Transcript Pitikoussai is a relatively barren island off the coast of Italy near

Beginning in the second half of the eighth century, Greeks began to
migrate from their Balkan homeland and establish new settlements
all around the Mediterranean Basin. This Greek diaspora
transformed Greek culture. But the Greek diasporic movement was
not part of a single process. The diaspora developed over centuries.
As best we can calculate the rate of new foundations it looks like:
1. 10thc: 5
2.9thc: 6
3.8thc: 12
4.7thc: 57
5. 6thc: 52
Interactive Map
The colonies founded during the 8thc appear to be connected to the
metals trade. Chief among the Greeks involved were Eretria and
Chalkis on Evvoia. Earliest colonies were at Pithikoussai & Kymai.
Pitikoussai is a relatively barren island off the coast of Italy near
Naples. The archaeological evidence indicates that it was occupied
by Greeks from a number of communities & other Eastern traders.
The settlement may have been as large as 10,000 people.
Evidence from
the site
indicate that
large parts of it
were dedicated
to the
production of
metals: bronze
and iron. The
stone circles in
the photo are
the bases of
iron-smelting
furnaces. The
source of the
metals was
area around
Veii in Italy.
Another type of Greek
settlement abroad was
the entrepots, or trading
post. Al-Mina in Syria
was such a place.
Another was Naukratis
in Egypt. King Amasis of
Egypt gave Greeks from
Chios, Teos and 5 other
places permission to
build a neighborhood in
Naukratis for the
purpose of trade. Men
moving here did not
sever connections with
their home community.
Temporary residence
abroad.
Korinth is a good example of an earlier
diaspora group. Korinthians moved out
first to unoccupied areas of western
Greece, like Kerkira and Lefkas, and then
others crossed over to southern Italy and
Sicily.
Over a period of 150
years, men and women
from Korinth
established 15 new
communities located all
around the
Mediterranean basin.
Once these people
migrated they became
attached to their new
community and lost
their membership in
their old one.
Tying the colony to its
“mother-community” were
bonds of kinship between
families and common
religious cults. At
Korinth’s colonies, the
worship of Apollo was key.
1. Land Hunger: as the population boom of the 8thc continued,
there developed a relative shortage of land. The developing elite
group consumed more and more of the available good land.
The Greek practice of inheritance by equal division of property
also accelerated the land shortage. The relatively scarce good
arable land available in most areas of Greece meant that
internal colonization was not really viable– accept at Athens, as
you will see. The solution: send people abroad to live. Not
surprisingly, then, the first thing that happened at the new
settlement was the equal division of land among the settlers.
REMEMBER::: possession of land was required to be a citizen
of the community. If a family lost its land, it lost its citizenship.
2. A Safety Valve: in many communities, like Korinth, there
were social tensions both between the aristocracy and the
masses, and between members of the elite, especially
between young aristocrats eager for power. The solution:
hive off the most troublesome of the young aristocrats. At
Korinth, for example, almost every settlement expedition
was headed by a younger member of the Bakkhiad clan (the
clan that emerged as the dominant power among the
Korinthian aristocracy).
3. Trauma Colonies: some colonies were set up after a natural
disaster, like a drought, in order to save the home
community. The Theran settlement of Cyrene in Libya was
this type of colony. See, Document 3.1 (page 92), in your
text.
4. Copy-catting: there developed a competition between
communities over colonization.
1. At home, colonization helped to defuse, at least monetarily, the
rising social tensions between the elite and the remainder of
the community.
2. The spread of Greek agricultural communities into a number
of widely diverse environments facilitated the exchange of
foodstuffs that lower the risk of famine and disaster.
Population could continue to grow. Greek trade and commerce
flourished.
3. Colonization accelerated the development of distinctive Greek
identity by juxtaposing Greeks from various regions with nonGreeks. Ties of language, culture & religion became manifest.
4. Colonization transformed slavery. Non-Greeks came to
supplant Greeks as slaves.
5. Greek culture became a Mediterranean culture.
Greek
colonization
persisted during
the fifth century.
The Athenian
Empire in
particular was
active founding
colonies along the
northern Aegean
and Black Sea.
The older colonies
in the west sent
out their own
colonists and
Greek settlement
spread N and W.
Under the dynamic
leadership of first
Phillip II and then his
son Alexander the
Great, Greek
settlements began to be
founded in the interior
of the Balkans,
especially in what are
now the states of
Bulgaria, Albania,
FYROM, Serbia and
Rumania.