Ionia () was an ancient
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
on the western coast of
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...
, to the south of present-day
Izmir. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the
Ionian League
The Ionian League ( grc, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes''; , ''koinón Iōnōn''; or , ''koinē sýnodos Iōnōn''; Latin: ''commune consilium''), also called the Panionic League, was a confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th ...
of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the
Ionian tribe who had settled in the region before the
Archaic period.
Ionia proper comprised a narrow coastal strip from
Phocaea in the north near the mouth of the river
Hermus (now the
Gediz), to
Miletus in the south near the mouth of the river
Maeander, and included the islands of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is ...
and
Samos. It was bounded by
Aeolia to the north,
Lydia
Lydia ( Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provin ...
to the east and
Caria to the south. The cities within the region figured large in the strife between the
Persian Empire and the Greeks.
Ionian cities were identified by mythic traditions of kinship and by their use of the
Ionic dialect, but there was a core group of twelve Ionian cities who formed the
Ionian League
The Ionian League ( grc, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes''; , ''koinón Iōnōn''; or , ''koinē sýnodos Iōnōn''; Latin: ''commune consilium''), also called the Panionic League, was a confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th ...
and had a shared sanctuary and festival at
Panionion
The Panionium (Ancient Greek: Πανιώνιον, ''Paniōnion'') was an Ionian sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios and the meeting place of the Ionian League. It was on the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, about south of Smyrna—now İzmir, in ...
. These twelve cities were (from south to north):
Miletus,
Myus,
Priene,
Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...
,
Colophon,
Lebedos
Lebedus or Lebedos ( grc, Λέβεδος) was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, located south of Smyrna, Klazomenai and neighboring Teos and before Ephesus, which is further south. It was on the coast, ninety stadia (16.65 km) t ...
,
Teos,
Erythrae,
Clazomenae and
Phocaea, together with the islands of
Samos and
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is ...
.
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
, originally an
Aeolic
In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anato ...
colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city.
Geography
Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding in length from north to south, with the cities located on a narrow band between the sea and the mountains, which varies in width from So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. The location of the eastern border with Lydia and Caria was vague in antiquity.
The region comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the
Hermus in the north, flowing into the
Gulf of Smyrna, though at some distance from the city of that name; the Caÿster (modern
Küçük Menderes River
Küçük Menderes ("Little Meander"), Cayster River or Kaystros River ( grc, Κάϋστρος, French: Caÿstre) or Caystrus River is a river south of İzmir, Turkey. It generally flows westward and arrives at the Aegean Sea at Pamucak beach, nea ...
), which flowed past Ephesus; and the
Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into a deep gulf between Priene and Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits.
Two east-west mountain ranges divide the region and extend out into the Aegean as peninsulas. The first begins as
Mount Sipylus between the Hermus and Caÿster river valleys and continues out as the
Erythrae peninsula, which faces the island of Chios. The second is the Messogis range between the Caÿster and Maeander ranges, which becomes the
Mycale peninsula, which reaches out towards the island of Samos. None of these mountain ranges exceed .
Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile region of Asia Minor.
Herodotus declares "in terms of climate and weather, there is no fairer region in the whole world."
History
From the 18th century BC the region was a part of the
Hittite Empire
The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...
with possible name
Arzawa, which was destroyed by invaders during the 12th century BC together with the collapse of the Empire. Ionia was settled by the Greeks probably during the 11th century BC. The most important city was
Miletus (the ''Millawanda/Milawata'' of Hittites). There is no record of any people named Ionians in
Late Bronze Age Anatolia but
Hittite texts The corpus of texts written in the Hittite language is indexed by the ''Catalogue des Textes Hittites'' (CTH, since 1971). The catalogue is only a classification of texts; it does not give the texts. One traditionally cites texts by their numbers in ...
record contact with
Ahhiyawans ("Achaeans"), without being clear on their location.
Miletus and some other cities founded earlier by non-Greeks received populations of
Mycenaean Greeks
Settlement
Greek settlement of Ionia seems to have accelerated following the
Bronze Age collapse, but the lack of contemporary sources makes the sequence of events unclear.
The ancient Greeks believed that the Ionians were the descendants of
Ion (either a son or grandson of
Hellen, the mythical ancestor of the Greeks) and had
migrated from Greece to Asia Minor in mythic times. The story is attested from the Classical period.
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...
states that in Asia the Ionians kept the division into twelve cities that had prevailed in Ionian lands of the north Peloponnese, their former homeland, which became
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...
after they left. However, the story of the migration is recounted most fully by the Roman-period authors
Strabo and
Pausanias. They report that the Ionians were expelled from the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...
by
Achaians, and were granted refuge in Athens by King
Melanthus. Later, when Medon was selected as King of Athens, his brothers, the "sons of Codrus" led a group of Ionians and others to Asia Minor. Simultaneously, the
Aeolians of
Boeotia
Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, wikt:Βοιωτία, Βοιωτία; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is pa ...
settled the coast to the north of the Ionians and the
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians) ...
settled in
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
, the
Dodecanese
The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited ...
and in
Caria.
According to Pausanias, the sons of Codrus were as follows:
*
Neileus conquered
Miletus from the
Cretans. Pausanias and most other sources present Neileus as the overall leader of the Ionians.
*
Androclus
Androcles ( el, Ἀνδροκλῆς, alternatively spelled Androclus in Latin), is the main character of a common folktale about a man befriending a lion.
The tale is included in the Aarne–Thompson classification system as type 156. The ...
conquered
Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...
from the
Leleges and
Lydians
The Lydians (known as ''Sparda'' to the Achaemenids, Old Persian cuneiform 𐎿𐎱𐎼𐎭) were Anatolian people living in Lydia, a region in western Anatolia, who spoke the distinctive Lydian language, an Indo-European language of the Anat ...
, conquered
Samos, and died defending
Priene from
Carians. Strabo says that Androclus was the leader of the Ionians and only legitimate son of Codrus.
*
Cyaretus took
Myus from the
Carians.
*
Damasichthon Damasichthon (Ancient Greek: Δαμασίχθων) is a name that refers to the following figures in Greek mythology and legendary history:
*Damasichthon, one of the Niobids.
*Damasichthon (King of Thebes), grandson of Peneleos and successor to Aut ...
and
Promethus found the descendants of
Thersander of
Thebes at
Colophon and settled alongside them, but later Promethus killed his brother and fled to
Naxos.
*
Andraemon conquered
Lebedus from the Carians.
* Damasus and Naoclus settled at Teos, along with Boeotians led by Geres. The city had already been settled by Ionians under Apoecus (whose name literally means "founder") and
Minyans who settled under
Athamas.
*
Cleopus gathered a group made up of equal portions from all the Ionian cities and settled them at
Erythrae, where there were already Cretans, Lycians, Carians and
Pamphylians.
Pausanias reports that other cities were founded or became Ionian later:
* Priene was founded by Neileus' son Aegyptus, along with Philotas, as a joint Ionian and Theban settlement.
*
Clazomenae was founded by a group of Ionians, who received Parphorus, a descendant of Codrus from Colophon as their founder.
*
Phocaea was founded by a group of
Phocians from near
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracl ...
, led by Philogenes and Damon of Athens and then received Deoetes, Periclus and Abartus, descendants of Codrus, as their kings in order to gain recognition as Ionians.
* Procles son of Pityreus of
Epidaurus, a descendant of Ion, who had been expelled by
Argos conquered Samos. Under his son Leogorus, the Ephesians under Androclus conquered the island and the Samians fled to
Samothrace and to
Anaea, but then reconquered Samos.
*
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is ...
, was settled by Cretans under Oenopion, then by Carians and
Abantes from
Euboea. Oenopion's grandson Hector drove them out and received a tripod and the right to sacrifice at the
Panionion
The Panionium (Ancient Greek: Πανιώνιον, ''Paniōnion'') was an Ionian sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon Helikonios and the meeting place of the Ionian League. It was on the peninsula of Mt. Mycale, about south of Smyrna—now İzmir, in ...
from the Ionians (Pausanias expresses uncertainty about how this made them Ionian).
*
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
had been conquered by the Aeolians, but was later conquered by the Colophonians.
Archaic period
In the Archaic period, "the Ionian poleis were among the cultural, intellectual, and political leaders of the Greek world."
Ionian League
The twelve Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political or military) confederacy, the
Ionian League
The Ionian League ( grc, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes''; , ''koinón Iōnōn''; or , ''koinē sýnodos Iōnōn''; Latin: ''commune consilium''), also called the Panionic League, was a confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th ...
, of which participation in the Pan-Ionic festival was a distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of
Mt. Mycale
Mycale (). also Mykale and Mykali ( grc, Μυκάλη, ''Mykálē''), called Samsun Dağı and Dilek Dağı (Dilek Peninsula) in modern Turkey, is a mountain on the west coast of central Anatolia in Turkey, north of the mouth of the Maeander an ...
in a shrine called the
Panionium.
The foundation took place late in the Archaic period, but the exact date is unclear. This is also when stories of the
Ionian migration are first attested. All of these initiatives were probably aimed at emphasising Ionian distinctiveness from other Greeks in Asia.
But the Ionian League was primarily a religious organisation rather than a political one. Although they did sometimes act together, civic interests and priorities always trumped broader Ionian ones. they never formed a real confederacy. The advice of
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard ...
of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected.
In inscriptions and literary sources from this period, Ionians generally identify themselves by their city of origin, not as "Ionians."
Ionians overseas
The cities became prosperous.
Miletus especially was at an early period one of the most important commercial cities of Greece; and in its turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all around the shores of the
Euxine Sea and the Propontis from Abydus and
Cyzicus to
Trapezus and Panticapaeum.
Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean.
Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...
, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, from an early period became a flourishing city.
In the eight century Ionian Greeks are recorded in Near Eastern sources as coastal raiders: an inscription of
Sargon II
Sargon II (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , meaning "the faithful king" or "the legitimate king") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 722 BC to his death in battle in 705. Probably the son of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727), Sargon is genera ...
(ca 709–07, recording a naval expedition of 715) boasts "in the midst of the sea" he had "caught the Ionians like fish and brought peace to the land of Que
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian language, Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from th ...
and the city of
Tyre".
[Sargon's inscription in A. Fuchs, ''Die Inschriften Sargons II aus Khorsabad'' (1994:40) noted in Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2008:29f.] For a full generation earlier, Assyrian inscriptions had recorded troubles with the Ionians, who escaped on their boats.
Lydian rule
About 700 BC
Gyges Gyges can refer to:
* One of the Hecatoncheires from Greek mythology
* King Gyges of Lydia
* Ogyges
* Ring of Gyges
The Ring of Gyges ( grc, Γύγου Δακτύλιος, ''Gúgou Daktúlios'', ) is a hypothetical magic ring mentioned by the p ...
, first Mermnad king of
Lydia
Lydia ( Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provin ...
, invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken Colophon. His son
Ardys conquered Priene. In the middle of the 7th century, the
Cimmerii ravaged a great part of Asia Minor, including Lydia, and sacked
Magnesia on the Maeander, but were defeated when they attacked Ephesus. It was not until the reign of
Croesus
Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC.
Croesus was re ...
(560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia fell completely under Lydian rule.
First Achaemenid rule
The defeat of Croesus by
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...
was followed by the conquest of all the Ionian cities in 547 BC. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek cities of Asia, forming part of the satrapy of Lydia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, but were subject to local despots (called "
tyrant
A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...
s"), who were loyal to the Persian king.
Art and archaeology show that Ionia was characterised by "openness and adaptability" towards the Lydians, Persians, and their eastern neighbours in this period. Lydian products and luxury objects were widespread.
The Persians used "Yaunā" (Ionian) as a catch-all term for all Greeks, dividing them into "Yaunā of the mainland" in Asia Minor, "Yaunā dwelling by the sea" in the Aegean islands, "Yaunā dwelling across the sea" in the Greek mainland, and "Yaunā with shields on their heads" in Macedonia.
Ionian revolt
It was at the instigation of one of the tyrants,
Histiaeus of Miletus
Histiaeus (, died 493 BC), the son of Lysagoras, was a Greek ruler of Miletus in the late 6th century BC. Histiaeus was tyrant of Miletus under Darius I, king of Persia, who had subjugated Miletus and the other Ionian states in Asia ...
, that in about 500 BC the principal cities ignited the
Ionian Revolt against Persia. They were at first assisted by the Athenians and
Eretria
Eretria (; el, Ερέτρια, , grc, Ἐρέτρια, , literally 'city of the rowers') is a town in Euboea, Greece, facing the coast of Attica across the narrow South Euboean Gulf. It was an important Greek polis in the 6th and 5th cent ...
, with whose aid they penetrated into the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the
Persian invasion of Greece
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of th ...
. But the fleet of the Ionians was defeated off the island of
Lade, and the destruction of Miletus after a protracted siege was followed by the reconquest of all the Asiatic Greeks, insular as well as continental.
Athenian empire
The victories of the Greeks during the
Persian invasion of Greece
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of th ...
and the liberation of
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
,
Macedon
Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled b ...
, and Ionia from the Persian Empire had the effect of enfranchising their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean; and the
Battle of Mycale
The Battle of Mycale ( grc, Μάχη τῆς Μυκάλης; ''Machē tēs Mykalēs'') was one of the two major battles (the other being the Battle of Plataea) that ended the second Persian invasion of Greece during the Greco-Persian Wars. It ...
(479 BC), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens within the
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in 478 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, numbering between 150 and 330, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Pl ...
. In the
Athenian tribute lists
The members of the Delian League/Athenian Empire (c. 478-404 BC) can be categorized into two groups: the allied states (''symmachoi'') reported in the stone tablets of the Athenian tribute lists (454-409 BC), who contributed the ''symmachikos phor ...
, one of the regions of the empire is the ''Ionikos phoros'', a region which includes the cities of Ionia, but also
Aeolis and
Mysia to the north. Caria to the south was initially its own region, but was folded into the Ionikos phoros in 438 BC.
The Athenians advanced an expansive definition of Ionian identity, which included most of the communities under their control and emphasised common descent from Athens. This was probably intended to legitimise their rule over the region. It clashed with the restrictive definition of Ionian identity that was maintained by the Ionian League.
Herodotus, who came from
Halicarnassus, a Dorian city in southwestern Asia Minor which was also part of the Athenian Empire writes in opposition to the Ionian League's claims that "it would be stupid to say that they are more truly Ionian or better born ...." He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from
Euboea,
Minyans from
Orchomenus, Cadmeians,
Dryopians,
Phocians,
Molossians
The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...
, Arcadian
Pelasgians,
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians) ...
of
Epidaurus, and others. Even "the best born of the Ionians" had married girls from
Caria. He defines Ionians as all peoples who were descended from Athenians and celebrated the
Apaturia festival, which aligns with the expansive Athenian definition of Ionian identity.
Satrapy (387–335 BC)
The Spartans dissolved the Athenian Empire at the end of the
Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. The Spartans installed
harmosts (governors) in the cities, but had to withdraw them because they had promised Ionia and the other Greek communities in Asia to the Persians.
[Hamilton, ''Sparta's Bitter Victories'', p. 27.] In 401, the Ionian cities and Sparta supported
Cyrus the Younger
Cyrus the Younger ( peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ''Kūruš''; grc-gre, Κῦρος ; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 ...
, the Persian overlord of Asia Minor, in his attempt to seize the throne from his brother, King
Artaxerxes II
Arses ( grc-gre, Ἄρσης; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( peo, 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂 ; grc-gre, Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and suc ...
but he failed. Artaxerxes tasked
Tissaphernes, the
satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with cons ...
of
Lydia
Lydia ( Lydian: 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish provin ...
and
Caria, with retaking the Ionian cities, and the Spartans opposed him.
In 396 BC,
Agesilaus led a large expedition to Asia Minor to defend the cities and attack the Persians, which landed in Ephesus. From there he invaded Phrygia and Lydia, sacking
Sardis
Sardis () or Sardes (; Lydian: 𐤳𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣 ''Sfard''; el, Σάρδεις ''Sardeis''; peo, Sparda; hbo, ספרד ''Sfarad'') was an ancient city at the location of modern ''Sart'' (Sartmahmut before 19 October 2005), near Salihli, ...
in 395 BC. But the outbreak of the
Corinthian War forced him to withdraw in 395 BC.
The region was under Persian control by about 390 BC, when the Persian
satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with cons ...
arbitrated a boundary dispute between Miletus and Myus. Sparta, Athens, and the other mainland Greek states formally acknowledged Persian possession of Ionia and the other Greek cities in Asia Minor in the
Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC.
In this period, Ionia was a separate satrapy, rather than part of Lydia - the only time in the region's history that formed an administrative unit. Ionian cities appear to have retained a considerable amount of autonomy until the conquest of Asia Minor by
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
in 335 BC.
Hellenistic period
Ephesus was conquered by
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the a ...
in 336 BC in preparation for the invasion of Persia, which took place under his son
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
. After the
battle of the Granicus
The Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydus to Dascylium, at the crossing of the G ...
in 334 BC most of the Ionian cities submitted to Alexander, except for Miletus, which was taken only after a long siege. Alexander presented his invasion as a liberation of the Greeks of Asia and therefore treated the Ionians generously, granting them freedom, autonomy, and tax-free status.
In the
conflict that broke out between Alexander's
successors after his death in 323 BC and throughout the
Hellenistic Age that followed, Ionia was a contested territory, divided between the
Antigonid,
Seleucid, and
Ptolemaic kingdoms. Cities were regularly forced to switch allegiance from one monarch to another, but they were also able to play the kings off against one another in order to get better terms for themselves. Despite the political situation, the Ionian League continued to operate throughout the period.
Following their victory in the
War with Antiochus
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
in 189 BC, the Romans placed Ionia under the control of the
Attalid Kingdom, which retained the region until it was annexed by Rome in 133 BC.
One of the major theatrical associations of the Hellenistic period was the Synod of the Dionysiac Artists of Ionia and the Hellespont, which was established around 250 BC and had its headquarters successively in Teos, Ephesus,
Myonnesus, and Lebedus.
Roman empire
Ionia became part of the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...
in 133 BC, which had its capital at the Ionian city of Ephesus. Ionia had no formal place in the Roman administration of the province, which was divided into
conventus districts that were totally distinct from the traditional ethnic divisions of the region. However, the Ionian League continued to function in this period.
The geographer
Strabo treats Ionia as the narrow coastal strip from the Hermus river in the north to the Maeander river in the south (though noting that other authorities included the plain south of the river). He treats Ephesus as its most important city and presents an unbroken tradition of intellectual culture in the region stretching from the Archaic philosophers down to his own day - in contrast to the intellectual life of mainland Greece, which he presents as a thing of the past. Other authors sometimes use "Ionia" as a
metonym
Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept.
Etymology
The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name' ...
for the whole province of Asia.
Decreased political agency for the Greek cities under Rome, led to increased focus on cultural identity as a source of civic prestige. In the fierce rivalries that raged between the cities of the Province of Asia in the Roman Imperial period, Ionian cities emphasised their Ionian identity as "one of the purest, 'primordial' forms of Greekness," while their rivals denounced Ionians as overly influenced by
oriental luxury and recalled their support for the Persians in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC. Most sources discussing Ionian founding myths belong to this period. Ionian cities retained local month names and continued to count years by
eponymous magistrate
In ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called eponymous archon (ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων, ''epōnymos archōn''). "Archon" (ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες, ''archontes'') means "ruler" or "lord", frequentl ...
s rather than adopting
era dating
A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one '' epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, it is the year as per the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Copti ...
like most other cities in Asia Minor. Distinctive Ionian personal names remained common.
Medieval and modern history
Greeks continued to live in Ionia through the
Roman,
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
and
Ottoman Empires but were forced to vacate the region in 1922 with the
population exchange between Turkey and Greece. The suburbs of
Nea Ionia and
Nea Smyrni were primarily settled by refugees from Ionia and still maintain an Ionian identity.
Legacy
Ionia has a long roll of distinguished men of letters and science (notably the
Ionian School of philosophy) and distinct school of art. This school flourished between 700 and 500 BC. The great names of this school are
Theodorus and Rhoecus of Samos;
Bathycles of
Magnesia on the Maeander;
Glaucus of Chios, Melas, Micciades, Archermus,
Bupalus and Athenis
Bupalus ( el, Βούπαλος) and Athenis ( el, Ἄθηνις), were sons of Archermus, and members of the celebrated school of sculpture in marble which flourished in Chios in the 6th century BC. They were contemporaries of the poet Hipponax, ...
of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is ...
. Notable works of the school still extant are the famous archaic female statues found on the Athenian Acropolis in 1885–1887, the seated statues of Branchidae, the Nike of Archermus found at Delos, and the objects in
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...
and
electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially, ...
found by D. G. Hogarth in the lower strata of the Artemision at Ephesus.
The
Persian designation for
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
is ''Younan'' (یونان), a transliteration of "Ionia", through
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as ( ...
''Yauna''.
The same is true for the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
word, "Yavan" (יוון) and the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
word "''
yavana''". The word was later adopted in
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
,
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
, and
as well as in other places.
Literary references
Ionia appears as the major setting in these novels:
* ''The Ionia Sanction'' (2011), by
Gary Corby
* ''
The Ionian Mission'' (1981), by
Patrick O'Brian
See also
*
Ancient regions of Anatolia
*
Regions of ancient Greece
*
Ionians
*
List of traditional Greek place names
*
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey ( el, Ἡ Ἀνταλλαγή, I Antallagí, ota, مبادله, Mübâdele, tr, Mübadele) stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...
; ''
Histories
Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to:
* the plural of history
* ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus
* ''The Histories'', by Timaeus
* ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius
* ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...
'',
A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920;
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Jan Paul Crielaard, "The Ionians in the Archaic period: Shifting identities in a changing world," in Ton Derks, Nico Roymans (ed.), ''Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition'' (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009) (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies, 13), 37–84.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Coord, 38.2, 27.5, dim:200km, display=title
States and territories established in the 7th century BC
States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC
Iron Age Anatolia