Greek colonisation
Greek colonisation refers to the expansion of Archaic Greeks, particularly during the 8th–6th centuries BC, across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
The Archaic expansion differed from the Iron Age migrations of the Greek Dark Ages, in that it consisted of organised direction (see oikistes) away from the originating metropolis rather than the simplistic movement of tribes, which characterised the aforementioned earlier migrations. Many colonies, or apoikia (Greek: ἀποικία, transl. "home away from home"), that were founded during this period eventually evolved into strong Greek city-states, functioning independently of their metropolis.
Motives
The reasons for the Greeks to establish colonies were strong economic growth with the consequent overpopulation of the motherland,[1] and that the land of these Greek city states could not support a large city. The areas that the Greeks would try to colonise were hospitable and fertile.[2]
Characteristics
The founding of the colonies was consistently an organised enterprise by the metropolis (mother city), although in many cases it collaborated with other cities. The place to be colonised was selected in advance with the goal of offering business advantages, but also security from raiders. In order to create a feeling of security and confidence in the new colony, the choice of place was decided according to its usefulness.[3] The mission always included a leader nominated by the colonists. In the new cities, the colonists parceled out the land, including farms. The system of governance usually took a form similar to that of the metropolis.
Greek colonies were often established along coastlines, especially during the period of colonisation between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. Many Greek colonies were strategically positioned near coastlines to facilitate trade, communication, and access to maritime resources. These colonies played a crucial role in expanding Greek culture, trade networks, and influence throughout the
History
The Greeks started colonising around the beginning of the 8th century BC when the
At the end of the 8th century, Euboea fell into decline with the outbreak of the
Locations
Macedonia and Thrace
Numerous colonies were founded in Northern Greece, chiefly in the region of Chalcidice but also in the region of Thrace.
Chalcidice was settled by Euboeans, chiefly from Chalcis, who lent their name to these colonies. The most important settlements of the Euboeans in Chalcidice were
Numerous other colonies were founded in the region of Thrace by the Ionians from the coast of
In 340 BC, while Alexander the Great was regent of Macedon, he founded the city of Alexandropolis Maedica after defeating a local Thracian tribe.[7]
Magna Graecia: mainland Italy and Sicily
Magna Graecia[8] was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of Southern Italy in the present-day Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania and Sicily which were extensively settled by Greeks.[9]
Greeks began to settle in southern Italy in the 8th century BC.[10]
The first great migratory wave directed towards the western Mediterranean was that of the
The second wave was of the Achaeans who concentrated initially on the Ionian coast (Metapontion, Poseidonia, Sybaris, Kroton),[12][13] shortly before 720 BC.[14] At an unknown date between the 8th and 6th centuries BC the Athenians, of Ionian lineage, founded Scylletium (near today's Catanzaro).[15]
In Sicily the Euboeans later founded
Refugees from
Evidence of frequent contact between the Greek settlers and the indigenous peoples comes from Timpone Della Motta which shows influence of Greek style in Oneotroian pottery.[17]
Many cities in the region became in turn metropoleis for new colonies such as the Syracusans, who founded the city of
With colonisation,
City | Year (BC) of foundation - by author[19] | ||||
Thucydides | Eusebius | Jerome | Others | ||
Cumae | Κύμη | - | - | 1050(?) | - |
Metapontum | Μεταπόντιον | - | 773(?) | - | - |
Zancle | Ζάγκλη | - | 757/756 | - | 756 |
Naxos | Νάξος | 734 | 735 | 741 | - |
Syracuse | Συρακκούσες | 733 | 733 | 738/737 | 733 |
Lentini | Λεοντῖνοι | 728 | - | - | - |
Catania | Κατάνη | 728 | 733 | 737/736 | - |
Megara | Μέγαρα | 727 | - | - | - |
Reggio | Ερυθρά / Ρήγιον | - | - | - | c. 730 |
Milazzo | Μύλαι | - | 715(?) | 716(?) | - |
Sybaris | Σύβαρις | - | 708-707 | 709-708 | 721/720 |
Crotone | Κρότων | - | 709 | - | 709/708 |
Taranto | Τάρας | - | - | 706 | - |
Locri | Λοκροί Ἐπιζεφύριοι | - | 673 | 679 | c. 700 |
Poseidonia | Ποσειδωνία | - | - | - | 700(?) |
Gela | Γέλα | 688 | 688 | 691/690 | - |
Caulonia | Καυλωνία | - | - | - | c. 675 |
Acre | 663 | - | - | - | |
Casmene | Κασμέναι | 643 | - | - | - |
Selinunte | Σελινούς | 627 | 757(?) | 650/649 | 650 |
Himera | Ιμέρα | - | - | - | 648 |
Lipari | Μελιγουνίς | - | 627(?) | 629(?) | 580/576 |
Camarina | Καμάρινα | 598 | 598/597 | 601/600 | 598/596 |
Agrigento | Ακράγας | 580 | - | - | 580/576 |
Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea, and Illyria
The region of the
In 1877, archaeologists discovered in Lumbarda on the island of Korčula, in modern-day Croatia, a Greek inscription that writes about the founding of an Ancient Greek settlement on the island. The artifact is known as Lumbarda Psephisma.[23] Evidence of coinage on the Illyrian coast can be dated back to around the 4th cent. BCE. The locations of these coins were founded to minted in Adriatic colonies such as Issa and Pharos. These coins were used for trade between the Illyrians and the Greeks.[24]
Black Sea and Propontis
The Greeks had at one point called the Black Sea shore "inhospitable". According to ancient sources, they eventually created 70 to 90 colonies.
On the western shore of the Black Sea region the Megarans founded the cities of Selymbria and a little later, Nesebar. A little farther north in the region of today's Romania the Milesians founded the cities of Istria and Orgame. And Miletus also founded a city on the western shore of the Black Sea, Apollonia. In the south of the Black Sea the most important colony was Sinope which according to prevailing opinion was founded by Miletus. The precise chronology of its foundation is not known at present but it appears that it was founded some time around the middle of the 7th century B.C.[26] Sinope was founded with a series of other colonies in the Pontic region: Trebizond, Cerasus, Cytorus, Cotyora, Cromne, Pteria, Tium, et al. The most important colony founded on the southern shore of the Black Sea was likewise a Megaran foundation: Heraclea Pontica, which was founded in the 6th century B.C.[citation needed]
On the north shore of the Black Sea Miletus was the first to start. The colonies of Miletus in this region of the Black Sea were
On the Crimean peninsula (the Greeks then called it Tauric Chersonese or "Peninsula of the Bulls") they founded likewise the cities of Sympheropolis, and Nymphaeum and Hermonassa. On the Sea of Azov (Lake Maiotis to the ancients) they founded Tanais (in Rostov), Tyritace, Myrmeceum, Cecrine and Phanagoria—the last being a colony of the Teians. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a previously unknown ancient Greek settlement of the 4th-3rd centuries BC near the town of Baherove in Crimea. According to the researchers, the settlement was called Manitra.[27]
On the eastern shore, which was known in ancient times as Colchis and in which today for the greater part is in Georgia and the autonomous region of Abkhazia, the Greeks founded the cities of Phasis and Dioscouris. The latter was called Sebastopolis by the Romans and Byzantines and is known today as Sukhumi—the ruins of the ancient and Byzantine foundations are now found principally below the waterline.[citation needed]
Wider Mediterranean
The Greek colonies expanded as far as the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
Africa
In North Africa, on the peninsula of
By the middle of the 7th century, the lone Greek colony in
2023 archaeological findings in Thonis-Heracleion at Egypt, suggested that Greeks, who were already allowed to trade in the city, "had started to take root" there as early as during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt and that likely Greek mercenaries were employed to defend the city.[29]
Similar to the emporion established in the Nile Delta it is possible there was a Greek trading colony established by the Euboians along the Syrian coast on the mouth of the
Diodorus Siculus mentions Meschela (Μεσχέλα), a city on the northern coast of Africa, founded by the Greeks after the Trojan War.[31][32]
Rest of the Mediterranean
On the north side of the Mediterranean, the Phokaians founded
List of Greek colonies before Alexander the Great (pre-336 BC)
Modern Albania
AL1.
Modern Bulgaria
* Pseudo-Scymnus writes that some say that the city of Bizone belongs to the barbarians, while others to be a Greek colony of Mesembria.
BUL1. Mesembria BUL2. Odessos BUL3. Apollonia / Antheia BUL4. Agathopolis BUL5. Kavarna BUL6. Pomorie BUL7. Naulochos BUL8. Krounoi BUL9. Pistiros BUL10. Anchialos BUL11. Bizone * BUL12. Develtos BUL13. Heraclea Sintica BUL14. Beroe
Modern Croatia
C1. Salona C2. Tragyrion C3. Aspálathos C4. Epidaurus C5. Issa C6. Dimos C7. Pharos C8. Kórkyra Mélaina C9. Epidaurum C10. Narona C11. Lumbarda
Modern Cyprus
CY1. Chytri CY2. Kyrenia CY3.Golgi[33][34]
Modern Egypt
E1. Naucratis
Modern France
F1. Agde F2. Massalia F3. Tauroentium/Tauroeis[35] F4. Olbia F5. Nicaea F6. Monoikos F7. Antipolis F8. Alalia F9. Rhodanousia F10. Athenopolis F11. Pergantium[36][37]
Modern Georgia/ Abkhazia
* Abkhazia is recognised only by Russia and a small number of other countries.
G1. Bathys G2. Triglite G3. Pityus G4. Dioscurias G5. Phasis G6. Gyenos
Modern Greece
GR1.
Modern Italy
I1.
Modern Libya
L1. Barce L2. Cyrene L3. Balagrae L4. Taucheira L5. Ptolemais L6. Euesperides L7. Antipyrgus L8. Apollonia L9. Cinyps L10. Menelai Portus
Modern Montenegro
M1. Bouthoe
Modern North Macedonia
* Some historians believe that it was near the modern Resen (North Macedonia) while others believe that it was near the modern Vranje (Serbia).
MA1. Damastion * MA2. Heraclea Lyncestis
Modern Palestine (Gaza Strip)
- Anthedon (Palestine), probably a colony of Anthedon (Boeotia) from c. 520 BCE[46][47]
Modern Romania
RO1. Tomis RO2. Histria/Istros RO3. Aegyssus RO4. Stratonis RO5. Axiopolis RO6. Kallatis
Modern Russia
RU1. Tanais RU2. Kepoi RU3. Phanagoria RU4. Bata RU5. Gorgippia RU6. Hermonassa RU7. Korokondame RU8. Taganrog RU9. Tyramba RU10. Patraeus RU11. Toricos
Modern Serbia
* Some historians believe that it was near the modern Resen (North Macedonia) while others believe that it was near the modern Vranje (Serbia).
SE1. Damastion *
Modern Spain
S1.
Modern Syria
SY1. Posidium
Modern Turkey
TR1.
Modern Ukraine
* According to
U1.
*Notes
References
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- ^ .
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- ^ ISSN 0951-8967.
- ^ Eleni Triakoupoulou-Salakidou (June 1997). "Ακάνθος-Εριίσσος-Ιερίσσος" [Acanthus-Erissus-Hierissus] (PDF). Αρχαιολογία και Τέχνες (Archaeology & Art) (in Greek). Vol. 63.
- ^ Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, 4.102
- ^ Plutarch, Alexander, 9
- romanized: Megálē Hellás, IPA: [meɡálɛː hellás], with the same meaning; Italian: Magna Grecia, IPA: [ˈmaɲɲa ˈɡrɛːtʃa].
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- ^ STEFANIA DE VIDO 'Capitani coraggiosi'. Gli Eubei nel Mediterraneo C. Bearzot, F. Landucci, in Tra il mare e il continente: l'isola d'Eubea (2013) ISBN 978-88-343-2634-3
- ^ Strabo 6.1.12
- ^ Herodotus 8.47
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- ^ a b c *Demetriadou, Daphne (9 May 2003). "Αποικισμός του Εύξεινου Πόντου" [The Colonisation of the Black Sea]. Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Translated by Kalogeropoulou, Georgia.
- ^ a b "Russian archaeologists said they discovered an ancient Greek settlement in Crimea". Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
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- ^ "Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Meschela". Perseus Digital Library. Tufts University. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Golgi
- ^ Brill, Golgi
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Tauroeis
- ^ Marins de Provence et du Languedoc, p.43
- ^ Géographie historique et administrative de la Gaule romaine, p.734
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- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Tauromenium
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Leontini
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Hydruntum
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- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, 429.7
- ^ Brill, Mactorium
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- ^ The editorial team (24 January 2009). "Gaza at the Crossroad of Civilisations: Two Contemporary Views". The Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation UK (FSTC UK). Retrieved 10 January 2024. Article references a book and an exhibition: Gerald Butt (1995), Life at the Crossroads: A History of Gaza, and "Gaza at the Crossroads of Civilizations" (2007) at the Musée d'art et d'histoire in Geneva.
- ^ Les Villes Philistines, Gaza, Ascalon (in French), at antikforever.com. [dead link]
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Myrlēa
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- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Geloni
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- ^ The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, Ed., Nikonion
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Further reading
- Zuchtriegel, Gabriel (2020). Colonization and Subalternity in Classical Greece: Experience of the Nonelite Population. Cambridge University Press; Reprint edition. ISBN 978-1108409223.
- Lucas, Jason; Murray, Carrie Ann; Owen, Sara (2019). Greek Colonization in Local Context: Case Studies Exploring the Dynamics among Locals and Colonizers. University of Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology Monographs. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1789251326.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha R.; Atasoy, Sümer; Temür, Akın; Yiğitpaşa, Davut (2019). Settlements and Necropoleis of the Black Sea and Its Hinterland in Antiquity: Select Papers from the Third International Conference 'The Black Sea in Antiquity and Tekkeköy: An Ancient Settlement on the Southern Black Sea Coast', 27-29 October 2017, Tekkeköy, Samsun. Archaeopress. S2CID 241412939.
- Bosher, Kathryn (2016). Theater outside Athens: Drama in Greek Sicily and South Italy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107527508.
- Irad, Malkin (2013). A Small Greek World: Networks in the Ancient Mediterranean. Oxford University Press; Reprint edition. ISBN 978-0199315727.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha (2011). The Black Sea, Greece, Anatolia and Europe in the First Millennium BC. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-9042923249.
- Rhodes, P. J. (2010). A History of the Classical Greek World: 478 - 323 BC. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1405192866.
- Dietler, Michael; López-Ruiz, Carolina (2009). Colonial Encounters in Ancient Iberia: Phoenician, Greek, and Indigenous Relations. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226148472.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha (2008). Greek Colonisation: An Account Of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas: Volume 2. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004155763.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha (2006). Greek Colonisation: An Account Of Greek Colonies and Other Settlements Overseas: Volume 1. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004122048.
- Kirigin, Branko (2006). Pharos. The Parian Settlement in Dalmatia: A study of a Greek colony in the Adriatic. British Archaeological Reports. ISBN 978-1841719917.
- Hall, Jonathan M. (2006). A History of the Archaic Greek World: ca. 1200-479 BCE. Wiley-Blackwel. ISBN 978-0631226680.
- Cerchiai, Luca; Janelli, Lorena; Longo, Fausto; Edward Smith, Mark (2004). The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily. J. Paul Getty Museum. ISBN 978-0892367511.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha (2004). The Archaeology of Greek Colonisation: Essays Dedicated to Sir John Boardman. Oxford University School of Archaeology; 2nd Revised edition. ISBN 978-0947816612.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha; Snodgrass, A. M. (2002). Greek Settlements in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. British Archaeological Reports. ISBN 978-1841714424.
- Graham (2001). Collected Papers on Greek Colonization. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004116344.
- Dominguez, Adolfo; Sanchez, Carmen (2001). Greek Pottery from the Iberian Peninsula: Archaic and Classical Periods. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004116047.
- Boardman, John; Solovyov, Sergei; Tsetskhladze, Gocha (2001). Northern Pontic Antiquities in the State Hermitage Museum. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004121461.
- Boardman, John (1999). The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500281093.
- Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. (1998). The Greek Colonisation of the Black Sea Area. Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3515073028.
- Isaac, Benjamin H. (1997). The Greek Settlements in Thrace Until the Macedonian Conquest. Studies of the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society, Vol 10. Brill Academic Pub. ISBN 978-9004069213.
- Treister, M Yu (1997). The Role of Metals in Ancient Greek History. Brill. ISBN 978-9004104730.
- Cohen, Getzel M. (1996). The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor. Hellenistic Culture and Society. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520083295.
- Irad, Malkin (1987). Religion and Colonization in Ancient Greece. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004071193.
- Sealey, Raphæl (1976). A History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520031777.