ταύτης δὲ τῆς χώρας τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν Ἴωνες ἐκράτουν, ἐξ Ἀθηναίων τὸ γένος ὄντες, ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν Αἰγιάλεια καὶ οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες Αἰγιαλεῖς, ὕστερον δʼ ἀπʼ ἐκείνων Ἰωνία, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ Ἀττική, ἀπὸ Ἴωνος τοῦ Ξούθου. φασὶ δὲ Δευκαλίωνος μὲν Ἕλληνα εἶναι, τοῦτον δὲ περὶ τὴν Φθίαν τῶν μεταξὺ Πηνειοῦ καὶ Ἀσωποῦ δυναστεύοντα τῷ πρεσβυτάτῳ τῶν παίδων παραδοῦναι τὴν ἀρχήν, τοὺς δʼ ἄλλους ἔξω διαπέμψαι ζητήσοντας ἵδρυσιν ἕκαστον αὑτῷ· ὧν Δῶρος μὲν τοὺς περὶ Παρνασσὸν Δωριέας συνοικίσας κατέλιπεν ἐπωνύμους αὑτοῦ, Ξοῦθος δὲ τὴν Ἐρεχθέως θυγατέρα γήμας ᾤκισε τὴν τετράπολιν τῆς Ἀττικῆς, Οἰνόην Μαραθῶνα Προβάλινθον καὶ Τρικόρυνθον. τῶν δὲ τούτου παίδων Ἀχαιὸς μὲν φόνον ἀκούσιον πράξας ἔφυγεν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα καὶ Ἀχαιοὺς τοὺς ἐκεῖ κληθῆναι παρεσκεύασεν, Ἴων δὲ τοὺς μετʼ Εὐμόλπου νικήσας Θρᾷκας οὕτως ηὐδοκίμησεν ὥστʼ ἐπέτρεψαν αὐτῷ τὴν πολιτείαν Ἀθηναῖοι. ὁ δὲ πρῶτον μὲν εἰς τέτταρας φυλὰς διεῖλε τὸ πλῆθος, εἶτα εἰς τέτταρας βίους· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ γεωργοὺς ἀπέδειξε τοὺς δὲ δημιουργοὺς τοὺς δὲ ἱεροποιούς, τετάρτους δὲ τοὺς φύλακας· τοιαῦτα δὲ πλείω διατάξας τὴν χώραν ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ κατέλιπεν. οὕτω δὲ πολυανδρῆσαι τὴν χώραν τότε συνέπεσεν ὥστε καὶ ἀποικίαν τῶν Ἰώνων ἔστειλαν εἰς Πελοπόννησον Ἀθηναῖοι, καὶ τὴν χώραν ἣν κατέσχον ἐπώνυμον ἑαυτῶν ἐποίησαν Ἰωνίαν ἀντʼ Αἰγιάλου κληθεῖσαν, οἵ τε ἄνδρες ἀντὶ Αἰγιαλέων Ἴωνες προσηγορεύθησαν εἰς δώδεκα πόλεις μερισθέντες. μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδον ὑπʼ Ἀχαιῶν ἐξελαθέντες ἐπανῆλθον πάλιν εἰς Ἀθήνας· ἐκεῖθεν δὲ μετὰ τῶν Κοδριδῶν ἔστειλαν τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν· ἔκτισαν δὲ δώδεκα πόλεις ἐν τῇ παραλίᾳ τῆς Καρίας καὶ τῆς Λυδίας, εἰς τοσαῦτα μέρη διελόντες σφᾶς ὅσα καὶ ἐν τῇ Πελοποννήσῳ κατεῖχον. οἱ δʼ Ἀχαιοὶ Φθιῶται μὲν ἦσαν τὸ γένος, ᾤκησαν δʼ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι, τῶν δʼ Ἡρακλειδῶν ἐπικρατησάντων ἀναληφθέντες ὑπὸ Τισαμενοῦ τοῦ Ὀρέστου παιδός, ὡς προειρήκαμεν, τοῖς Ἴωσιν ἐπέθεντο, καὶ γενόμενοι κρείττους τοὺς μὲν ἐξέβαλον, αὐτοὶ δὲ κατέσχον τὴν γῆν, καὶ διεφύλαξαν τὸν αὐτὸν τῆς χώρας μερισμὸν ὅνπερ καὶ παρέλαβον. οὕτω δʼ ἴσχυσαν ὥστε τὴν ἄλλην Πελοπόννησον ἐχόντων τῶν Ἡρακλειδῶν ὧν ἀπέστησαν, ἀντεῖχον ὅμως πρὸς ἅπαντας Ἀχαΐαν ὀνομάσαντες τὴν χώραν. ἀπὸ μὲν οὖν Τισαμενοῦ μέχρι Ὠγύγου βασιλευόμενοι διετέλουν· εἶτα δημοκρατηθέντες τοσοῦτον ηὐδοκίμησαν περὶ τὰς πολιτείας ὥστε τοὺς Ἰταλιώτας μετὰ τὴν στάσιν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Πυθαγορείους τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν νομίμων μετενέγκασθαι παρὰ τούτων συνέβη· μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐν Λεύκτροις μάχην ἐπέτρεψαν Θηβαῖοι τούτοις τὴν δίαιταν περὶ τῶν ἀντιλεγομένων ταῖς πόλεσι πρὸς ἀλλήλας· ὕστερον δʼ ὑπὸ Μακεδόνων λυθείσης τῆς κοινωνίας ἀνέλαβον σφᾶς πάλιν κατὰ μικρόν· ἦρξαν δὲ Πύρρου στρατεύσαντος εἰς Ἰταλίαν τέτταρες συνιοῦσαι πόλεις, ὧν ἦσαν Πάτραι καὶ Δύμη· εἶτα προσελάμβανόν τινας τῶν δώδεκα πλὴν Ὠλένου καὶ Ἑλίκης, τῆς μὲν οὐ συνελθούσης τῆς δʼ ἀφανισθείσης ὑπὸ κύματος.
THE Ionians, who were descendants of the Athenians, were, anciently, masters of this country. It was formerly called Aegialeia, and the inhabitants Aegialeans, but in later times, Ionia, from the former people, as Attica had the name of Ionia, from Ion the son of Xuthus.
It is said, that Hellen was the son of Deucalion, and that he governed the country about Phthia between the Peneins and Asopus, and transmitted to his eldest son these dominions, sending the others out of their native country to seek a settlement each of them for himself. Dorus, one of them, settled the Dorians about Parnassus, and when he left them, they bore his name. Xuthus, another, married the daughter of Erechtheus, and was the founder of the Tetrapolis of Attica, which consisted of Oenoe, Marathon, Probalinthus, and Tricorythus.
Achaeus, one of the sons of Xuthus, having committed an accidental murder, fled to Lacedaemon, and occasioned the inhabitants to take the name of Achaeans.
Ion, the other son, having vanquished the Thracian army with their leader Eumolpus, obtained so much renown, that the Athenians intrusted him with the government of their state. It was he who first distributed the mass of the people into four tribes, and these again into four classes according to their occupations, husbandmen, artificers, priests, and the fourth, military guards; after having made many more regulations of this kind, he left to the country his own name. It happened at that time that the country had such an abundance of inhabitants, that the Athenians sent out a colony of Ionians to Peloponnesus, and the tract of country which they occupied was called Ionia after their own name, instead of Aegialeia, and the inhabitants Ionians instead of Aegialeans, who were distributed among twelve cities.
After the return of the Heracleidae, these Ionians, being expelled by the Achaeans, returned to Athens, whence, in conjunction with the Codridae, (descendants of Codrus,) they sent cut the Ionian colonists to Asia. They founded twelve cities on the sea-coast of Caria and Lydia, having distributed themselves over the country into as many parts as they occupied in Peloponnesus.
The Achaeans were Phthiotae by descent, and were settled at Lacedaemon, but when the Heracleidae became masters of the country, having recovered their power under Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, they attacked the Ionians, as I said before, and defeated them. They drove the Ionians out of the country, and took possession of the territory, but retained the same partition of it which they found existing there. They became so powerful, that, although the Heracleidae, from whom they had revolted, occupied the rest of Peloponnesus, yet they defended themselves against them all, and called their own country Achaea.
From Tisamenus to Ogyges they continued to be governed by kings. Afterwards they established a democracy, and acquired so great renown for their political wisdom, that the Italian Greeks, after their dissensions with the Pythagoreans, adopted most of the laws and institutions of the Achaeans. After the battle of Leuctra the Thebans committed the disputes of the cities among each other to the arbitration of the Achaeans. At a later period their community was dissolved by the Macedonians, but they recovered by degrees their former power. At the time of the expedition of Pyrrhus into Italy they began with the union of four cities, among which were Patrae and Dyme. They then had an accession of the twelve cities, with the exception of Olenus and Helice; the former refused to join the league; the other was swallowed up by the waves.
ἐξαρθὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ σεισμοῦ τὸ πέλαγος κατέκλυσε καὶ αὐτὴν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ Ἑλικωνίου Ποσειδῶνος, ὃν καὶ νῦν ἔτι τιμῶσιν Ἴωνες, καὶ θύουσιν ἐκεῖ τὰ Πανιώνια. μέμνηται δʼ, ὡς ὑπονοοῦσί τινες, ταύτης τῆς θυσίας Ὅμηρος ὅταν φῇ αὐτὰρ ὁ θυμὸν ἄισθε καὶ ἤρυγεν, ὡς ὅτε ταῦρος / ἤρυγεν ἑλκόμενος Ἑλικώνιον ἀμφὶ ἄνακτα. / τεκμαίρονταί τε νεώτερον εἶναι τῆς Ἰωνικῆς ἀποικίας τὸν ποιητήν, μεμνημένον γε τῆς Πανιωνικῆς θυσίας ἣν ἐν τῇ Πριηνέων χώρᾳ συντελοῦσιν Ἴωνες τῷ Ἑλικωνίῳ Ποσειδῶνι, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ Πριηνεῖς ἐξ Ἑλίκης εἶναι λέγονται· καὶ δὴ πρὸς τὴν θυσίαν ταύτην καθιστᾶσιν ἄνδρα νέον Πριηνέα τὸν τῶν ἱερῶν ἐπιμελησόμενον. τεκμηριοῦνται δʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον τὸ προκείμενον ἐκ τῶν περὶ τοῦ ταύρου πεφρασμένων· τότε γὰρ νομίζουσι καλλιερεῖν περὶ τὴν θυσίαν ταύτην Ἴωνες, ὅταν θυόμενος ὁ ταῦρος μυκήσηται. οἱ δʼ ἀντιλέγοντες μεταφέρουσιν εἰς τὴν Ἑλίκην τὰ λεχθέντα τεκμήρια περὶ τοῦ ταύρου καὶ τῆς θυσίας, ὡς ἐκεῖ νενομισμένων τούτων καὶ τοῦ ποιητοῦ παραβάλλοντος τὰ ἐκεῖ συντελούμενα. κατεκλύσθη δʼ ἡ Ἑλίκη δυσὶν ἔτεσι πρὸ τῶν Λευκτρικῶν. Ἐρατοσθένης δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἰδεῖν φησι τὸν τόπον, καὶ τοὺς πορθμέας λέγειν ὡς ἐν τῷ πόρῳ ὀρθὸς ἑστήκει Ποσειδῶν χάλκεος, ἔχων ἱππόκαμπον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ κίνδυνον φέροντα τοῖς δικτυεῦσιν. Ἡρακλείδης δέ φησι κατʼ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι τὸ πάθος νύκτωρ, δώδεκα σταδίους διεχούσης τῆς πόλεως ἀπὸ θαλάττης καὶ τούτου τοῦ χωρίου παντὸς σὺν τῇ πόλει καλυφθέντος, δισχιλίους δὲ παρὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πεμφθέντας ἀνελέσθαι μὲν τοὺς νεκροὺς μὴ δύνασθαι, τοῖς δʼ ὁμόροις νεῖμαι τὴν χώραν. συμβῆναι δὲ τὸ πάθος κατὰ μῆνιν Ποσειδῶνος· τοὺς γὰρ ἐκ τῆς Ἑλίκης ἐκπεσόντας Ἴωνας αἰτεῖν πέμψαντας παρὰ τῶν Ἑλικέων μάλιστα μὲν τὸ βρέτας τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, εἰ δὲ μή, τοῦ γε ἱεροῦ τὴν ἀφίδρυσιν· οὐ δόντων δὲ πέμψαι πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν τῶν Ἀχαιῶν· τῶν δὲ ψηφισαμένων οὐδʼ ὣς ὑπακοῦσαι· τῷ δʼ ἑξῆς χειμῶνι συμβῆναι τὸ πάθος, τοὺς δʼ Ἀχαιοὺς ὕστερον δοῦναι τὴν ἀφίδρυσιν τοῖς Ἴωσιν. Ἡσίοδος δὲ καὶ ἄλλης Ἑλίκης μέμνηται Θετταλικῆς.
For the sea was raised to a great height by an earthquake, and overwhelmed both Helice and the temple of the Heliconian Neptune, whom the Ionians still hold in great veneration, and offer sacrifices to his honour. They celebrate at that spot the Panionian festival. According to the conjecture of some persons, Homer refers to these sacrifices in these lines, But he breathed out his soul, and bellowed, as a bull / Bellows when he is dragged round the altar of the Heliconian king. / It is conjectured that the age of the poet is later than the migration of the Ionian colony, because he mentions the Panionian sacrifices, which the Ionians perform in honour of the Heliconian Neptune in the territory of Priene; for the Prienians themselves are said to have come from Helice; a young man also of Priene is appointed to preside as king at these sacrifices, and to superintend the celebration of the sacred rites. A still stronger proof is adduced from what is said by the poet respecting the bull, for the Ionians suppose, that sacrifice is performed with favourable omens, when the bull bellows at the instant that he is wounded at the altar.
Others deny this, and transfer to Helice the proofs alleged of the bull and the sacrifice, asserting that these things were done there by established custom, and that the poet drew his comparison from the festival celebrated there. Helice was overwhelmed by the waves two years before the battle of Leuctra. Eratosthenes says, that he himself saw the place, and the ferrymen told him that there formerly stood in the strait a brazen statue of Neptune, holding in his hand a hippocampus, an animal which is dangerous to fishermen.
According to Heracleides, the inundation took place in his time, and during the night. The city was at the distance of 12 stadia from the sea, which overwhelmed the whole intermediate country as well as the city. Two thousand men were sent by the Achaeans to collect the dead bodies, but in vain. The territory was divided among the bordering people. This calamity happened in consequence of the anger of Neptune, for the Ionians, who were driven from Helice, sent particularly to request the people of Helice to give them the image of Neptune, or if they were unwilling to give that, to furnish them with the model of the temple. On their refusal, the Ionians sent to the Achaean body, who decreed, that they should comply with the request, but they would not obey even this injunction. The disaster occurred in the following winter, and after this the Achaeans gave the Ionians the model of the temple.
Hesiod mentions another Helice in Thessaly.
εἴκοσι μὲν δὴ ἔτη διετέλεσαν γραμματέα κοινὸν ἔχοντες καὶ στρατηγοὺς δύο κατʼ ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ Ἀχαιοί, καὶ κοινοβούλιον εἰς ἕνα τόπον συνήγετο αὐτοῖς (ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ Ἁμάριον) ἐν ᾧ τὰ κοινὰ ἐχρημάτιζον καὶ οὗτοι καὶ Ἴωνες πρότερον· εἶτα ἔδοξεν ἕνα χειροτονεῖσθαι στρατηγόν. Ἄρατος δὲ στρατηγήσας ἀφείλετο Ἀντίγονον τὸν Ἀκροκόρινθον, καὶ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς προσέθηκε καθάπερ καὶ τὴν πατρίδα· προσελάβετο δὲ καὶ Μεγαρέας· καὶ τὰς παρʼ ἑκάστοις τυραννίδας καταλύων Ἀχαιοὺς ἐποίει τοὺς ἐλευθερωθέντας […] τὴν δὲ Πελοπόννησον ἠλευθέρωσε τῶν τυραννίδων, ὥστε καὶ Ἄργος καὶ Ἑρμιὼν καὶ Φλιοῦς καὶ Μεγάλη πόλις, ἡ μεγίστη τῶν ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ, προσετέθη τοῖς Ἀχαιοῖς, ὅτε δὴ καὶ πλεῖστον ηὔξηντο. ἦν δʼ ὁ καιρὸς ἡνίκα Ῥωμαῖοι Καρχηδονίους ἐκ τῆς Σικελίας ἐκβαλόντες ἐστράτευσαν ἐπὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Πάδον Γαλάτας. μέχρι δὲ τῆς Φιλοποίμενος στρατηγίας συμμείναντες ἱκανῶς οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ διελύθησαν κατʼ ὀλίγον, ἤδη Ῥωμαίων ἐχόντων τὴν Ἑλλάδα σύμπασαν καὶ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἑκάστοις χρωμένων, ἀλλὰ τοὺς μὲν συνέχειν τοὺς δὲ καταλύειν βουλομένων […]
The Achaeans, during a period of five and twenty years, elected, annually, a common secretary, and two military chiefs. Their common assembly of the council met at one place, called Arnarium, (Homarium, or Amarium,) where these persons, and, before their time, the Ionians, consulted on public affairs. They afterwards resolved to elect one military chief. When Aratus held this post, he took the Acrocorinthus from Antigonus, and annexed the city as well as his own country to the Achaean league. He admitted the Megareans also into the body, and, having destroyed the tyrannical governments in each state, he made them members, after they were restored to liberty, of the Achaean league. * * * * * He freed, in a short time, Peloponnesus from the existing tyrannies; thus Argos, Hermion, Phlius, and Megalopolis, the largest of the Arcadian cities, were added to the Achaean body, when they attained their greatest increase of numbers. It was at this time that the Romans, having expelled the Carthaginians from Sicily, undertook an expedition against the Galatae, who were settled about the Po. The Achaeans remained firmly united until Philopoemen had the military command, but their union was gradually dissolved, after the Romans had obtained possession of the whole of Greece. The Romans did not treat each state in the same manner, but permitted some to retain their own form of government, and dissolved that of others. * * * * * [He then assigns reasons for expatiating on the subject of the Achaeans, namely, their attainment of such a degree of power as to be superior to the Lacedaemonians, and because they were not as well known as they deserved to be from their importance.]
Cite This Text