Greek Migrations (c.1150-c.900 BC)
It is generally believed that the ancient Greeks made three migrations to Asia Minor. Aeolians settled (c.1150 BC) on the northwest coast in the district (Aeolis) between the Hellespont and the Hermus (=Gediz) River, and also on the island of Lesbos. Aeolis was considered part of the larger northwest region of Mysia. Ionians (c.1100 BC) settled on the west coast in the district (Ionia) between the Hermus and the Meander (=Buyuk Menderes) rivers. Dorians (c.900 BC) settled on the southwestern coast in the area (Doris) near Rhodes.
By the 700s BC an Ionian league had been formed from twelve states (a dodecapolis) of the western coast. These were the mainland cities of Miletus, Myus, Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae (=Kilisman), Phocaea; and the islands of Chios and Samos. The Aeolians founded Smyrna but it was later taken over by the Ionians and received into the confederacy (traditionally 668 BC).
Neo-Hittites (c.1200-c.700 BC)
The political vacuum that followed the Hittite collapse was filled in southeast Anatolia and northern Syria by small city-states having populations that spoke either Luwian (Neo-Hittite) or Aramaic. The Neo-Hittite sites, so-named because they continued certain aspects of Hittite culture, were centred on Carchemish, controlling the Euphrates crossing.
To the south the Aramaean state of Bit-Adini, with its capital Til Barsip, controlled the Euphrates down to the mouth of the Khabur. West of Bit-Adini the Aramaean state Bit-Agusi, with its capital at Arpad, usurped Aleppo’s dominance over this area. Bit-Agusi’s southern neighbour was the Aramaean state of Hamath with its capital of the same name, modern Hama. South of Hamath, massive Aramaean penetration led to the rise of Damascus, the capital of the state of Aram.
North of Hamath and west of Bit-Agusi, the Amuq Plain and a pass to the sea, was the seat of the Neo-Hittite city of Unqi, also known as Pattina. To the north of Unqi lay the small predominantly Aramaean state of Samal (=Zincirli), and to the north of that the Neo-Hittite kingdom of Gurgum. Gurgum’s eastern and Carchemish’s northern neighbour was the Neo-Hittite kingdom of Kummuh, later Commagene, occupying a long stretch of the south bank of the Euphrates. To the north of Kummuh, on the Euphrates frontier with Urartu, controlling the northeastern passes through the Taurus, was Melid, classical Melitene, with its capital of the same name near modern Malatya at Arslantepe.
Tiglath-pileser III (r.745-727 BC) took Arpad in 740 BC and subjugated Damascus; Hamath and Samal paid him tribute. In 720 BC Sargon II (r.722-705 BC) defeated an Aramaean coalition at Qarqar, thereby gaining control of Arpad, Simirra and Damascus. With the defeat of Carchemish (717 BC), Melid (712 BC), Gurgum (711 BC) and Kummuh (708 BC), Sargon completed his subjugation of the Neo-Hittite city-states.
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