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TheIron Age Greek migrations occurred from the middle of the 11th century to the end of the 9th century BCE (theGreek Dark Ages). The movements resulted in the settlement of theAegean islands,Cyprus,Crete, and the western coast ofAsia 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 theGreek colonisations of theArchaic period, the Iron Age Migrations were moread 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 asHercules orOrestes.
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During the 13th century BCE theDorians, probably originating from the regions ofEpirus and southernMacedonia, moved farther south intoCentral Greece, with a centre of power inDoris. The Dorians knewironworking, which was a new technology during this period, and rapidly grew into a great power. The Dorians then expanded further into the regions inhabited by theAetolians and theLocrians.
According to Herodotus, the Dorians displaced the previous inhabitants, called theDryopes, and the Dryopes then fled toEuboea, the islands of theCyclades, and to southernArgolis. In Euboea they set up a state inCarystus while in southern Argolis they founded the cities ofHermione,Asine,Heiones andMases. This movement of the Dryopes was the first meaningful one in the region of Southern Greece in the shift from theBronze Age to theIron Age.[1]
After consolidating their rule in the area of Stereas, the Dorians organized a campaign against the wealthy and powerful kings ofAchaea 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, crossingStrait of Rion with their fleet. According to the Pausanias, they crossed into the Peloponnese at thenarrows of Rion-Antirion by ship, which provides the origin of the name of the city ofNaupactus 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 ofCresphontes moved onMessenia and captured the kingdom ofPylos, a second group under the leadership ofAristodemus moved onLaconia and established itself inSparta, while the third under the leadership ofTemenos tookArgos andMycenae.Mycenae is supposed to have been destroyed by the Dorians around 1150 BCE. Finally, a fourth group under the leadership ofAletes, son of Hippotes moved towards the isthmus of Corinth and took the area aroundCorinth.
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, theAbantes and continued on to theAegean and the coast ofAsia Minor. According to the traditional narrative, the Ionians ofAttica were able to repulse the Dorian invasion, as evidenced by the continuity of their kingship ofCodrus morphing into thearchonship (or kingship) of his sonMedon.
In the same period as Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese, other groups groups were migrating as well. TheThessalians, moved fromThesprotia into the area ofThessaly, displacing the earlierAeolophone tribe who had inhabited that area.[3] The Thessalians spurred theBoeotians 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 inLesbos, andTenedos, and theMoschonesi (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 namedAeolis.Herodotus relates the founding of twelve cities in that section of Asia Minor:Aegae,Aegiroessa,Gryneion,Cilla,Cyme,Larissa,Myrina,Neonteichos,Notion,Pitane,Smyrna andTemnos.[4] In the 7th century BCE, the Aeolians also expanded into theTroad, founding the cities ofGargaraAssos,Antandros,Cebre,Scepsis,Neandreia andPitya. The Achaeans of the Peloponnese who followed the Aeolic speakers participated in the Aeolic resettlement. According to the traditional narrative, the mythological figureOrestes instigated the relocation of the Aeolians, and the royal family of the Penthilides onMytilene claimed descent from him.
Before the arrival of the Dorians, the Ionians had lived in the northern Peloponnese,Megaris, andAttica. After losing their territories to the Dorians and Achaeans of Argolis, the Ionians moved farther east into Euboea, displacing the earlier inhabitants, theAbantes. In the middle of the 11th century BCE they settled the northern Cyclades and, together with the Ionians of Attica, settled the islands ofSamos andChios.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, theIonian League. The cities of the league wereMiletus,Myus,Priene,Ephesus,Colophon,Lebedus,Teos,Clazomenae,Erythrae,Phocaea and the island statesChios andSamos.[5] A temple of Poseidon, in the area ofMycale, 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 ofCodrus, and their point of departure appears to have been Attica.
The Dorians who tookArgos andCorinth expanded gradually throughout the northeast Peloponnese. After failing to captureAttica, they turned toward the sea. With the Doric states of Argolis as their departure point they settledAegina, the southernCyclades,Cyprus,Crete, theDodecanese and the southwestern coast ofAsia Minor. Composed of various groups of Dorians fromTroezen, they settledHalicarnassus; fromEpidaurus,Cos, and from Argos,Rhodes, Crete, and the islands of the Cyclades. In the following years Dorians from Laconia also set up in Crete, onThera (modern Santorini), onMilos and onCnidus. The Dorian settlers of the regions of the Dodecanese and southwest Asia Minor joined in one form of common government, theHexapolis, 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]
... 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.)
...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 landNaupaktioi, while the Athenians call itNaupaktos.
... 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...)
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.)
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, )
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.)