﻿286 



IONIA. 



IONIAN ISLANDS. 



other parte of Greece (Herod, i. 146.) The emigrants who proceeded 

 to the coast of Asia, under their leader Neleu9, took Miletus, which 

 wa» then inhabited by the Carians. Miletus seems to have fallen to 

 the share of the Athenian lonians, who, according to the frequent 

 custom of those times, massacred all the men, and kept the women 

 for themselves. They also colonised Myus and Priene, near the 

 banks of the Maeander. Another party of lonians under Androclus, 

 another son of Codrus, took possession of Ephesus, and drove away 

 the Leleges and Carian inhabitants. They likewise occupied Lebedos 

 and Colophon, the latter of which towus was inhabited by Cretans, 

 who appear to have amalgamated with the Ionian colonists. Further 

 north Teos, which had been built by the ^olians, received also an 

 Ionian colony, as well as Erythrse on the coast facing the island of 

 Chios. On the north coast of the same peninsula Clazomense was 

 founded afterwards by a colony from Colophon, and later still Phocaea 

 was colonised by adventurers from Phocis and loniaus from Attica on 

 a territory north of the Hermus, which belonged originally to the 

 Cumajaus of ^Eolia. The above towns, with the two towns of Chios 

 and Samos on the islands of the same name, which the lonians like- 

 wise colonised, formed the Dodecapolis, or confederation of the twelve 

 citii^ of Ionia. Smyrna being seized about B.O. 700 by Colophonian 

 exiles, was in course of time added to the confederation. Other 

 colonies from the twelve cities were built along the coast, such as 

 Gene, Myonnesu', Claros, &a 



This confederation appears to have been mainly united by a common 

 religious worship and the celebration of a periodical festival ; and it 

 ■eems that the deputies of the several states only met in times of 

 great dificulty. The place of assembly was the Panionium, at the 

 foot of Mount Mycale, where a temple, built on neutral ground, was 

 dedicated to Poseiiion. 



Asiatic Ionia extended from the Camiean Oulf on the north to 

 Mount Orius and the gulf Basilicus south of Miletus, a length of not 

 more than 100 miles in a straight line, but with a coast three times 

 that length, owing to the many sinuosities and the form of the large 

 ChersouesiiB opposite Chios. The Ionian territory did not extend 

 inland above 40 miles from the coast as far as Mounts Sipylus and 

 Tmolus. It bordered on the north upon the territory of Pergamns, 

 Cums, and other J5olian cities which had been colonised several 

 generations before the Ionian immigration, and on the south upon 

 Caria, where the Dorian colonies formed, some time later, a small 

 confederation. The principal rivers of Ionia were the Hermus, the 

 Caystrus, and the Ma>ander, all three flowing from the interior with 

 a western course into the JJgean. [Anatolia.] 



The Asiatic lonians early attained a high degree of commercial and 

 maritime prosperity. Miletus alone is said to have founded 75 towns 

 or colonies. They became wealthy, refined, and luxurious. The 

 remains of their monuments prove their taste for the arts, and their 

 temples and public buildings rivalled those of European Qreece. The 

 literature of Ore-ce may be said to have originated on the coast of 

 Asia Minor; for poets, philosophers, historians, and artists flou- 

 rished in the Ionian citiee long before Attica attained to any eminence 

 in intellectual pursuits. The historian Hecatseui was a native 

 of Miletus; Thales, one of the earliest philosophers, was from the 

 flame country. Anacreon was a native of Teos ; and Herodotus, 

 though a Dorian, adopted in his ' History,' the language of his Ionian 

 neighbours. 



The Lydian kings, whose capital was at Sardis, made war against 

 the Ionian states, who only obtained peace and preserved a kind of 

 independence by paying tribute, but they were finally subduKd by 

 CroDsus. They remained faithful to the Lydians, when attacked by 

 Cyrus (B.C. 546), in consequence of which, that monarch having 

 ■ubdued the Lydians (b.c. 5i7), sent his general Harpagus to reduce 

 Ionia. Harpagus took and destroyed Phoc-asa, and the surviving 

 inhabitants fled by sea, and founded Massilia (Marseille) on the coast 

 of OauL About the same time many of the Teiaus left their country 

 and founded Abdera in Thrace. Prieue was taken by Harpagus, and 

 the inhabitants were sold as slaves. Miletus and the other cities 

 obtained peace on the same conditions as they had accepted under the 

 kings of Lydia. In almost every town there were two parties, aristo- 

 cratic and democratic, and the Persian kings or their satraps generally 

 favoured the formt-r ; and thus it happened that most of the Greek 

 cities in Asia came to be ruled by tyrants, or individuals who possessed 

 the sovereign power. Aristagoras, who was deputy tyrant of Miletus 

 in the time of the first Darius, having quarrelled with the Persian 

 ■atrap, urged his fellow-countrymen the lonians to revolt in order to 

 exp*l their tyrants, and to establish democracy. He set the example 

 by resigning his power. Hecatssus, who saw the danger of rousing 

 the formidable power of Persia, in vain opposed this rash measui-e, 

 Aristagoras proceeded to Athens, and obtained the assistance of a 

 fleet. The Atbeoians and lonians united marched to Sardis, and 

 pltmdered and burnt the city, but the Persians coming in great force, 

 the confederates were defeated, and the Athenians withdrew from 

 the contest. The Ionian fleet was strong at sea, but could not 

 prevent the satrap Artaphernes from attacking aud taking their cities 

 cy Und. Clazoroenai was taken and destroyed, but the inhabitants 

 ■omt! time after built a new town upon an island near the coast. 

 Miletus was captured after a gallant defence, most of the inhabitants 

 were killed, and the rest were transplanted into Persia, where Darius 



gave them lands and a settlement. The territory of Miletus was 

 given up to Persian or Lydian colonists. Thus ended, about B.o. 496, 

 the Ionian revolt. Miletus however seems to have recovered from its 

 ruin after a time, and the victories of the Greeks over Xerxes had the 

 eSect of restoring the fugitives to their respective cities. 



After the battle of Mycale (B.C. 479), aud the victories of Cimon, 

 the Greeks became absolute masters of the sea, and the Persians did 

 not venture near the coast. The Athenians now obtained a kind of 

 supremacy on the eastern coast of the JE^ena, and the Ionian cities 

 acknowledged Athens as their leader and the arbiter of their disputes. 

 At the close and after the conclusion (b.c. 404) of the Peloponnesian 

 war, the Lacedsemonians gained the ascendancy, and the tjwns of 

 Asia changed protectors. But by the peace of Antalcidas (b.c. 387) the 

 towns on the continent of Asia were given up to the king of Persia, 

 who however does not appear to have treated them harshly, for many 

 of them were in a prosperous state at the time of Alexander's expedi- 

 tion. After the battle of the Orauicus the democratic party regained 

 the upper hand, and Alexander gave them his countenance, at the 

 same time forbidding them strictly from offering any further violence 

 to the vanquished aristocracy. Miletus alone did not submit ; the 

 town was taken by storm, and moat of the inhabitants put to the 

 sword. 



Ionia enjoyed its greatest prosperity under the Lydian kings. During 

 the Macedonian sway it partially recovered from its long sufferings 

 in the struggles with Persia. Under the Romans the cities were still 

 important seats of commerce, literature, and art, but their political 

 life was extinct, and they ranked mer -ly as provincial towns. The 

 last traces of this prosperity were swept away under the barbarous 

 rule of the Turks iu the 12th and 13th centuries. Smyrna, unchanged 

 in name, and prosperous in commerce, alone remains, and is now the 

 most important city iu Asia Minor. Clazomense, although named by 

 Herodotus among the mainland states of Ionia, stood upon an island 

 on the south side of the bay of Smyrna, which was joiued to the 

 mainland by a causeway about the time of Alexander. This causeway 

 was found by Chandler to the north of Vourla ; it is a quarter of a 

 mile in length, and 30 feet wide. The island he estimat d at a mile 

 in length, and a quarter of a mile in width. As the principal part of 

 its territory was on the mainland it could not properly be called an 

 iDjBolar state. 



Coin of Clazomensc. 

 Aetnal eUe. Gold. Weight, 83 grains. 



(Chandler, Travel* in Atia Minor; Leake, Map of Ana Minor; 

 Chishull, Asiatic Antiquities ; Herodotus, i. 141-151 ; Strabo, lib. xiv. ; 

 Pausanias, viL 1-5 ; Hamilton, Reiearcha in Asia Minor ; Thirlwall, 

 History of Greece, vol. iL ; Grote, History of Qreece, vol. ii.) 



IONIAN ISLAND'S, the collective name given to the islands of 

 Cephalonia, Corfu, Santa Maura, Zaute, Cerigo, Ithaca, Paxo, aud some 

 small islets, all situated in the Ionian Sea, near the west coast of 

 Albania and the coast of Greece. The areas of the seven principal 

 islands, their estimated population in 1851, and the number of male 

 and female children attending the primary aud secondary acboola in 

 each island iu 1852, are given in the subjoined table : — 









Scholars at Primary and 



Iilands, 



Area in 

 Square 



Population 

 In 1851. 



Secondary Schools, 1852. 







Miles. 





Hale. 



Female. 



Corfu .... 



227 



70,885 



1393 



325 



Cephalonia . . • 



Hi 



69,054 



1301 



132 



Zante .... 



13G 



39,103 



1030 



180 



Santa Maura . . . 



lilO 



18,679 



591 



30 



Cerigo . . 



116 



12,655 



579 



70 



Ithaca . ... 



44 



11,194 



571 



75 



Paxo .... 



26 



9,128 



246 



25 



Total . . . 



1097 



218,698 



5711 



7S7 



There being no means of obtaining accurate returns of the 

 population, the figures given above must be regarded simply as an 

 approximation to the actual number of the inhabitants. The 

 respective numbers of males and females are given as 122,422 males 

 and 104,276 females. 



The islands rise in nigged abruptness from the sea, and consist for 

 the most part of limestone, with some gypsum and sandstone. The 

 climate is mild and healthy. The heat in summer is moderated by 

 the north-east wind, and it is only when the sirocco winds blow that 

 any inconvenience is experienced. The chief productions are olive-oil, 

 currants, wine, cotton, flax, pulse, salt, wheat, maize, barley, and oats. 

 The currants are grown chiefly in the southern islands, Cephalonia 



