View source for Ionia

{{Short description|Region in Turkey}}
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|Ionian Islands}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox
|bodyclass = geography
|abovestyle = background:#DEB887;
|subheader = Ancient region of Anatolia
|above = Ionia 
|image = [[File:Mount Mycale and Mycale Strait.jpg|300px|Mount Mycale]]
|caption = [[Mycale|Mount Mycale]], site of the [[Panionium]]
|image2=[[File:Turkey ancient region map ionia.JPG|300px|Ionia]]
|caption2=Map of western Anatolia with Ionia shaded
|label1 = Location
|data1  = Western [[Anatolia]], [[Turkey]]
|label2 = State existed
|data2  =  7th–6th centuries BC (as [[Ionian League]])
|label3 = Language
|data3  =  [[Ionic Greek]]
|label4 = Largest city
|data4  =  [[Ephesus]]
|label5 = [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] [[satrapy]]
|data5  =  [[Ionia (satrapy)|Yauna]]
|label6 = [[Roman provinces|Roman province]]
|data6  =  [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]]
}}

'''Ionia''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|n|i|ə}} {{respell|eye|OH|nee|ə}})<ref>{{Bulleted list|[[Ancient Greek]]:{{bulleted list|{{Langx|grc-x-attic|[[wikt:Ἰωνία#Ancient Greek|Ἰωνῐ́ᾱ]]|Iōnĭ́ā|label=[[Attic Greek|Attic]]}}, {{IPA|grc-x-attic|i.ɔː.ní.aː|IPA}}|{{Langx|grc-x-ionic|[[wikt:Ἰωνίη#Ancient Greek|Ἰωνίη]]|Iōníē|label=[[Ionic Greek|Ionic]]}}, {{IPA|grc-x-ionic|i.ɔː.ní.ɛː|IPA}}}}|{{Langx|tr|İyonya}}}}</ref> was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of [[Anatolia]]. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the [[Ionian League]] of [[Greeks|Greek]] settlements.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} Never a unified state, it was named after the [[Ionians]] who had settled in the region before the [[Archaic Greece|archaic period]].{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Ionia proper comprised a narrow coastal strip from [[Phocaea]] in the north near the mouth of the river [[Hermus]] (now the [[Gediz River|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 [[Aeolis|Aeolia]] to the north, [[Lydia]] to the east and [[Caria]] to the south. The cities within the region figured significantly in the strife between the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian Empire]] and the Greeks.

Ionian cities were identified by mythic traditions of kinship and by their use of the [[Ionic dialect]], but there was a core group of twelve Ionian cities that formed the [[Ionian League]] and had a shared sanctuary and festival at [[Panionion]]. These twelve cities were (from south to north): [[Miletus]], [[Myus]], [[Priene]], [[Ephesus]], [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]], [[Lebedos]], [[Teos]], [[Erythrae]], [[Clazomenae]] and [[Phocaea]], together with the islands of [[Samos]] and [[Chios]].<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D142 1.142].</ref> [[İzmir|Smyrna]], originally an [[Aeolis|Aeolic]] colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city.<ref name="Ionia">{{EB1911|wstitle=Ionia (Asia Minor)|display=Ionia|volume=14|pages=727–728|first1=Edward Herbert|last1=Bunbury|first2=David George|last2=Hogarth|inline=1}}</ref><ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D143 1.143], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D149 1.149–150].</ref>

The [[Ionian school (philosophy)|Ionian school of philosophy]], centered on 6th century BC [[Miletus]], was characterized by a focus on non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena and a search for rational explanations of the universe, thereby laying the foundation for scientific inquiry and rational thought in Western philosophy.

==Geography==
[[File:Western Asia Minor Greek Colonization.svg|230px|right|thumb|Greek settlements in western [[Asia Minor]], Ionian area in green.]]
Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding {{convert|150|km|mi|-1}} in length from north to south, with the cities located on a narrow band between the sea and the mountains, which varies in width from {{convert|60|to|90|km|mi|-1}}. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. The location of the eastern border with Lydia and Caria was vague in antiquity.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=20}}

The region 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 Caÿster (modern [[Küçük Menderes River]]), which flowed past Ephesus; and the [[Maeander]], which in ancient times discharged its waters into a deep gulf between Priene and Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits.

Two east–west mountain ranges divide the region and extend out into the Aegean as peninsulas. The first begins as [[Mount Sipylus]] between the Hermus and Caÿster river valleys and continues out as the [[Urla-Karaburun-Çeşme Peninsula|Erythrae peninsula]], which faces the island of Chios. The second is the Messogis range between the Caÿster and Maeander ranges, which becomes the [[Mycale]] peninsula, which reaches out towards the island of Samos. None of these mountain ranges exceed {{convert|1200|m|ft|-1}}.

Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile region of Asia Minor.<ref name="Ionia"/> Herodotus declares "in terms of climate and weather, there is no fairer region in the whole world."<ref>Herodotus 1.142.</ref>{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=25}}

==Etymology==
The [[etymology]] of the word {{lang|grc|Ἴωνες}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Íōnes}}) or {{lang|grc|Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Iā́wones}}) is uncertain.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 608 f.</ref> Various hypotheses have been proposed to explain its origins. [[Hjalmar Frisk|Frisk]] suggests that it stems from an unknown root, *''Ia''-, which would be pronounced as *''ya''-. There are several alternative hypotheses as well:

*The word may have originated from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] onomatopoeic root {{lang|ine-x-proto|wi-}} or {{lang|ine-x-proto|woi-}}, which conveyed a shout made by individuals rushing to help others. Another proposition, put forth by [[Julius Pokorny|Pokorny]], suggests that *{{lang|grc-Latn|Iāwones}} could signify "devotees of Apollo," based on the cry {{lang|grc-Latn|iḕ paiṓn}} uttered in his worship; the god was also called {{lang|grc-Latn|iḕios}} himself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Indo-European Etymological Dictionary|url=http://www.indoeuropean.nl/index2.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927151807/http://www.indoeuropean.nl/index2.html|archive-date=27 September 2006|publisher=Leiden University, the IEEE Project}} In Pokorny's ''[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]'' (1959), p. 1176.</ref>
*The word may have derived from an early name associated with an unknown nation inhabiting an [[Eastern Mediterranean]] island. This population was referred to as {{lang|egy-Latn|[[wiktionary:ḥꜣw-nbwt|ḥꜣw-nbwt]]}} in ancient Egyptian, indicating the people residing in that region. However, the exact nature of this early name and its connection to the term {{lang|grc|Ἴωνες}} remains uncertain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Partridge|first=Eric|url=https://archive.org/details/originsshortetym0000part|title=Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English: Ionian|publisher=Greenwich House |year=1983|isbn=0-517-41425-2|location=New York|url-access=registration}}</ref>
*It may have come from a Proto-Indo-European root {{lang|ine-x-proto|uiH-}}, meaning "power".<ref>Nikolaev, Alexander S. (2006), [http://scholar.harvard.edu/nikolaev/publications/%E1%BC%B0%CE%AC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%82 "Ἰάoνες"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052249/http://scholar.harvard.edu/nikolaev/publications/%E1%BC%B0%CE%AC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%B5%CF%82 |date=4 March 2016 }}, ''Acta Linguistica Petropolitana'', '''2'''(1), pp. 100–115.</ref>
The term {{lang|grc|Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Iā́wones}}) in turn became the source for words for Greeks in many languages of the Near East, compare [[Aramaic]] {{lang|arc|𐡉𐡅𐡍𐡉𐡍}} (*{{lang|arc-Latn|Yawnayīn}}), [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] {{lang|he|[[wiktionary:יוון#Hebrew|יָוָן]]}} ({{lang|he-Latn|yāwān}}), [[Arabic]] {{wikt-lang|ar|يُونَان}} ({{transliteration|ar|yūnān}}), [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic Egyptian]] {{lang|egy-Latn|[[wiktionary:wynn#Demotic|wynn]]}} ({{IPA|/wəjˈniːn/}}) and [[Coptic language|Coptic]] {{wikt-lang|cop|ⲟⲩⲁⲓⲛⲓⲛ}} ({{lang|cop-Latn|ouainin}}).

==History==
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 ''Millawanda/Milawata'' of Hittites). There is no record of any people named Ionians in [[Bronze Age#Near East|Late Bronze Age]] Anatolia but [[Hittite texts]] record contact with [[Achaeans (Homer)#Hittite documents|Ahhiyawa]]ns ("Achaeans"){{citation needed|date=April 2024}} without being clear on their location. [[Miletus]] and some other cities founded earlier by non-Greeks received populations of [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greeks]].

===Settlement===
{{Main|First Greek colonisation#Ionian migration}}
Greek settlement of Ionia seems to have accelerated following the [[Bronze Age collapse]], but the lack of contemporary sources makes the sequence of events unclear.
[[File:Ionia, placchetta in osso di gorgone in corsa con serpenti, 575-550 ac ca.jpg|thumb|upright|Gorgone with serpent, Ionia, 575-550 BC.]]
The ancient Greeks believed that the Ionians were the descendants of [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]] (either a son or grandson of [[Hellen]], the mythical ancestor of the Greeks) and had [[Ionian migration|migrated]] from Greece to Asia Minor in mythic times.<ref name="Pausanias 7.1">Pausanias 7.1.</ref> The story is attested from the Classical period. [[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.<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D145 1.145].</ref> However, the story of the migration is recounted most fully by the Roman-period authors [[Strabo]] and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]].{{sfn|Mac Sweeney|2013|pp=157-73}}{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=3, 12}} They report that the Ionians were expelled from the [[Peloponnese]] by [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaians]], and were granted refuge in Athens by King [[Melanthus]].<ref name="Pausanias 7.1"/> Later, when Medon was selected as King of Athens, his brothers, the "sons of Codrus", led a group of Ionians and others to Asia Minor. Simultaneously, the [[Aeolians]] of [[Boeotia]] settled the coast to the north of the Ionians and the [[Dorians]] settled in [[Crete]], the [[Dodecanese]] and in [[Caria]].

According to Pausanias, the sons of Codrus were as follows:
*[[Neileus]] conquered [[Miletus]] from the [[Cretans]].<ref>Pausanias 7.2.</ref> Pausanias and most other sources present Neileus as the overall leader of the Ionians.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=31}}
*[[Androclus]] conquered [[Ephesus]] from the [[Leleges]] and [[Lydians]], conquered [[Samos]], and died defending [[Priene]] from [[Carians]].<ref>Pausanias 7.2.8-9.</ref> Strabo says that Androclus was the leader of the Ionians and the only legitimate son of Codrus.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=30}}
*[[Cyaretus]] took [[Myus]] from the [[Carians]].<ref name="Pausanias 7.2.10-11">Pausanias 7.2.10-11.</ref> 
*[[Damasichthon]] and [[Promethus]] found the descendants of [[Thersander]] of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] at [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] and settled alongside them, but later Promethus killed his brother and fled to [[Naxos]].<ref>Pausanias 7.3.3.</ref>
*[[Andraemon]] conquered [[Lebedus]] from the Carians.<ref>Pausanias 7.3.5.</ref> 
*Damasus and Naoclus settled at Teos, along with Boeotians led by Geres. The city had already been settled by Ionians under Apoecus (whose name literally means "founder") and [[Minyans]] who settled under [[Athamas]].<ref>Pausanias 7.3.6.</ref> 
*[[Cleopus]] gathered a group made up of equal portions from all the Ionian cities and settled them at [[Erythrae]], where there were already Cretans, Lycians, Carians and [[Pamphylians]].<ref>Pausanias 7.3.7.</ref> 
Pausanias reports that other cities were founded or became Ionian later:
* Priene was founded by Neileus' son Aegyptus, along with Philotas, as a joint Ionian and Theban settlement.<ref name="Pausanias 7.2.10-11"/> 
*[[Clazomenae]] was founded by a group of Ionians, who received Parphorus, a descendant of Codrus from Colophon as their founder.<ref>Pausanias 7.3.8.</ref> 
*[[Phocaea]] was founded by a group of [[Phocians]] from near [[Delphi]], led by Philogenes and Damon of Athens and then received Deoetes, Periclus and Abartus, descendants of Codrus, as their kings in order to gain recognition as Ionians.<ref>Pausanias 7.3.10.</ref> 
*Procles son of Pityreus of [[Epidaurus]], a descendant of Ion, who had been expelled by [[Argos, Peloponnese#Antiquity|Argos]] conquered Samos. Under his son Leogorus, the Ephesians under Androclus conquered the island and the Samians fled to [[Samothrace]] and to [[Anaea (Asia)|Anaea]], but then reconquered Samos.<ref>Pausanias 7.4.1-3.</ref> 
*[[Chios]] was settled by Cretans under Oenopion, then by Carians and [[Abantes]] from [[Euboea]]. Oenopion's grandson Hector drove them out and received a tripod and the right to sacrifice at the [[Panionion]] from the Ionians (Pausanias expresses uncertainty about how this made them Ionian).<ref>Pausanias 7.4.8-10.</ref> 
*[[Smyrna]] had been conquered by the Aeolians, but was later conquered by the Colophonians.<ref>Pausanias 7.5.1.</ref>

===Archaic period===
[[File:Ephesos 620-600 BC.jpg|right|thumb|275px|One of the earliest [[electrum]] coins struck in [[Ephesus]], 620–600 BC. Obverse: Forepart of stag. Reverse: Square incuse punch.]]
In the Archaic period, "the Ionian poleis were among the cultural, intellectual, and political leaders of the Greek world."{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=17}} The region prospered economically due to the contributions of [[Immigration|immigrants]], traders, and other social classes from at least [[750 BC|750 BCE]] to well after [[510 BC|510 BCE]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Weisstein|first=Eric W.|author-link=Eric W. Weisstein|year=2007|title=Pre-Classical (Archaic) Greece (ca. 750-ca. 490 BC) |url=https://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Pre-ClassicalGreece.html|access-date=2024-01-15|website=ScienceWorld|series=Eric Weisstein's World of Scientific Biography|publisher=[[Wolfram Research]]}}</ref>

====Ionian League====
{{Main|Ionian League|Panionium|Delos}}
The twelve Ionian cities formed a religious and cultural (as opposed to a political or military) confederacy, the [[Ionian League]], of which participation in the Pan-Ionic festival was a distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of [[Mt. Mycale]] in a shrine called the [[Panionium]].<ref name="Ionia"/> The foundation took place late in the Archaic period, but the exact date is unclear. This is also when stories of the [[Ionian migration]] are first attested. All of these initiatives were probably aimed at emphasising Ionian distinctiveness from other Greeks in Asia.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18}}

But the Ionian League was primarily a religious organisation rather than a political one. Although they did sometimes act together, civic interests and priorities always trumped broader Ionian ones.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18}} They never formed a real confederacy. The advice of [[Thales]] of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected.<ref name="Ionia"/> In inscriptions and literary sources from this period, Ionians generally identify themselves by their city of origin, not as "Ionians."{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=17}}

====Ionians overseas====
The cities became prosperous. [[Miletus]] especially was, in 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 [[Trabzon|Trapezus]] and Panticapaeum. [[Phocaea]] was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean. From an early period, [[Ephesus]], though it did not send out any colonies of importance, became a flourishing city.<ref name="Ionia"/>

In the eighth century, Ionian Greeks are recorded in Near Eastern sources as coastal raiders: 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, Lebanon|Tyre]]".<ref name="Fox 2008">Sargon's inscription in A. Fuchs, ''Die Inschriften Sargons II aus Khorsabad'' (1994:40) noted in Robin Lane Fox, ''Travelling Heroes in the Epic Age of Homer'', 2008:29f.</ref> For a full generation earlier, Assyrian inscriptions had recorded troubles with the Ionians, who escaped on their boats.<ref name="Fox 2008"/>

====Lydian rule====
About 700 BC [[Gyges of Lydia|Gyges]], first Mermnad king of [[Lydia]], invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus, and is said to have taken Colophon. His son [[Ardys of Lydia|Ardys]] conquered Priene. In the middle of the 7th century, the [[Cimmerians|Cimmerii]] ravaged a great part of Asia Minor, including Lydia, and sacked [[Magnesia on the Maeander]], but were defeated when they attacked Ephesus. It was not until the reign of [[Croesus]] (560–545 BC) that the cities of Ionia fell completely under Lydian rule.<ref name="Ionia"/>

===First Achaemenid rule===
{{Main|Ionia (satrapy)}}
[[File:Xerxes I tomb Ionian soldier circa 470 BCE cleaned up.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Ionian soldier of the Achaemenid army, {{Circa|480 BCE}}.]]
The defeat of Croesus by [[Cyrus the Great]] was followed by the conquest of all the Ionian cities in 547 BC.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TzjAQAAQBAJ&q=ionian+revolt+547+BC&pg=PA261|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece|isbn=9781136787997|last=Wilson|first=Nigel|date=31 October 2013|publisher=Routledge}}</ref> These became subject to the Persian monarchy with the other Greek cities of Asia, forming part of the satrapy of Lydia. In this position they enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy, but were subject to local despots (called "[[tyrant]]s"), who were loyal to the Persian king.

Art and archaeology show that Ionia was characterised by "openness and adaptability" towards the Lydians, Persians, and their eastern neighbours in this period. Lydian products and luxury objects were widespread.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=17}}

The Persians used "Yaunā" (Ionian) as a catch-all term for all Greeks, dividing them into "Yaunā of the mainland" in Asia Minor, "Yaunā dwelling by the sea" in the Aegean islands, "Yaunā dwelling across the sea" in the Greek mainland, and "Yaunā with shields on their heads" in Macedonia.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=17}}

====Ionian revolt====
It was at the instigation of one of the tyrants, [[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 [[Greco-Persian Wars|Persian invasion of Greece]]. But the fleet of the Ionians was defeated off the island of [[Battle of Lade|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.<ref name="Ionia"/>

===Athenian empire===
[[File:EPMA-IGI(3)259-272-Tribute list-1.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|The Ionic section of the [[Athenian tribute lists|Athenian tribute list]] for 454/3 BC.]]
The victories of the Greeks during the [[Persian invasion of Greece]] and the liberation of [[Thrace]], [[Macedon]], and Ionia from the Persian Empire 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 within the [[Delian League]]. In the [[Athenian tribute lists]], one of the regions of the empire is the ''Ionikos phoros'', a region that includes the cities of Ionia, but also [[Aeolis]] and [[Mysia]] to the north. Caria to the south was initially its own region, but was folded into the Ionikos phoros in 438 BC.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=25}}

The Athenians advanced an expansive definition of Ionian identity, which included most of the communities under their control and emphasised common descent from Athens. This was probably intended to legitimise their rule over the region. It clashed with the restrictive definition of Ionian identity that was maintained by the Ionian League.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18-19}}

Herodotus, who came from [[Halicarnassus]], a Dorian city in southwestern Asia Minor which was also part of the Athenian Empire, writes in opposition to the Ionian League's claims that "it would be stupid to say that they are more truly Ionian or better born ...."<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D146 1.146].</ref> He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from [[Euboea]], [[Minyans]] from [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], Cadmeians, [[Dryopia]]ns, [[Phocis|Phocians]], [[Molossians]], Arcadian [[Pelasgians]], [[Dorians]] of [[Epidaurus]], and others. Even "the best born of the Ionians" had married girls from [[Caria]]. He defines Ionians as all peoples who were descended from Athenians and celebrated the [[Apaturia]] festival,<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D147 1.147].</ref> which aligns with the expansive Athenian definition of Ionian identity.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18-19}}

===Satrapy (387–335 BC)===
[[File:IONIA, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Circa 350-333 BC.jpg|thumb|Ionia, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Circa 350–333 BC]]
The Spartans dissolved the Athenian Empire at the end of the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 404 BC. The Spartans installed [[harmost]]s (governors) in the cities, but had to withdraw them because they had promised Ionia and the other Greek communities in Asia to the Persians.<ref name=":1">Hamilton, ''Sparta's Bitter Victories'', p. 27.</ref><ref>Hamilton, ''Agesilaus'', p. 87.</ref> In 401, the Ionian cities and Sparta supported [[Cyrus the Younger]], the Persian overlord of Asia Minor, in his attempt to seize the throne from his brother, King [[Artaxerxes II]] but he failed.<ref>Hamilton, ''Sparta's Bitter Victories'', pp. 104–107.</ref> Artaxerxes tasked [[Tissaphernes]], the [[satrap]] of [[Lydia]] and [[Caria]], with retaking the Ionian cities, and the Spartans opposed him.<ref>Hamilton, ''Agesilaus'', p. 88.</ref>

In 396 BC, [[Agesilaus]] led a large expedition to Asia Minor to defend the cities and attack the Persians, which landed in Ephesus. From there he invaded Phrygia and Lydia, sacking [[Sardis]] in 395 BC. But the outbreak of the [[Corinthian War]] forced him to withdraw in 395 BC.

The region was under Persian control by about 390 BC, when the Persian [[satrap]] arbitrated a boundary dispute between Miletus and Myus.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=26-27}} Sparta, Athens, and the other mainland Greek states formally acknowledged Persian possession of Ionia and the other Greek cities in Asia Minor in the [[Peace of Antalcidas]] in 387 BC.<ref name="Ionia"/><ref name="SRI">{{cite book|last=Ruzicka|first=Stephen|title=Trouble in the West: Egypt and the Persian Empire, 525–332 BC|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=9780199766628|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKGb6mD_6icC&pg=PA81}}</ref><ref name="LAT">{{cite book|last=Tritle|first=Lawrence A.|title=The Greek World in the Fourth Century: From the Fall of the Athenian Empire to the Successors of Alexander|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134524747|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jX5TAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT164}}</ref><ref>Xenophon, ''Hellenica'' [[s:Hellenica/Book 5/Chapter 1#1:31|5.1.31]]</ref> In this period, Ionia was a separate satrapy, rather than part of Lydia - the only time in the region's history that formed an administrative unit.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=26-27}} Ionian cities appear to have retained a considerable amount of autonomy until the conquest of Asia Minor by [[Alexander the Great]] in 335 BC.<ref name="Ionia"/>

===Hellenistic period===
[[File:Dedication of Alexander the Great to Athena Polias at Priene.jpg|thumb|[[Priene inscription of Alexander the Great|Inscription from the Temple of Athena Polias]] at Priene, identifying [[Alexander the Great]] as the temple's funder.]]
Ephesus was conquered by [[Philip II of Macedon]] in 336 BC in preparation for the invasion of Persia, which took place under his son [[Alexander the Great]]. After the [[battle of the Granicus]] in 334 BC most of the Ionian cities submitted to Alexander, except for Miletus, which was taken only after a long siege. Alexander presented his invasion as a liberation of the Greeks of Asia and therefore treated the Ionians generously, granting them freedom, autonomy, and tax-free status.

In the [[Wars of the Diadochi|conflict]] that broke out between Alexander's [[diadochi|successors]] after his death in 323 BC and throughout the [[Hellenistic Age]] that followed, Ionia was a contested territory, divided between the [[Antigonid]], [[Seleucid]], and [[Ptolemaic kingdom|Ptolemaic]] kingdoms. Cities were regularly forced to switch allegiance from one monarch to another,{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=27}} but they were also able to play the kings off against one another in order to get better terms for themselves.{{sfn|Ma|1999}} Despite the political situation, the Ionian League continued to operate throughout the period.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=27}}

Following their victory in the [[War with Antiochus]] in 189 BC, the Romans placed Ionia under the control of the [[Attalid Kingdom]], which retained the region until it was annexed by Rome in 133 BC.

One of the major theatrical associations of the Hellenistic period was the Synod of the Dionysiac Artists of Ionia and the Hellespont, which was established around 250 BC and had its headquarters successively in Teos, Ephesus, [[Myonnesus]], and Lebedus.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=37}}

===Roman empire===
[[File:Ephesus Celsus Library Façade.jpg|thumb|270px|The [[Library of Celsus]] in [[Ephesus]] was built in 114–117, during the [[Roman Empire|Roman Imperial period]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Celsus_Library/|title=Celsus Library|publisher=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|author=Mark Cartwright|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>]]
Ionia became part of the [[Roman province]] of [[Asia (Roman province)|Asia]] in 133 BC, which had its capital at the Ionian city of Ephesus.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Ancient History|title=Ionia|first=Jan|last=Breder|editor5-first=Sabine R|editor5-last=Huebner|editor-link5=Sabine R. Huebner |editor4-first=Andrew|editor4-last=Erskine|editor3-first=Craige B|editor3-last=Champion|editor2-first=Kai|editor2-last=Brodersen|editor1-first=Roger S|editor1-last=Bagnall|date=26 October 2012|isbn=9781405179355|doi=10.1002/9781444338386|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons, Inc.]]|hdl=1808/11108 |oclc=230191195|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Ionia had no formal place in the Roman administration of the province, which was divided into [[conventus]] districts that were totally distinct from the traditional ethnic divisions of the region.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=39}} However, the Ionian League continued to function in this period.

The geographer [[Strabo]] treats Ionia as the narrow coastal strip from the Hermus river in the north to the Maeander river in the south (though noting that other authorities included the plain south of the river).{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=28-30}} He treats Ephesus as its most important city and presents an unbroken tradition of intellectual culture in the region stretching from the Archaic philosophers down to his own day - in contrast to the intellectual life of mainland Greece, which he presents as a thing of the past.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=30-32}} Other authors sometimes use "Ionia" as a [[metonym]] for the whole province of Asia.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=38}}

Decreased political agency for the Greek cities under Rome, led to increased focus on cultural identity as a source of civic prestige. In the fierce rivalries that raged between the cities of the Province of Asia in the Roman Imperial period, Ionian cities emphasised their Ionian identity as "one of the purest, 'primordial' forms of Greekness,"{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=20}} while their rivals denounced Ionians as overly influenced by [[orientalism|oriental]] luxury and recalled their support for the Persians in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=14-17}} Most sources discussing Ionian founding myths belong to this period.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=3, 12}} Ionian cities retained local month names and continued to count years by [[eponymous magistrate]]s rather than adopting [[era dating]] like most other cities in Asia Minor.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=13}} Distinctive Ionian personal names remained common.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=13}}

===Medieval and modern history===
Greeks continued to live in Ionia through the [[Roman Empire|Roman]], [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Empires but were forced to vacate the region in 1922 after the events of the [[Greek genocide]] which culminated with the [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|population exchange]] between Turkey and Greece. The suburbs of [[Nea Ionia]] and [[Nea Smyrni]] were primarily settled by refugees from Ionia and still maintain an Ionian identity.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=1-2}}

==Legacy==
From the 7th century BC, Ionia, and in particular [[Miletus]], was home to the [[Ionian school (philosophy)|Ionian school of philosophy]]. The Ionian school, founded by [[Thales]] and his student [[Anaximander]], pioneered a revolution in traditional thinking about Nature. Instead of explaining natural phenomena by recourse to traditional religion/myth, the cultural climate was such that men began to form hypotheses about the natural world based on ideas gained from both personal experience and deep reflection. According to physicist [[Carlo Rovelli]], this was the "first great scientific revolution" and the earliest example of critical thinking, which would come to define Greek, and subsequently modern, thought.<ref name="Rovelli2023">{{cite book|author=Carlo Rovelli|date=28 February 2023|title=Anaximander: And the Birth of Science|publisher=Penguin|pages=xii-22|isbn=978-0-593-54236-1|oclc=1322366046|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbR3EAAAQBAJ}}</ref>

Ionia has a long roll of distinguished men of letters and science (notably the [[Ionian School (philosophy)|Ionian School]] of philosophy) and distinct school of art. This school flourished between 700 and 500 BC. The great names of this school are [[Theodorus of Samos|Theodorus]] and Rhoecus of Samos; [[Bathycles of Magnesia|Bathycles]] of [[Magnesia on the Maeander]]; [[Glaucus of Chios]], Melas, Micciades, Archermus, [[Bupalus|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.<ref name="Ionia"/>

The [[Persian language|Persian]] designation for [[Greek language|Greek]] is ''Younan'' (یونان), a transliteration of "Ionia", through [[Old Persian language|Old Persian]] ''Yauna''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lindner|first1=Rudi Paul|title=Explorations in Ottoman Prehistory|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Michigan|isbn=978-0-47209-507-0|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMUAfa3GFVQC&q=yunan+yauna&pg=PA19|quote=The name "Yunan" comes from Ionia; cf. Old Persian "Yauna" (...)|year=2007}}</ref> The same is true for the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] word, "Yavan" (יוון) and the [[Sanskrit]] word "''[[yavana]]''". The word was later adopted in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], and [[Urdu language|Urdu]] as well as in other places.

==Literary references==
Ionia appears as the major setting in these novels:
*''The Ionia Sanction'' (2011), by [[Gary Corby]]
*''[[The Ionian Mission]]'' (1981), by [[Patrick O'Brian]]

Many scholars believe the [[biblical]] [[Yavan]] refers to the alleged ancestor of the ancient peoples of Ionia.<ref>The /v/ of Hebrew ''yavan'' supports the generally accepted reconstruction of the early form of the name of the Ionians. See: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tUomAQAAIAAJ&q= Jewish Language Review]'', Volume 3, Association for the Study of Jewish Languages, 1983, p. 89.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ancient regions of Anatolia]]
*[[Regions of ancient Greece]]
*[[Ionians]]
*[[List of traditional Greek place names]]
*[[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{EB1911 poster|Ionia (Asia Minor)|Ionia}}
*[[Herodotus]]; ''[[The Histories of Herodotus|Histories]]'', [[A. D. Godley]] (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; {{ISBN|0-674-99133-8}}. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Hdt.+1.1.0 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
*Jan Paul Crielaard, "The Ionians in the Archaic period: Shifting identities in a changing world," in Ton Derks, Nico Roymans (ed.), ''Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition'' (Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009) (Amsterdam Archaeological Studies, 13), 37–84.
*{{cite book|last=Gorman|first=Vanessa B.|title=Miletos, the ornament of Ionia: A History of the City to 400 B.C.E.|year=2001|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor|isbn=978-0472037773}}
*{{cite book|last=Greaves|first=Alan M.|title=The land of Ionia: society and economy in the Archaic period|year=2010|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|location=Malden, MA|isbn=9781444319224}}
*{{cite book|last=Hallmannsecker|first=Martin|title=Roman Ionia: Constructions of Cultural Identity in Western Asia Minor|year=2022|publisher=CUP|location=Cambridge, United Kingdom|isbn=9781009150194}}
*{{cite book|last=Herrmann|first=P.|editor1-last=Ehrhardt|editor1-first=N.|editor2-last=Günther|editor2-first=L.-M.|title=Widerstand, Anpassung, Integration: die griechische Staatenwelt und Rom: Festschrift für Jürgen Deininger zum 65. Geburtstag|year=2002|publisher=Steiner|location=Stuttgart|isbn=9783515079112|pages=223–242|chapter=Das Koinon ton Ionon unter römischer Herrschaft|language=de}}
*{{cite book|last=Ma |first=John|title=Antiochos III and the Cities of Western Asia Minor|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=0198152191}}
*{{cite book|last=Mac Sweeney|first=Naoíse|author-link=Naoíse Mac Sweeney|title=Foundation Myths and Politics in Ancient Ionia|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=9781107037496}}
*{{cite journal|last=Mac Sweeney|first=Naoíse|title=Regional Identities in the Greek World: Myth and Koinon in Ionia|journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|year=2021|volume=70|issue=3|pages=268|doi=10.25162/HISTORIA-2021-0011|s2cid=237987402|doi-access=free}}
*{{cite book|last=Mariaud|first=Olivier|editor1-last=Lemos|editor1-first=Irene S.|editor2-last=Kotsonas|editor2-first=Antonios|title=A Companion to the Archaeology of Early Greece and the Mediterranean|year=2020|location=Hoboken, NJ|isbn=9781118770191|pages=961–984|chapter=Ionia}}
*{{cite book|last=Thonemann|first=Peter|title=The Maeander Valley: A Historical Geography from Antiquity to Byzantium|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1107538139|edition=First paperback}}

==External links==
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{{Ancient kingdoms in Anatolia}}
{{Ancient Greece topics}}
{{History of Anatolia}}
{{Historical regions of Anatolia}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Ionia| ]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 7th century BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 6th century BC]]
[[Category:Iron Age Anatolia]]