how many greek colonies were there

Where were the Ancient Greek colonies located?

How many Greek colonies were there? In total then, the Greeks established some 500 colonies which involved up to 60,000 Greek citizen colonists , so that by 500 BCE these new territories would eventually account for 40% of all Greeks in the Hellenic World.

What are some examples of Ancient Greek colonies?

Mar 28, 2022 · According to modern historian Mogens Herman Hansen, more than 46 Greek colonies were founded in Sicily and more than 22 in southern Italy. A “second Greece” of a kind was formed in these areas, which amounted to a population and area that was just a little smaller than metropolitan Greece, hence the name Magna Graecia.

How did the ancient Greeks colonize?

Feb 24, 2022 · History, colonies and population. Greeks in Ukraine or Crimean Greeks are a Hellenic minority that reside in or used to live on the territory of modern Ukraine. Most of them live in Donetsk Oblast and particularly concentrated around the city of Mariupol. According to the 2001 Ukrainian Census, there were 91,548 ethnic Greeks in Ukraine, or 0.2 ...

How many city-states were there in ancient Greece?

There were, however, many Greeks who escaped the second-class status of Christians inherent in the Ottoman millet system, ... Rise of Macedon; Campaign of Alexander the Great; Greek colonies established in newly founded cities of Ptolemaic Egypt and Asia. 2nd century BC: Conquest of Greece by the Roman Empire. Migrations of Greeks to Rome. 4th ...

Did Greece have any colonies?

By the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., Greek colonies and settlements stretched all the way from western Asia Minor to southern Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and even to the coasts of southern France and Spain.

How many states did Greek have?

There grew to be over 1,000 city-states in ancient Greece, but the main poleis were Athína (Athens), Spárti (Sparta), Kórinthos (Corinth), Thíva (Thebes), Siracusa (Syracuse), Égina (Aegina), Ródos (Rhodes), Árgos, Erétria, and Elis. Each city-state ruled itself.Mar 15, 2019

How many kingdoms did Greece have?

5 Kingdoms of Greece's Heroic Age | History Hit.Feb 18, 2020

Where were most Greek colonies located?

Western MediterraneanWestern Mediterranean The main regions where they settled included areas in Campania, Basilicata, Apulia, Sicily, and Calabria. Greek settlers could also be found in Croton, which was settled by the Achaeans, Sybaris, Cumae, and Neopolis, which is now modern-day Napoli.

What are the 5 Greek city-states?

Ancient Greek city-states are known as polis. Although there were numerous city-states, the five most influential were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, and Delphi.

How many cities are in Greece?

Greece has 0 cities with more than a million people, 8 cities with between 100,000 and 1 million people, and 133 cities with between 10,000 and 100,000 people. The largest city in Greece is Athens, with a population of people.

How many regions are there in Greece?

Relief and geology provide the basis for describing the Greek landscape in terms of six major regions: central, northeastern, eastern, southern, and western mainland Greece, along with the islands.Apr 6, 2022

How many regions did ancient Greece have?

The natural geographical formations of ancient Greece helped form three distinct regions-the Peloponnese, Central Greece, and Northern Greece.

How many empires was Greece divided into?

fourThe history of Ancient Greece falls into four major divisions. The Archaic period , when the civilization's main features were evolving, lasted from the 8th to the 6th centuries BC. Classical Greece flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC. This was marked by the period of the Persian Wars (c.

How many colonies did Athens have?

In total then, the Greeks established some 500 colonies which involved up to 60,000 Greek citizen colonists, so that by 500 BCE these new territories would eventually account for 40% of all Greeks in the Hellenic World.

Who first colonized Greece?

the Archaic GreeksGreek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC (750 and 550 BC).

Is Maine part of the 13 colonies?

The original 13 colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Bay Colony (which included Maine), New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

What do we know about the Greek colony?

Literature and archaeology teach us much about the Greek colonies. Beyond what we know from these two sources there are many details to argue over, such as whether women were part of the colonizing groups or whether Greek men set out alone with the intention of mating with natives, why certain areas were settled, but not others, and what motivated the colonialists. Dates for the establishment of colonies vary with the source, but new archaeological finds in the Greek colonies may iron out such conflicts, while at the same time they provide missing bits of Greek history. Accepting that there are many unknowns, here is an introductory look at the colonizing enterprises of the ancient Greeks.

What are the three terms used to describe the Greek colony?

Terms to Know About Greek Colonies. 1. Metropolis. The term metropolis refers to the mother city. 2. Oecist. The founder of the city, generally chosen by the metropolis, was the oecist. Oecist also refers to the leader of a cleruchy. 3.

What did the colonies do to their culture?

Colonies Were Tied by Culture. The colonies spoke the same language and worshiped the same gods as the mother city. The founders carried with them a sacred fire taken from the mother city's public hearth (from the Prytaneum) so they could use the same fire when they set up shop.

Who founded the colonies of Corcyra?

Corcyra founded by Corinthians c. 700. Corcyra and Corinth founded Leucas, Anactorium, Apollonia, and Epidamnus. Megarians founded Selymbria and Byzantium. There were numerous colonies along the coast of the Aegean, Hellespont, Propontis, and Euxine, from Thessaly to the Danube.

Where did the Aeolians settle?

A. Aeolian colonists settled on the northern area of the coastline of Asia Minor, plus the islands of Lesbos, home of lyric poets Sappho and Alcaeas, and Tenedos.

Ancient Greek colonies (6th century BC–1st century BC)

Greeks established colonies on what are now the Ukrainian shores of the Black Sea as early as the 6th century BC. These colonies traded with various ancient nations around the Black Sea, including Scythians, Maeotae, Cimmerians, Goths and predecessors of the Slavs.

Greek-speaking kingdoms in Crimea (4th century BC–15th century AD)

The Greek colonies coalesced into the Bosporan Kingdom in the 4th century BC, which lasted as a Roman client state until the 4th century AD. Additionally, the Kingdom of Pontus was founded in the 3rd century BC and controlled territory in Ukraine (including the Bosporan Kingdom) until its acquisition by the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD.

Russian conquest (18th century)

The Urums and Rumaiic Pontic Greeks lived among the Crimean Tatars until the Russian Empire conquered the Crimea in 1783. Then Catherine the Great decided to relocate the Pontic Greeks from Crimea to the northern shores of the Sea of Azov.

Ottoman Empire refugees (15th century–19th century)

The Greeks of present-day Ukraine are mainly the descendants of various waves of especially Pontic Greek refugees and "economic migrants" who left the region of Pontus and the Pontic Alps in northeastern Anatolia between the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in 1461 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, although some had settled in Ukraine in the late-19th or early-20th centuries..

Greek Civil War refugees (1946–1949)

Other Greeks arrived in Ukraine even later, particularly, as Greek Communist refugees from mainly Greek Macedonia and other parts of Northern Greece, who had fled their homes following the 1946–1949 Greek Civil War and settled in the USSR, Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc states.

How many Greeks are there outside of Greece?

The total number of Greeks living outside Greece and Cyprus today is a contentious issue. Where Census figures are available, they show around 3 million Greeks outside Greece and Cyprus. Estimates provided by the SAE - World Council of Hellenes Abroad put the figure at around 7 million worldwide.

Where were the Greeks located?

Until the early 20th century, Greeks were distributed between the Greek peninsula, the western coast of Asia Minor, the Black Sea coast, Cappadocia in central Anatolia, Egypt, the Balkans, Cyprus, and Constantinople.

What is the relationship between ancient Greeks and modern Greeks?

The most obvious link between modern and ancient Greeks is their language , which has a documented tradition from at least the 14th century BC to the present day, albeit with a break during the Greek Dark Ages (11th- 8th cent. BC, though the Cypriot syllabary was in use during this period). Scholars compare its continuity of tradition to Chinese alone. Since its inception, Hellenism was primarily a matter of common culture and the national continuity of the Greek world is a lot more certain than its demographic. Yet, Hellenism also embodied an ancestral dimension through aspects of Athenian literature that developed and influenced ideas of descent based on autochthony. During the later years of the Eastern Roman Empire, areas such as Ionia and Constantinople experienced a Hellenic revival in language, philosophy, and literature and on classical models of thought and scholarship. This revival provided a powerful impetus to the sense of cultural affinity with ancient Greece and its classical heritage. Throughout their history, the Greeks have retained their language and alphabet, certain values and cultural traditions, customs, a sense of religious and cultural difference and exclusion (the word barbarian was used by 12th-century historian Anna Komnene to describe non-Greek speakers), a sense of Greek identity and common sense of ethnicity despite the undeniable socio-political changes of the past two millennia. In recent anthropological studies, both ancient and modern Greek osteological samples were analyzed demonstrating a bio-genetic affinity and continuity shared between both groups. There is also a direct genetic link between ancient Greeks and modern Greeks.

What language do Greeks speak?

Most Greeks speak the Greek language, an independent branch of the Indo-European languages, with its closest relations possibly being Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian) or the Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ). It has the longest documented history of any living language and Greek literature has a continuous history of over 2,500 years. The oldest inscriptions in Greek are in the Linear B script, dated as far back as 1450 BC. Following the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent, the Greek alphabet appears in the 9th–8th century BC. The Greek alphabet derived from the Phoenician alphabet, and in turn became the parent alphabet of the Latin, Cyrillic, and several other alphabets. The earliest Greek literary works are the Homeric epics, variously dated from the 8th to the 6th century BC. Notable scientific and mathematical works include Euclid's Elements, Ptolemy's Almagest, and others. The New Testament was originally written in Koine Greek .

What percentage of the population of Greece is urban?

About 80% of the population of Greece is urban, with 28% concentrated in the city of Athens. Greeks from Cyprus have a similar history of emigration, usually to the English-speaking world because of the island's colonization by the British Empire.

How many Greeks emigrated to Germany in 2011?

According to data published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany in 2011, 23,800 Greeks emigrated to Germany, a significant increase over the previous year.

What were the Greeks doing after the fall of Constantinople?

Following the Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453, many Greeks sought better employment and education opportunities by leaving for the West, particularly Italy, Central Europe, Germany and Russia. Greeks are greatly credited for the European cultural revolution, later called, the Renaissance. In Greek-inhabited territory itself, Greeks came to play a leading role in the Ottoman Empire, due in part to the fact that the central hub of the empire, politically, culturally, and socially, was based on Western Thrace and Greek Macedonia, both in Northern Greece, and of course was centred on the mainly Greek-populated, former Byzantine capital, Constantinople. As a direct consequence of this situation, Greek-speakers came to play a hugely important role in the Ottoman trading and diplomatic establishment, as well as in the church. Added to this, in the first half of the Ottoman period men of Greek origin made up a significant proportion of the Ottoman army, navy, and state bureaucracy, having been levied as adolescents (along with especially Albanians and Serbs) into Ottoman service through the devshirme. Many Ottomans of Greek (or Albanian or Serb) origin were therefore to be found within the Ottoman forces which governed the provinces, from Ottoman Egypt, to Ottomans occupied Yemen and Algeria, frequently as provincial governors.

Where did the Greeks live?

The largest and most significant Greek colonies, which sprung up in the eighth century, bringing with them a taste of Greek life, were along the coastal areas of Southern Italy; Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.

When was Byzantium founded?

Byzantium or Byzantion, today known as Istanbul in Turkey but for Greeks, it’s forever Constantinople, is an ancient Greek city, founded by Greeks from Megara (a historic town in West Attica, Greece), in 657 BC.

When was Alexandria founded?

Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, the third-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and Giza, is the largest city on the Mediterranean and one of the most important Hellenistic cultural centers of the ancient world.

Where were the Greek colonies located?

Another common place where several Greek colonies could be found was in the Black Sea. Many of these colonies came about because the Greeks wanted to take advantage of their waters, which tended to produce a lot of fish. At one point, it was estimated that there were around 70 colonies, but some have criticized this number saying that it was exagerated. Colonies include Kyzikos, Pantikapaion, Olbia, Megara, Byzantium, Herakleia Pontike, and Sinope. At one point, this whole area was taken up with Greek colonies.

Where did the Greeks settle?

The Ancient Greeks also maintained several colonies in Ionia, which is located in the Eastern Aegean Sea. At one time, this was also referred to as Asia Minor but is now mostly a part of modern Turkey. Like in the Western Mediterranean, colonization began here around the 8th Century B.C. Areas where there were colonies in Ionia include Ephesus, Miletos, Smyrna, and Halikarnassos. There is some debate as to which city-state first colonized here. Athens claimed they were the first, but others began settling here, as well, such as the Lydians.

What jewelry did the Greeks wear?

Garnets, emeralds, rubies, and amethysts were incorporated into new types of Hellenistic jewelry, more stunning than ever before. In the ensuing centuries, the Greeks continued to live in these eastern regions, but always maintained contact with the Greek mainland.

When did the Romans conquer Sicily?

In 272 B.C., the Romans conquered Magna Graecia, and Sicily came under Roman rule when Syracuse fell to Rome in 212 B.C. As a result, the newly conquered western Greek colonies played an important role as the transmitters of Greek culture to the Romans and the rest of the Italian peninsula.

Why did the Greek city-states develop?

Greek city-states likely developed because of the physical geography of the Mediterranean region. The landscape features rocky, mountainous land and many islands. These physical barriers caused population centers to be relatively isolated from each other. The sea was often the easiest way to move from place to place.

What is a Greek city state?

Greek City-States. Encyclopedic Entry. Vocabulary. A city-state, or polis, was the community structure of ancient Greece. Each city-state was organized with an urban center and the surrounding countryside. Characteristics of the city in a polis were outer walls for protection, as well as a public space that included temples and government buildings.

How did Sparta differ from Athens?

Each city-state ruled itself. They differed greatly from the each other in governing philosophies and interests. For example, Sparta was ruled by two kings and a council of elders. It emphasized maintaining a strong military, while Athens valued education and art.

Why was the Parthenon built?

The Parthenon was a temple built to honor the goddess Athena. The majority of a polis ’s population lived in the city, as it was the center of trade, commerce, culture, and political activity. There grew to be over 1,000 city-states in ancient Greece, but the main poleis were Athína (Athens), Spárti (Sparta), Kórinthos (Corinth), Thíva (Thebes), ...

Overview

Maps with some of the ancient Greek colonies before the death of Philip II of Macedon (336 BC)

Reasons for colonization

Characteristics of the colonization

Timing

Locations

Further reading

External links