IONIAN LEAGUE

The 'Ionian League' (also called the 'Panionic League') was a
confederacy formed as early as 800 BC comprising 12 Ionian cities.
These were listed by Herodotus (I.142) as

★ Miletus, Myus, and Priene, all in Caria (a region in Asia Minor) and speaking the same dialect;

★ Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenae and Phocaea, in Lydia (also in Asia Minor), speaking another dialect;

★ Chios (island) and Erythrae (Asia Minor), with a common dialect; and

★ Samos (island), with its own dialect.
Later, Smyrna joined.
Delegates (''theoroi'') of the League gathered to celebrate the Panionia, a religious festival and games (''panegyris'') dedicated to Poseidon Heliconius, on the north slope of Mt. Mycale, at the sanctuary of Poseidon called the Panionium.

Contents

References

References

★ Aegean Turkey, , George E., Bean, Ernest Benn, , ISBN 0-510-03200-1

★ Herodotus; ''Histories'', A. D. Godley (translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920; ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.