The Achaeans (; el, Ἀχαιοί, ''Akhaioi'') were one of the four major tribes into which the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...
divided themselves (along with the
Aeolians
The Aeolians (; el, Αἰολεῖς) were one of the four major tribes in which Greeks divided themselves in the ancient period (along with the Achaeans, Dorians and Ionians)..
Name
Their name mythologically derives from Aeolus, the mythical a ...
,
Ionians and
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ioni ...
). According to the foundation myth formalized by
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
, their name comes from
Achaeus, the mythical founder of the Achaean tribe, 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
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...
of the Greek (
Hellenic) nation.
Historically, the members of the Achaean tribe inhabited the region of
Achaea
Achaea () or Achaia (), sometimes transliterated from Greek as Akhaia (, ''Akhaïa'' ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Western Greece and is situated in the northwestern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. T ...
in the northern
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...
. The Achaeans played an active role in the Greek colonization of southern Italy, founding the city of Kroton (Κρότων) in 710 BC. The city was to gain fame later as the place where the Pythagorean School was founded. Unlike the other major tribes (Ionians, Dorians and Aeolians), the Achaeans did not have a separate dialect in the Classical period, instead using a form of
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
.
Etymology
According to
Margalit Finkelberg
Margalit Finkelberg (née Karpyuk; born 1947) () is an Israeli historian and linguist. She is the professor emerita of Classics at Tel Aviv University. She became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2005 and served as pr ...
the name Ἀχαιοί/Ἀχαιϝοί is possibly derived, via an intermediate form *Ἀχαϝyοί, from a hypothetical older Greek form reflected in the
Hittite form ''Aḫḫiyawā''; the latter is attested in the Hittite archives, e.g. in the
Tawagalawa letter. However,
Robert S. P. Beekes doubted its validity and suggested a
Pre-Greek ''*Akay
wa-''.
Origins
The origin of the Achaeans is somewhat problematic.
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, probably writing in the 8th century BC, uses the term
Achaeans as a generic term for Greeks throughout the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
'', which is believed to describe events in
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...
, i.e. before 1150 BC. However, there is no firm evidence that the Greeks of the Mycenaean period used that name to describe themselves. The term ''Ahhiyawa'', found in 13th century BC
Hittite texts may mean "Achaeans", that is to say the Greeks of the Mycenaean culture, but again, there is no definitive evidence that this is the case.
Emil Forrer went as far to claim that there existed a "great empire" called ''Ahhiyawa'', which stood as equal by the side of the old states of the east. However, his conclusions were disproven by later researchers, especially by
Ferdinand Sommer.
[Hermann Bengtson: Griechische Geschichte. C.H.Beck, München, 2002. 9th Edition. . pp. 8–15.]
In the
classical period, the generic term for Greeks was ''Hellenes'', echoing the
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
ic foundation story in which Hellen was the founder of the Greek race. However, in the ''Iliad'', ''Hellenes'' is restricted to those inhabitants of ''Hellas'', a region in
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...
. There were therefore at least two different traditions concerning the origins of the Greeks, and for this reason, a direct connection between the historic Achaeans and Mycenaean-era Greeks is difficult to establish on the basis of name alone. For instance, the historic
Lacedaemonians used that name, but claimed no connection to the Lacedaemonians mentioned in the ''Iliad''; the use of the same name does not therefore automatically imply direct descent.
Both
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...
and
Pausanias recount the legend that the Achaeans (referring to the tribe of the Classical period) originally dwelt in
Argolis
Argolis or Argolida ( el, Αργολίδα , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and part of the ...
and
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word '' laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
. As Strabo noted however, this is not what Homer meant by the term Achaean. Supposedly, the Achaeans were forced out of those lands by the
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ioni ...
, during the legendary
Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese. 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. The Ionians took temporary refuge in Athens, and Aegialus became known as Achaea.
[ Pausanias VII, 1.][Herodotu]
I, 143–147
Pausanias says that 'Achaean' was the name of those Greeks originally inhabiting the
Argolis
Argolis or Argolida ( el, Αργολίδα , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and part of the ...
and
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word '' laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
, because they were descended from the sons of the mythical
Achaeus,
Archander and
Architeles Architeles ( grc, Ἀρχιτέλης) was the name of several people from ancient Greek mythology:
* Architeles, father of Eunomus, whom Heracles killed by accident on his visit to Architeles. The father forgave Heracles, but Heracles nevertheles ...
.
[ Pausanias VII, 1.7.] 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
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge wh ...
.
[ Pausanias VII, 1.3.] It was supposedly for this reason that there was also an ancient part of Thessaly known as
Phthiotic Achaea.
References
{{Ancient Greece topics
Ancient tribes in Greece