Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/77

 IONIA. xiv. pp. 632, G65.) Towards the inland, or llic east, Ionia extendi^d only a few miles, the towns of Magnesia, Larissa, Tralles, Alabanda, and others, not belonging to it. Ptolemy (v. 2) assigns much narrower limits to Ionia than his predecessors, for, according to him, it extended otdy from the Hermus in Lydia to the Maeander in Caria ; so that Phocaea and Aliletus would not belong to Ionia. According to a generally received tradition, the Ionian colonies on the west coast of Asia were founded after the death of Codrus, the last king of Attica, about r.. c. 1044, or, according to others, as early as v.. c. 1060, about 60 years after the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. The sons of Codrus, Neleus and Androclus, it is said, being dissatisfied with the abolition of royalty and the appointment of their eldest brother Medon to the archonship. emigrated, with large numbers of Attic lonians and bands from other parts of Greece, into Asia Minor. (Strab. xiv. p. 633, foil.; Pans. vii. 2.) Here, in one of the most beautiful and fertile parts of the earth, they founded a number of towns, — partly expelling and partly subduing the ancient inhabitants, who con- sisted mainly of Slaeonians, Carians, and Pclasgians. (Herod, i. 142; Pans. vii. 2; Vhcvecyd. Fra[/m. 26; Dionys. Per. 822, &c.) As a great many of the original inhabitants remained in the country as sub- jects of the conquerors, and as the latter had gone to Asia as warriors, without women, the new colonies were not pure Greek; but still the subdued nations were not so completely ditlercnt as to render an amalgamation into one nation impossible, or even very difficult. This amalgamation with different tribes also accounts for the fact that four different dialects were spoken by the lonians. (Herod. /. c.) The towns founded by the lonians — which, though independent of one another, yet formed a kind of confederacy for common purposes — amounted to twelve (5a)5eKOToA(s), a number which must not be regarded as accidental. These towns, of which accounts are given in separate articles, were: Pho- caea, Ekythkae, Clazomenae, Teos, Lb.bedos, Colophon, Ephesis, PiUKXic, Myls, Miletu.s, and Samos and Chios in the neighbouring islands. (Strab. xiv. p. 633; Aelian, V. II. viii. 5.) Subse- quently, about B. c. 700, Smyrna, which until then had belonged to Aeolis, became by treachery a mem- ber of the Ionian confederacy, which henceforth con- sisted of thirteen cities. (Herod, i. 149; Paus. vii. 5 ; Strab. I. c.) These Ionian colonies soon ro.^e to a high degree of prosperity, and in many respects outstripped the mother-country; for poets, philoso- phers, historians, and artists flourished in the Ionian cities long before the mother-country attained to any eminence in these intellectual pursuits. All the cities of Ionia formed independent republics, with democratical constitutions; but their common affairs ■were discussed at regular meetings held at Panio- nium (riai'iwj'ioj'), the common centre of all the Ionian cities, on the northern slope of Mount My- cale, near Priene, and about three stadia from the coast. (Herod, i. 141, 148; Strab. xiv. p. 639; Mela, i. 17; Plin. v. 29.) These meetings at Panionium appear to have given rise to a permanent town, with a Prytaneum, in which the meetings were held. (Steph. B. s. v.) The political bond which held the Ionian cities together appears to have been rather loose, and the principal objects of the meetings, at least in later times, were religious worship and the celebration of games. The cities continued to enjoy their increasing prosperity and their independence IONIUM MAT^E. 61 until the establishment of the Lydian monarchy. The attacks upon the Ionian colonies began even In the reign of Gyges, so th.at one city after another was conquered, until, in the reign of Croesus, all of them became subject to the Lydians. 'When Lydia be- came the prey of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, in B. c. 557, Ionia also was obliged to acknowledge the supremacy of Persia; but the new rulers scarcely interfered with the internal affairs of the cities and their confederacy; all they had to do was to pay tribute, to send their contingents to the Persian armies, and to submit to satraps and tyrants, the latter of whom were Greek usurpers who set them- selves up in their native cities, and were backed by the Persian monarchs. But the lonians, accustomed to liberty, were unable to bear even this gentle yoke for any length of time, and in b. c. 500 a general insurrection broke out against Persia, in which the Athenians and Eretrians also took jiart. 'I'he le- volt had been planned and organised by Histiaeus, tyrant of Jliletus, and Aristagoras, his son-in-law. The lonians burned and destroyed Sardes, the resi • dence of the Persian satraps, but were then routed and defeated in a bloody battle near Ephesus. In B.C. 496 all the lonians were again reduced, and compelled to assist the Persians with men and ships in the w.ar against Greece. In the battle of Mycale, B. c. 479, the lonians deserted from the ranks of the Persians and joined their kinsmen, and thus took the first step to recover their independence, which ten years later was fully secured by the battle on the Eurym.cdon. They then entered into a relation with the Athenians, who were to protect them against any further aggression from the Persians; but in consequence of this they became more or less de- pendent upon their protectors. In the unfortunate peace of Antalcidas, the lonians, with the other Asiatic Greeks, were again made over to Persia, B. c. 387 ; and when the Per.--ian monarchy was de- stroyed by Alexander, they became a part of the Macedonian empire, and finally fell into the hands of the Romans. The highest prosperity of Ionia be- longs to the period of the Lydian supremacy; under the rule of Macedonia it somewhat recovered from its previous sufferings. Under the Romans the Ionian cities still retained their importance as commercial places, and as seats of art and literature; but they lost their political life, and sank down to the con- dition of mere provincial towns. The last traces of their prosperity were destroyed under the barbarous rule of the Turks in the middle ages. During the period of their greatest prosjx"rity and independence, the Ionian cities sent out numerous colonies to the shores of the Black sea and to the western coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. (Comp. Thirl- wall, Ilist. of Greece, vol. ii. chap. 12, pp. 94, 115, 120, &c.; Grote, Hist, of Greece, vol. ii. pp.229 — 253.) [L. S.] lO'NIUM ]IAEE ('loVioj/ -KiKayos, Ptol.), was the name given by geographers to the sea which bathed the western shores of Greece, and separated them from those of Sicily and Southern Italy. The appellation would seem to date from a very early period, when the lonians still inhabited the shores of the Corinthian gulf, and the part of the Peloponness subsequently known as Achaia; but we have no evi- dence of its employment in early times. The legends invented by later writers, which derived it from a hero of the name of lonius or Ion, or from the wan- derings of Io(Aesch. P?'ci;?i. 840 ; Tzctz. ad Lgcophr. Alex. 630; Steph. B. s. v. Eustath. ad Dionys.