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According to the universal Greek tradition, the cities of Ionia were founded by emigrants from the other side of the Aegean and their settlement was connected with the legendary history of the Ionic race in Attica, by the statement that the colonists were led by Neleus and Androclus, sons of Codrus, the last king of Athens. In accordance with this view the "Ionic migration," as it was called by later chronologers, was dated by them one hundred and forty years after the Trojan war, or sixty years after the return of the Heraclidae into the Peloponnese. Without assigning any definite date, we may say that recent research (1910) has tended to support the popular Greek idea that Ionia received its main Greek element rather late — after the descent of the Dorians, and, therefore, after any part of the Aegean period. The only Aegean objects yet found (1910) in or near Ionia are some sherds of the very latest Minoan age at Miletus. It is not probable that all the Greek colonists were of the not numerous Ionian race. HerodotusHerodotus of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) was an ancient Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC? c. 430 BC/ 420 BC?). Overview Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian invasion of Greece in the early fifth century B. known sim tells us that they comprised settlers from many different tribes and cities of Greece (a fact indicated also by the local traditions of the cities), and that they intermarried with the native races. In Asia, Greeks were named with derivations of "Ionian", such as YonaYona Yonaka or Yavana is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greeks. It is a transliteration of the word " Ionian”, who were probably the first Greeks to be known in the East. Menander ( 160 135 BCE). Greek legend, "BASILEOS SOTHROS MENANDROY" in Pali.

The cities called Ionian in historical times were twelve in number, an arrangement copied as it was supposed from the constitution of the Ionian cities in Greece which had originally occupied the territory in the north of the Peloponnese subsequently held by the AchaeaThis article is about the modern Greek district Achaea. See Achaea (province) for the province of the Roman empire. See also Achaeans, a Homeric name for Hellenes. See AchaeaMud for the MUD created by Iron Realms Entertainment. Statistics Capital: Patra,ns. These were (from south to north) Miletus, Myus , Priene, Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus , Teos , Erythrae, Clazomenae and Phocaea, together with Samos and Chios. Smyrna, originally an Aeolic colony, was afterwards occupied by Ionians from Colophon, and became an Ionian city — an event which had taken place before the time of Herodotus. But at what period it was admitted as a member of the league we have no information. The cities above enumerated unquestionably formed a kind of league, of which participation in the Pan-Ionic festival was the distinguishing characteristic. This festival took place on the north slope of Mt. Mycale in a shrine called the Panionium . But like the Amphictyonic league in Greece, the Ionic was rather of a sacred than a political character; every city enjoyed absolute autonomy, and, though common interests often united them for a common political object, they never formed a real confederacy like that of the Achaeans or Boeotians. The advice of Thales of Miletus to combine in a political union was rejected.

Ionia was of small extent, not exceeding 90 geographical miles in length from north to south, with a breadth varying from 20 to 30 miles, but to this must be added the peninsula of Mimas, together with the two large islands. So intricate is the coastline that the voyage along its shores was estimated at nearly four times the direct distance. A great part of this area was, moreover, occupied by mountains. Of these the most lofty and striking were Mimas and Corycus , in the peninsula which stands out to the west, facing the island of Chios; Sipylus , to the north of Smyrna; Corax, extending to the south-west from the Gulf of Smyrna, and descending to the sea between Lebedus and Teos; and the strongly marked range of Mycale, a continuation of Messogis in the interior, which forms the bold headland of Trogilium or Mycale, opposite Samos. None of these mountains attains a height of more than 4000 feet The district comprised three extremely fertile valleys formed by the outflow of three rivers, among the most considerable in Asia Minor: the Hermus in the north, flowing into the Gulf of Smyrna , though at some distance from the city of that name; the Caster, which flowed under the walls of Ephesus; and the Maeander, which in ancient times discharged its waters into the deep gulf that once bathed the walls of Miletus, but which has been gradually filled up by this river's deposits. With the advantage of a peculiarly fine climate, for which this part of Asia Minor has been famous in all ages, Ionia enjoyed the reputation in ancient times of being the most fertile of all the rich provinces of Asia Minor; and even in modern times, though very imperfectly cultivated, it produces abundance of fruit of all kinds, and the raisins and figs of Smyrna supply almost all the markets of Europe.

The colonies naturally became prosperous. Miletus especially was at an early period one of the most important commercial cities of Greece; and in its turn became the parent of numerous other colonies, which extended all around the shores of the Euxine Sea and the Propontis from Abydus and Cyzicus to Trapezus and Panticapaeum. Phocaea was one of the first Greek cities whose mariners explored the shores of the western Mediterranean. Ephesus, though it did not send out any colonies of importance, from an early period became a flourishing city and attained to a position corresponding in some measure to that of Smyrna at the present day.