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IONIANS

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 731 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IONIANS , the name given by the Greeks to one of the See also:

principal divisions of the Hellenic peoples, In historic times it was applied to the inhabitants of (I) See also:Attica, where some believed the Ionians to have originated; (2) parts of See also:Euboea; (3) the Cycladic islands, except Melos and See also:Thera; (4) a See also:section of the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Asia See also:Minor, from the gulf of See also:Smyrna to that of Iasus (see See also:IONIA); (5) colonies from any of the foregoing, notably in See also:Thrace, Propontis and See also:Pontus in the west, and in See also:Egypt (See also:Naucratis, See also:Daphnae); some authorities have found traces of an See also:ancient Ionian See also:population in (6) See also:north-eastern Peloponnese. The meaning and derivation of the name are not known. It occurs in two forms, 'IaFover and, "Icaves (compare Xaover and X&.:ves in See also:Epirus)—not counting the name 'Ibvtor applied to the open See also:sea west of See also:Greece. In the traditional See also:genealogy of the Hellenes, See also:Ion, the ancestor of the Ionians, is See also:brother of Achaeus and son of Xuthus (who held Peloponnese after the dispersal of the See also:children of Hellen). But this genealogy, though it is attributed to See also:Hesiod, is apparently See also:post-Homeric; and it is clear that the Ionian name had See also:independent and varied uses and meanings in very See also:early See also:tithes. In See also:Homer the word 'IaFover occurs as a name of inhabitants of Attica, with the epithet EXKeXiTWVes (II. xiii. 685=" trail-vest "), describing some point of See also:costume, and later regarded as imputing effeminacy. The Homeric Hymn to See also:Apollo of See also:Delos (7th See also:century) describes an Ionian population in the See also:Cyclades with a loose religious See also:league about the Delian See also:sanctuary. The same word 'IaFwv (Javan) appears in See also:Hebrew literature of the 8th and 7th centuries, to denote one See also:group of the " Japhetic " peoples of Asia Minor, See also:Cyprus and perhaps See also:Rhodes: " by these were the isles of the nations divided, in their lands, every one after his See also:tongue, after their families, in their nations," a comprehensive expression for the See also:island-strewn regions farther west (Gen. x. so). In Ezek. See also:xxvii. 13, 19, Javan trades with See also:Tyre in slaves, See also:bronze-See also:work, See also:iron and drugs. Later allusions show that on Semitic lips Javan meant western traders in See also:general.

In See also:

Persian Yauna was the generic See also:term for Greeks.' Yunan is still a popular synonym for Oroum, a See also:Greek, among the See also:Arabs; in See also:India Yavana was See also:long the generic name for all foreigners from the north and west, a use dating probably from See also:Alexander's See also:clay and the Graeco-Bactrian monarchs. The earliest explicit Greek See also:account of the Ionians is given in the 5th century by See also:Herodotus (i. 45, 56, 143-145, v. 66, vii. 94, viii. 44-46). The " children of Ion " originated in north-eastern Peloponnese; and traces of them remained in Troezen and Cynuria. Expelled by the See also:Achaeans (who seem to have entered Peloponnese about four generations before the Dorian Invasion) they invaded and dominated Attica; and about the See also:time of the Dorian Invasion took the See also:lead under the See also:Attic See also:branch of the Neleids of Pylus (Hdt. i. 147, v. 65) in the colonization of the Cyclades and of See also:Asiatic Ionia, which in Homer is still " Carian." Many of the colonists, however, were not Ionians, but refugees from other parts of Greece, between Euboea and Argolis (Hdt. i. 146), others looked on Attica as their first See also:home, though the true Ionians were intruders there. The See also:Pan-Ionian sanctuary of See also:Poseidon on the Asiatic promontory of Mycale was regarded as perpetuating a cult from Peloponnesian See also:Achaea, and the league of twelve cities which maintained it, as imitated from an Achaean dodecapolis, and as claiming (absurdly, according to Herodotus 1.

143) purer descent than other Ionians. In Herodotus's account of the first Greek intercourse with Egypt (about 664 B c.) he describes " Ionian and Carian " adventurers and mercenaries in the See also:

Delta. Later the commoner See also:antithesis is between Ionian and Dorian, first (probably) in the colonial regions of Asia Minor, and later more universally. In the 5th century the name " Ionian " was already falling into discredit. Causes of this were (1) the See also:peace-loving luxury (See also:born of commercial See also:wealth and contact with See also:Oriental See also:life) of the See also:great Ionian cities of Asia; (2) the tameness with which they submitted first to See also:Lydia and to See also:Persia, then to Athenian pretensions, then to See also:Sparta, and finally to Persia again; (3) the decadence and downfall of See also:Athens, which still counted as Ionian and had claimed (since See also:Solon's time) seniority among " Ionian " states. In the later 4th century the name survives only (a) as a See also:geographical expression for See also:part of the coast of Asia Minor, (b) in See also:European Greece as the name of that section of the See also:Northern See also:Amphictyony in which Athens and its colonies were reckoned. The traditional See also:history of Asiatic Ionia is generally accepted, and in its broad outlines is probably well founded. See also:Common to all See also:groups of Ionians in the See also:Aegean is a See also:dialect of Greek which has a for a (in Attic only partially) and (in Asiatic Ionian especially) K for sr in certain words. Herodotus states that there were four distinct dialects in Asiatic Ionia itself (i. 142) and the dialect of Attica differed widely from all other forms of Ionic. Earlier phases of Ionic forms are dominant in the See also:language of Homer. Most Ionian states exhibit also traces of the fourfold tribal divisions named after the " children of Ion "; but additional tribes occur locally.

(Hdt. v. 66, 69.) All reputed colonies from Attica (except See also:

Ephesus and See also:Colophon) kept also the feast of See also:Apaturia; and many worshipped Apollo Patrons as the reputed See also:father of Ion. The few observations hitherto made on the sites of Ionian cities indicate continuity of See also:settlement and culture as far back as the latest phases of the Mycenaean (See also:Late Minoan III.) See also:Age and not farther, supporting thus far the traditional See also:foundation See also:dates. The theory of E. See also:Curtius (1856–1890) that the Ionians originated in Asia Minor and spread thence through the Cyclades to Euboea and Attica deserts ancient tradition on linguistic and ethnological grounds of doubtful value. Ad. Holm supports it (Gesch. Gr., See also:Berlin, 1886, i. 86), but A. von See also:Gutschmid (Beitr. z. Gesch. d. See also:alien Orients, See also:Leipzig, 1856, 124 ff.) and E. See also:Meyer (Philologus NF. 2, 1889, p.

268 ff.; NF. 3, 1890, p. 479 ff.) follow Herodotus with qualifications. J. B. See also:

Bury (Eng. Hist. Rev. xv. 228), though he regards the Ionian peoples as of European origin, thinks that they may have got their name from some part of the Asiatic coast. Ionian culture and See also:art, though little known in their earlier phases, derive their See also:inspiration on the one See also:side from those of the old Aegean (Minoan) See also:civilization, on the other from the Oriental (mainly See also:Assyrian) See also:models which penetrated to the coast through the Hittite civilization of Asia Minor. See also:Egyptian See also:influence is almost absent until the time of See also:Psammetichus, but then becomes predominant for a while. See also:Local and regional peculiarities, however, disappear almost wholly in the 5th and 4th centuries, under the overpowering influence of Athens.

End of Article: IONIANS

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