Introduction to Ancient Greek Colonies

I've always been fascinated by both colonization and diaspora communities, whether conquistadors conquering the world for gold and god, or the Irish fleeing famine. What makes people leave their homelands to start a new life in a completely different place? These days, moving to a new country is easier than ever. We've pretty much mapped the entire surface of the earth, all of its continents, oceans, mountain ranges, rivers, and even relatively inaccessible areas such as the heart of the Amazon rainforest or the icy mountains of Antarctica. With the exception of restrictions due to global pandemics, travel between continents has never been easier. This, however, was not the case for the people of the country that we today know as Greece. Despite having few, if any, of the advantages that we have today, within the span of a few centuries, they had established colonies that in many cases became some of the greatest cities in all of antiquity. Several of these cities still thrive today. Let's examine the stories of these brave and highly capable people as well as some of the places that they spread out to in this program on ancient Greek colonies. Between roughly the years 750 to about 550 BC, a number of Greek city-states in what's today mainland Greece, its nearby islands, as well as the west coast of what's today modern Turkey, established trading outposts and separate cities along the shores of the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black Seas. We generally call this process of outward expansion Greek colonization. What makes these colonies extremely interesting is that they were founded at different times by the people of different city-states for different reasons. There was no coordinated or centralized planning amongst city-states. If anything, there was fierce competition for whatever foreign land might still have been available. Most of the eastern Mediterranean had already been occupied by the great kingdoms and empires of the Near East. Such places were already too populated and unsafe for a massive influx of foreign colonists. Thus, early Greek colonies were set up in less populated and less hostile regions. Places such as southern Italy, large islands such as Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, the southern coasts of what's today France and Spain, northern Africa, and east to the lands surrounding the Black Sea. Basically, wherever conditions still remained favorable and any local resistance could be subdued. Why would people leave their homes and everything they knew to venture into what was often a distant and relatively unknown land to start a new life? Such a journey clearly posed many risks as who really knew what was out there. The reasons though for leaving awfully greatly outweighed those for staying in what was rapidly becoming an untenable situation in the motherland. One major problem in the 8th century BC was overpopulation. With the Greek-speaking peoples adopting better agricultural techniques and technologies, what little arable land Greece had became much more productive. This increased crop yields, which provided more food for consumption, and ultimately led to an increase in the population. However, there was only so much land to go around. If one were to visit or even simply take a look at Greece and some of the surrounding areas on a map, they'd soon realize that it's not a very big place. What's more is that the majority of the terrain is quite rocky, and so the percentage of arable farmland that can actually be used to grow crops is really quite small, and most of that had been owned for generations by aristocrats who were not inclined to share it with the general public. What was able to be used in time ended up not being enough to feed the general population, and so the citizens of many Greek city-states had to look outside their boundaries for good farmland. In addition, many of the existing farms had been divided and subdivided amongst sons several times until the plots that remained were too small to support entire families. Such restrictions though didn't apply overseas, where there was no aristocracy, at least initially, and second, third, and fourth sons could obtain their own plots of land that could be several times larger than anything they could have dreamed to have obtained in their home city-state. Another reason, or perhaps motivation, for seeking one's fortune abroad was for better trading opportunities and the acquisition of natural resources. Being a maritime people, the Greeks since Mycenaean times had traveled the seas and come into contact with many different peoples, several of which they had forged trading relationships with. While these trade networks had mostly dissolved during Greece's so-called Dark Age, by the 9th and 8th centuries BC, they had resumed once again and were probably even more extensive and lucrative than in centuries past. Along with groups of Phoenicians from the Levant, who at any time were either partners or rivals, Greek-speaking peoples were some of the most successful maritime traders of the Iron Age. Thus, many chose to take their chances on the high seas rather than to remain on land, where they had few options for work outside of farming, herding, various craft industries, or, in many cases, fighting as mercenaries. Given the lucrative international trade opportunities overseas, it's no surprise that some of the earliest Greek colonies were at the confluence of popular trade routes. For example, the early colony of Kymi, better known as Koumai, was at the intersection of a busy trade route that linked the western part of the Italian peninsula with the mainly Etruscan populated areas to the north. Other colonies established in southern Italy, as well as on the island of Sicily, were also near maritime routes that linked southern Europe with North Africa and the western Mediterranean. Many of these areas were ideal for farming and growing olive trees, and this, along with the rich opportunities for trade, allowed the colonies that were established there to eventually become wealthier than any city-state or polis on the Greek mainland. The earliest trading outpost that we know of was Pitykousai on the volcanic island of Istia, about 10 kilometers off the coast of Naples, Italy. It was founded by Greeks from Chalcis and Eritrea around 775 BC, and the first of many such settlements to come. There's debate as to whether or not Pitykousai was just a trading outpost, a full-fledged colony, or little more than a pirate's den. Regardless, it provided close access to the main trade routes on the Italian mainland, as well as contact with the wealthy Etruscans who controlled them. In particular, Greek traders were after raw materials that were in short supply in Greece, specifically tin, silver, and iron ore. In exchange, the Greeks supplied the Etruscans with wine, finished metal products, painted pottery, and ceramics. By around 750 BC, Pitykousai had become quite prosperous, something apparent by the valuable items and artifacts that have been uncovered there. The most famous of these is the so-called Cup of Nestor. Dating to between 750 to 700 BC, it's a clay drinking cup painted in the old geometric style of Greek art, but with one of the earliest surviving examples of Greek alphabetic writing. However, by around 700 BC, Pitykousai was pretty much abandoned. So, where did they go? Most likely, just across the water, to the Italian mainland and the colony of Koumai. Unlike Pitykousai, which most believe started out as a simple trading post, Koumai was intended to be a permanent, full-fledged settlement, and because of this, most historians give it the honor of being the first true Greek colony. In fact, it's likely that the traders from Pitykousai were scouting locations for a permanent settlement and chose the site of Koumai for its fertile soil, access to the natural harbors of the Gulf of Naples, and its relatively close proximity to the great Etruscan cities further to the north. Within three decades, settlers from Koumai began to form their own colonies, the most notable being Zancle in Sicily, today the modern city of Messina, and, about 100 years later, Neopolis, which became Napoli, also known as Naples, Italy. As the size of Koumai and its satellite settlements grew, so too did tensions with the Etruscans. These came to a head around 500 BC, when Aristodemus of Koumai fought against and twice defeated the Etruscans, and later became Koumai's ruler. In 474 BC, Koumai, which was allied with another Greek colony, Syracuse, defeated the Etruscans at sea, essentially destroying their power in that part of Italy. However, just a century later, in 421 BC, Koumai fell to another Italian people, the Samnites, and, years later, became a possession of the Romans. However, that was still several centuries in the future. By the 730s BC, word had gotten around the Greek-speaking world of the success of Koumai, and soon, competing Greek city-states launched expeditions to establish their own colonies. In fact, between 730 to 700 BC, it's estimated that a new town was founded in southern Italy or Sicily every other year. There were so many Greeks in southern Italy that the Romans called the area Magna Graecia. Unlike Pithecusae and Koumai, which were established primarily for commercial reasons, most of the other colonies that followed them in southern Italy and Sicily were founded for agricultural purposes, and also to relocate citizens of overpopulated city-states. These areas were ideal for settlement. The climate was good, the soil fertile, and their location was close to the busy maritime trade routes that linked Europe with North Africa. Sicily would go on to become a major part of the ancient Greek-speaking world. However, before that happened, the island already had its own native, non-Greek population. Thucydides wrote specifically about three groups, the Sicans, Sicels, and the Illymians. In addition to these, Strabo mentioned two other groups, the Morgiths and the Ausoni. Most of the initial colonists came from Corinth, Chalkis, Rhodes, and Crete, and their settlements were all founded along the eastern coast of the island. The first was Naxos, followed by Syracuse, Leontini, Katane, and others. In some cases, the colonies were established peacefully, in others by expelling the indigenous population. Within a short period of time, more colonies were established, especially along Sicily's southern coast, many of them starting out as settlements that were founded by other colonies. Some of them were more like forts whose purpose was initially to protect their mother colonies from the island's natives, who by now must have greatly resented the Greek presence in their homeland. The indigenous Sicilians weren't the only groups hostile to the newcomers. On the opposite side of the island were Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Both were colonizing the other end of Sicily and had also allied with one of the island's indigenous groups, the Illymians. While fortunes seemed to favor the Greeks in Sicily, that didn't mean that there weren't any problems. Though they often shared a common rivalry with both the indigenous peoples as well as the Phoenicians, their greatest enemies were often themselves. There are many instances of colonies fighting with each other, mostly between cities inhabited by Dorian Greeks against those that were populated with Ionian Greeks. Shortly after their establishment, most Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily were governed by oligarchies until about the 6th century BC, after which tyrants seized power, usually by presenting themselves as the best bet against both anarchy and outside threats, whether they be hostile natives, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, or rival colonies. Southern Italy and Sicily, though, were just the beginning of Greek westward expansion. Soon, there were Greek-speaking peoples settling along the shores of places as far away as southern Spain. Most of these settlements, though, were not full-fledged colonies, but generally large trading posts. One exception, though, was Massalia, on the site of the modern-day city of Marseille, France. Archaeologists have determined that by the mid-7th century BC, merchants from abroad were trading heavily with the local inhabitants. It's not known for sure whether or not they were Greeks or Etruscans, but objects from both civilizations have been discovered at indigenous burial sites in the region. Regardless of who was there first, around 600 BC, Greek settlers from Phocaea established the town of Massalia, supposedly after defeating Carthaginians in a battle at sea. The local Ligurian tribes supposedly welcomed the new settlers, and within a short time, Massalia began to prosper as a commercial hub where Greeks, Ligurians, and traders from Celtic kingdoms in southern Spain all gathered to exchange their wares. Similar to colonies in southern Italy, Massalia also sent out missions to establish new colonies, which eventually included Nicaea and Empurium. These colonies mainly supplied raw materials such as silver, iron, tin, and lead to Massalia, which were then exported back to mainland Greece for a hefty profit. The colonies around Massalia also served as bases for trading expeditions further into the interior. One way they achieved success in this was through exchanging Greek wine for really whatever they wanted. In the same way that French traders in the 1600s traded brandy with the indigenous inhabitants of North America for animal pelts, the Greeks took wine with them into the interior of what was then Gaul and introduced it to the Celtic tribes there. It's believed that in time, these people learned how to cultivate grapes and eventually their own wine. Unlike in some other areas, where colonies were established to the detriment of the indigenous peoples, the relationship between the Greeks of southern France and Spain with the locals seems to have been both a peaceful and mutually beneficial one. Other colonies were much closer to home. On the northern coast of the Aegean was Thrace. Between the years 720 to about 700 BC, Greeks mainly from Chalkis started to settle there, ousting many of the Thracians in the process. Renaming the area Chalkidis, meaning Chalkidian land, the Greeks from Chalkis established at least 30 different settlements there. By the 600s BC, other arrivals, especially from Corinth, settled in the area and founded the city of Potidaea. About 10 km off the coast of Thrace is the island of Thassos, which was home to a colony of the same name. Around 700 BC, it attracted colonists, mostly from the island of Paros in the southern Aegean, who were after its rich mineral deposits, including gold, silver, and marble. The island was also known for its highly prized timber. It was a dangerous life though, as the colonists had to constantly fight against the fierce native Thracians, something mentioned often in the poems of Archilochus. Colonies were also established directly south of the Greek mainland, across the Mediterranean in what's today the North African country of Libya. The most famous colony here was Kyrene, which was established around 630 BC. According to an account by Herodotus, which has also somewhat been verified by another source, Kyrene's settlers left behind the island of Thera at the advice of the Oracle of Delphi, but only after a severe drought. Herodotus' tale goes as follows. Theras and king of the island of Thera went to Delphi. He was attended by other citizens, in particular by Batos, a member of the tribe of the Euphimides, who were Minions. Although Greenos, king of the Therians, had come to consult the Pythia about other matters, she instructed him to found a city in Libya. He replied, But my lord, I am now too weighted down with age to pick up and settle elsewhere. Please command one of the younger men to go instead. And as he said this, he pointed to Batos. That was all that happened at the time, and after they had returned home, they ignored the oracular response. After all, they had no idea where Libya was, and would not dare to lead a colonial expedition off into the unknown. But afterward, no rain fell on Thera for seven years, and all the trees on the island withered away except for one. So, the Therians again consulted the Oracle, and the Pythia again urged them to colonize Libya. Since they had obtained no solution to their problem, they sent messengers to Crete in search of a Cretan or resident alien who might have gone to Libya. The messengers wandered throughout Crete until they came to the city of Etanos, where they met a Murex fisherman named Korobios, who said he had once been blown off course by the wind and had come to the Libyan island called Plataea. They persuaded him to help them by offering him money and took him to Thera. From there, a small party sailed out on a scouting expedition. Korobios led them to the island of Plataea, and after leaving him there with provisions sufficient to last a designated number of months, they quickly sailed back to report to the Therians about the island. Things had gotten so bad on Thera that each family was required to send at least one son to join the expedition to found the new colony, or else face harsh consequences. At a minimum, death and the confiscation of all of their property. An inscription discovered at Chirini dating to the 4th century BC, which also contains a copy of what's called the Oath of the Settlers, describes the plan to colonize Chirini. The assembly has resolved. Since Apollo of his own accord told Batos and the Therians to found Chirini, the Therians have resolved to send Batos as the first founder and king out to Libya, and that Therians are to sail as his companions. On equal and like terms are they to sail, according to household, with one son to be selected, and those who are of age, and of the other Therians, those who are free, are to sail. If the colonists establish the colony, then a Therian who sails later shall hold both citizenship and be eligible for office in Chirini. But if they do not establish a colony, and the Therians are unable to aid them, but hardships afflict them for five years, then from that land they are without fear of redress to depart for Thera, back to their own property, and they are to be citizens of Thera. But anyone who should refuse to sail when the city sends him out, shall be liable to the death penalty, and his property shall be confiscated. Anyone that takes him in, or that hides him, be he a father hiding a son, or a brother hiding a brother, shall suffer the same things as he that refused to sail. On these terms, they that remain here on Thera, and they that are sailing to found a colony, have made a covenant, and they have cursed them, that should transgress against it, and not abide by it, whether amongst them settling in Libya, or amongst them remaining here. Landing on the Libyan coast, the settlers founded Chirini. Chirini ended up being one of the most prosperous Greek colonies of all, and was governed for centuries by the Batiat family, named after Batos, the leader of the original expedition. The colony exported grain, wool, oxides, and a local plant known as silphium, which was used as a laxative. Later on, the citizens of Chirini established the nearby colonies of Varka and Euhesperides, with the entire area eventually adopting the name Kerenika. Chirini is also a good example of the typical relationship that a colony had with its mother city. As soon as it was founded, the new colony was considered to be a completely independent state, with its own rulers and government. Thus, the modern definition of a colony, where the settlement is still part of and controlled by a mother nation, didn't necessarily apply to the Greek-speaking world. So for example, in the Oath of the Settlers inscription discovered on Chirini, the founders of Chirini ceased to be citizens of Thera the moment that the colony was established. Only after 5 years, and if the colony completely failed, could they regain their Therian citizenship. Fortunately for them, this was not the case, and Chirini would go on to become much more prosperous and powerful than its mother colony, Thera. Though politically independent, the relationship between the mother city and colony was never completely severed. After all, the two were related by blood. Colonists still had mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins, close friends, and many other relationships in the mother city. In many cases, the colonies also provided surplus food or other items to the mother colony first before selling them on the open market. This actually was the case with Chirini, which was able to supply Thera with grain during its greatest time of need. Finally, we have the Greek colonies that surrounded the Black Sea, of which there were many. According to Strabo, it was Miletus in southwestern Asia Minor, today in modern Turkey, that was the mother city of most of them. Miletus was one of, if not the most prosperous city in the part of the ancient Greek world known as Ionia, and some scholars have wondered why its leaders felt the need to send settlers to the distant shores of the Black Sea. This most likely may have been because the interior of Asia Minor was occupied by other powerful states, the one just bordering Miletus being the Kingdom of Lydia. Eventually, Miletus was obliged to accept a treaty with Lydia that reduced its territorial possessions. Initially, Miletus didn't suffer from overpopulation or a lack of farmland like other Greek city-states, but its traders probably wished to find a way to acquire raw materials such as copper, tin, silver, and gold from the interior of Asia Minor by bypassing kingdoms such as Lydia. Thus, they founded the city of Sinope, almost directly at the center of the southern coast of the Black Sea. Though it had not one, but two harbors, it was isolated by mountains from the interior of Asia Minor. While this helped to protect it, it also meant that the city had to rely almost exclusively on seaborne trade, which allowed it to export precious metals from the nearby mountains to its south. Other colonies around the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara included Byzantium, Chalcedon, Heraclea, Panticapaeum, Chesikos, Istria, Trapezos, and too many others to name. There were just so many Greek colonies that it's impossible to go over all of them in such a short program, but in future we'll individually cover some of the more famous ones, so stay tuned. As always, thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it. I'd also really like to thank GrandCake69, Yap de Graaf, Pastafrola, Michael Lewis, Danielle Allen, Tobias Winder, WinexTV, Cher Cam, Farhad Kama, Danny Van Ecke, and all of the channel's patrons on Patreon for helping to support this and all future content. Check out the benefits to being a Patreon member, and if you'd like to join, feel free to click the link in the video description. You can also follow History with Sai on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as continue to listen to special audio programs on the History with Sai podcast. Thanks again, and stay safe!