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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