Dorian Invasion of Greece

The Dorian invasion of Greece began around 1200 BC, during the late Bronze Age, which was a great period of ancient Greece cultural development. With the great migration of the Doric tribe into the Balkan peninsula, wars for political dominance of southern Greece broke out.

In time, the Dorians, who were one of the four Hellenic tribes, replaced the Mycenaean aristocracy as the ruling class in many Greek cities, especially those lying in the Peloponnesus peninsula. Thus, the new invaders would displace the early Achaeans, who had entered Greece around 1800 BC. In the Laconia valley the newcomers would found Sparta, a city-State that will rival Athens.

According to the ancient Greek historian, Apollodorus, the Dorians made their way into Greece through the northwest, crossing the strait at the western end of the Gulf of Corinth, with the battle for Amyclae being ferocious. This is how, from the 12th century BC onwards, the Dorians became the dominant Hellenic ethnic group in the Peloponnese as they established themselves as a great military power, whose soldiers (hoplites) would play an important role in the Greco-Persian Wars. Compared to the other three tribes (Ionians, Achaeans, and Aeolians), the Dorians were very war-like as the backbone of their culture was military training for battle.

Below, map of ancient Greece, with Sparta and Troy marked with a red dot.