ἡ δὲ τῆς Ἠλείας μέση καὶ Σικυωνίας, καθήκουσα μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν πρὸς ἕω θάλασσαν, Ἀχαΐαν δὲ ὄνομα τὸ ἐφʼ ἡμῶν ἔχουσα ἀπὸ τῶν ἐνοικούντων, αὐτή τε Αἰγιαλὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ οἱ νεμόμενοι τὴν γῆν ἐκαλοῦντο Αἰγιαλεῖς, λόγῳ μὲν τῷ Σικυωνίων ἀπὸ Αἰγιαλέως βασιλεύσαντος ἐν τῇ νῦν Σικυωνίᾳ, εἰσὶ δὲ οἵ φασιν ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας, εἶναι γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ αὐτῆς αἰγιαλόν.
χρόνῳ δὲ ὕστερον ἀποθανόντος Ἕλληνος Ξοῦθον οἱ λοιποὶ τοῦ Ἕλληνος παῖδες διώκουσιν ἐκ Θεσσαλίας, ἐπενεγκόντες αἰτίαν ὡς ἰδίᾳ χρήματα ὑφελόμενος ἔχοι τῶν πατρῴων· ὁ δὲ ἐς Ἀθήνας φυγὼν θυγατέρα Ἐρεχθέως ἠξιώθη λαβεῖν καὶ παῖδας Ἀχαιὸν καὶ Ἴωνα ἔσχεν ἐξ αὐτῆς. ἀποθανόντος δὲ Ἐρεχθέως τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ δικαστὴς Ξοῦθος ἐγένετο ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρχῆς, καὶ—ἔγνω γὰρ τὸν πρεσβύτατον Κέκροπα βασιλέα εἶναι—οἱ λοιποὶ τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως παῖδες ἐξελαύνουσιν ἐκ τῆς χώρας αὐτόν·
ἀφικομένῳ δὲ ἐς τὸν Αἰγιαλὸν καὶ οἰκήσαντι αὐτῷ μὲν ἐγένετο ἐνταῦθα ἡ τελευτή, τῶν δέ οἱ παίδων Ἀχαιὸς μὲν ἐκ τοῦ Αἰγιαλοῦ παραλαβὼν καὶ ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἐπικούρους κατῆλθεν ἐς Θεσσαλίαν καὶ ἔσχε τὴν πατρῴαν ἀρχήν, Ἴωνι δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰγιαλεῖς στρατιὰν καὶ ἐπὶ Σελινοῦντα τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν ἀθροίζοντι ἀγγέλους ἔπεμπεν ὁ Σελινοῦς, τὴν θυγατέρα Ἑλίκην, ἣ μόνη οἱ παῖς ἦν, γυναῖκα αὐτῷ διδοὺς καὶ αὐτὸν Ἴωνα ἐπὶ τῇ ἀρχῇ παῖδα ποιούμενος.
καί πως ταῦτα τῷ Ἴωνι ἐγένετο οὐκ ἄπο γνώμης, καὶ τῶν Αἰγιαλέων τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἴων ἔσχεν ἀποθανόντος Σελινοῦντος, καὶ Ἑλίκην τε ἀπὸ τῆς γυναικὸς ᾤκισεν ἐν τῷ Αἰγιαλῷ πόλιν καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐκάλεσεν Ἴωνας ἀφʼ αὑτοῦ. τοῦτο οὐ μεταβολὴ τοῦ ὀνόματος, προσθήκη δέ σφισιν ἐγένετο· Αἰγιαλεῖς γὰρ ἐκαλοῦντο Ἴωνες. τῇ χώρᾳ δὲ ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον διέμεινεν ὄνομα τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς· Ὁμήρῳ γοῦν ἐν καταλόγῳ τῶν μετὰ Ἀγαμέμνονος ἐξήρκεσε τὸ ἀρχαῖον δηλῶσαι τῆς γῆς ὄνομα· Αἰγιαλόν τʼ ἀνὰ πάντα καὶ ἀμφʼ Ἑλίκην εὐρεῖαν. /
τότε δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἴωνος βασιλείας πολεμησάντων Ἀθηναίοις Ἐλευσινίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων Ἴωνα ἐπαγαγομένων ἐπὶ ἡγεμονίᾳ τοῦ πολέμου, τὸν μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀττικῇ τὸ χρεὼν ἐπιλαμβάνει, καὶ Ἴωνος ἐν τῷ δήμῳ μνῆμα τῷ Ποταμίων ἐστίν· οἱ δὲ ἀπόγονοι τοῦ Ἴωνος τὸ Ἰώνων ἔσχον κράτος, ἐς ὃ ὑπʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἐξέπεσον καὶ αὐτοὶ καὶ ὁ δῆμος. τοῖς δὲ Ἀχαιοῖς τηνικαῦτα ὑπῆρξε καὶ αὐτοῖς ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος καὶ Ἄργους ὑπὸ Δωριέων ἐξεληλάσθαι·
τὰ δὲ ἐς Ἴωνας καὶ Ἀχαιούς, ὁπόσα ἐπράχθη σφίσιν ἐπʼ ἀλλήλους, ἐπέξεισιν αὐτίκα ὁ λόγος μοι προδιηγησαμένῳ καθʼ ἥντινα αἰτίαν τοῖς Λακεδαίμονα οἰκοῦσι καὶ Ἄργος πρὸ τῆς τῶν Δωριέων καθόδου μόνοις Πελοποννησίων ὑπῆρξεν Ἀχαιοῖς καλεῖσθαι. Ἄρχανδρος Ἀχαιοῦ καὶ Ἀρχιτέλης ἐς Ἄργος ἀφίκοντο ἐκ τῆς Φθιώτιδος, ἐλθόντες δὲ ἐγένοντο Δαναοῦ γαμβροί, καὶ Αὐτομάτην μὲν Ἀρχιτέλης, Σκαιὰν δὲ ἔλαβεν Ἄρχανδρος. δηλοῦσι δὲ ἐν Ἄργει καταμείναντες οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐν τῷδε· Μετανάστην γὰρ τῷ παιδὶ ὄνομα ἔθετο Ἄρχανδρος.
δυνηθέντων δὲ ἔν τε Ἄργει καὶ Λακεδαίμονι τῶν Ἀχαιοῦ παίδων, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς ἐνταῦθα ἐξενίκησεν Ἀχαιοὺς κληθῆναι· τοῦτο μέν σφισιν ὄνομα ἦν ἐν κοινῷ, Δαναοὶ δὲ Ἀργείοις ἰδίᾳ. τότε δὲ ὑπὸ Δωριέων ἐκπεπτωκότες ἔκ τε Ἄργους καὶ ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος ἐπεκηρυκεύοντο Ἴωσιν αὐτοί τε καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Τισαμενὸς ὁ Ὀρέστου γενέσθαι σύνοικοί σφισιν ἄνευ πολέμου· τῶν δὲ Ἰώνων τοὺς βασιλέας ὑπῄει δέος, μὴ Ἀχαιῶν ἀναμιχθέντων αὐτοῖς Τισαμενὸν ἐν κοινῷ βασιλέα ἕλωνται κατά τε ἀνδραγαθίαν καὶ γένους δόξαν.
Ἰώνων δὲ οὐ προσεμένων τοὺς Ἀχαιῶν λόγους ἀλλὰ ἐπεξελθόντων σὺν ὅπλοις, Τισαμενὸς μὲν ἔπεσεν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ, Ἴωνας δὲ Ἀχαιοὶ κρατήσαντες ἐπολιόρκουν καταπεφευγότας ἐς Ἑλίκην καὶ ὕστερον ἀφιᾶσιν ἀπελθεῖν ὑποσπόνδους. Τισαμενοῦ δὲ τὸν νεκρὸν Ἀχαιῶν ἐν Ἑλίκῃ θαψάντων, ὕστερον χρόνῳ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοῦ ἐν Δελφοῖς σφισιν ἀνειπόντος χρηστηρίου κομίζουσι τὰ ὀστᾶ ἐς Σπάρτην, καὶ ἦν καὶ ἐς ἐμὲ ἔτι αὐτῷ τάφος, ἔνθα τὰ δεῖπνα Λακεδαιμονίοις ἐστὶ τὰ Φειδίτια καλούμενα.
Ἴωνας δὲ ἀφικομένους ἐς τὴν Ἀττικὴν Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐτῶν Μέλανθος Ἀνδροπόμπου συνοίκους ἐξεδέξαντο Ἴωνός τε δὴ ἕνεκα καὶ ἔργων ἃ ἔπραξε πολεμαρχῶν Ἀθηναίοις· λέγεται δὲ ὡς ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ ποιούμενοι τοὺς Δωριέας οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι, μὴ οὐδὲ αὐτῶν ἐθέλωσιν ἀπέχεσθαι, ἰσχύος μᾶλλον οἰκείας ἕνεκα ἢ εὐνοίᾳ τῇ ἐς τοὺς Ἴωνας συνοίκους σφᾶς ἐδέξαντο.
THE country which, lying between Elis and Sicyonia, and reaching to the eastern sea, is now named Achaia after its inhabitants, was anciently known as Aegialus, and its inhabitants as Aegialians. According to the Sicyonians the name of Aegialus was derived from one Aegialeus who reigned in what is now Sicyonia, but some derive the name from the nature of the country, most of which is coastland (aigialos).
In after time, when Hellen died, his son Xuthus was driven from Thessaly by the rest of his brethren, who accused him of having purloined some of their father’s goods. He fled to Athens, where he was honoured with the hand of a daughter of Erechtheus, by whom he had two sons, Achaeus and Ion. When Erechtheus died Xuthus was appointed to decide on the respective claims of his sons to the throne; and because he decided in favour of Cecrops, the eldest, the other sons of Erechtheus drove him from the country. He went to Aegialus and settled there, and there he died. One of his sons, Achaeus, supported by troops from Aegialus and from Athens, returned to Thessaly and sat on the throne of his fathers, Xuthus’ other son, Ion, was mustering an army to march against the Aegialians and their king Selinus, when Selinus sent messengers offering to give him his daughter Helice, his only child, in marriage, and to adopt him as his son and successor. The offer was not displeasing to Ion, and he succeeded to the kingdom of Aegialus on the death of Selinus. He founded the city of Helice in Aegialus, and called it after his wife, and he named the inhabitants Ionians after himself. This, however, was not a change of name, but only the addition of a new one, for the people were called Aegialian Ionians. But the old name stuck to the country still more than to the people; at least Homer, in his list of the forces of Agamemnon, is content to give the ancient name of the land :— Throughout all Aegialus and about broad Helice. In the reign of Ion the Eleusinians made war on the Athenians, and the latter having invited Ion to take command in the war, he met his end in Attica, and his tomb is in the township of Potamus. His descendants became lords of the Ionians, until lords and commons alike were expelled by the Achaeans.
The Achaeans had at that time been themselves driven out from Lacedaemon and Argos by the Dorians. Before describing the doings of the Ionians and Achaeans to each other, I will explain the reason why the inhabitants of Lacedaemon and Argos were the only Peloponnesians who were called Achaeans before the return of the Dorians. Archander and Architeles, sons of Achaeus, came to Argos from Phthiotis and married daughters of Danaus, Architeles getting Automate, and Archander getting Scaea to wife. A special proof of their settlement in Argos is the fact that Archander gave to his son the name of Metanastes (‘settler’). When the sons of Achaeus had grown powerful in Argos and Lacedaemon, the inhabitants of these places came to be known as Achaeans. This name was common to both, but the Argives had the special name of Danai. Being expelled by the Dorians from Argos and Lacedaemon at the time to which I have referred, they and their king Tisamenus, son of Orestes, sent heralds to the Ionians asking permission to settle peaceably among them. But the kings of the Ionians feared that if the Achaeans joined them Tisamenus might be chosen king of both peoples by reason of his valour and noble race. So the Ionians rejected the Achaean proposals and marched out to battle. Tisamenus fell in the battle, but the Achaeans were victorious, and besieged the Ionians in Helice, in which they had taken refuge. Afterwards the Ionians capitulated and were suffered to depart. The body of Tisamenus was buried by the Achaeans in Helice, but in after time the Lacedaemonians, at the bidding of the Delphic oracle, brought his bones to Sparta, and his grave was still to be seen in my time in the place where the Lacedaemonians take the dinners which they call Phiditia.
The Ionians went to Attica, where they were allowed by the Athenians and their king Melanthus, son of Andropompus, to settle. This permission was presumably granted for the sake of Ion and the deeds which he had wrought when he was in command of the Athenians. Another story is that the Athenians suspected that the Ionians might attack them, and therefore received them for the sake of strengthening themselves, rather than from any goodwill that they bore the Ionians.
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