Iron Age Greek migrations

See also: Greek Dark Ages and Archaic Greece

The geographical distribution of Greek dialects at the close of the migration period

The Iron Age Greek migrations occurred from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 9th century BCE (the Greek Dark Ages). The movements resulted in the settlement of the Aegean islands, Cyprus, Crete, and the western coast of Asia Minor. New cities were founded which afterwards became centers of Greek civilization. Tribal groups migrated in consecutive waves known as the Aeolic, Ionian, Doric, and Achaean (Arcadian) migrations.

Compared to the Greek colonisations of the Archaic period, the Iron Age Migrations were more ad hoc affairs, rather than being a planned settlement organised by a mother city. They are also less well-documented historically. In folk histories, they are often said to have been led by legendary leaders, such as Hercules or Orestes.

Movements within mainland Greece

Establishment of Dorians within Central Greece

During the 13th century BCE the Dorians, probably originating from the regions of Epirus and southern Macedonia, moved farther south into Central Greece, with a centre of power in Doris. The Dorians knew ironworking, which was a new technology during this period, and rapidly grew into a great power. The Dorians which then expanded further into the regions inhabited by the Aetolians and the Locrians.

According to Herodotus, the Dorians displaced the previous inhabitants, called the Dryopes, and the Dryopes then fled to Euboea, the islands of the Cyclades, and to southern Argolis. In Euboea they set up a state a 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]

Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese

Main article: Dorian invasion

Hypothetical diagram of population movements within Greece

After consolidating their rule in the area of Stereas, the Dorians organized a campaign against the wealthy and powerful kings of Achaea in the Peloponnese. They were joined by two neighboring tribes, the Aetolians and the Boeotians, who fought with the Dorians either as allies or under their authority. In the middle of the 12th century BCE, the Dorians attacked the Peloponnese, crossing Strait of Rion with their fleet. According to the Pausanias, they crossed into the Peloponnese at the narrows of Rion-Antirion by ship, which provides the origin of the name of the city of Naupactus at this location (naus is "ship" in Greek.). ^[2]

Upon their arrival in the Peloponnese, the Dorians split into four groups and each of them moved to capture one of the principal Achaean kingdoms. One group under the leadership of Cresphontes moved on Messenia and captured the kingdom of Pylos, a second group under the leadership of Aristodemus moved on Laconia and established itself in Sparta, while the third under the leadership of Temenos took Argos and Mycenae. Mycenae is supposed to have been destroyed by the Dorians around 1150 BCE. Finally, a fourth group under the leadership of Aletes, son of Hippotes moved towards the isthmus of Corinth and took the area around Corinth.

The conquest of the Peloponnese by the Dorians caused further upheavals. The Achaeans of Argolis moved northward and established themselves in the region of Achaea, displacing the Ionians, and subsequently moved east from the region of Corinth. First establishing themselves in Euboea, displacing the previous inhabitants there, the Abantes and continued on to the Aegean and the coast of Asia Minor. According to the traditional narrative, the Ionians of Attica were able to repulse the Dorian invasion, as evidenced by the continuity of their kingship of Codrus morphing into the archonship (or kingship) of his son Medon.

Settlement of Asia Minor and the Aegean

Aeolian migration

Map of ancient Greece

In the same period as Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese, other groups groups were migrating as well. The Thessalians, moved from Thesprotia into the area of Thessaly, displacing the earlier Aeolophone tribe who had inhabited that area. ^[3] The Thessalians spurred the Boeotians to move southward into the area of Boeotia. Other peoples who had lived in Thessaly and Boeotia fled to the islands of Northeast Aegean Sea and established themselves in Lesbos, and Tenedos, and the Moschonesi (Fragrant Isles). These inhabitants were later called Aeolians from the name of a Thessalic tribe who had taken part in the migration.

The Aeolians next colonised the western coast of Asia Minor, which was named Aeolis. Herodotus relates the founding of twelve cities in that section of Asia Minor: Aegae, Aegiroessa, Gryneion, Cilla, Cyme, Larissa, Myrina, Neonteichos, Notion, Pitane, Smyrna and Temnus. ^[4] In the 7th century BCE, the Aeolians also expanded into the Troad, founding the cities of Gargara Assos, Antandros, Cebre, Scepsis, Neandreia and Pitya. The Achaeans of the Peloponnese who followed the Aeolic speakers participated in the Aeolic resettlement. According to the traditional narrative, the mythological figure Orestes instigated the relocation of the Aeolians, and the royal family of the Penthilides on Mytilene claimed descent from him.

Ionian migration

Temple of Poseidon in Attica

Before the arrival of the Dorians, the Ionians had lived in the northern Peloponnese, Megaris, and Attica. After losing their territories to the Dorians and Achaeans of Argolis, the Ionians moved farther east into Euboea, displacing the earlier inhabitants, the Abantes. In the middle of the 11th century BCE they settled the northern Cyclades and, together with the Ionians of Attica, settled the islands of Samos and Chios. Ionia, the central section of the Asia Minor coast, is named after them. The Ionians founded twelve cities which remained united in one common polity, the Ionian League. The cities of the league were Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Phocaea and the island states Chios and Samos. ^[5] A temple of Poseidon, in the area of Mycale, became 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 in the area of Ionia. The Abantes established themselves in Chios and preceded the Ionians who came 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

Ruins of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Dorians who took Argos and Corinth expanded gradually throughout the northeast Peloponnese. After failing to capture Attica, they turned toward the sea. With the Doric states of Argolis as their departure point they settled Aegina, the southern Cyclades, Cyprus, Crete, the Dodecanese and the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. Composed of various groups of Dorians from Troezen, they settled Halicarnassus; from Epidaurus, Cos, and from Argos, Rhodes, Crete, and the islands of the Cyclades. In the following years Dorians from Laconia also set up in Crete, on Thera (modern Santorini), on Milos and on 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

1. 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.)
2. Pausanias (1920) [1903]. "38.10". In Teubner (ed.). Ἑλλάδος περιήγησις (Pausaniae Graeciae Descriptio, Description of Greece). Vol. 10 (Phocis and Ozolian Locri ). Translated by W.H.S. Jones; H.A. Ormerod. ...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. A more literal translation of this passage would add that the Lacedaemonians call the land Naupaktioi, while the Athenians call it Naupaktos.
3. 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...)
4. 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.)
5. 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, )
6. 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.)