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 The
Ionians who assembled
at the panionion founded
their cities under the
most beautiful sky and
in the finest climate
in the known world Herodotus
of Halicarnassus
Ionia;
the cradle of empirical
science
Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı
"The Fisherman of
Halicarnassus". 20th
century
I
O N I A
According
to the "Parian Marble",
an inscription on the
island of Paros giving
the dates of events from
the earliest mythological
times up to 264 B.C.,
the Ionian migration took
place in 1077 B.C., 301
years before the first
Olympic games, while consideration
of historical events and
written documents allow
this migration of the
Ionians to Anatolia to
be dated to 1200-1050
B.C. Prior to the Aegean
migrations, Western Anatolia
had been inhabited by
indigenous peoples known
as the Lelegians, Pelasgians
and Carians. A number
of settlements had been
founded on the coast from
Troy to Halicarnassus.
It would appear that the
Troiad was peopled by
the Aeolıans and the Halicarnassus
region by the Dorians,
with the Ionians in the
central regions. According
to ancient Greek sources,
the Ionians were led by
Androclus, the son of
Codrus, king of Athens,
who is also regarded as
the founder of the city
of Ephesus. According
to traditional sources,
the Athenians, who formed
the main body of the migrants,
met with fierce resistance
from the local inhabitants
and were able to settle
in Anatolia only after
a series of very bloody
wars.
The
Ionian cities comprised
Priene, Miletus, Teos,
Chios, Clazomenae, Myus,
Samos, Phocaea, Lebedus,
Ephesus, Colophon and
Erythrae. According to
Herodotus, they all spoke
the same language but
employed four different
dialects. The most southerly
of the Ionian towns was
Miletus, next came Myus
and Priene, all three
in Caria and all three
speaking the same dialect.
Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus,
Teos, Clazomenae and Phocaea
were in Lydia and shared
a common dialect quite
different from that spoken
at the above-mentioned
places. Chios and Erythrae
spoke the same language,
and Samos a peculiar one
of its own." The
Ionian cities were ruled
first of all by kings
and later by oligarchies,
but, in the course of
time, some of the cities
succeeded in winning popular
political rights. During
this period the goddess
Artemis become the must
important goddess of western
Anatolia, whereas Athena
played a parallel role
in contemporary Greece.
At that time, the economy
was based on agriculture
and animal-raising. In
his verses Homer mentions
vineyards, orchards, vegetable
gardens and olive groves,
and it would appear that
olive oil was used both
for cooking and illumination.
We learn that Colophon
was famed for horse breeding.
The first city states
(poloi) known to history
were founded in Ionia,
and by the time Homer
wrote his epics they had
come to dominate the whole
of Ionia. The lacelike
coastline of Western Anatolia
with its series of bays
and coves offered ideal
harbours for maritime
traffic.
The
Phocaeans were pre-eminent
in maritime trade, their
fifty-oar vessels keeping
them in commercial contact
with Egypt, while at the
same `time they founded
colonies on the Black
Sea and the Sea of Marmara.
They later spread as far
as the coasts of Italy,
Spain and southern France,
carrying Ionian culture
with them wherever they
went. Ports with sheltered
harbours soon developed
into important centres
of trade and commerce.
At the beginning of the
8th century B.C. commercial
contacts with the Phoenicians
led to familiarity with
the Phoenician script.
The Ionian alphabet was
the most important of
the eastern branches of
the old Greek alphabet
and the form employed
in the city of Miletus
was adopted as the official
alphabet in Athens in
403 B.C. In the middle
of the 4th century B.C.
this became the twenty-four
letter Greek alphabet
of the classical period.
At the same time, remarkable
progress was made in oral
literature. These epics,
handed 0n by word of mouth
from one generation to
the next, finally gave
rise, in the middle of
the 8th century, to works
such as the Iliad and
the Odyssey, in which
Homer, a native of Smyrna,
employed a mixture of
the Ionian and Aeolian
dialects. Ionia also developed
as one of the most influential
centres of oracular prophecy
in the Greek world with
the fame of the temples
of Claros and Didyma spreading
throughout the whole of
the Mediterranean region.
The greatest contribution
made by the Lydians, who
dominated the region in
the 7th and 6th centuries,
was the introduction of
coinage as a means of
exchange.
Coinage
of electrum (an alloy
of 60% gold and 40% silver)
made its way through the
Ionian and Aegean regions,
reaching as far as Greece
itself.
It
was in Ionia that rule
by tyrants first emerged.
The word "tyrant"
is derived from the Lydian
language, where it means
"lord". From
this time on, Ionia was
the most important centre
of the various branches
of philosophy, literature
and art, while at the
same time cultural activities
ceased to be the monopoly
of the aristocracy and
began to spread amongst
the common people.
The
music of Lydia and Phrygia
played an important role
in the development of
the lyrical poetry of
the 7th century B.C.,
and lyric poems began
to be sung throughout
the Greek world to the
accompaniment of the lyre
and the flute. In the
6th century, philosophy
began to be cultivated
in intellectual circles
and scientific laws began
to be formulated for the
explanation of natural
phenomena, thus laying
the foundation of modern
science.
The
Ionic order appeared in
the field of architecture
and the Ionic style soon
spread far beyond the
borders of Ionia to the
shores of Greece and the
southern Mediterranean
and even Persia, the influence
of Ionian architecture
being clearly visible
in the Persian palaces.
Temples in the Ionic style
are characterised by tall,
slender columns, with
fluted shafts.
The
most magnificent example
of this style of architecture
was to be found in the
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
The defeat of the Lydian
monarchy by the Persians
led to a radical shift
in the balance of political
power in Western Anatolia
and in 545 B.C. all the
coastal cities came under
Persian hegemony.
I
0 N I A N T H I N K E
R S
In
the 6th century B.C. Ionia
produced a number of thinkers
who devoted themselves
to the study of the universe
and the discovery of the
laws of nature. In this
way they broke the chains
of religion and bigotry
which had existed up to
that time and showed that
natural phenomena were
governed, not by mysterious
forces but by natural
laws. Thus it was in Ionia
that the first signs appeared
of an age of enlightenment
in Anatolia. These thinkers
have come to be known
as the "Ionian natural
philosophers ".
HERACLEITUS
(540-480 B.C.)
Heracleitus was
born and brought up in
Ephesus. He concentrated
on the problem of existence.
He believed that fire
was the essence of the
universe, and also believed
in the transitory nature
of all things, the apparent
permanence and stability
of things within this
actual transitoriness
being mere illusion. The
appearance of permanency
arises from the fact that
change is governed not
by chance but by certain
laws and takes place in
accordance with a certain
order. Heracleitus named
this order "LOGOS".
The universe is governed
by law and it is the task
of reason to discover
this law.
ANAXAGORAS
A native of Clazomenae
(Güladası), Anaxagoras
was one of the most important
of the 5th century thinkers.
In 462 he went to Athens,
where he spent the next
thirty years of his life.
He won fame as a mathematician,
while at the same time
making some very important
discoveries in astronomy.
He explained the problem
of the light from the
moon and of the eclipse
of the sun and moon.
According
to Anaxagoras there were
many elements distinguished
by different qualities
produced not by the entry
into the compound of new
elements but by the separation
of elements in the compounds.
He
introduced the idea of
the atom and its possible
separation. He was sentenced
to death in Athens for
denying the divinity of
the sun and moon and declaring
that they consisted of
masses of material.
XENOPHANES
(5ü9-477 B.C.)
A contemporary
of Heracleitus, Xenophanes
was a native of the city
of Colophon. He might
be regarded as a religious
teacher rather than a
philosopher.
He
opposed the anthromorphic
approach to the gods.
He believed in a single
god of a wholly intellectual
nature, a philosophical
approach that constituted
the first step on the
road towards monotheism.
DEMOCRITUS
(460-390 B.C.)
Democritus was
a native of Teos. Only
a few fragments of his
works have survived. He
declared that a single
scientific discovery was
worth more than being
King of Persia. According
to Democritus, nothing
disappears or changes
its form, it always remains
the same. But besides
being, there is also non-being,
i.e. empty space. According
to Democritus, matter
is composed of indivisible,
invisible particles distinguished
in form, position in space,
size and weight. These
particles Democritus called
"atoms".
Democritus
thus laid the foundations
of a mechanist approach
to natural philosophy,
but in ancient times his
views were to remain undeveloped.
His approach to natural
philosophy was taken up
again only at the beginning
of the modern age. He
was the first to discover
the law of cause and effect.
THALES
(625-545 B.C.)
Thales is recognized
as the founder of Western
philosophy. He believed
that water formed the
essence of matter, and
is renowned for having
forecast the eclipse of
the sun that took place
on the 28 May 585 B.C.
He died at the age of
seventy-eight during the
58th Olympic Games. None
of his writings have survived.
He advised sailors to
take their bearings from
the LITTLE DIPPER rather
than the BIG DIPPER formed
by the northern stars.
He is said to have used
geometry to calculate
the height of the Egyptian
pyramids and the distance
of a ship from the shore.
He is universally agreed
to have foreseen the eclipse
of the sun which brought
the battle between the
Lydian King Alyattes and
Cyaxares, King of the
Medes, to an end. He was
the discoverer of a number
of geometrical theorems.
- The
diameter divides the
circumference into two
equal sections,
- The
two angles at the base
of an isosceles triangle
are equal,
- The
opposite angles at the
point of intersection
of two straight lines
are equal.
- Two
straight lines from
a point on the circumference
of a circle to the ends
of the diameter form
a right angle.
Thales'
material approach to the
universe constituted a
break with traditional
mythological explanations.
Both sides in the battle
mentioned above broke
off hostilities in the
belief that this was a
sign from the gods. Thales
had calculated the time
of the eclipse beforehand
and informed the Lydians
accordingly. Sayings:
- Do
not enrich yourself
by shameful means.
- Expect
as much help in your
old age as you yourself
have given to your parents
in your youth
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