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Trojans and allies |
TheAchaeans orAkhaians (/əˈkiːənz/;Ancient Greek:Ἀχαιοί,romanized: Akhaioí, "the Achaeans" or "ofAchaea") is one of the names inHomer which isused to refer to the Greeks collectively.
The term "Achaean" is believed to be related to theHittite termAhhiyawa and theEgyptian termEkwesh which appear in texts from theLate Bronze Age and are believed to refer to theMycenaean civilization or some part of it.
In the historical period, the term fell into disuse as a general term for Greek people, and was generally reserved for inhabitants of the region ofAchaea, a region in the north-central part of thePeloponnese. The city-states of this region later formed a confederation known as theAchaean League, which was influential during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.
According toMargalit Finkelberg, the name Ἀχαιοί (earlier Ἀχαιϝοί) is possibly derived, via an intermediate form *Ἀχαϝyοί, from a hypothetical older Greek form reflected in theHittite formAḫḫiyawā; the latter is attested in the Hittite archives, e.g. in theTawagalawa letter.[1] However,Robert S. P. Beekes doubted its validity and suggested aPre-Greek*Akaywa-.[2]
InHomer, the term Achaeans is one of the primary terms used to refer to the Greeks as a whole. It is used 598 times in theIliad, often accompanied by the epithet "long-haired". Other common names used in Homer areDanaans (/ˈdæneɪ.ənz/;ΔαναοίDanaoi; used 138 times in theIliad) andArgives (/ˈɑːrɡaɪvz/;ἈργεῖοιArgeioi; used 182 times in theIliad).Panhellenes (ΠανέλληνεςPanhellenes, "All of the Greeks") andHellenes (/ˈhɛliːnz/;[3]ἝλληνεςHellenes) bothappear only once.[4] All of the aforementioned terms were used synonymously to denote a common Greek identity.[5] In someEnglish translations of theIliad, the Achaeans are simply called theGreeks throughout.
Later, by theArchaic andClassical periods, the term "Achaeans" referred to inhabitants of the much smaller region ofAchaea.Herodotus identified theAchaeans of the northernPeloponnese as descendants of the earlier, Homeric Achaeans. According toPausanias, writing in the 2nd century AD, the term "Achaean" was originally given to those Greeks inhabiting theArgolis andLaconia.[6]
Pausanias and Herodotus both recount the legend that the Achaeans were forced from their homelands by theDorians, during the legendaryDorian invasion of the Peloponnese. They then moved into the region later called Achaea.
A scholarly consensus has not yet been reached on the origin of the historic Achaeans relative to the Homeric Achaeans and is still hotly debated. Former emphasis on presumed race, such as John A. Scott's article about the blond locks of the Achaeans as compared to the dark locks of "Mediterranean"Poseidon,[7] on the basis of hints in Homer, has been rejected by some. The contrasting belief that "Achaeans", as understood through Homer, is "a name without a country", anethnos created in theEpic tradition,[8] has modern supporters among those who conclude that "Achaeans" were redefined in the 5th century BC, as contemporary speakers ofAeolic Greek.
Karl Beloch suggested there was no Dorian invasion, but rather that the Peloponnesian Dorians were the Achaeans.[9]Eduard Meyer, disagreeing with Beloch, instead put forth the suggestion that the real-life Achaeans were mainland pre-Dorian Greeks.[10] His conclusion is based on his research on the similarity between the languages of the Achaeans and pre-historic Arcadians. William Prentice disagreed with both, noting archeological evidence suggests the Achaeans instead migrated from "southernAsia Minor to Greece, probably settling first in lowerThessaly" probably prior to 2000 BC.[11]
Some Hittite texts mention a nation to the west calledAhhiyawa (Hittite:𒄴𒄭𒅀𒉿Aḫḫiyawa).[12] In the earliest reference to this land, a letter outlining the treaty violations of the Hittite vassalMadduwatta,[13] it is calledAhhiya. Another important example is theTawagalawa Letter written by an unnamedHittite king, most probablyHattusili III, of the empire period, the 14th–13th century BC, to the king ofAhhiyawa, treating him as an equal and implyingMiletus (Millawanda) was under his control.[14]
It also refers to an earlier "Wilusa episode" involving hostility on the part ofAhhiyawa. Ahhiya(wa) has been identified with the Achaeans of theTrojan War and the city ofWilusa with the legendary city ofTroy. Note the similarity with early GreekϜιλιονWilion, laterἼλιονIlion, the name of theacropolis of Troy.
Emil Forrer, a Swiss Hittitologist who worked on the Boghazköy tablets in Berlin, said the Achaeans of pre-Homeric Greece were directly associated with the term "Land of Ahhiyawa" mentioned in the Hittite texts.[15] His conclusions at the time were challenged by other Hittitologists (i.e.Johannes Friedrich in 1927 andAlbrecht Götze in 1930), as well as byFerdinand Sommer, who published hisDie Ahhijava-Urkunden (The Ahhiyawa Documents) in 1932.[15]
The exact relationship of the termAhhiyawa to the Achaeans beyond a similarity in pronunciation was hotly debated by scholars, even following the discovery that MycenaeanLinear B is anearly form of Greek; the earlier debate was summed up in 1984 byHans G. Güterbock.[16] More recent research based on new readings and interpretations of the Hittite texts, as well as of the material evidence forMycenaean contacts with the Anatolian mainland, has led to the widely supported conclusion thatAhhiyawa refers to theMycenaean world, or at least to a part of it.[17]
Scholars have proposed several possible locations for the Ahhiyawa capital: Rhodes in the Dodecanese[18]Mycenae in theArgolid[19] andThebes inBoeotia.[20] It is possible that the political center of Ahhiyawa was not fixed in a single location, but may have shifted over time—perhaps initially based inThebes and later inMycenae.[21]
It has been proposed thatEkwesh of the Egyptian records may relate toAchaea (compared to HittiteAhhiyawa), whereasDenyen andTanaju may relate to Classical GreekDanaoi.[22] The earliest textual reference to the Mycenaean world is in the Annals ofThutmosis III (c. 1479–1425 BC), which refers to messengers from the king of the Tanaju,c. 1437 BC, offering greeting gifts to the Egyptian king, in order to initiate diplomatic relations, when the latter campaigned in Syria.[23]
Tanaju is also listed in an inscription at theMortuary Temple of Amenhotep III. Amenhotep III ruled Egypt inc. 1382–1344 BC. A list of the cities and regions of the Tanaju is mentioned in this inscription. Among the cities listed are Mycenae,Nauplion,Kythera,Messenia and the Thebaid (region ofThebes).[24]
During the 5th year of PharaohMerneptah, a confederation ofLibyan and northern peoples is supposed to have attacked the western delta. Included amongst the ethnic names of the repulsed invaders is the Ekwesh or Eqwesh, whom some have seen as Achaeans, although Egyptian texts specifically mention these Ekwesh to be circumcised. Homer mentions an Achaean attack upon the delta.Menelaus speaks of the same in Book IV of theOdyssey toTelemachus when he recounts his own return home from theTrojan War. Some ancient Greek authors say that Helen had spent the time of the Trojan War in Egypt, and not atTroy, and that after Troy the Greeks went there to recover her.[25]
InGreek mythology, the perceived cultural divisions among the Hellenes were represented as legendary lines of descent that identified kinship groups, with each line being derived from aneponymous ancestor. Each of the Greekethne were said to be named in honor of their respective ancestors:Achaeus of the Achaeans,Danaus of the Danaans,Cadmus of the Cadmeans (the Thebans),Hellen of the Hellenes (not to be confused withHelen of Troy),Aeolus of theAeolians,Ion of theIonians, andDorus of theDorians.
Hellen, Graikos, Magnes, and Macedon were sons ofDeucalion andPyrrha, the only people who survived theGreat Flood.[26] Theethne were said to have originally been namedGraikoi after the elder son but later renamedHellenes after Hellen who was proved to be the strongest.[27] The sons of Hellen and the nymphOrseis were Dorus, Xuthos, andAeolus.[28] The sons of Xuthos and Kreousa, daughter of Erechthea, were Ion and Achaeus.[28]
According toHyginus, 22 Achaeans killed 362 Trojans during their ten years atTroy.[29]
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