks the beginning of the ‘dark age’ of ancient Greece, which lasted about 400 years.