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{{Short description|Ancient Greek tribe}}
{{for|the rugby union club|Hull Ionians}}
{{redirect|Ἴων|the dialogue|Ion (dialogue){{!}}''Ion'' (dialogue)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
[[File:Xerxes I tomb Ionian soldier circa 470 BCE cleaned up.jpg|thumb|Ionian soldier ([[Old Persian cuneiform]] [[Wikt:𐎹𐎢𐎴|𐎹𐎢𐎴]], ''Yaunā'')<ref>[https://www.livius.org/sources/content/achaemenid-royal-inscriptions/dna/? Darius I, DNa inscription, Line 28]</ref> of the [[Achaemenid army]], circa 480 BCE. Relief on the tomb of [[Xerxes I]].]]
{{History of Greece}}
The '''Ionians''' ({{IPAc-en|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|n|i|ə|n|z}}; {{langx|el|Ἴωνες}}, ''Íōnes'', [[grammatical number|singular]] {{lang|grc|Ἴων}}, ''Íōn'') were one of the traditional [[List of ancient Greek tribes|four major tribes]] of [[Ancient Greece]], alongside the [[Dorians]], [[Aeolians]], and [[Achaeans (tribe)|Achaeans]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]]&nbsp;I, 7.3</ref> The [[Ionic Greek|Ionian dialect]] was one of the [[Ancient Greek dialects|three major linguistic divisions]] of the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenic world]], together with the [[Doric Greek|Dorian]] and [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolian]] dialects.

When referring to populations, "''Ionian''" defines several groups in [[Classical Greece]]. In its narrowest sense, the term referred to the region of [[Ionia]] in [[Asia Minor]]. In a broader sense, it could be used to describe all speakers of the Ionic dialect, which in addition to those in Ionia proper also included the Greek populations of [[Euboea]], the [[Cyclades]], and many cities founded by Ionian [[Settler|colonists]]. Finally, in the broadest sense it could be used to describe all those who spoke languages of the [[Ancient Greek dialects#Modern Groups|East Greek]] group, which included [[Attic Greek|Attic]].

The [[Myth of origins|foundation myth]] which was current in the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]] suggested that the Ionians were named after [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]], son of [[Xuthus]], who lived in the north [[Peloponnese|Peloponnesian]] region of [[Aigialeia]]. When the [[Dorian invasion|Dorians invaded]] the Peloponnese they expelled the Achaeans from the [[Argolid]] and [[Laconia (ancient region)|Lacedaemonia]]. The displaced Achaeans moved into Aigialeia (thereafter known as [[Achaea (ancient region)|Achaea]]), in turn expelling the Ionians from Aigialeia.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] VII, 1.7</ref> The Ionians moved to Attica and mingled with the local population of Attica, and many years later emigrated to the coast of Asia Minor founding the historical region of [[Ionia]]. 

Unlike the austere and militaristic Dorians, the Ionians are renowned for their love of [[philosophy]], [[art]], [[democracy]], and pleasure – Ionian traits that were most famously expressed by the [[Athens|Athenians]].<ref>Kōnstantinos D. Paparrēgopulos, Historikai Pragmateiai – Volume 1, 1858</ref>{{page number needed|date=July 2024}} The [[Ionian school (philosophy)| Ionian school of philosophy]], centered on [[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.

== Etymology ==
The [[etymology]] of the word  {{lang|grc|Ἴωνες}} or {{lang|grc|Ἰᾱ́ϝoνες}} is uncertain.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 608 f.</ref> [[Hjalmar Frisk|Frisk]] isolates an unknown root, ''*Ia-'', pronounced ''*ya-''.<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}} To find the full presentation in H. J. Frisk's ''Griechisches Wörterbuch'' search on page 1,748, being sure to include the comma. For a similar presentation in Beekes' ''A Greek Etymological Dictionary'' search on ''Ionian'' in ''Etymology''. Both linguists state a full panoply of "Ionian" words with sources.</ref> There are, however, some theories:

* From a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] root ''*wi-'' or ''*woi-'' expressing a shout uttered by persons running to the assistance of others; according to [[Julius Pokorny|Pokorny]], ''*Iāwones'' could mean "devotees of Apollo", based on the cry ''iḕ paiṓn'' uttered in his worship; the god was also called ''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>
* From an unknown early name of an eastern Mediterranean island population represented by ''[[wikt:ḥꜣw-nbwt|ḥꜣw-nbwt]]'', an ancient Egyptian name for the people living there.<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>
* From a [[Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*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>

== History of the name ==
Unlike "Aeolians" and "Dorians", "Ionians" appears in the languages of different civilizations around the [[eastern Mediterranean]] and as far east as [[Han China]]. They are not the earliest Greeks to appear in the records; that distinction belongs to the [[Danaans]] and the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]. The trail of the Ionians begins in the [[Mycenaean Greek]] records of [[Crete]].

=== Mycenaean ===
A fragmentary [[Linear B]] tablet from [[Knossos]] (tablet Xd 146) bears the name ''i-ja-wo-ne'', interpreted by [[Michael Ventris|Ventris]] and [[John Chadwick|Chadwick]]<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Ventris|author2=John Chadwick|title=Documents in Mycenaean Greek: Second Edition|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1973|pages=547 in the "Glossary" under i-ja-wo-ne|isbn=0-521-08558-6}}</ref> as possibly the [[dative]] or [[nominative]] plural case of *Iāwones, an ethnic name. The Knossos tablets are dated to 1400 or 1200 B.C. and thus pre-date the Dorian dominance in [[Crete]], if the name refers to [[Crete|Cretans]].

The name first appears in [[Greek literature]] in [[Homer]] as {{lang|grc|Ἰάονες}}, ''iāones'',<ref>Homer. ''[[Iliad]]'', Book XIII, Line 685.</ref> used on a single occasion of some long-robed Greeks attacked by [[Hector]] and apparently identified with Athenians, and this Homeric form appears to be identical with the Mycenaean form but without the [[Digamma|*-w-]]. This name also appears in a fragment of the other early poet, [[Hesiod]], in the singular {{lang|grc|Ἰάων}}, ''iāōn''.<ref>Hes. ''fr''. 10a.23 M-W: see {{cite book|last=Glare|first=P. G. W.|title=Greek-English Leicon: Revised Supplement|date=1996|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=155}}</ref>

=== Biblical ===
[[File:Noahsworld map Version2.png|thumb|The world as known to the Hebrews; the name ''Yavan'' used for the Greek-speaking world]] 
In the [[Book of Genesis]]<ref>Book of Genesis, 10.2.</ref> of the [[Authorized King James Version|English Bible]], [[Javan]], known in [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] as ''Yāwān'' and in plural ''Yəwānīm'', is a son of [[Japheth]]. Javan, meaning 'Greek',<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tUomAQAAIAAJ&q= Jewish Language Review]'' (1983) Volume: 3rd, Association for the Study of Jewish Languages, p. 89.</ref> is believed nearly universally by Bible scholars to represent the Ionians, corresponding to the Greek [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]], and to serve as a name for the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Ancient Macedonians|Macedonians]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book|editor-first=Geoffrey William |editor-last=Bromiley|title=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Volume Two: Fully Revised: E-J: Javan|year=1994|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|page=971|isbn=0-8028-3782-4}}</ref> The term is also found in other ancient literature; the ''Yevana'' (Ionians) aligned with the [[Hittites]] against Egypt, while the ''Yauna'' of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] records corresponds to the Ionians of Asia Minor.<ref name=":0" />

Additionally, though less surely, Japheth may be related linguistically to the Greek mythological figure [[Iapetus (mythology)|Iapetus]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Iapetus|volume=14|page=215}}</ref> The locations of the biblical tribal countries have been the subjects of centuries of scholarship and yet remain open questions to various degrees. The final chapter of the [[Book of Isaiah|Book]] of [[Isaiah]], who lived in the 8th century BC, contains what may be a hint by listing "the nations ... that have not heard my fame" including Javan immediately after "the isles afar off".<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|66:19|ASV}}: [[American Standard Version]]</ref> These isles may be considered as an [[apposition]] to Javan or the last item in the series. If the former, the expression is typically used of the population of the islands in the [[Aegean Sea]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

=== Assyrian ===
Some letters of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in the 8th century BC record attacks by what appear to be Ionians on the cities of [[Phoenicia]]:<blockquote>For example, a raid by the Ionians (''ia-u-na-a-a'') on the Phoenician coast is reported to [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] in a letter from the 730s BC discovered at [[Nimrud]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Irad|last=Malkin|title=The Return of Odysseus: Colonization and Ethnicity|year=1998|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|page=148|isbn=0-520-21185-5}}</ref></blockquote>

The Assyrian word, which is preceded by the country determinative, has been reconstructed as *Iaunaia.<ref>{{cite book|first=John Miles|last=Foley|title=A Companion to Ancient Epic|url=https://archive.org/details/companiontoancie00fole|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/companiontoancie00fole/page/n319 294]|location=Malden, Ma.|isbn=1-4051-0524-0}}</ref> More common is ia-a-ma-nu, ia-ma-nu and ia-am-na-a-a with the country determinative, reconstructed as Iamānu.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Muss-Arnolt|title=A Concise Dictionary of the Assyrian Language: Volume I: A-MUQQU: Iamānu|publisher=Reuther & Reichard; Williams & Morgate; Lemcke & Büchner|location=Berlin; London; New York|year=1905|page=360}}</ref> [[Sargon II]] related that he took the latter from the sea like fish and that they were from "the sea of the setting sun."<ref>{{Cite book|first=R.A.|last=Kearsley|contribution=Greeks Overseas in the 8th Century B.C.: Euboeans, Al Mina and Assyrian Imperialism|title=Ancient Greeks West and East|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientgreekswes00tset|url-access=limited|editor-first=Gocha R.|editor-last=Tsetskhladze|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientgreekswes00tset/page/n131 109]–134|publisher=Brill|place=Leiden, Boston, Köln|year=1999|isbn=90-04-10230-2}} See pages 120-121.</ref> If the identification of Assyrian names is correct, at least some of the Ionian marauders came from [[Cyprus]]:<ref>{{Cite book|first=T.F.R.G.|last=Braun|editor-last=Boardman|editor-first=John|editor2-last=Hammond|editor2-first=N.G.L.|contribution=The Greeks in the Near East: IV. Assyrian Kings and the Greeks|title=The Cambridge Ancient History: III Part 3: The Expansion of the Greek World Eighth to Sixth Centuries B.C.|year=1925|pages=14–24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-23447-6}} See page 17 for the quote.</ref><blockquote>Sargon's Annals for 709, claiming that tribute was sent to him by 'seven kings of Ya (ya-a'), a district of Yadnana whose distant abodes are situated a seven-days' journey in the sea of the setting sun', is confirmed by a [[stele]] set up at [[Citium]] in Cyprus 'at the base of a mountain ravine ... of Yadnana.'</blockquote>

=== Iranian ===
Ionians appear in a number of [[Old Persian]] inscriptions of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] as ''Yaunā'' ({{lang|peo|𐎹𐎢𐎴𐎠}}),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Waters|first1=Matt|title=Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-107-00960-8|page=173|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjhEAgAAQBAJ&q=persians+ionia+yauna}}</ref> a [[nominative]] plural masculine, singular Yauna;<ref>{{cite book|first=Roland G.|last=Kent|title=Old Persian: Grammar Texts Lexicon: Second Edition, Revised|publisher=American Oriental Society|location=New Haven, Connecticut|year=1953|isbn=0-940490-33-1|page=204}}</ref> for example, an inscription of [[Darius the Great|Darius]] on the south wall of the palace at [[Persepolis]] includes in the provinces of the empire "Ionians who are of the mainland and (those) who are by the sea, and countries which are across the sea; ...."<ref>Kent, p. 136.</ref> At that time the empire probably extended around the Aegean to northern Greece.

=== Indic ===
{{Main|Yona|Yavana Kingdom}}
[[File:Siria, seleucidi, Antioco II, tetradracma di seleucia sul tigri, 261-146 ac ca.JPG|thumb|The [[Seleucid]] king [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiochos]] ("''Aṃtiyako [[Yona]] [[Raja|Rājā]]''" ("The Yona king [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiochos]]")) is named as a recipient of Ashoka's medical treatments, together with his [[Hellenistic]] neighbours, in the [[Edicts of Ashoka]] (circa 250 BCE).<ref name="kosmin">{{cite book |last1=Kosmin |first1=Paul J. |author-link=Paul J. Kosmin |title=The Land of the Elephant Kings |date=2014 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-72882-0 |pages=56–57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UWdAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57 |language=en}}</ref>]]
[[File:Amtiyako Yona Raja in Major Rock Edicts No2 in Girnar.jpg|thumb|"''Aṃtiyako [[Yona]] [[Raja|Rājā]]''" ("The Greek king [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiochos]]"), mentioned in [[Major Rock Edict]] No.2, here at [[Girnar]]. [[Brahmi script]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch |date=1925 |page=3 |url=https://archive.org/stream/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/HultzschCorpusAsokaSearchable#page/n135/mode/2up |language=sa}}</ref>]]
Inspired by Achaemenid Iranians, Ionians appear in [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic]] literature and documents as Yavana and Yona. In documents, these names refer to the [[Indo-Greek Kingdom]]s: the states formed by the Macedonian [[Alexander the Great]] and his successors on the [[Indian subcontinent]]. The earliest such documentation is the [[Edicts of Ashoka]].  The Thirteenth Edict is dated to 260–258 BC and directly refers to the "Yonas".<ref name="kosmin" />

=== Chinese ===
{{Main|Dayuan}}
Dayuan' (or Tayuan; {{zh|c={{linktext|大宛}}|p=Dàyuān|l=Great Ionians|s=|t=}}; [[Middle Chinese]] ''dâi<sup>C</sup>-jwɐn'' < [[Eastern Han Chinese|LHC]]: ''dɑh-ʔyɑn''<ref>Schuessler, Axel. (2009) ''Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese.''. University of Hawai'i Press. p. 233, 268</ref>) is the Chinese [[exonym]] for a country that existed in [[Ferghana valley]] in [[Central Asia]], described in the [[Chinese literature|Chinese]] historical works of ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' and the ''[[Book of Han]]''. It is mentioned in the accounts of the Chinese [[explorer]] [[Zhang Qian]] in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia. The country of Dayuan is generally accepted as relating to the [[Ferghana Valley]], controlled by the [[Hellenistic]] [[polis]] [[Alexandria Eschate]] (modern [[Khujand]], [[Tajikistan]]), which can probably be understood as "Greco-Fergana city-state" in English language.

=== Other languages ===
Most modern [[West Asia|Western Asian]] languages use the terms "Ionia" and "Ionian" to refer to Greece and Greeks. That is true of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] (Yavan 'Greece' / Yevani fem. Yevania 'a Greek'),<ref>{{cite book|last=Dagut|first=M.|title=Prof.|date=1990|publisher=Kiryat-Sefer Ltd|location=Jerusalem|isbn=9651701722|page=294}}</ref> [[Armenian language|Armenian]] (Hunastan 'Greece'<ref>{{cite book|last=Bedrossian|first=Matthias|title=New Dictionary Armenian-English|date=1985|publisher=Librairie du Liban|location=Beirut|page=515}}</ref> / Huyn 'a Greek'{{Citation needed|date=May 2014}}), and the [[Classical Arabic]] words (al-Yūnān 'Greece' / Yūnānī fem. Yūnāniyya pl. Yūnān 'a Greek',<ref>{{cite book|last=Wehr|first=Hans|title=Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|date=1971|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|location=Wiesbaden|isbn=0-87950-001-8|page=1110}}</ref> probably from Aramaic Yawnānā<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosenthal|first=Franz|title=Encyclopedia of Islam Vol XI|date=2007|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004161214|page=344|edition=2nd}}</ref>) are used in most modern [[Arabic]] dialects including Egyptian{{Citation needed|date=May 2014}} and Palestinian<ref>{{cite book|last=Elihai|first=Yohanan|title=Dictionnaire de l'arabe parlé palistinien Français-Arabe|date=1985|publisher=Éditions Klincksieck|location=Paris|isbn=2252025115|page=203}}</ref> as well as being used in modern [[Persian language|Persian]] (Yūnānestān 'Greece' / Yūnānī pl. Yūnānīhā/Yūnānīyān 'Greeks')<ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Colin|title=A Thematic Dictionary of Modern Persian|date=2003|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-7007-0458-3|page=92}}</ref> and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] too via Persian (Yunanistan 'Greece' / Yunan 'a Greek person' pl. Yunanlar 'Greek people').<ref>{{cite book|last=Kornrumpf|first=H.-J.|title=Langenscheidt's Universan Dictionary Turkish-English English-Turkish|date=1979|publisher=Langenscheidt|location=Berlin|isbn=0-340-00042-2}}</ref>

== Ionic language ==
{{Main|Ancient Greek dialects|Ionic dialect}}
[[File:AncientGreekDialects (Woodard) en.svg|thumb|270x270px|Map of [[ancient Greek dialects]]]]
Ionic Greek was a [[subdialect]] of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of [[Ancient Greek]]. The Ionic group traditionally comprises three dialectal varieties that were spoken in [[Euboea]] (West Ionic), the northern [[Cyclades]] (Central Ionic), and from <abbr>c.</abbr> 1000 BC onward in [[Ionia|Asiatic Ionia]] (East Ionic), where Ionian [[Greek colonisation|colonists]] from [[Athens]] founded their cities. Ionic was the base of several literary language forms of the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] and [[Classical Greece|Classical]] periods, both in poetry and prose. The works of [[Homeric|Homer]] (''[[The Iliad]]'', ''[[The Odyssey]]'', [[Homeric Hymns]]) and of [[Hesiod]] were written in a literary form of the Ionic dialect called [[Homeric Greek]] or [[Epic Greek]]. Ionic was eventually supplanted by the [[Attic Greek|Attic]] dialect which had become the dominant dialect of the Greek world by the 5th century BC.

== Pre-Ionic Ionians ==
The literary evidence of the Ionians leads back to mainland Greece in Mycenaean times before there was an [[Ionia]]. The classical sources seem determined that they were to be called Ionians along with other names even then. This cannot be documented with inscriptional evidence, and yet the literary evidence, which is manifestly at least partially legendary, seems to reflect a general verbal tradition.

=== Herodotus ===
[[File:Herodotus Massimo Inv124478.jpg|thumb|193x193px|Portrait of [[Herodotus]], Roman copy of a 4th century Greek original]]
[[Herodotus]] of [[Halicarnassus]] asserts:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book I, Chapter 147.</ref><blockquote>all are Ionians who are of [[Athens|Athenian]] descent and keep the feast [[Apaturia]].</blockquote>
He further explains:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book I, Chapter 143.</ref><blockquote>The whole Hellenic stock was then small, and the last of all its branches and the least regarded was the Ionian; for it had no considerable city except [[Athens]].</blockquote>
The Ionians spread from Athens to other places in the [[Aegean Sea]]: [[Sifnos]] and [[Serifos]],<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 8, Section 48.1.</ref> [[Naxos Island|Naxos]],<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 8, Section 46.3.</ref> [[Kea (island)|Kea]]<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 8, Section 46.2.</ref> and [[Samos Island|Samos]].<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 6, Section 22.3.</ref> But they were not just from Athens:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 7, Chapter 94.</ref><blockquote>These Ionians, as long as they were in the [[Peloponnesus]], dwelt in what is now called [[Achaea]], and before [[Danaus]] and [[Xuthus]] came to the Peloponnesus, as the Greeks say, they were called [[Aigialeia|Aegialian]] [[Pelasgians]]. They were named Ionians after [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]] the son of [[Xuthus]].</blockquote>
Achaea was divided into 12 communities originally Ionian:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 1, Section 145.1.</ref> [[Pellana|Pellene]], [[Aigeira|Aegira]], [[Aegae (Achaea)|Aegae]], [[Boura (Achaea)|Bura]], [[Helike|Helice]], [[Aigio|Aegion]], Rhype, [[Patras|Patrae]], Phareae, [[Olenus]], [[Dyme]] and Tritaeae. The most aboriginal Ionians were of Cynuria:<ref>Herodotus. ''Histories''. Book 8, Section 73.3.</ref><blockquote>The [[Cynuria]]ns are aboriginal and seem to be the only Ionians, but they have been Dorianized by time and by Argive rule.</blockquote>

=== Strabo ===
In [[Strabo]]'s account of the origin of the Ionians, [[Hellen]], son of [[Deucalion]], ancestor of the [[Hellenes]], king of [[Phthia]], arranged a marriage between his son [[Xuthus]] and the daughter of king [[Erechtheus]] of [[Athens]]. Xuthus then founded the [[Tetrapolis (Attica)|Tetrapolis]] ("Four Cities") of [[Attica]], a rural district. His son, [[Achaeus, son of Xuthus|Achaeus]], went into exile in a land subsequently called Achaea after him. Another son of Xuthus, [[Ion (mythology)|Ion]], conquered [[Thrace]], after which the Athenians made him king of Athens. Attica was called Ionia after his death. Those Ionians colonized [[Aigialia]] changing its name to Ionia also. When the [[Return of the Heracleidae|Heracleidae]] returned the Achaeans drove the Ionians back to Athens. Under the [[King of Athens#Melanthids or Codridae|Codridae]] they set forth for [[Anatolia]] and founded 12 cities in [[Caria]] and [[Lydia]] following the model of the 12 cities of Achaea, formerly Ionian.<ref>Strabo. ''Geography''. Book 8, Section 7.1.</ref>

== Ionian School of philosophy ==
{{Main|Ionian School (philosophy)}}
During the 6th century BC, Ionian coastal towns, such as [[Miletus]] and [[Ephesus]], became the focus of 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.<ref name="Rovelli2023">{{cite book | author = Carlo Rovelli | date = 28 February 2023 | title = Anaximander: And the Birth of Science | publisher = Penguin | page =22 | isbn = 978-0-593-54236-1 | oclc = 1322366046 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rbR3EAAAQBAJ}}</ref> These men—[[Thales]] and [[Milesian school|his successors]]—were called ''[[Ionian School (philosophy)|physiologoi]]'', those who discoursed on [[Nature]]. They were skeptical of religious explanations for natural phenomena and instead sought purely mechanical and physical explanations. They are credited as being of critical importance to the development of the 'scientific attitude' towards the study of Nature. According to physicist [[Carlo Rovelli]], the work of the Ionian school produced 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"/>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* J. A. R Munro. "Pelasgians and Ionians". ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 1934 (JSTOR).
* R. M. Cook. "Ionia and Greece in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries B.C." ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', 1946 (JSTOR).

== External links ==
*[[Victor H. Mair|Mair, Victor H.]] (2019), "[https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=44747 Greeks in ancient Central Asia: the Ionians]", [[Language Log]], 20 October 2019. Informative scholarly discussion.
* {{Cite EB1911|last=Myres|first=John Linton|author-link=John Myres|wstitle=Ionians|volume=14|pages=730–731|short=x}} The reader should be aware that, although useful, this article necessarily omits all of modern scholarship.

{{Ancient Greece topics}}

[[Category:Ionians| ]]
[[Category:Ancient tribes in Attica]]
[[Category:Ancient tribes in Euboea]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Anatolia]]
[[Category:Greek tribes]]