But here and there, on the tops of high rocks, they saw the castles of the ?geans and those they did not attack for they feared the metal swords and the spears of the ?gean soldiers and knew that they could not hope to defeat them with their clumsy stone axes.
For many centuries they continued to wander from valley to valley and from mountain side to mountain side. Then the whole of the land had been occupied and the migration had come to an end.
That moment was the beginning of Greek civilisation. The Greek farmer, living within sight of the ?gean colonies, was finally driven by curiosity to visit his haughty neighbours. He discovered that he could learn many useful things from the men who dwelt behind the high stone walls of Mycen? and Tiryns.
He was a clever pupil. Within a short time he mastered the art of handling those strange iron weapons which the ?geans had brought from Babylon and from Thebes. He came to understand the mysteries of navigation. He began to build little boats for his own use.
And when he had learned everything the ?geans could teach him he turned upon his teachers and drove them hack to their islands. Soon afterwards he ventured forth upon the sea and conquered all the cities of the ?gean.Finally in the fifteenth century before our era he plundered and ravaged Cnossus and ten centuries after their first appearance upon the scene the Hellenes were the undisputed rulers of Greece, of the ?gean and of the coastal regions of Asia Minor.Troy, the last great commercial stronghold of the older civilisation, was destroyed in the eleventh century B.C., European history was to begin in all seriousness.