Editing Aegean Sea (section)

==History==
===Ancient history===
[[File:Cycladic figurine, female, 2800-2300 BC, AM Naxos (13 01), 143205.jpg|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|Female figure from [[Naxos]] (2800–2300 BC)]]
The current coastline dates back to about 4000&nbsp;BC. Before that time, at the peak of the [[last glacial period|last ice age]] (about 18,000 years ago) sea levels everywhere were {{Convert|130|m}} lower, and there were large well-watered coastal plains instead of much of the northern Aegean. When they were first occupied, the present-day islands including [[Milos]] with its important [[obsidian]] production were probably still connected to the mainland. The present coastal arrangement appeared around 9,000 years ago, with post-ice age sea levels continuing to rise for another 3,000 years after that.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Tjeerd H. van Andel |author2=Judith C. Shackleton |title=Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic Coastlines of Greece and the Aegean|journal=Journal of Field Archaeology |volume=9|issue=4|date=Winter 1982|pages=445–454|jstor=529681 |doi=10.1179/009346982791504454}}</ref>

The subsequent [[Bronze Age]] civilizations of Greece and the Aegean Sea have given rise to the general term ''[[Aegean civilization]]''. In ancient times, the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations&nbsp;– the [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]] of Crete and the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaeans]] of the [[Peloponnese]].<ref>Tracey Cullen, ''Aegean Prehistory: A Review'' (American Journal of Archaeology. Supplement, 1); Oliver Dickinson, ''The Aegean Bronze Age'' (Cambridge World Archaeology).</ref>

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands, flourishing from around 3000 to 1450 BC before a period of decline, finally ending at around 1100 BC. It represented the first advanced civilization in Europe, leaving behind massive building complexes, tools, stunning artwork, writing systems, and a massive network of trade.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0071.xml;jsessionid=34C7E22759BF3739960486FE75375115|title=Ancient Crete – Classics |website=Oxford Bibliographies |language=en |doi=10.1093/obo/9780195389661-0071 |first1= Angelos |last1=Chaniotis |first2=Antonis |last2=Kotsonas |access-date=17 June 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617030905/https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0071.xml;jsessionid=34C7E22759BF3739960486FE75375115 |archive-date= 17 June 2019 }}</ref> The Minoan period saw extensive trade between Crete, Aegean, and Mediterranean settlements, particularly the Near East. The most notable Minoan palace is that of [[Knossos]], followed by that of [[Phaistos]]. The Mycenaean Greeks arose on the mainland, becoming the first advanced civilization in mainland Greece, which lasted from approximately 1600 to 1100 BC. It is believed that the site of [[Mycenae]], which sits close to the Aegean coast, was the center of Mycenaean civilization. The Mycenaeans introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure, while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean, including the Aegean, was essential for the Mycenaean economy. Their [[syllabic script]], the [[Linear B]], offers the first written records of the Greek language and [[Mycenaean religion|their religion]] already included several deities that can also be found in the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympic Pantheon]]. Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of [[palace]]-centered states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social and economic systems. At the head of this society was the king, known as ''[[wanax]]''.

The civilization of Mycenaean Greeks perished with the [[Late Bronze Age collapse|collapse of Bronze Age culture]] in the eastern Mediterranean, to be followed by the so-called [[Greek Dark Ages]]. It is undetermined what cause the collapse of the Mycenaeans. During the Greek Dark Ages, writing in the Linear B script ceased, vital trade links were lost, and towns and villages were abandoned.

===Ancient Greece===
{{See also|Ancient Greece}}
[[File:Greek Galleys.jpg|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|A fleet of Athenian [[trireme]]]]
[[File:Celcius library.jpg|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Library of Celsus]], a Roman structure in important sea port [[Ephesus]]]]
The [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] followed the Greek Dark Ages in the 8th century BC. Greece became divided into small self-governing communities, and adopted the [[Phoenician alphabet]], modifying it to create the [[Greek alphabet]]. By the 6th century BC several cities had emerged as dominant in Greek affairs: Athens, Sparta, [[Corinth, Greece|Corinth]], and [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]], of which Athens, Sparta, and Corinth were closest to the Aegean Sea. Each of them had brought the surrounding rural areas and smaller towns under their control, and Athens and Corinth had become major maritime and mercantile powers as well. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC many Greeks migrated to form [[Colonies in antiquity|colonies]] in [[Magna Graecia]] ([[Southern Italy]] and [[Sicily]]), Asia Minor and further afield. The Aegean Sea was the setting for one of the most pivotal naval engagements in history, when, on 20 September 480 B.C., the Athenian fleet gained a decisive victory over the Persian fleet of the [[Xerxes II of Persia]] at the [[Battle of Salamis]]. Thus ending any further attempt of western expansion by the [[Achaemenid Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herodotus |title=Histories. Book VIII |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Bowie, Angus M. |isbn=978-0-521-57328-3 |location=Cambridge, UK |oclc=159628612 }}</ref>

The Aegean Sea would later come to be under the control, albeit briefly, of the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Kingdom of Macedonia]]. [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] and his son [[Alexander the Great]] led a series of conquests that led not only to the unification of the Greek mainland and the control of the Aegean Sea under his rule, but also the destruction of the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. After Alexander the Great's death, his empire was divided among his generals. [[Cassander]] became king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Macedon, which held territory along the western coast of the Aegean, roughly corresponding to modern-day Greece. The Kingdom of [[Lysimachus]] had control over the sea's eastern coast. Greece had entered the [[Hellenistic period]].

===Roman rule===
The Macedonian Wars were a series of conflicts fought by the [[Roman Republic]] and its Greek allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms. They resulted in Roman control or influence over the eastern Mediterranean basin, including the Aegean, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after the [[Punic Wars]]. During Roman rule, the land around the Aegean Sea fell under the provinces of [[Achaea (Roman province)|Achaea]], [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]], [[Thracia]], [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] and [[Crete and Cyrenaica|Creta et Cyrenaica]] (island of Crete).

===Medieval period===
[[File:Emirate of Crete Map.svg|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|[[Emirate of Crete]], after early conquest of Arabs]]
The [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] allowed its successor state, the [[Byzantine Empire]], to continue Roman control over the Aegean Sea. However, their territory would later be threatened by the [[early Muslim conquests]] initiated by [[Muhammad]] in the 7th century. Although the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] did not manage to obtain land along the coast of the Aegean Sea, its conquest of the Eastern Anatolian peninsula as well as Egypt, the Levant, and North Africa left the Byzantine Empire weakened. The [[Umayyad Caliphate]] expanded the territorial gains of the Rashidun Caliphate, conquering much of North Africa, and threatened the Byzantine Empire's control of Western Anatolia, where it meets the Aegean Sea.

During the 820s, Crete was conquered by a group of [[Berbers]] [[Al-Andalus|Andalusians]] exiles led by [[Abu Hafs Umar al-Iqritishi]], and it became an independent [[Islamic]] state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Makrypoulias |first=Christos |date=2000-01-01 |title=Byzantine Expeditions against the Emirate of Crete c.825-949 |url=https://www.academia.edu/108025355 |journal=Graeco-Arabica |archive-date=26 December 2024 |access-date=24 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241226220315/https://www.academia.edu/108025355 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Byzantine Empire launched a campaign that took most of the island back in 842 and 843 under [[Theoktistos]], but the re-conquest was not completed and was soon reversed. Later attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover the island were without success. For the approximately 135 years of its existence, the emirate of Crete was one of the major foes of Byzantium. Crete commanded the sea lanes of the Eastern Mediterranean and functioned as a forward base and haven for Muslim corsair fleets that ravaged the Byzantine-controlled shores of the Aegean Sea. Crete returned to Byzantine rule under [[Nikephoros II Phokas]], who launched a huge campaign against the Emirate of Crete in 960 to 961.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norwich |first=John Julius |title=Byzantium. 2: The apogee |date=1993 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=978-0-394-53779-5 |location=New York |pages=175–178}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]] threatened Byzantine control of Northern Greece and the Aegean coast to the south. Under [[Presian of Bulgaria|Presian]] and his successor [[Boris I of Bulgaria|Boris I]], the Bulgarian Empire managed to obtain a small portion of the northern Aegean coast.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Findlay |first1=Ronald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1oU3DEpsd8C |title=Power and Plenty: Trade, War, and the World Economy in the Second Millennium |last2=O'Rourke |first2=Kevin H. |date=2009-08-10 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-3188-3 |pages=14 |language=en}}</ref> [[Simeon I of Bulgaria]] led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion, and managed to conqueror much of the northern and western coasts of the Aegean. The Byzantines later regained control. The Second Bulgarian Empire achieved similar success along, again, the northern and western coasts, under [[Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria]].

[[File:Aegean Sea by Piri Reis.jpg|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|A 1528 map of the Aegean Sea by Turkish geographer [[Piri Reis]]]]
The [[Seljuk dynasty|Seljuk Turks]], under the [[Seljuk Empire]], invaded the Byzantine Empire in 1068, from which they annexed almost all the territories of Anatolia, including the east coast of the Aegean Sea, during the reign of [[Alp Arslan]], the second [[Sultan]] of the Seljuk Empire. After the death of his successor, [[Malik Shah I]], the empire was divided, and Malik Shah was succeeded in Anatolia by [[Kilij Arslan I]], who founded the [[Sultanate of Rum]]. The Byzantines yet again recaptured the eastern coast of the Aegean.

After [[Constantinople]] was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the [[Fourth Crusade]], the area around the Aegean Sea was fragmented into multiple entities, including the [[Latin Empire]], the [[Kingdom of Thessalonica]], the [[Empire of Nicaea]], the [[Principality of Achaea]], and the [[Duchy of Athens]]. The Venetians created the maritime state of the [[Duchy of the Archipelago]], which included all the Cyclades except [[Mykonos]] and [[Tinos]]. The Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine rump state, managed to affect the [[Recapture of Constantinople]] from the Latins in 1261 and defeat Epirus. Byzantine successes were not to last; the Ottomans would conquer the area around the Aegean coast, but before their expansion the Byzantine Empire had already been weakened from internal conflict. By the late 14th century, the Byzantine Empire had lost all control of the coast of the Aegean Sea and could exercise power around their capital, Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire then gained control of all the Aegean coast with the exception of Crete, which was a Venetian colony until 1669.

===Modern Period===
[[File:German tanks in Rhodes.gif|200px|thumb|upright=1.25|German Tanks in [[Rhodes]] during the [[WW2]]]]
The [[Greek War of Independence]] allowed a Greek state on the coast of the Aegean from 1829 onward. The Ottoman Empire held a presence over the sea for over 500 years until its [[Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire|dissolution]] following [[World War I]], when it was replaced by modern Turkey. During the war, Greece gained control over the area around the northern coast of the Aegean. By the 1930s, Greece and Turkey had about resumed their present-day borders.

In the [[Italo-Turkish War]] of 1912, Italy captured the Dodecanese islands, and had occupied them since, reneging on the 1919 [[Eleftherios Venizelos|Venizelos]]–[[Tommaso Tittoni|Tittoni]] agreement to cede them to Greece. The Greco-Italian War took place from October 1940 to April 1941 as part of the [[Balkans Campaign (World War II)|Balkans Campaign]] of [[World War II]]. The Italian war aim was to establish a Greek [[puppet state]], which would permit the Italian annexation of the Sporades and Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, to be administered as a part of the [[Italian Aegean Islands]]. The German invasion resulted in the [[Axis occupation of Greece]]. The German troops evacuated Athens on 12 October 1944, and by the end of the month, they had withdrawn from mainland Greece. Greece was then liberated by Allied troops.