User:MinisterForBadTimes/Drafts - Greek tribes

Tribes:

Mythical founders:
 * Kadmos
 * Danaos
 * Pelops
 * Deucalion & Pyrrha
 * Hellen
 * Doris
 * Xuthos
 * Achaeus
 * Ion
 * Aeolus
 * Graikos
 * Macedon
 * Magnis

Tribes:
 * 'Hellenes' - Dorians, Achaeans, Ionians, Aeolians
 * Macedonians?

Achaeans synonymous with Hellenes in Homer.

Regions:
 * Argolis - originally Achaeans, then Dorian
 * Achaea - originally Ionians, then Achaean
 * Arcadian - Pelagasian
 * Laconia - Originally ?, then Dorian
 * Messenia - ?
 * Elis - ?
 * Attica - Pelagasian
 * Aeolia - Aeolian
 * Doris - Dorian
 * Phocis - ?

The Greeks of the Classical period, when the first histories were written, clearly believed that they were, culturally at least, 'one people', the Hellenes. At the same time, they were also clear that they were divided into tribes, of legendary origin. These different appelations are a somewhat problematic, since their use, even amongst ancient writers, is often inconsistent and imprecise. Furthermore, it seems likely that the conception of these tribes had changed over time, possibly reflecting political changes over time. Certainly, comparing the names used by Homer in the Iliad and those in use in Classical Greece, it is clear that radical changes in the foundation myth had come to pass. These changes may reflect the apparent massive upheaval wrought during the Greek Dark Age that followed the collapse of the Mycenean Civilisation. As with all foundation myths, it is impossible to say to what extent the Greek foundation myth, as formalised by classical writers, represents actual events and persons.

Pelasgians
The Greeks, in general, appear to have believed that they were not the first inhabitants of the areas which they inhabited in classical times. Certainly, the currently most widely accepted theory of the origins of the Indo-European peoples (which includes the Greeks), suggests that they gradually migrated into Europe from about 4000 BC, displacing or absorbing the pre-Indo-European cultures which were previously present in Europe. It is therefore possible that the Greeks preserved some folk memory of their arrival into the Balkan peninsula.

The term Pelasgians (Ancient Greek: Πελασγοί, Pelasgoí, singular Πελασγός, Pelasgós) was used by some ancient Greek writers to refer to populations that preceded the Greeks in Greece; "a hold-all term for any ancient, primitive and presumably autochthonous people in the Greek world." During the classical period, enclaves labelled as Pelasgian are described as surviving in several locations of mainland Greece, Crete and other regions of the Aegean. "Pelasgian" populations were identified by ancient authors as speaking a language or languages that at the time Greeks identified as non-Greek. However, other ancient writers used the term differently, as an old name for the Greeks themselves, before they started to give themselves different labels. These two traditions were not necessarily contradictory

In general, "Pelasgian" has now come to mean all the autochthonous inhabitants of the Aegean lands and their culture before the advent of the Greek language. The exact relationship of Pelasgians to prehistoric Greeks, and the classification of Pelasgian language(s), (the existence implied only from non-Greek elements within Ancient Greek) are long-standing questions that have not received definitive answers.

Tribes in the Iliad
Homer uses three main terms in the Iliad to describe the Greeks, though his usage is not entirely consistent, and the terms are used interchangeably. The most frequent is Achaeans, a term which was still in use in Classical Greece in for a specific region and tribal group (see below). Also used is Danaans, later held to relate to the founding figure of Danaos. Finally, and much less frequently, he uses Argives, a term with direct relation to the settlement of Argos. The Argolid was the centre of the Mycenean culture, the region directly controlled by Agamemnon.

Homer uses the term Hellenes, which in the classic period was the name used for all Greeks. However, Homer uses the term to describe a very specific group of people, the supposed descendents of Hellen, living in Thessaly, and ruled by Achilles.

The Greek Dark Age
From around 1200 BC, the palace centres and outlying settlements of the Mycenaeans' highly organized culture began to be abandoned or destroyed and by 1050 BC, the recognisable features of Mycenaean culture had disappeared. Many explanations attribute the fall of the Mycenaean civilization to climatic or environmental catastrophe combined with an invasion by Dorians or by 'the Sea Peoples' but no single explanation fits the available archaeological evidence.

The archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse of civilization in the eastern Mediterranean world during the same period as the great palaces and cities of the Mycenaeans were destroyed or abandoned. There were fewer and smaller settlements, suggesting famine and depopulation. Around this time, the Hittite civilization suffered serious disruption and cities from Troy to Gaza were destroyed. In Greece the writing of the Greek language appears to cease. The decoration on Greek pottery of this period is simpler and, after c 1100 BC lacks the figurative decoration of Mycenaean ware and is restricted to simpler, generally geometric styles.

The Greek Dark Age was clearly a time of much social upheaval. The Greeks retained a folk memory of this period in the supposed 'Return of the Heraclidae', whereby the descendents of Hercules 'took back' the land from which they had been expelled (in the mythical past), the Peloponnesus. This myth may have developed in order to explain the changed power structures in the Peloponnesus following the collapse of the Mycenean culture. In the classical age, much of the Peloponnesus was occupied by self-described Dorians, one of the major tribes of classical Greece. There were still self-described Achaeans in the Peloponnesus, however. This led to historians interpreting the 'Return of the Heraclidae' as a historical event, in which Dorians had invaded the Peloponnesus, filling the vacuum left by Mycenae and displacing the Achaean population. This 'Dorian Invasion' is nowadays controversial, and the extent to which there was an actual invasion, as opposed to a change of ruling class, or even simply a change of self-identification, is unclear. Nevertheless, it is clear that there were large scale changes in the Greek tribal groupings, even if only a matter of perception, during this age.

Tribes in the Classical period
By the classical period, the Greeks were describing themselves as 'Hellenes', this term having expanded from its Homeric meaning (mirroring the contraction in meaning of the term Achaean. Although split into many, often warring, states, the Greeks accepted that they were one people with a shared culture, religion and language. There seems to have been some snobbery in the use of this term, as Ancient Macedonians and Epirotes, on the borders of the Greek heartland, tended to be excepted from this term in the classical period. Consequently, there has been much debate as to exactly how 'Greek' these people were.

The Greeks of the classical period divided themselves into four major tribes: the Dorians, Ionians, Aeolians and Achaeans, in addition to a handful of minor tribes. These tribes did not form single geographical entities, but tended to be somewhat intermingled with each other. Each had a different dialect of Greek, and supposed cultural idiosyncracies. Every city-state seems to have been very aware of their supposed tribal origin. The cities founded in Italy, Asia minor and further afield, during the period of Greek colonisation, also retained strong tribal identities. In Asia Minor for instance, there were regions known as Doris, Aeolis and Ionia, because of the tribal affiliation of the settlers there.

Tribes and foundation Myths
This foundation myth would appear to reflect upon the perceived divisions of the Greek world at the time, since each of the legendary founders represents one of the tribes of Archaic and Classical Greece.