Magnesia ad Maeandrum in Ionia 350BC Rare Ancient Greek Coin Apollo Bull i31816

Item: i31816

Authentic Ancient Coin of:

Greek City of Magnesia (ad Maeandrum) in Ionia
Bronze 14mm (1.62 grams) Struck circa 350-200 B.C.
Reference: SNG Copenhagen 802 var.
Laureate head of Apollo left.
Forepart of bull butting right, MAΓ above.

Situated south-east of Ephesus, on a tributary of the Maeander,

Magnesia was originally founded from Thessaly but was re-established by

colonists from Miletos in the 7th century B.C.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Apollo Belvedere
,
ca. 120–140 CE

Apollo  is one of the most important and complex of the
Olympian deities
in
ancient Greek
and
Roman religion
,
Greek
and
Roman mythology
, and
Greco
–Roman
Neopaganism
. The ideal of the
kouros
(a beardless, athletic youth),
Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and
prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of

Zeus and Leto
, and has a twin sister, the chaste
huntress Artemis
. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced
Etruscan mythology
as Apulu.

As the patron of Delphi
(Pythian Apollo), Apollo was an
oracular
god—the prophetic deity of the
Delphic Oracle
. Medicine and healing are
associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his
son Asclepius
, yet Apollo was also seen as a god
who could bring ill-health and deadly
plague
. Amongst the god’s custodial charges,
Apollo became associated with dominion over
colonists
, and as the patron defender of herds
and flocks. As the leader of the

Muses (Apollon Musegetes) and director of their choir, Apollo
functioned as the patron god of music and poetry.
Hermes
created the

lyre for him, and the instrument became a common
attribute of Apollo
. Hymns sung to Apollo were
called paeans
.

 

Apollo (left) and
Artemis
.
Brygos
(potter signed), Tondo of an
Attic red-figure cup c. 470 BC,
Musée du Louvre
.

In Hellenistic times, especially during the 3rd century BCE, as Apollo
Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios
,
Titan

god of the sun
, and his sister Artemis
similarly equated with
Selene
, Titan
goddess of the moon
In Latin texts, on the
other hand,
Joseph Fontenrose
declared himself unable to
find any conflation of Apollo with
Sol
among the
Augustan poets
of the 1st century, not even in
the conjurations of Aeneas
and
Latinus
in
Aeneid
XII (161–215). Apollo and Helios/Sol
remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd
century CE.

Etymology

Statuette of the Apollo Lykeios type,
Museum of the Ancient Agora of Athens

(inv. BI 236).

Apollo was worshipped throughout the
Roman Empire
. In the traditionally
Celtic
lands he was most often seen as a
healing and sun god. He was often equated with
Celtic gods
of similar character.

• 
  Apollo Atepomarus
  (“the great horseman”
  or “possessing a great horse”). Apollo was worshipped at
  Mauvières
  (Indre).
  Horses were, in the Celtic world, closely linked to the sun.^[23]
• 
  Apollo Belenus
  (‘bright’ or
  ‘brilliant’). This epithet was given to Apollo in parts of
  Gaul
  , Northern Italy and
  Noricum
  (part of modern Austria). Apollo
  Belenus was a healing and sun god.^[24]
• 
  Apollo Cunomaglus
  (‘hound lord’). A
  title given to Apollo at a shrine in
  Wiltshire
  . Apollo Cunomaglus may have been
  a god of healing. Cunomaglus himself may originally have been an independent
  healing god.^[25]
• 
  Apollo Grannus
  . Grannus was a healing
  spring god, later equated with Apollo.
• Apollo Maponus. A god known from inscriptions in Britain. This
  may be a local fusion of Apollo and
  Maponus
  .
• 
  Apollo Moritasgus
  (‘masses of sea
  water’). An epithet for Apollo at Alesia, where he was worshipped as god of
  healing and, possibly, of physicians.
• 
  Apollo Vindonnus
  (‘clear light’).
  Apollo Vindonnus had a temple at
  Essarois
  , near
  Châtillon-sur-Seine
  in
  Burgundy
  . He was a god of healing,
  especially of the eyes.
• 
  Apollo Virotutis
  (‘benefactor of
  mankind?’). Apollo Virotutis was worshipped, among other places, at Fins
  d’Annecy (Haute-Savoie)
  and at Jublains
  (Maine-et-Loire).

Origins

The Omphalos
in the Museum of
Delphi
.

The cult centers of Apollo in Greece,
Delphi
and
Delos
, date from the 8th century BCE. The Delos
sanctuary was primarily dedicated to
Artemis
, Apollo’s twin sister. At Delphi,
Apollo was venerated as the slayer of
Pytho
. For the Greeks, Apollo was all the Gods
in one and through the centuries he acquired different functions which could
originate from different gods. In
archaic Greece
he was the
prophet
, the oracular god who in older times
was connected with “healing”. In
classical Greece
he was the god of light and of
music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil.

From his eastern-origin Apollo brought the art of inspection from “symbols
and omina
” (σημεία και τέρατα : semeia kai
terata), and of the observation of the

omens of the days. The inspiration oracular-cult was probably
introduced from Anatolia
. The
ritualism
belonged to Apollo from the
beginning. The Greeks created the
legalism
, the supervision of the orders of the
gods, and the demand for moderation and harmony. Apollo became the god of
shining youth, the protector of music, spiritual-life, moderation and
perceptible order. The improvement of the old
Anatolian
god, and his elevation to an
intellectual sphere, may be considered an achievement of the
Greek
people.

Healer and
god-protector from evil

The function of Apollo as a “healer” is connected with
Paean
, the physician of the Gods in the
Iliad
, who seems to come from a more
primitive religion. Paeοn is probably connected with the
Mycenean
Pa-ja-wo, but the etymology is the
only evidence. He did not have a separate cult, but he was the personification
of the holy magic-song sung by the magicians that was supposed to cure disease.
Later the Greeks knew the original meaning of the relevant song “paean”. The
magicians were also called “seer-doctors”, and they used an ecstatic prophetic
art which was used exactly by the god Apollo at the oracles.

In the Iliad, Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the
bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the
terrible
Vedic
god of disease
Rudra
.He sends a terrible plague to the
Achaeans
. The god who sends a disease can also
prevent from it, therefore when it stops they make a purifying ceremony and
offer him an “hecatomb” to ward off evil. When the oath of his priest appeases,
they pray and with a song they call their own god, the beautiful Paean.

Some common epithets of Apollo as a healer are “paion” , “epikourios”,
“oulios”, and “loimios” . In classical times, his strong function in popular
religion was to keep away evil, and was therefore called “apotropaios”  and
“alexikakos” , throw away the evil).
In later writers, the word, usually spelled “Paean”, becomes a
mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of
healing
.

Homer illustrated Paeon the god, and the song both of
apotropaic
thanksgiving or triumph. Such songs
were originally addressed to Apollo, and afterwards to other gods: to
Dionysus
, to Apollo
Helios
, to Apollo’s son
Asclepius
the healer. About the 4th century
BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to
implore protection against disease and misfortune, or to offer thanks after such
protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become
recognised as the god of music. Apollo’s role as the slayer of the
Python
led to his association with battle and
victory; hence it became the
Roman
custom for a paean to be sung by an army
on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and
also after a victory had been won.

Dorian origin

The connection with Dorians and their initiation festival
apellai
is reinforced by the month
Apellaios in northwest Greek calendars, but it can explain only the Doric
type of the name, which is connected with the
Ancient Macedonian
word “pella” (Pella),
stone. Stones played an important part in the cult of the god, especially
in the oracular shrine of Delphi (Omphalos).
The “Homeric hymn” represents Apollo as a Northern intruder. His arrival must
have occurred during the “dark ages” that followed the destruction of the
Mycenaean civilization
, and his conflict with
Gaia
(Mother Earth) was represented by the
legend of his slaying her daughter the serpent
Python
.

The earth deity had power over the ghostly world, and it is believed that she
was the deity behind the oracle. The older tales mentioned two dragons who were
perhaps intentionally conflated. A female dragon named
Delphyne
who is obviously connected with Delphi
and Apollo Delphinios, and a male serpent
Typhon
, the adversary of

Zeus in the
Titanomachy
, who the narrators confused with
Python
. Python was the good daemon of the
temple as it appears in
Minoan
religion, but she was represented as a
dragon, as often happens in Northern European folklore as well as in the East.

Apollo and his sister
Artemis
can bring death with their arrows. The
conception that diseases and death come from invisible shots sent by
supernatural beings, or magicians is common in
Germanic
and
Norse
mythology.^[35]
In
Greek mythology
Artemis was the leader of the
nymphs
, who had similar functions with the
Nordic

Elves.The “elf-shot” originally indicated disease or death attributed
to the elves, but it was later attested denoting
arrow
-heads which were used by witches to harm
people, and also for healing rituals.

The
Vedic
Rudra has some similar functions with
Apollo. The terrible god is called “The Archer”, and the bow is also an
attribute of Shiva
. Rudra could bring diseases with his
arrows, but he was able to free people of them, and his alternative Shiba, is a
healer physician god. However the
Indo-European
component of Apollo, does not
explain his strong relation with omens, exorcisms, and with the oracular cult.

Minoan origin

It seems an oracular cult existed in Delphi from the
Mycenaean
ages.^[53]
In historical times, the priests of Delphi were called
Labryaden
, “the double-axe men”, which
indicates
Minoan
origin. The double-axe (λάβρυς:labrys)
was the holy symbol of the
Cretan

labyrinth
.^[54][55]
The Homeric hymn adds that Apollo appeared as a dolphin and carried Cretan
priests to Delphi, where they evidently transferred their religious practices.
Apollo Delphinios was a sea-god especially worshiped in Crete and in the
islands, and his name indicates his connection with Delphi^[56]
and the holy serpent
Delphyne
(womb). Apollo’s sister
Artemis
, who was the Greek goddess of hunting,
is identified with
Britomartis
(Diktynna),
the
Minoan
“Mistress of the animals”. In her
earliest depictions she is accompanied by the “Mister of the animals”, a male
god of hunting who had the bow as his attribute. We don’t know his original
name, but it seems that he was absorbed by the more powerful Apollo, who stood
by the “Mistress of the animals”, becoming her brother.

The old oracles in Delphi seem to be connected with a local tradition of the
priesthood, and there is not clear evidence that a kind of inspiration-prophecy
existed in the temple. This led some scholars to the conclusion that Pythia
carried on the rituals in a consistent procedure through many centuries,
according to the local tradition. In that regard, the mythical seeress
Sibyl
of
Anatolian
origin, with her ecstatic art, looks
unrelated to the oracle itself.^[57]
However, the Greek tradition is referring to the existence of vapours and
chewing of laurel-leaves, which seem to be confirmed by recent studies.^[58]]

Plato

Dodona as frenzied women, obsessed by “mania” (μανία:frenzy),
a Greek word connected with “mantis” (μάντις:prophet). Frenzied women like
Sibyls from whose lips the god speaks are recorded in the
Near East
as
Mari
in the second millennium BC.^[59]
Although Crete had contacts with Mari from 2000 BC,^[60]
there is no evidence that the ecstatic prophetic art existed during the Minoan
and Mycenean ages. It is more probable that this art was introduced later from
Anatoliaa
and regenerated an existing oracular
cult that was local to Delphi and dormant in several areas of Greece.^[61]

Anatolian origin

A non-Greek origin of Apollo has long been assumed in scholarship.^[3]
The name of Apollo’s mother

Leto has Lydian
origin, and she was worshipped on the
coasts of
Asia Minor
. The inspiration oracular cult was
probably introduced into Greece from
Anatolia
, which is the origin of
Sibyl
, and where existed some of the oldest
oracular shrines. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old
Assyro
–Babylonian
texts, and these rituals were spread into the empire of the
Hittites
. In a Hittite text is mentioned that
the king invited a Babylonian priestess for a certain “purification”.^[33]

A similar story is mentioned by
Plutarch
. He writes that the
Cretan
–
seer

Epimenides
, purified
Athens
after the pollution brought by the
Alcmeonidae
, and that the seer’s expertise in
sacrifices
and reform of funeral practices were
of great help to Solon
in his reform of the Athenian state.^[62]
The story indicates that Epimenides was probably heir to the shamanic religions
of Asia, and proves together with the
Homeric
hymn, that Crete had a resisting
religion up to the historical times. It seems that these rituals were dormant in
Greece, and they were reinforced when the Greeks migrated to
Anatolia
.

Homer
pictures Apollo on the side of the

Trojans, fighting against the
Achaeans
, during the
Trojan War
. He is pictured as a terrible god,
less trusted by the Greeks than other gods. The god seems to be related to
Appaliunas, a tutelary god of
Wilusa
(Troy)
in Asia Minor, but the word is not complete.^[63]
The stones found in front of the gates of
Homeric
Troy were the symbols of Apollo. The
Greeks gave to him the name αγυιεύς
agyieus
as the protector god of public places
and houses who wards off evil, and his symbol was a tapered stone or column.^[64]
However, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the
full moon
, all the feasts of Apollo were
celebrated at the seventh day of the month, and the emphasis given to that day (sibutu)
indicates a
Babylonian
origin.^[65]

The
Late Bronze Age
(from 1700 to 1200 BCE)
Hittite
and
Hurrian
Aplu was a god of
plague
, invoked during plague years. Here we
have an
apotropaic
situation, where a god originally
bringing the plague was invoked to end it. Aplu, meaning the son of, was
a title given to the god
Nergal
, who was linked to the
Babylonian
god of the sun
Shamash
.^[12]
Homer interprets Apollo as a terrible god (δεινός θεός) who brings death and
disease with his arrows, but who can also heal, possessing a magic art that
separates him from the other Greek gods.^[66]
In Iliad
, his priest prays to Apollo
Smintheus,^[67]
the mouse god who retains an older agricultural function as the protector from
field rats.^[68][69]
All these functions, including the function of the healer-god
Paean
, who seems to have Mycenean origin, are
fused in the cult of Apollo.

Oracular cult

 

Columns of the
Temple of Apollo
at Delphi, Greece.

Unusually among the Olympic deities, Apollo had two cult sites that had
widespread influence: Delos
and
Delphi
. In cult practice,
Delian Apollo
and
Pythian Apollo
(the Apollo of Delphi) were so
distinct that they might both have shrines in the same locality.^[70]
Apollo’s
cult
was already fully established when written
sources commenced, about 650 BCE. Apollo became extremely important to the Greek
world as an oracular deity in the
archaic period
, and the frequency of
theophoric names
such as Apollodorus or
Apollonios and cities named Apollonia testify to his popularity.
Oracular sanctuaries to Apollo were established in other sites. In the 2nd and
3rd century CE, those at
Didyma
and
Clarus
pronounced the so-called “theological
oracles”, in which Apollo confirms that all deities are aspects or servants of
an
all-encompassing, highest deity
. “In the 3rd
century, Apollo fell silent.
Julian the Apostate
(359 – 61) tried to revive
the Delphic oracle, but failed

Magnesia

(Greek:

Μαγνησία, Magnisía, IPA: [maɣniˈsia]),

deriving from the tribe name

Magnetes
,

is the name of the southeastern area of

Thessaly
in

central Greece
.

The modern prefecture (Νομός Μαγνησίας) was created in 1947 out of the Larissa

prefecture. About 70% of the population live in the Greater

Volos
area which

is the second-largest city in Thessaly and the third busiest commercial port in

Greece. Much of the population lives near the

Pagasetic Gulf

and in the eastern part. The chemical element,

Magnesium
,

was named after the “City of Magnesia” by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808^[citation

needed]

The capital of Magnesia prefecture is the metropolitan city of

Volos
. According

to the most recent census (2001), the population stands at 207,000. The

prefecture of Magnesia includes the

Northern

Sporades

group of islands (Skiathos,

Skopelos

and Alonissos
.

The prefecture also includes the

Alonissos Marine Park

. The prefecture hosts 2,000,000 tourists annually.

Magnesia is represented in the

Greek Parliament

by five members.

//

 Geography

The natural landscape of Magnesia consists of wooded mountains, cultivated

flat land, and coastline. One of the area’s main elements is the

Pelion
mountain

range which is located the eastern region of the Prefecture and forms the

eastern edge of the

Pagasetic Gulf

.

The ranges’ highest peak is

Pourianos Stavros

or Xeforti, (altitude 1624 metres). On the edge of

Magnesia

peninsula

Tiseo

mountain is found, which is considered to be the Southeast edge of

Pelion
.

Mt.

Maurovouni

(1054 metres) is the northeastly most mountain of the prefecture

and extends to the neighboring prefecture of

Larissa
.

The southwest border of the prefecture is Mt.Othry,

with its highest peak called

Gerakovouni

(1726 metres) and forms the boundary with the prefecture of

Phthiotis
.

The interior of Magnesia has two plains. One found between Mt. Halkodonio

(725 metres) and Othry is called

Almyros

plain
, while the

other between Halkodonio and

Pelion
is

called the Volos
–Velestino

plain. The hydrological network of the prefecture is not particularly rich and

is characterized by the absence of big

rivers

. The waters coming from

Pelion
shape

the rivers Anavros

, Platanorema, and Xirias.

In the North

section of the prefecture

Lake Karla

was formerly found. Lake Karla was drained in 1962, but attempts have been made

for its partial restoration.

On the bight of Sourpi

, next to

Amaliapolis

a coastal

wetland
is

found, with various species of

migratory birds

. This wetland together with the forest of

Kouri
– an

infrequent lowland

of Oak

tree forest

close to Almyros

– is included in the list of the protected regions of the

European

Network Natura 2000

.

The

Pagasetic Gulf

dominates the interior coastline of Magnesia.

 Climate

The average

temperature

is 17

degrees Celsius

and the average rainfall about 540 millimetres per year.

Heat waves and intense cold periods are rare. During the summer the temperature

rises up to about 37 to 38 °C in August. The climate varies in different parts

of the prefecture; close to the

Pagasetic Gulf

conditions are humid, in

Nea Ionia

it is quite dry and in

Velestino

and Almyros

is the climate is continental. In winter there is significant

snowfall in the mountains and often freezing temperatures.

 History

 Antiquity

According to Hesiod

‘s (probably) “Eoiae” (Greek:

Ηοίαι) or “Catalogue

of Women“^[2]

on the origin of the

Greeks
, Pandora

(named after her grandmother

Pandora
,

sister of Hellen

and daughter of

Deukalion

and Pyrrha

) together with Zeus had one son

Graecus
,

while Zeus had two more with

Thyia
, another of

Deukalion’s daughter:

Magnes
and

Macedon

. Magnes and Makednos together with

Hellen
‘s three

sons Dorus
,

Xuthus
(with

his sons

Ion

and

Achaeus

) and

Aeolos

, comprised the set of progenitors of the ancient tribes that formed

the Greek
/Hellenic

nation. Magnes ruled the area and people under his name. Magnesia is also

homeland of the mythical heroes

Jason
,

Peleus
and his

son Achilles
.

The word magnet

comes from the Greek “magnítis líthos”, which means “magnesian

stone”. The names for the elements

magnesium

and manganese

are also derived from this region, which in addition to the magnetic magnetite

(an iron ore), produces certain ores of magnesium and manganese that were known

to alchemists. The Magnetes contributed to the

Greek colonization

, with their main colonies being established before the

7th century BC, under the names of Magnesia beside Sipylus in Lydia and Magnesia

on the Maeander in Ionia.

 Christian

era

Written accounts and remains from the 5th century AD document the appearance

of Christianity in Magnesia. The minutes of the 3rd Ecumenical Conference are

co-signed by the Bishop of Dimitriada Cleonikos. Five basilicas have been

revealed in Nea Anhialos, showing that the area was undergoing a spiritual

growth in that era. Magnesias has churches, monasteries and chapels, many of

which are architectural masterpieces in the style that is called “Pelioritica”.

In the area of Pelion are the monastery of Saint Yerasimos in Makrinitsa, The

Holy Archangels in Agios Georgios Nilias, Osios Lavredios in Agios Lavrendis,

Saint John the Baptist in Siki and Saint Spiridon in Promiri. The most famous is

the Monastery in Flamouri, built in the 16th century by Osios Simeon, the

so-called “barefoot and loin-clothed”, located above Veneto.

In the Almiros area and on the mountain of Othris two other monasteries were

built, one inhabited by

monks

in Ano Pagania (Virgin Mary) Xenia and the other by

nuns

in Kato Panagia Xenia. This monastery holds historical monuments of the

area from the 12th century, with of frescoes, treasuries and a library. In Kato

Panagia Xenia monastery, an icon of the Virgin Mary, venerated by the people of

the area, is kept. All the monasteries are of archeological, historical and

artistic interest and are accessible (the one in Flamouri only by men).

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal
Anatolia
in present-day
Turkey
, the region nearest
İzmir
, which was historically
Smyrna
. It consisted of the northernmost
territories of the
Ionian League
of
Greek
settlements. Never a unified state, it
was named after the
Ionian tribe
who, in the
Archaic Period
(800–480 BC), settled mainly the
shores and islands of the
Aegean Sea
. Ionian states were identified by
tradition and by their use of
Eastern Greek
.

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
and
Samos
. It was bounded by
Aeolia
to the north,
Lydia
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.

According to
Greek
tradition, the cities of Ionia were
founded by
colonists
from the other side of the Aegean.
Their settlement was connected with the legendary history of the Ionic people in
Attica
, which asserts that the colonists were
led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of
Codrus
, the last
king of Athens
. In accordance with this view
the “Ionic migration”, as it was called by later chronologers, was dated by them
one hundred and forty years after the
Trojan war
, or sixty years after the return of
the Heracleidae
into the
Peloponnese
.

Geography

Physical

Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding 150 kilometres (90 mi) in length
from north to south, with a breadth varying from 60 to 90 kilometres (40 to 60
mi), but to this must be added the peninsula of
Mimas
, together with the two islands. So
intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at
nearly four times the direct distance. A great part of this area was, moreover,
occupied by mountains. Of these the most lofty and striking were Mimas and
Corycus, in the peninsula which stands out to the west, facing the island of
Chios;
Sipylus
, to the north of Smyrna, Corax,
extending to the south-west from the Gulf of Smyrna, and descending to the sea
between Lebedus and Teos; and the strongly marked range of
Mycale
, a continuation of Messogisin the
interior, which forms the bold headland of Trogilium or Mycale, opposite Samos.
None of these mountains attains a height of more than 1,200 metres (3,940 ft).
The district 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 Caster, which flowed under the walls of Ephesus; and
the
Maeander
, which in ancient times discharged its
waters into the deep gulf that once bathed the walls of Miletus, but which has
been gradually filled up by this river’s deposits. With the advantage of a
peculiarly fine climate, for which this part of
Asia Minor
has been famous in all ages, Ionia
enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile of all the
rich provinces of Asia Minor; and even in modern times, though very imperfectly
cultivated, it produces abundance of fruit of all kinds, and the
raisins
and
figs
of Smyrna supply almost all the markets of
Europe. (Needs citation. The above description reads to be a verbatum quote from
an Englishman’s travelogue.)

Political

The geography of Ionia placed it in a strategic position that was both
advantageous and disadvantageous. Ionia was always a maritime power founded by a
people who made their living by trade in peaceful times and marauding in
unsettled times. The coast was rocky and the arable land slight. The native
Luwians for the most part kept their fields further inland and used the rift
valleys for wooded pasture. The coastal cities were placed in defensible
positions on islands or headlands situated so as to control inland routes up the
rift valleys. The people of those valleys were of different ethnicity. The
populations of the cities were multi-cultural and received cultural stimuli from
many civilizations in the eastern
Mediterranean
, which resulted in a brilliant
society able to make contributions of worldwide and millennial significance.

On the other hand Ionia was divided by the Aegean Sea from the mother country
and could seldom be defended from there. Many imperial powers arose inland
against which Ionia was forced to defend itself and to whom it was typically
required finally to submit.

Demography

Ancient demographics are available only from literary sources.
Herodotus
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
after they left.These Asian cities were
(from south to north)
Miletus
,

Myus, Priene
,
Ephesus
,
Colophon
,
Lebedos
,

Teos,
Erythrae
,
Clazomenae
and
Phocaea
, together with
Samos
and
Chios
.
Smyrna
, originally an
Aeolic
colony, was afterwards occupied by
Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city — an event which had taken
place before the time of Herodotus.These cities do not match those of
Achaea
. Moreover, the Achaea of Herodotus’ time
spoke Doric
(Corinthian), but in
Homer
it is portrayed as being in the kingdom
of Mycenae
, which most likely spoke
Mycenaean Greek
, which is not Doric. If the
Ionians came from Achaea, they departed during or after the change from East
Greek to West Greek there. Mycenaean continued to evolve in a pocket,
Arcadia
.

There is no record of any people named Ionians in
Late Bronze Age
Anatolia but
Hittite texts
record the Achaeans of
Ahhiyawa
, of location not completely certain,
but in touch with the Hittites of that time.
Miletus
and some other cities founded earlier
by non-Greeks received populations of
Mycenaean Greeks
probably under the name of
Achaeans. The tradition of Ionian colonizers from Achaea suggests that they may
have been known by both names even then. In the absence of archaeological
evidence of discontinuity at Miletus the Achaean population whatever their name
appears to have descended to archaic Ionia, which does not exclude the
possibility of another colonizing and founding event from Athens.

Herodotus expresses some impatience at the ethnic views of his countrymen
concerning Ionia: “for it would be foolishness to say that these are more truly
Ionian or better born ….”^[5]
He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from
Euboea
,
Minyans
from
Orchomenus
, Cadmeians,
Dryopians
,
Phocians
,
Molossians
, Arcadian
Pelasgians
,
Dorians
of
Epidaurus
, and others. The presence of Doric
Ionians is somewhat contradictory, but Herodotus himself, a major author of the
Ionic dialect, was from a Doric city,
Halicarnassus
. Even ” the best born of the
Ionians”, the Athenians, married girls from
Caria
. “Yet since they set more store by the
name than the rest of the Ionians, let it be granted that those of pure birth
are Ionians.”^[6]

History

Greek city-unions in Anatolia, Blue are Ion cities

From the 18th century BC the region was a part of the
Hittite Empire
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 Milawanta of Hittites).
Several centuries later Ionia was the place where western philosophy began and
was the homeland of
Heraclitus
,
Thales
,
Anaximander
and
Anaximenes
. They were natural-philosophers of
the Ionian school of philosophy and tried to explain the phenomena according to
no-supernatural laws. They also searched a simple material-form behind the
appearances of things (origin) and this conception had a great influence on the
early archaic art in Greece.

Settlement

During the late 13th century BC the peoples of the
Aegean Sea
took to marauding and resettling as
a way of life and were called by the Egyptians the
Sea Peoples
.^{[citation
needed]} Mycenaean Greeks must have been among them.
They settled lightly on the shores of
Luwian
Anatolia often by invitation. In the
background was the stabilizing influence of the Hittites, who monitored maritime
movement and suppressed piracy. When that power was gone the Luwian people
remained in the vacuum as a number of coastal splinter states that were scarcely
able now to defend themselves. Ionian Greeks took advantage of opportunities for
coastal raiding: an inscription of
Sargon II
(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
and the city of
Tyre
“. For a full generation earlier Assyrian
inscriptions had recorded troubles with the Ionians, who escaped on their boats.^[7]

Caria
and
Lycia
came to the attention of
Athens
, most powerful state remaining in
Greece, which also had lost its central government ruling from
Mycenae
, now burned and nearly vacant. Ionians
had been expelled from the
Peloponnesus
by the
Dorians
and had sought refuge in Athens. The
Athenian kings decided to relieve the crowding by resettling the coast of Lydia
with Ionians from the Peloponnesus under native Athenian leadership.

They were not the only Greeks to have such a perception and reach such a
decision. The Aeolians
of
Boeotia
contemporaneously settled the coast to
the north of the Ionians and the newly arrived
Dorians
of
Crete
and the islands the coast of
Caria
. The Greeks descended on the
Luwians
of the Anatolian coast in the 10th
century BC. The descent was not peaceful and the Luwians were not willing.

Pausanias
gives a thumbnail sketch of the
resettlement.^[8]
Miletus
was the first city attacked, where
there had been some Mycenaean Greeks apparently under the rule of
Cretans
. After overthrowing the Cretan
government and settling there the Ionians widened their attack to
Ephesus
,
Samos
and
Priene
. Combining with
Aeolians
from
Thebes
they founded

Myus.
Colophon
was already in the hands of Aeolians
who had arrived via Crete in Mycenaean times. The Ionians “swore a treaty of
union” with them. They took
Lebedos
driving out the Carians and augmented
the Aeolian population of

Teos. They settled on
Chios
, took
Erythrae
from the Carians, Pamphylians (both
Luwian) and Cretans.
Clazomenae
and
Phocaea
were settled from
Colophon
. Somewhat later they took
Smyrna
from the Aeolians.

Brief autonomy

The Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political
or military) confederacy, the
Ionian League
, of which participation in the
Panionic festival
was a distinguishing
characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of
Mt. Mycale
in a shrine called the
Panionium
. In addition to the Panionic festival
at Mycale, which was celebrated mainly by the Asian Ionians, both European and
Asian coast Ionians convened on
Delos
Island each summer to worship at the
temple of the Delian
Apollo
.

But like the
Amphictyonic league
in Greece, the Ionic was
rather of a sacred than a political character; every city enjoyed absolute
autonomy, and, though common interests often united them for a common political
object, they never formed a real confederacy like that of the Achaeans or
Boeotians
. The advice of
Thales
of Miletus to combine in a political
union was rejected.

The colonies naturally 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
, though it did not send out any
colonies of importance, from an early period became a flourishing city and
attained to a position corresponding in some measure to that of Smyrna at the
present day.

Under the
last Anatolian empire

About 700 BC
Gyges
, first Mermnad king of
Lydia
, invaded the territories of Smyrna and
Miletus, and is said to have taken
Colophon
as his son Ardys did Priene. The first
event in the history of Ionia for which there is a trustworthy account is the
inroad of the
Cimmerii
, who ravaged a great part of Asia
Minor, including Lydia, and sacked
Magnesia on the Maeander
, but were foiled in
their attack upon Ephesus. This event may be referred to the middle of the 7th
century BC. It was not until the reign of
Croesus
(560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia
fell completely under Lydian rule.

Satrapy of the
Achaemenids

The defeat of Croesus by
Cyrus
was followed by the conquest of all the
Ionian cities. These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek
cities of Asia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy,
but were for the most part subject to local despots, most of whom were creatures
of the Persian king. It was at the instigation of one of these despots,
Histiaeus of Miletus
, that in about 500 BC the
principal cities ignited the
Ionian Revolt
against Persia. They were at
first assisted by the Athenians and
Eretria
, with whose aid they penetrated into
the interior and burnt Sardis, an event which ultimately led to the
Persian invasion of Greece
. 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.

Autonomy
under the Athenian empire

The victories of the Greeks during the great Persian war had the effect of
enfranchising their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean; and the
battle of Mycale
(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 (see
Delian League
), though still retaining their
autonomy, which they preserved until the
peace of Antalcidas
in 387 BC once more placed
them as well as the other Greek cities in Asia under the nominal dominion of
Persia.

Satrapy again

Ionian cities appear to have retained a considerable amount of freedom until
the invasion of Asia Minor by
Alexander the Great
.

Hellenistic period

After the
battle of the Granicus
most of the Ionian
cities submitted to the rule of
Alexander III
of
Macedon
and his
Diadochi
. As such Ionia enjoyed a great
prosperity during the
Hellenistic
times with the notable exception of
Miletus
, which, being the only city of the
Ionian League
to deny to pay homage to
Alexander
, was finally leveled after a long
siege at 334
BC
, and never restored to its previous
splendor.

Under Rome

Ionia became part of the Roman province of Asia.

Legacy

Ionia has laid the world under its debt not only by giving birth to a long
roll of distinguished men of letters and science (notably the
Ionian School
of philosophy), but also by
originating the distinct school of art which prepared the way for the brilliant
artistic development of Athens in the 5th century BC. This school flourished
between 700 and 500 BC, and is distinguished by the fineness of workmanship and
minuteness of detail with which it treated subjects, inspired always to some
extent by non-Greek models. Naturalism is progressively obvious in its
treatment, e.g. of the human figure, but to the end it is still subservient to
convention. It has been thought that the Ionian
migration
from Greece carried with it some part
of a population which retained the artistic traditions of the
Mycenaean civilization
, and so caused the birth
of the Ionic school; but whether this was so or not, it is certain that from the
8th century BC onwards we find the true spirit of Hellenic art, stimulated by
commercial intercourse with eastern civilizations, working out its development
chiefly in Ionia and its neighbouring isles. 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
of
Chios
. 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
and
electrum
found by D.G. Hogarth in the lower
strata of the Artemision at Ephesus.

The
Arabic
,
Turkish
,
Persian
and
Urdu
name for
Greek
Younan (یونان), a
transliteration of “Ionia.” The same is true for the
Hebrew
word, “Yavan” (יוון) and the
Sanskrit
word “yavana“.
Not to be confused with the meaning of the Assyrian name Younan (also spelled,
Yonan), a transliteration of Jonah, from the Aramaic and Hebrew, “Yonah”,
meaning dove or peace.

This entry was originally from the
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
..