Synoecism
Ancient wall at Alifeira
Earlier I mentioned the Greek Dark Ages, a period from around 1200 BCE till around 800 BCE. After this dark periode a new era started, still based around the old towns, which ended around the 4th and 5th century BCE.
From then on lots of villages and towns were merged and moved to new locations, generally situated in valleys or near harbours and connected by roads, to make trading possible. This process is known as synoecism and both the city of Megalopolis (Big City), close to Neleus' kingdom, and the largest city of the Peloponessos, Patras, are good examples of this.
It left the older small towns abandoned in the condition they were in during the 4th or 5th century BCE and this is the reason why archaeologists say they're not Mycenean, the cities kept developing until they were abandoned.
Before synoecism all cities were relatively small and it wasn't uncommon to have more 'cities' in the same area. The names of areas can be significant, too. Often an area bears the same name as its capital, a phenomenon that still existst in Greece. Let's look for a second Kyparissia, can there really be another Kyparissia?
From then on lots of villages and towns were merged and moved to new locations, generally situated in valleys or near harbours and connected by roads, to make trading possible. This process is known as synoecism and both the city of Megalopolis (Big City), close to Neleus' kingdom, and the largest city of the Peloponessos, Patras, are good examples of this.
It left the older small towns abandoned in the condition they were in during the 4th or 5th century BCE and this is the reason why archaeologists say they're not Mycenean, the cities kept developing until they were abandoned.
Before synoecism all cities were relatively small and it wasn't uncommon to have more 'cities' in the same area. The names of areas can be significant, too. Often an area bears the same name as its capital, a phenomenon that still existst in Greece. Let's look for a second Kyparissia, can there really be another Kyparissia?
Pylos
Arene
Thryon
Aipu
Kyparisseis
Amphigenia
Pteleos
Helos
Dorion