Children of Achilles: The Greeks in Asia Minor since the Days of Troy

289 Pages·2010·1.27 MB·English

by  John Freely

John Freely was born in New York and joined the US Navy at the age of
seventeen, serving with a commando unit in Burma and China during the
last years of World War II. He has lived in New York, Boston, London,
Athens and Istanbul and has written over forty travel books and guides,
most of them about Greece and Turkey. He is author of The Grand Turk,
Storm on Horseback, The Cyclades, The Ionian Islands (all I.B.Tauris),
Crete, The Western Shores of Turkey, Strolling Through Athens, Strolling
Through Veniceand the bestselling Strolling Through Istanbul(all Tauris
Parke Paperbacks).
In memory of my beloved brother Jim
Children of Achilles
The Greeks in Asia Minor
since the Days of Troy
John Freely
Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © John Freely 2010
The right of John Freely to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not
be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
ISBN 978 1 84511 941 6
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Typeset in Sabon by Dexter Haven Associates Ltd, London
Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Prologue – The Trojan Plain xi
1 The Achaeans in Anatolia 1
2 The Great Migration 10
3 The Archaic Renaissance 21
4 The Persian Wars 34
5 Between East and West 42
6 Alexander’s Dream 52
7 Alexander’s Successors 66
8 Roman Rule and Revelation 81
9 New Rome 93
10 The Age of Justinian 107
11 Medieval Byzantium 118
12 Seljuk Turks and Crusaders 127
13 The Latin Occupation 138
14 The Sons of Osman 148
15 The Fall of Byzantium 162
16 The Tide of Conquest Turns 173
17 Tourkokrateia and the Rhomaioi 189
18 Megali Idea and Catastrophia 203
19 Exodus and Diaspora 214
20 Ionian Elegy 224
Source Notes 235
Bibliography 247
Index 259
Illustrations
MAPS
1a) Ancient districts of Asia Minor (from George Bean, xvii
Aegean Turkey)
1b) Modern Turkey (from Roderick H. Davison, Turkey, xvii
a Short History)
2) Ancient Greek cities on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor xix
(from J. M. Cook, The Greeks in Ionia and the East)
ILLUSTRATIONS (BETWEEN PAGES 108–109)
1a) The Tomb of Achilles on the Trojan plain
(from Choisseul-Gouffier)
1b) Yenişehir village above the Trojan plain
(from Choisseul-Gouffier)
2a) The walls of Troy VI and the South Gate
(Anthony E. Baker)
2b) Doric colonnade of the temple of Athena at Assos
(Anthony E. Baker)
3a) The theatre at Miletus (Anthony E. Baker)
vii
viii CHILDREN OF ACHILLES
3b) Ionic stoa of Capito Baths at Miletus
(Anthony E. Baker)
4a) Ruins of the Hellenistic Artemesium at Ephesus
(Anthony E. Baker)
4b) Partially reconstructed church of St John the
Theologian at Ephesus (Anthony E. Baker)
5a) Temple of Athena at Priene (Anthony E. Baker)
5b) Temple of Artemis at Sardis (Anthony E. Baker)
6) Temple of Apollo at Side (Anthony E. Baker)
7) Head of Alexander the Great from Pergamum,
Istanbul Archaeological Museum (Anthony E. Baker)
8a) Temple of Apollo at Didyma (Anthony E. Baker)
8b) Temple of Zeus at Euromus (Anthony E. Baker)
9a) Theatre at Perge (Anthony E. Baker)
9b) Outer and inner gates at Perge (Anthony E. Baker)
10a) Baths of Herodes Atticus at Alexandria Troas
(Anthony E. Baker)
10b) Castle of St Peter at Halicarnassus (Bodrum)
(Anthony E. Baker)
11a) The Trajaneum at Pergamon (Anthony E. Baker)
11b) The acropolis at Pergamon (from Thomas Allom)
12a) View from the port at Smyrna (Izmir)
(from Thomas Allom)
List of Illustrations ix
12b) The citadel at Smyrna (Izmir) from the caravan
Bridge (from Thomas Allom)
13) A street in Smyrna (Izmir) (from Thomas Allom)
14a) Church of St Theodore at Pergamon (Bergama)
(from Thomas Allom)
14b) A church in Magnesia-ad-Sipylum (Manisa)
(from Thomas Allom)
15a) ‘Dance of the Maidens’, relief from the Temple of Zeus
on Samothrace, ca. 340 BC, Samothrace Museum
15b) Greek women dancing at a festival in Ottoman Turkey,
late eighteenth century (from M. d’Ohsson, Benaki
Museum, Athens)
16a) Musicians at a Greek festival in Smyrna (Izmir), 1900
(Pan. Kounadhis Archives)
16b) Greek refugees from Asia Minor at an encampment on
Chios, 1922 (Pan. Kounadhis Archives)