Migrations to Asia Minor (c.1050-c.950 BC)
Greek tradition says that during a period after the Trojan War there were four major migrations of Greek-speaking peoples in the Aegean: the Boeotians south to what became to be called Boeotia; the Ionians and Aeolians east to the west coast of Asia Minor; and the Dorians south to the Peloponnese.
Although the historicity of these migrations is debated, linguistic analysis of the dialects spoken in a later age supports in general what is said to have happened. In the swath of territory stretching from the Peloponnese through the southern Aegean to the southwestern coast of Asia Minor the Doric dialect was distinctive. Modern linguists tend to place the Doric dialect within a larger category known as West Greek, which includes the language of the ancient Greeks around the east coast of the Corinthian Gulf. The Aeolic dialects were spoken in Thessaly, Boeotia and northwest Asia Minor; and Attic-Ionic dialects were spoken in Attica, Euboea, the central Aegean islands, and along the western coast of Asia Minor.
Disturbances following the Dorian occupation were said to have resulted in the expulsion of the Ionians from their original homeland in northern Peloponnese. According to a popular account the Ionians settled in Attica before moving on to Asia Minor where they colonised the central part of the western coast, a region later known as Ionia. Herodotus (c.484-c.425 BC) states that in Asia the Ionians kept the division into twelve cities that had prevailed in their former homeland, which became Achaea after they left. These Asian cities were Chios (Is), Clazomenae, Colophon, Ephesus, Erythrae, Lebedos, Miletus, Myus, Phocaea, Priene, Samos (Is) and Teos.
The Aeolians planted their first settlements in Lesbos (Is) and then expanded northwards to Tenedos (Is) and along the mainland coast; the Troad was colonised much later. The Aeolian settlements in the south were: Aegae, Aegiroessa, Cilla, Cyme, Gryneum, Larissa, Myrina, Neonteichos, Notium, Pitane, Smyrna and Temnos. The most important cities in the north were: Antandrus, Assos, Cebren, Gargara, Ilium, Neandria and Scepsia. The Dorian occupation of the islands of Cos, Melos, Rhodes and Thera together with the mainland cities of Cnidus and Halicarnassus formed an Asian Doris. In Crete the Dorians established themselves in communities across the island as the ruling class exacting tribute.
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