Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolians Ancient Greece city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of Mysia, and is bounded by it to the north, Ionia to the south, and Lydia to the east.
Geography
Aeolis was an ancient district on the western coast of
Asia Minor. It extended along the
Aegean Sea from the entrance of the
Hellespont (now the
Dardanelles) south to the
Hermus River (now the Gediz River). It was named for the Aeolians, some of whom migrated there from
Greece before 1000 BC. Aeolis was, however, an ethnological and linguistic enclave rather than a geographical unit. The district often was considered part of the larger northwest region of Mysia.
History
According to
Homer Odyssey,
Odysseus, after his stay with the
Cyclops, reached the floating island of Aeolia, where Aeolus son of Hippotas provided him with the west wind
Zephyrus.
Iron Age II
By the 8th century BC the Aeolians' twelve most important cities were independent. They formed a league of twelve cities (a Dodecapolis): Cyme (also called Phriconis), Larissa,
Neonteichos,
Temnos, Cilla, Notion,
Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegae, Myrina,
Gryneion, and
Smyrna.
[Herodotus. The Histories: 1.149. Compare Ionian League.]
The most celebrated of the cities was Smyrna (modern İzmir, Turkey), but in 699 BC, Smyrna became part of an Ionian confederacy. This league or confederation, known as the Ionian League, also called the Panionic League, was formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th century BC.
Lydian period
Croesus, king of
Lydia (reigned 560–546 BC), conquered the remaining cities.
Classical Age
Later they were held successively by the
Persian people, Macedonians,
Seleucids, and Pergamenes.
[Each of the cities minted coins of its own, using different gods, animals and objects as identifying city badges. See asiaminorcoins.com - ancient coins of Aeolis]
Roman period
Attalus III, the last king of
Pergamum, bequeathed Aeolis to the
Roman Republic in 133 BC. Shortly afterwards it became part of the Roman province of Asia. At the partition of the
Roman Empire (395 AD), Aeolis was assigned to the East Roman (Byzantine) empire and remained largely under Byzantine rule until the early 15th century, when the
Ottoman Turks occupied the area.
[
Smyrna fell to the Seljuk Turks Tzachas in 1076, to the Turkish Beylik of Aydın about 1330 and to the Turco-Mongol Timur in 1402 (after the Siege of Smyrna).
]
Notable people
See also
-
Ancient regions of Anatolia
-
Regions of ancient Greece
Notes
-
Pierluigi Bonanno, Aiolis. Storia e archeologia di una regione dell’Asia Minore alla fine del II millennio a.C., USA, 2006
External links
