Iron Age Greek migrations
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The Iron Age Greek migrations were effected by a population of émigrés from amidst the displacements and reconstruction that occurred in Greece proper from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 9th century BCE (the
Asia Minor and the founding of new cities, which afterwards became centers of the Greek civilization. The migrations by various tribal groups were effected in consecutive waves known as the Aeolic, Ionian, Doric and Achaean (Arcadian) migrations. The movements differed from the Greek colonisation of the Archaic period in that they were more ad hoc affairs, rather than being the result of a planned process of colonisation on the part of the mother city. They are also less well-documented historically and in folk histories are often said to have been led by a mythologized or semi-legendary leader, such as Hercules or Orestes
.
Movements within mainland Greece
 | This section only references primary sources. (January 2023) |
The establishment of the Dorians within Central Greece
Within the span of the 13th century BCE the
Aetolians and the Locrians. In acquiring the region they displaced the previous inhabitants, the Dryopes, who fled to Euboea, to the islands of the Cyclades and to southern Argolis. In Euboea they set up a state, with its seat in Carystus while in southern Argolis they founded the cities of Hermione, Asine, Heiones and Mases. This movement of the Drupones was the first meaningful one in the region of Southern Greece in the shift from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age.[1]
The Dorian Invasion of the Peloponnese
After their consolidation in the area of Stereas the Dorians organized a campaign against the wealthy and powerful kings of
narrows of Rion-Antirion, and from that arrival (by naus, "ship"), the city of Naupactus (modern pronunciation Nafpaktos) took its name.[2]
After their crossing into the Peloponnese, the Dorians split into four divisions and each of these moved to capture one of the principal Achaean kingdoms. One group under the leadership of
Aletes, son of Hippotes moved on the isthmus of Corinth and took the area around Corinth
.
The dominance of the Dorians in the Peloponnese brought further upheavals and changes in population. The Achaeans of Argolis moved northward and established themselves in the region of Achaea. From that region they displaced the Ionians who were administering it, and subsequently moved east from the region of Corinth. First establishing themselves in Euboea, displacing the previous inhabitants there, the
Asia Minor. The Ionians of Attica were able to repulse the invasion of the Dorians, as evidenced by the continuity of their kingship of Codrus morphing into the archonship (or kingship) of his son Medon
.
The settlement of Asia Minor and the Aegean
Aeolian migration
In the same period that the Dorians moved on the Peloponnese, others carried out their own movements within Greece proper. The
Thessalians, from their first appearance in the area of Thesprotia, moved into the area of Thessaly, displacing the earlier Aeolophone
tribe who inhabited that area.
Antandros, Cebre, Scepsis, Neandreia and Pitya. The Achaeans of the Peloponnese who followed the Aeolic speakers participated in the Aeolic resettlement. The received tradition records Orestes as an instigator of the relocation of the Aeolians, and the royal family of the Penthilides on Mytilene
claimed descent from Orestes.
Ionian migration
The Ionians, before the arrival of the Dorians, lived in the northern Peloponnese, in
Clazomenae, Erythrae, Phocaea and the island states Chios and Samos.[5] A temple of Poseidon, in the area of Mycale, ended up being their religious centre. Other tribes such as the Achaeans of the Peloponnese, the Arcadians, the Abantai, the Minyes from Orchomenus, the Phocaeans and the Molossians established themselves apart from the Ionians, but in the area of Ionia. The Abantes established themselves in Chios and preceded the Ionians who established themselves there later. The settlement of the Achaeans from Pylia is related to that at Colophon, while Achaeans from Argolis were established in the area of Clazomenai. The further traditions of the Ionian cities are thought to be due to the leader of the migration being one of the descendants of Codrus
, and their point of departure appears to have been Attica.
Dorian migration
The Dorians who took
Cnidus. The Dorian settlers of the regions of the Dodecanese and southwest Asia Minor joined in one form of common government, the Hexapolis, which encompassed the cities of Halicarnassus, Cnidus, Lindos, Ialysos, Camerius
and Cos. The centre of the Dorians of Asia Minor was the temple of Apollo on the promontory of Triopios in Cnidus. Eventually the Halicarnassians were forbidden to participate in the ceremonies there, due to the sacrilege of one Agasicles.
[6]
Sources
- Alexandropoulou, Ioanna. "Aeolian Colonization". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Translated by Koutras, Nikolaos.
- Deger-Jalkotzy, Sigrid. "Ionic Colonization". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor.
- Alexandropoulou, Ioanna. "Dorian Colonies in Asia Minor". Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor. Translated by Koutras, Nikolaos.
References
- ^ Herodotus (1920). "43.1". Histories. Vol. 8 (Ourania). Translated by A. D. Godley.
... ἐόντες οὗτοι πλὴν Ἑρμιονέων Δωρικόν τε καὶ Μακεδνὸν ἔθνος, ἐξ Ἐρινεοῦ τε καὶ Πίνδου καὶ τῆς Δρυοπίδος ὕστατα ὁρμηθέντες. οἱ δὲ Ἑρμιονέες εἰσὶ Δρύοπες, ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέος τε καὶ Μηλιέων ἐκ τῆς νῦν Δωρίδος καλεομένης χώρης ἐξαναστάντες. (...All of these except the Hermioneans are Dorian and Macedonian and had last come from Erineus and Pindus and the Dryopian region. The Hermioneans are Dryopians, driven out of the country now called Doris by Herakles and the Malians.)
- W.H.S. Jones; H.A. Ormerod.A more literal translation of this passage would add that the Lacedaemonians call the land Naupaktioi, while the Athenians call it Naupaktos.
...ἐπεὶ ἐπὶ Ναυπάκτῳ γε οἶδα εἰρημένον ὡς Δωριεῖς οἱ ὁμοῦ τοῖς Ἀριστομάχου παισὶ τὰ πλοῖα αὐτόθι ἐποιήσαντο, οἷς ἐς Πελοπόννησον ἐπεραιώθησαν: καὶ ἀντὶ τούτου γενέσθαι τὸ ὄνομα τῷ χωρίῳ φασί. τὰ δέ μοι Ναυπακτίων, ὡς τοῖς ἐς Ἰθώμην ἀποστᾶσιν ὁμοῦ τῷ σεισμῷ τῷ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι Ἀθηναῖοι Ναύπακτον... (..while as for Naupactus, I have heard it said that the Dorians under the sons of Aristomachus built here the vessels in which they crossed to the Peloponnesus, thus, it is said, giving to the place its name...1. Naupactus means "the city of ship-building.")
N.b. - ^ Herodotus (1920). "176.4". Histories. Vol. 7 (Terpsichore). Translated by A. D. Godley.
... ἐπεὶ Θεσσαλοὶ ἦλθον ἐκ Θεσπρωτῶν οἰκήσοντες γῆν τὴν Αἰολίδα τήν νῦν ἐκτέαται...(...Athe Thessalians when these came from Thesprotia to dwell in the Aeolian land, the region which they now possess...)
- ^ Herodotus (1920). "149.1-2". Histories. Vol. 1 (Clio). Translated by A. D. Godley.
αὗται μὲν αἱ Ἰάδες πόλιες εἰσί, αἵδε δὲ αἱ Αἰολίδες, Κύμη ἡ Φρικωνὶς καλεομένη, Λήρισαι, Νέον τεῖχος, Τῆμνος, Κίλλα, Νότιον, Αἰγιρόεσσα, Πιτάνη, Αἰγαῖαι, Μύρινα, Γρύνεια. αὗται ἕνδεκα Αἰολέων πόλιες αἱ ἀρχαῖαι: μία γὰρ σφέων παρελύθη Σμύρνη ὑπὸ Ἰώνων: ἦσαν γὰρ καὶ αὗται δυώδεκα αἱ ἐν τῆ ἠπείρῳ. [2] οὗτοι δὲ οἱ Αἰολέες χώρην μὲν ἔτυχον κτίσαντες ἀμείνω Ἰώνων, ὡρέων δὲ ἥκουσαν οὐκ ὁμοίως. (Those are the Ionian cities, and these are the Aeolian: Cyme (called "Phriconian"),1 Lerisae, Neon Teichos, Temnos, Cilla, Notion, Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegaeae, Myrina, Gryneia.2 These are the ancient Aeolian cities, eleven in number; but one of them, Smyrna, was taken away by the Ionians; for these too were once twelve, on the mainland. [2] These Aeolians had settled where the land was better than the Ionian territory, but the climate was not so good. 1 Perhaps so called from a mountain in Aeolis, Phricion, near which the Aeolians had been settled before their migration to Asia. 2 These places lie between Smyrna and Pergamum, on or near the coast. But Aegiroessa has not been exactly identified.)
- ^ Herodotus (1920). "142.3". Histories. Vol. 1 (Clio). Translated by A. D. Godley.
Μίλητος μὲν αὐτέων πρώτη κέεται πόλις πρὸς μεσαμβρίην, μετὰ δὲ Μυοῦς τε καὶ Πριήνη. 4 αὗται μὲν ἐν τῇ Καρίῃ κατοίκηνται κατὰ ταὐτὰ διαλεγόμεναι σφίσι, αἵδε δὲ ἐν τῇ Λυδίῃ, Ἔφεσος Κολοφὼν Λέβεδος Τέως Κλαζομεναὶ Φώκαια· αὗται δὲ αἱ πόλιες τῇσι πρότερον λεχθείσῃσι ὁμολογέουσι κατὰ γλῶσσαν οὐδέν, σφισι δὲ ὁμοφωνέουσι. ἔτι δὲ τρεῖς ὑπόλοιποι Ἰάδες πόλιες, τῶν αἱ δύο μὲν νήσους οἰκέαται, Σάμον τε καὶ Χίον, ἡ δὲ μία ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἵδρυται, Ἐρυθραί. Χῖοι μέν νυν καὶ Ἐρυθραῖοι κατὰ τὠυτὸ διαλέγονται, Σάμιοι δὲ ἐπ᾽ ἑωυτῶν μοῦνοι. οὗτοι χαρακτῆρες γλώσσης τέσσερες γίνονται. (Miletus lies farthest south among them, and next to it come Myus and Priene; these are settlements in Caria, and they have a common language; Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Clazomenae, Phocaea, all of them in Lydia, )
- ^ Herodotus (1920). "144". Histories. Vol. 1 (Clio). Translated by A. D. Godley.
κατά περ οἱ ἐκ τῆς πενταπόλιος νῦν χώρης Δωριέες, πρότερον δὲ ἑξαπόλιος τῆς αὐτῆς ταύτης καλεομένης, φυλάσσονται ὦν μηδαμοὺς ἐσδέξασθαι τῶν προσοίκων Δωριέων ἐς τὸ Τριοπικὸν ἱρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφέων αὐτῶν τοὺς περὶ τὸ ἱρόν ἀνομήσαντας ἐξεκλήισαν τῆς μετοχῆς, [2] ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἀγῶνι τοῦ Τριοπίου Ἀπόλλωνος ἐτίθεσαν τὸ πάλαι τρίποδας χαλκέους τοῖσι νικῶσι, καὶ τούτους χρῆν τοὺς λαμβάνοντας ἐκ τοῦ ἱροῦ μὴ ἐκφέρειν ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀνατιθέναι τῷ θεῷ. [3] ἀνὴρ ὦν Ἁλικαρνησσεύς, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Ἀγασικλέης, νικήσας τὸν νόμον κατηλόγησε, φέρων δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἑωυτοῦ οἰκία προσεπασσάλευσε τὸν τρίποδα. διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίην αἱ πέντε πόλιες, Λίνδος καὶ Ἰήλυσός τε καὶ Κάμειρος καὶ Κῶς τε καὶ Κνίδος ἐξεκλήισαν τῆς μετοχῆς τὴν ἕκτην πόλιν Ἁλικαρνησσόν. τούτοισι μέν νυν οὗτοι ταύτην τὴν ζημίην ἐπέθηκαν. (Just as the Dorians of what is now the country of the "Five Cities"—formerly the country of the "Six Cities"—forbid admitting any of the neighboring Dorians to the Triopian temple, and even barred from using it those of their own group who had broken the temple law. [2] For long ago, in the games in honor of Triopian Apollo, they offered certain bronze tripods to the victors; and those who won these were not to carry them away from the temple but dedicate them there to the god. [3] Now when a man of Halicarnassus called Agasicles won, he disregarded this law, and, carrying the tripod away, nailed it to the wall of his own house. For this offense the five cities—Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus, Cos, and Cnidus—forbade the sixth city—Halicarnassus—to share in the use of the temple. Such was the penalty imposed on the Halicarnassians.)