Another series of population movements brought Greeks to the western coast of Asia Minor. The Hittite texts give a clear picture of the peoples settled in western Asia Minor in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries, and with the important exception of the Mycenaean outpost of Millawanda, which the Hittites reconquered anyway (see Box 2.4), there was no large-scale Greek settlement there in the Late Bronze Age.
By archaic and classical times (i. e., from the eighth century BC onwards) this had all changed. By then there lived on the western coast of Asia Minor in the south Dorian Greeks (living in a region called Doris); in the center were Ionian Greeks (living in a region called Ionia); and in the north Aeolian Greeks (living in a region called Aeolis). In each case, directly opposite the region in Asia Minor, one finds the point of departure for the settlers. Thus, in northern Greece, directly opposite the Aeolis in Asia Minor, lies the Pelasgiotis in Thessaly. In the Pelasgiotis, an Aeolic dialect was spoken. In other words speakers of an Aeolic dialect crossed the Aegean from west to east and arrived in northeastern Asia Minor (including the large island of Lesbos just off the coast).
Likewise with Ionia and the Doris. Speakers of an Ionic dialect immigrated into the central part of western Asia Minor. Directly opposite Ionia (which includes the large islands of Chios and Samos just off the coast) lie Athens and the island of Euboea where more speakers of an Ionic dialect dwelled. In this case many of the islands (the northern and central Cyclades) which lie between Athens and Euboea on the one hand and Ionia on the other were also settled by speakers of an Ionic dialect.
Meanwhile speakers of a Doric dialect immigrated into the southwest of Asia Minor. Directly opposite the Doris (which includes the archipelago called the Dodecanese just off the coast) lie regions in the Peloponnese where Doric was spoken; and, once again, some of the islands (the southern Cyclades and Crete) between the Doris and the Doric regions in mainland Greece were inhabited by other speakers of a Doric dialect.
In brief, the basic outline of the migrations eastwards across the Aegean is not in dispute though the details remain obscure. Interestingly, the settlers who came to Asia Minor were keenly aware of their (even if mostly idealized) status as members of one “tribe” (whether Aeolians, Ionians, or Dorians). The names of the settled regions reflect this (see Box 1.3) as do various other aspects of the settlement. The Ionians settled - at least officially - in twelve cities which formed a League which held at the so-called Panionium, a communal sanctuary, an annual League Assembly at which League officials such as the (in classical times essentially powerless) “King of the Ionians” were selected (Hdt. I 142 and 148; for the tribal king, see, e. g., OGIS 489). The Dorians in the Doris settled in six cities (i. e., instead of the full dozen, a half-dozen) which also held annual assemblies at a communal sanctuary (Hdt. I 144). The Aeolians on the mainland had twelve cities too (Hdt. I 149) and those on the island of Lesbos had six (once again a half-dozen instead of the full dozen) (Hdt. I 151). Strictly speaking it is unknown if the Aeolians also had arrangements for common assemblies, but Herodotus does mention a treaty between the “Ionians” and the “Aeolians” of the mainland as though the Aeolians there too had some organ of government which could conclude treaties on behalf of all their cities (Hdt. I 151).
Moreover, the pattern of the dozen or half-dozen is often repeated in such tribal organizations. The Achaians, for example, a League on the northern rim of the Peloponnese, also settled in precisely twelve cities (Hdt. I 145); the Pylaean Amphictiony, centered on the pass at Thermopylae, was a supratribal League which consisted of precisely twelve tribes (see also chap. 18). (If one looks beyond Greece, there is to the west the Etruscan League which consisted of precisely twelve cities; and to the east dwelled the Israelites who were made up of precisely twelve tribes; also the Ishmaelites [Gen. XXV 13-16] and various others.) Important was the even dozen; but the occasional variation on it also exists such as the half-dozen in the Doris of Asia Minor.
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