(Modified
excerpt from my Master Thesis on Alexander the Great and Chios (2002) submitted
at Queens College-CUNY for the fulfillment of a Master of Arts in History)
Plenty of myths referred to the foundation
of Chios saved by the ancient Greek authors.
One of them referred to the mythic King Oinopion[1] whose cult was
popular on the island, as heroic cults were very popular on Chios, such as the
local cult of Drimakos.[2] For us here, the myth of Oinopion is is interesting as Alexander was later
associated to Oinopion, as we will see in chapter 3B. It was already said that from an inscription
of the fifth century BC there was a cult of Oenopion with his grave and
religious center (Oinopioneion). That
cult continued to the middle of the 2nd century AD in the times of Pausanias
visit. What was interesting was that it
was proved by the existence of the Oinopidae genealogy: 1) phratria or phyle of
Οἰvoπίδαι (late fifth century BC), 2) the use of his name as "στεφαvηφόρoς"
of Chios.[3] Oinopion was rather a historical person as
Sarikakis agrees with, since Plutarch gives as the above evidence. It seemed that the Oinopidae's genealogical
tree continued until the Hellenistic times and continued after Alexander's
reforms of 325 BC.[4]
.Pausanias (VII, 4, 8-9) wrote about the
myths of Chios, which present the personified Chios[5] with a male
name, “Χίoς”, as Poseidon's and a nymph's son.
Poseidon went to Chios when she was still uninhabited (VII,4, 8-9). However, the myth of Chione, the daughter of
Oinopion was more accepted. It was said
that Chios named after her.
Moving from myth to history, from the
pre-Hellenic to the later historical settlers, the most ancient Chian author,
Ion the Tragic[8]
(c.490-422 BC), wrote in his Χίoυ Κτίσις about the stages of colonization of
the island by pre-Hellenic people, such as Carians, also called Leleges, and
Avantes from Euboia.[9] Before them, there were Pelasgians, who lived
in Ionia and spread throughout Greece, including Chios.[10] Archaeological research has proved the
presence of pre-Hellenic colonizers, such as in Emporio, Chios Town and all
over the island.[11] Aeolians who lived in Lesbos and along in
some areas of the Asia Minor, colonized Chios, probably for reasons of
proximity, in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC.[12] Strabo,[13] quoting from
the Athenian speech-writer (logographos) Pherekydes, mentioned the presence Carians, who lived in
Miletus and Ephesus, on Chios.
Herodotus referred to Avades in Ionia, who were not Greeks, but fought
the Trojans on the Achaeans’side (I, 146).
Very important was the role of Homer in the
genealogy and tribal organization of Chios, though it was perplexed with myth
and uncertainty. There was long and
strong tradition that Homer founded a school in an area called
Δασκαλόπετρα (in modern Greek) near
Vrontados, some miles away from the Chios Town.[14] As the tradition went, the generations of
Homer's disciples were genos and were called {Ομηρίδαι (Homeridai). They were supposed to be those who
transmitted Homer's poems[15]. Kynaethos the Homerides, was one of them whom
the Homeric Hymn to Apollo was contributed.[16] Homerides, son of Thestor was a member of the
Hoemeridai and a Chian, while he dates Homeridai to Pindar's times (Archaic
Age).[17]
Amphiklos, though there were many myth
about him, was rather a real person who lived in the ninth century. Four generations after him was Hector, not to
be confused with the Trojan hero, who took over at the eighth century,
according to Nicholas Yalouris
calculations.[18] Sarikakis concluded that as Hector lived at
that time and that one century later the Panionion was created, then Chios was
of the last cities of the Dodekapolis (twelve cities union) which got later
into the Ionian Union.[19] That might be explained from the fact that it
took long time until the Ionian kings imposed their rule gradually to
Chios. Strabo testified that Chios was
also colonized by the Ionians, especially the Kodrides and Nelides, and also by
Athenians. By this token, we may assume
that Egertios was an Athenian. Makaras
or Makareus, mentioned as Makar by Diodoros Siculus and Egertios were also
settlers of Chios which founded their own tribes and family trees on the island
(V, 81, 7).
We may assume that may have to do with the
Chian's rebellious spirit which too often arose slave rebellions and other
social and political insurrections. Such
happened in the times of the Ionian Revolution when under the rule of Pericles
(mid-fifth century BC), Chians first reacted to the Athenian Empire and its
financial control, which reduced the Chian coin from gold to silver (Ibid.,
pp.93-101). There is no evidence for any
act of colonization in the fourth century, in times of Philip II or before the
arrival of the Macedonian Guard, which was not recorded as an act of
colonization yet. After the foundation
of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, there should be some waves of
immigration to Chios, but rather there were Chians who went to the East and
Chios became a station of intense trade relations with the Eastern
Mediterranean and Egypt.[20] In the 86 BC, Mithridate VI Eupator who
accused Chians for being pro-Roman. He
sold for slaves a large number of Chians, [21] brought
settlers from Pontus, and named Chios Town after his wife Berenike.[22]
In the times of the dispute of Ionia
between Lysimachos and Demetrios the Conqueror, islands, such as Chios rebelled
and on an inscription probably coming from Erythrai, there was the name of the
Chian tyrannicide Philitos.[23] Beyond the question who was the first or the
major colonizer, J.M. Cook used the case of Lebedos, a small Ionian city on the
Asia Minor penninsula to support that such cities on Penninsula may be suitable
for colonization, because of the land projection. We may take under consideration that Chios
was located right across the penninsula of Erythrai, a large land mass
projecting to Chios with only a few miles of distance. Cook continued that archaeological evidence
from Lebedos revealed traces of the Ionians only.[24] Thus, the Ionian settlers/colonizers coming
directly from Asia Minor, were the most crucial and probably the first
than the Athenians, which were of Ionian
origin, too,[25]
and I would assume that most of the Ionian settlers arrived to Chios in the
times of the Athenian Empire. Probably,
that may explain the multiplication of classical settlements on the
island. That gives right to Sarikakis rejection of the theory that the
Chios was colonized only by an Athenian wave of immigration.[26] However, the Athenian presence and influence
was very crucial and deep, as those Ionians from Eryrhrai and Miletus were
probably of Athenian origin, as it was evident from the names of their
generations, Βασιλείδαι and Νηλείδαι.[27] Two thriving aristocratic and oligarchic
large groups of families, which owned and ruled many of the farms and settlements
lived in Alexander's times, the Klytidai and the Totteidai, which will be later
discussed in the chapter 3. However, we
should say in a few words that the Klytidai, mentioned by Zolotas[28] and Sarikakis[29] as a phratry
(tribal unit) or rather a phyle (tribe),
had a common ancestor Melampous. In
chapter 3, we will see that the Klytidai was probably a phyle, as
Sarikakis tended to believe. Klytomedes
was their leader in the first half of the fourth century, whose name I would
say, sounds rather Athenian. They lived
in the area Kardamyla, Northeastern Chios, but had sanctuaries of Zeus and
Dionysus all over North Chios, but also in Kallimasia, South Chios.[30] There name came from Κλυτός, for to obey, and to listen to and κλυτός for famous and the one that everybody
listens to. [31] The Totteidai, a phratry, originated from
Τoττς , their common ancestor who
probably belonged to the Klytidai and with Alexander they became a tribe, the
Totteidai the Second.
References
Cook,
J.M. The Greeks in Ionia and the East, New York: Frederick A. Praeger,,
1962.
Sarikakis, T.H., {Η Χίoς στή zΑρχαιότητα, Αθήvαι: zΕριφύλη,
1998.
Yalouris,
E. Topography of Chios, CHIOS, 1986, pp.141-168.
Yalouris,
N. Apollo Phanaios and the Cult of Phanes, CHIOS, 1986, pp.39-41.
Zervoudis, Η Αρχαία Πόλις Χίoς,
Αθήvα: Υπoυργείo Αιγαίoυ - Ομήρειo Κέvτρo Δήμoυ Χίoυ, 1994.
Zolotas, G. Ιστορία
της Χίου, τόμος Α1΄΄Αθήvαι:
Π.Δ. Σακελλαρίoυ,
1921.
Zolotas, G. Iστoρία της Χίoυ, vol. B’ ΄Αθήναι:
Π.Δ. Σακελλαρίoυ,
1921.
[1]According to
Diodorus Siculus, Rhadamanthys put Oinopion as the ruler of Chios, Minos sent
his brother to Chios to keep him away from Crete (V, 84, 3). Pausanias (VII, 5, 6) referred to Oinopions grave and the
historicity of this life and his contributions.
Sarikakis believed that there was no doubt that Oenopions grave exists
as a Chian inscription of the fifth century BC about [Οἰv]oπιώvειov
(probably a cult place, too) also proved it.
Theompopus, the great Chian historian of the second half of the fourth
century, a philo-Macedonian, gave information about Alexander, but also about
his island Chios. He refers to Oinopion. He said that Oinopion "συvíκoισε τήv vήσov"
and he taught Chians the art of veticulture and the production of "μέλαvoς
οἴνου " (Θ, 77).
[2]Athenaeus (VI,
88-90, pp. 265d-266e=Jacoby, FGrHist, cited by Sarikakis, note 23., p.296.)
referred to Drimakos, as a local hero, who although a mortal, was deified and
to his cult taking information from Nymphodoros, Drimakos' contemporary. As Sarikakis mentioned (p.298), Nymphodoros' age is not certain, but
some place it in the third century BC.
[4]See Sarikakis,
1998, p.24. Oenopion was usually presented
as the son of Dionysos, but Ion the Chian, a pro-Athenian, called him son of
Theseus. Plutarch in his Life of
Theseus referred to Oinopion as "Θησείδης ἐκτισεv
Οἰvoπίωv" (Plutarch, Theseus, 20. Kritias the Athenian referred to the city of
Chios as Oinopion's city, as Athenaeus (I, 50) informed us. In a inscription from Pergamos the Chios
called "Οἰvoπίωv[oς] [ίδ]oς", while in a Chian inscription the Chians
were called “Οἰvoπίωv[oς] γεvεή” (γεvεή:
Ionian dialect) cf. Sarikakis, 1998, p.24.
[6]Athenaeus (III,
66) added that Makar with those rescued from the flood founded the πoλίχvη Καρίδαι, a settlement on which many scholars
argue, especially about its name and origin.
Those events seemed to have taken place in the Late Mycenaean times, as
according to Elaeates (fourth century BC), Gorgias, Alkidamas' disciple,
Odysseus came to Chios to convince Oenopion to send the Chians to the Trojan
War. Athenaeus drew information from Ephoros,
FGrHist, no.70, Fr.11. cf. Sarikakis, p.22.
[7]Diodorus (V, 81,
7) informed us that Makareus became ruler of Lesbos and the neighboring islands
seven generations after the flood of Deukaleon, without referring to his
name. In Chios, he founded first a
settlement and he sent his sons there to colonize. As for his other children, he sent them out
to colonize Samos, Kos, and Rhodes.
[10]Pelasgians are
still considered pre-Hellenic, though Dionysius of Halicarnassus said ³v γρ δ¬ κα τäv Πελασγäv ¦κ Πελoπovvήσoυ τÎ •ρχαίov. Herodotus (VII, 95) said that some Aeolians,
a Greek nation was also called later Pelasgians, which was separated from the
Greeks (VII, 157), though we know that Aeolians still existed in Lesbos and
other areas of the Aegean and Asia Minor.
