The Aeolians (Greek: Αἰολεῖς) were one of the three major ancient Greek tribes, into which the people of ancient Greece were divided. They spoke their own dialect of ancient Greek called Aeolic, while their name comes from Aeolus, the mythical ancestor of the Aeolic branch and son of Hellen, the mythical patriarch of the Greek nation.
Originating in Thessaly, a part of which was called Aeolis, the Aeolians often appear as the most powerful and numerous amongst the other Hellenic tribes of early times. The Boeotians, a subgroup of the Aeolians, were driven from Thessaly by the Thessalians and moved their location to Boeotia. Aeolian peoples were spread in many other parts of Greece such as Aetolia, Locris, Corinth, Elis and Messenia. During the Dorian invasion, Aeolians from Thessaly fled across the Aegean Sea to the island of Lesbos and the region of Aeolis, called as such after them, in Asia Minor.
See also
Bibliography
- Smith, William (1854). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Little, Brown and Co. pp. 50–51. http://books.google.gr/books?id=_sYPAAAAYAAJ&dq. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
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