The Achaeans (/əˈkiːənz/;
Greek: Ἀχαιοί,
romanized: Akhaioí) were one of the four major tribes into which
Herodotus divided the
Greeks, along with the
Aeolians,
Ionians and
Dorians. They inhabited the region of
Achaea in the northern
Peloponnese, and played an active role in the colonization of Italy, founding the city of
Kroton. Unlike the other major tribes, the Achaeans did not have a separate dialect in the
Classical period, instead using a form of
Doric.
Etymology
The etymology of the term Ἀχαιοί is unknown.
Robert S. P. Beekes proposed that it originated in a
Pre-Greek form*Akaywa-.[1]Margalit Finkelberg, while acknowledging that its ultimate etymology is unknown, proposed an intermediate Greek form *Ἀχαϝyοί.[2]
The term Ἀχαιοί was also used by
Homer to refer to Greeks as a whole, and may relate to the Hittite term Ahhiyawa, believed to refer to
Mycenaean Greece or part of it.[3][4][5][6]
The Achaeans cemented their common identity in the 6th century BC in response to the rising power of
Sicyon to the east and
Sparta to the south, and during the 5th century BC in response to the expansionism of the
Achaemenids.[14] Herodotus described them as unified nation composed of 12 city-states:
Pellene,
Aegeira, Aeges,
(Achaea) Boura,
Helike,
Aegion,
Rhypes,
Patrai,
Pherae,
Olenos,
Dyme and
Tritaia.[15] The
rise of Macedonia in the late 4th century BC seems to have destroyed this first
Achaean League, with the Macedonians eventually controlling so many of the member city-states that the Achaean federal government had virtually ceased to function.[16]
After Macedon's defeat by the Romans in the early 2nd century BC, the League was able to finally defeat a heavily weakened
Sparta and take control of the entire Peloponnese. However, as the
Roman influence in the area grew, the league erupted into an open revolt against Roman domination, in what is known as
Achaean War. The Achaeans were defeated at the
Battle of Corinth in 146 BC and the League was dissolved by the Romans.[17]
According to the foundation myth formalized by
Hesiod, their name comes from their mythic founder
Achaeus, who was supposedly one of the sons of
Xuthus, and brother of
Ion, the founder of the
Ionian tribe. Xuthus was in turn the son of
Hellen, the mythical
patriarch of the Greek (
Hellenic) nation.[18]
Both
Herodotus and
Pausanias recount the legend that the Achaeans (referring to the tribe of the Classical period) originally dwelt in
Argolis and
Laconia. According to Herodotus, the Achaeans were forced out of those lands by the
Dorians, during the legendary
Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese.[19] As a consequence, the Achaeans went to the region known as Aegialus and forced the Aegialians (by now known as the
Ionians) out of their land.[20] The Ionians took temporary refuge in Athens, and Aegialus became known as Achaea.[21][22]
Pausanias says that 'Achaean' was the name of those Greeks originally inhabiting the
Argolis and
Laconia, because they were descended from the sons of the mythical
Achaeus,
Archander and
Architeles.[23] According to Pausanias, Achaeus originally dwelt in Attica, where his father had settled after being expelled from Thessaly. Achaeus later returned to Thessaly to reclaim the land, and it was from there that Archander and Architeles travelled to the
Peloponnesus.[24] It was supposedly for this reason that there was also an ancient part of Thessaly known as
Phthiotic Achaea.
Footnotes
^R. S. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. 181.
^Margalit Finkelberg, "From Ahhiyawa to Ἀχαιοί", Glotta 66 (1988): 127–134.
^Beckman, Gary; Bryce, Trevor; Cline, Eric (2012). The Ahhiyawa Texts. Society of Biblical Literature. pp. 1–6.
ISBN978-1589832688.
^Gális, Martin (2017). Mycenae, Troy and Anatolia: Mycenaean names in Hittite documents, and Anatolian names in the Homeric Iliad (M.A.). Univerzita Karlova.
Core
^Skinner, Joseph E.. The Invention of Greek Ethnography: From Homer to Herodotus. United Kingdom, OUP USA, 2012.
^Thatcher, Mark (2021). The Politics of Identity in Greek Sicily and Southern Italy. Oxford University Press. Chapter 2.
^Papadopoulos, John (2001). "Magna Achaea: Akhaian Late Geometric and Archaic Pottery in South Italy and Sicily". Hesperia. 70 (4): 373–460.
doi:
10.2307/3182054.
JSTOR3182054.
^Papadopoulos, John K. (2002). "Minting Identity: Coinage, Ideology and the Economics of Colonization in Akhaina Magna Graecia". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 12: 21–55.
doi:
10.1017/S0959774302000021.
S2CID162404730.
^Peoples, Nations and Cultures. Editor John Mackenzie. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005.
^Economou, Emmanouil M. L.. The Achaean Federation in Ancient Greece: History, Political and Economic Organisation, Warfare and Strategy, p. 12. Germany, Springer International Publishing, 2020.
^Walbank, Frank William. The hellenistic world. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1993.
^Larsen, J.A.O. Greek federal states: their institutions and history. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1968).
^Waterfield, Robin. Taken at the Flood: The Roman Conquest of Greece. United Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2014.
Cline, Eric H. (2007). "Rethinking Mycenaean International Trade with Egypt and the Near East". In Galaty, M.; Parkinson, W. (eds.). Rethinking Mycenaean Palaces II: Revised and Expanded Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. pp. 190–200.
Fisher, Elizabeth A. (1998). The Mycenaeans and Apulia. An Examination of Aegean Bronze Age Contacts with Apulia in Eastern Magna Grecia. Jonsered, Sweden: Astrom.
Güterbock, Hans G. (April 1983). "The Hittites and the Aegean World: Part 1. The Ahhiyawa Problem Reconsidered". American Journal of Archaeology. 87 (2): 133–138.
doi:
10.2307/504928.
JSTOR504928.
S2CID191376388.
Güterbock, Hans G. (June 1984). "Hittites and Akhaeans: A New Look". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 128 (2): 114–122.
Huxley, G.L. (1960). Achaeans and Greeks. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Mellink, Machteld J. (April 1983). "The Hittites and the Aegean World: Part 2. Archaeological Comments on Ahhiyawa-Achaians in Western Anatolia". American Journal of Archaeology. 87 (2): 138–141.
doi:
10.2307/504929.
JSTOR504929.
S2CID194070218.