The Ionian League ( grc, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes''; , ''koinón Iōnōn''; or , ''koinē sýnodos Iōnōn'';
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''commune consilium''), also called the Panionic League, was a
confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
formed at the end of the
Meliac War in the mid-7th century BC comprising twelve
Ionian Greek city-states (a
dodecapolis, of which there were many others). The Ionian League was the first alliance of city-states in the region.
Overview
![Western Asia Minor Greek Colonization](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Western_Asia_Minor_Greek_Colonization.svg)
The twelve ancient city-states were listed by
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
as:
[Herodotus. ''The Histories'']
1.142
*
Miletus,
Myus
Myus ( grc, Μυοῦς), sometimes Myous or Myos, was an ancient Greek city in Caria. It was one of twelve major settlements of the Ionian League. The city was said to have been founded by Cyaretus ( grc, Κυάρητος) (sometimes called Cyd ...
, and
Priene
Priene ( grc, Πριήνη, Priēnē; tr, Prien) was an ancient Greek city of Ionia (and member of the Ionian League) located at the base of an escarpment of Mycale, about north of what was then the course of the Maeander River (now called th ...
— all located in
Caria
Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...
(a region in
Asia Minor
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 re ...
) and speaking the same dialect;
*
Ephesus,
Colophon,
Lebedus
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) ...
,
Teos
Teos ( grc, Τέως) or Teo was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, on a peninsula between Chytrium and Myonnesus. It was founded by Minyans from Orchomenus, Ionians and Boeotians, but the date of its foundation is unknown. Teos was ...
,
Clazomenae and
Phocaea
Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia (modern-day Marseille, in ...
— all located in
Lydia and/or the region known today as
Ionia (both also in Asia Minor, Lydia extending inland much farther relative to Ionia), speaking another dialect;
*
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...
(island) and
Erythrae
Erythrae or Erythrai ( el, Ἐρυθραί) later Litri, was one of the twelve Ionian cities of Asia Minor, situated 22 km north-east of the port of Cyssus (modern name: Çeşme), on a small peninsula stretching into the Bay of Erythrae ...
(Asia Minor) — with a common dialect; and
*
Samos
Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...
(island) — with its own dialect.
After 650 BC,
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 ...
, an originally
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 ...
city bordering the Ionians, was invited to diminish
Aeolis
Aeolis (; grc, Αἰολίς, Aiolís), or Aeolia (; grc, Αἰολία, Aiolía, link=no), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islan ...
and increase
Ionia by joining the league, which it did.
One of the earliest known historical sources, the ''
Histories'' of
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, and early inscriptions refer to the legally constituted body customarily translated by "league" as "the Ionians" in the special sense of the cities incorporated by it. One therefore reads of the cities, council or decisions "of the Ionians." Writers and documents of the
Hellenistic Period
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
explicitly use the term ''koinon'' ("common thing") or ''synodos'' ("
synod") of the Ionians, and by
anachronism apply it to the early league when they mention it.
The league was dissolved a few times and reconstituted a few times and in between its actual power varied. Under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...
it was allowed to issue its own coinage under the name ''koinon Iōnōn'' on one side with the face of the emperor on the other.
Foundation
The
Meliac War was a final settlement between the ancient state of
Caria
Caria (; from Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; tr, Karya) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid- Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined ...
and the
Ionians
The Ionians (; el, Ἴωνες, ''Íōnes'', singular , ''Íōn'') were one of the four major tribes that the Greeks considered themselves to be divided into during the ancient period; the other three being the Dorians, Aeolians, and Achaea ...
who had been settlers on its land at the mouth of the
Maeander for some centuries. Their last stronghold was the fortified settlement of Melia at the smaller peak of Dilek Daglari on the north slopes of
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 ...
, where the seat of their worship of
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...
Heliconius was located. The fort was constructed in the early 7th century BC.
Carians and Ionians had been
intermarrying for generations but a Carian state persisted until a coalition of Ionian cities defeated it and divided its lands among them. In view of the rising
Persian
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 the ...
threat, they decided to continue the coalition as the Ionian League, building a new religious and political center at Melia.
Delegates (''theoroi'') of the league gathered to celebrate the
Panionia, a religious festival and games (''
panegyris'') dedicated to Poseidon Heliconius at the sanctuary of Poseidon called the
Panionium
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 Mycale, Mt. Mycale, about south of Smyrna—now İzmi ...
. The Ionians (who had amalgamated with the Carians) had decided to continue the worship of Poseidon. Eventually, a new temple to the god was erected about 540 BC. (Its ruins and the location of Melia were part of the Lohmann et al. discoveries of 2004; prior to then, other theories of the location had been prevalent.)
See also
*
Amphictyonic League
In Archaic Greece, an amphictyony ( grc-gre, ἀμφικτυονία, a "league of neighbors"), or amphictyonic league, was an ancient religious association of tribes formed before the rise of the Greek '' poleis''.
The six Dorian cities of coast ...
*
Delian League
*
Ionia (satrapy)
Ionia, known in Old Persian as Yauna ( 𐎹𐎢𐎴), was a region within the satrapy of Lydia, with its capital at Sardis, within the First Persian Empire. The first mention of the Yauna is at the Behistun inscription.
History
Achaemenid con ...
*
Ionian Revolt
The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisf ...
Notes
References
*
*
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
;
''Histories'',
A. D. Godley
Alfred Denis Godley (22 January 1856 – 27 June 1925) was an Anglo-Irish classical scholar and author of humorous poems. From 1910 to 1920 he was Public Orator at the University of Oxford, a post that involved composing citations in Latin for ...
(translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920;
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Ancient Greece topics
Society of ancient Greece
9th century BC
Ancient Smyrna
9th-century BC establishments in Greece
Ancient history of Turkey
Greek city-state federations
Former confederations