Geopolitics
of Pergamon: Mysia and Ionia
Mysia was ancient region
in northwest Asia Minor
(Anatolia) adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea
on the west. Mysia was bounded by the teritories of Lydia on the south
and Phrygia and Bithynia on the east. District of Mysia is rather geographic
than a political territory
and includes Aeolis, Troas, and the area aurround Pergamum.
Homer mentioned the Mysians
as ancient allies of the Trojans in Iliad. Mysia was ruled successively
by Lydia, Persia, and Pergamum, and since 129 BC by Rome.
The term Ionia refers strictly
to the central part of the west coast of ancient ANATOLIA where Ionic Greek
was spoken, although the term is sometimes applied to the entire west coast.
Many Mycenaean Greeks emigrated to Ionia in order to escape the invading
DORIANS (c.1100 BC). Their close contact with the more advanced civilizations
of the East quickly raised the level of their culture. Trade and the arts
and sciences flourished in Ionia, especially in MILETUS. In the 7th century
that city, with a stupendous burst of energy, succeeded in Hellenizing
the area around the Black Sea. The Ionians were subjugated by CROESUS,
ruler of the expanding kingdom of LYDIA, to the north of Ionia. In turn,
the Persian king CYRUS THE GREAT conquered Croesus by 546 BC, which resulted
in the subjugation of the Ionians. They attempted a revolt against DARIUS
I in 499-494, but they were defeated and Miletus was destroyed. After the
abortive invasion (480-479) of Greece by the Persian king XERXES I, the
Ionians regained their freedom, becoming members of the DELIAN LEAGUE.
But they soon came under the domination of Athens. In the 4th century,
Ionia was at the center of a struggle between Greeks and Persians. When
the collapse of the Athenian empire at the end of the 5th century BC created
a power vacuum, the Persians extended their influence once again into the
Aegean.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT's conquest
of the Persian Empire (334-325) freed Ionia, but its cities soon became
the prey of contending Hellenistic monarchs. When one of them, Attalus
III of Pergamum, died in 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Pergamum
became the province of Asia and the Ionians Roman subjects. The Ionian
cities continued to be important economic and cultural centers until they
were conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th century AD.
Bibliography: Boardman,
J., The Greeks Overseas, rev. ed. (1982); Huxley, G. L., The Early Ionians
(1966; repr. 1972); Charles W. Fornara, Grolier
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