The Revival of Trade in the Aegean Region

Abstract

During the Dark Age, in the aftermath of the Aegean wars, trade declined drastically. Mainland Greece, now Dorian dominated, was completely cut off from Middle Eastern, Egyptian, and Anatolian trade. The Asia Minor city-states were also left isolated, as barbarian hordes destroyed and pillaged the Hittite and Hurrian cities of Anatolia, cutting them off from the Caravan trade that had connected them with Mesopotamia. Finally, the Mycenaean Greek and Luwian-speaking Sea Peoples, having settled along the coasts of Palestine and the Levant, seem to have had no trade contacts with the Aegean region, confining their trade closer to home, centering on Cyprus.^{1 , 2 , 3 , 4}