Colonization and the Expanding Greek World

Colonization as Polis Formation

Phoenician foundation of Carthage - 814 BCE

Earliest Greek Settlement in the West - 775 BCE - Pithecusa in the Bay of Naples

Greek Western Colonies – Magna Graecia

Naxos on Sicily - 735 BCE (Chalcis)

Foundations of Corcyra and Syracuse - 734BCE (Corinth)

Foundations of Catana (Chalcis), Leontini (Naxos), Megara Hyblaea (Megara), Sybaris (Achaea), Zancle (Chalcis), Tarentum (Sparta), Croton (Achaea) - 728-700 BCE

Foundations of Metapontum (Achaea) 650 BCE, Poseidonia (Sybaris) 620 BCE, Selinus (Megara Hyblaea) 600 BCE

Northern Aegean

Thasos (Paros) – 682 BCE

Potidaea (Corinth) – 600 BCE

Abdera (Teos) – 545 BCE

Hellespont and Black Sea

Chalcedon (Megara) – 687 BCE

Cyzicus (Miletus) – 676 BCE

Byzantium (Megara) – 660 BCE

Olbia (Miletus) – 646 BCE

Heraclea Pontica (Megara) – 560 BCE

 

Colonization and Trade

- important trade routes and trading partners

- emporia: Al Mina in Syria and Naukratis in Egypt

Colonization Narratives

- pattern of crisis, oracle, foundation

- Founder (Oikist) As Transgressive Hero

- prefoundation myths to justify conquest

- examples of Cyrene and Tarentum

Organization of Colonies

- land distribution – kleros

- lawgivers and founding heroes

Zaleukos of Locri Epizephyri and Charondas of Rhegium

- nonurban sanctuaries

- boundaries with the barbarians – men and women in the colonies

Early Greek Lyric

Archilochus (680-640 BCE) - colonizer of Thasos

"I am two things: a fighter who follows the Master of Battles, and one who understands the gift of the Muses' love."

"Some barbarian is waving my shield, since I was obliged to leave that perfectly good piece of equipment behind under a bush. But I got away, so what does it matter? Let the shield go; I can buy another equally good."

Alcman - late 7th century in Sparta - Partheneia

Stesichorus - born in the 37th Olympiad (632-629) and died in the 56th Olympiad (556-553)

born in Mataurus in Southern Italy, but went with his father and brothers to the colony of Himera in Sicily

The name Stesichorus means 'he who establishes the chorus' and he is credited with being one of the first choral lyric poets, perhaps the first to set dances for the chorus - his original name is said to have been Teisias.

Ibycus of Rhegium - floruit 61st Olympiad (536-3 BCE) - choral lyric and erotic poetry

Sappho - (c. 620-550 BCE) on the island of Lesbos - lyric monody, erotic poetry, wedding songs

Non-Hesiodic Theogonies

Orphic Theogonies

Derveni Papyrus (5th century BCE??)

Eudemus (5th century BCE??)

Aristophanes' Birds (5th century BCE)

Hieronymus/Hellanicus (3rd or 2nd century BCE)??

Rhapsodies (2nd century CE??)

Alcman - Poros (Way) and Tekmor (sign); Thetis (maker? or sea nymph?)

Pherekydes - mid-sixth century BCE - Zas and Chthonie, Kronos

"Pre-Socratic" Philosophy

Thales fl. 585 in Miletus

Anaximander fl. 560 in Miletus

Anaximenes fl. 546 in Miletus

Heraclitus (floruit 69th Olympiad - 504-501 BCE) from Ephesus in Ionia,

Parmenides - fl. 475 in Elea - pupils were Zeno and Melissus

Anaxagoras - fl. 460 in Clazomenae in Ionia

Empedokles - (circa 495-435 BCE) in Southern Italy - Akragas and Thurii,

4 Elements at the root of things: Zeus, Hera, Hades, Nestis

Zeus = air, Hera = earth, Hades = fire, Nestis = water

2 ruling principles: Philotes (love) and Neikos (strife)

 

Pythagoras - fl. 530 from Samos to Croton in S. Italy

Xenophanes (c. 570 - c. 475 BCE) from Colophon in Ionia to Elea in Italy