Apoikia

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Apoikia (overseas Attention was focused to the west: first CORCYRA

and then southern Italy and Sicily; the Italian
settlement) south eventually attracted such a number of
ANTONIS KOTSONAS Greek apoikiai that it came to be known as
MAGNA GRAECIA (the same area had attracted
Apoikia literally means a home far from home, Mycenaean traders half a millennium earlier).
and the word is usually translated as “colony.” From about the mid seventh century BCE, the
The apoikia was a city or polis founded western apoikiai started establishing apoikiai
abroad by another polis, called the metropolis of their own. Slightly later, NAUKRATIS was
(mother city), but the former was generally established on the Delta of the Nile in Egypt
independent of the latter. On the basis of later by Greeks of diverse origins (mostly east
sources, the usual process for the foundation Greeks), while the Therans founded CYRENE in
of a colony has been reconstructed as follows: Libya. Cyrene would itself colonize the sur-
an expedition was organized by the metropolis, rounding region, which was fittingly named
often after consultation of the Delphic Oracle, Cyrenaica (see CYRENE AND CYRENAICA). From
and was led by an oikistes (founder), who was around 600 BCE, the Phokaians established
responsible for the distribution of land plots in apoikiai further west, in southern France, and
the apoikia and the transfer of metropolitan one of them, Massalia, founded Emporion in
cults to the new foundation. The founding northern Spain (see MASSILIA (MARSEILLES)). Not-
of Greek apoikiai in the Mediterranean during withstanding these developments, the second
the late eighth to early sixth centuries BCE major area of colonial activity unmistakably
is a phenomenon widely known by the some- was in the region of the HELLESPONT, PROPONTIS,
what misleading modern term “colonization.” and the BLACK SEA. Several Milesian and other
Ancient authors do not limit the use of the apoikiai were established there from the sev-
term apoikia to the period mentioned. They enth century BCE, as far north as the CRIMEA.
frequently apply it, for example, to the com- Closer to home, the northern Aegean coast and
munities that emerged from the early migra- neighboring islands were colonized in the
tions of DORIANS, Ionians, and AIOLIANS to the archaic period (if not considerably earlier).
Aegean islands and the coast of Asia Minor. The motives for the foundation of the
Modern scholarship, however, distinguishes apoikiai were diverse; overpopulation, land
the two processes in both chronological and hunger, and social tension at home, together
definitional terms. Apoikiai were also esta- with trading opportunities, are the most
blished in later times, but were quite different commonly cited ones. Equally varied was the
from their early counterparts (see below). The reception of the Greeks in their new homes. In
apoikia is also to be distinguished from some instances, an apoikia was founded on
the emporion, a trading post which did not virgin soil and/or was welcomed by indigenous
need to be established with official acts and populations; on other occasions, however,
often accommodated a mixed population of the task involved military action and/or the
traders. Nevertheless, the distinction between subjugation of the natives. The foundation of
the two is not always clear-cut. apoikiai persisted after the mid sixth century
The chief colonizing cities were CHALCIS and BCE, albeit in a much reduced scale. For the
ERETRIA in EUBOEA, CORINTH and MEGARA by the ensuing two centuries, the Athenians would
Isthmus of the Peloponnese, and MILETOS and also develop a different type of overseas settle-
PHOKAIA on the coast of Asia Minor. It was ment, the CLERUCHY. In contrast to the apoikia,
probably the Euboean cities that pioneered the cleruchy was not autonomous but served
the process in the second quarter of the eighth as a garrison over potentially hostile Greek
century BCE and the Corinthians soon followed. cities. The late fourth century BCE witnessed a
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 544–546.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah02022
2
new wave of Greek apoikiai, which emerged Grammenos, D. V. and Petropoulos, E. K., eds. (2003)
from the conquests of Alexander the Great in Ancient Greek colonies in the Black Sea.
the east, and also the first Roman coloniae. Thessaloniki.
These foundations, however, are generally Lomas, K., ed. (2004) Greek identity in the
western Mediterranean: papers in honour of Brian
distinguished from their predecessors in that
Shefton. Leiden.
they were not autonomous polities.
Pugliese Carratelli, G., ed. (1996) The western
SEE ALSO: Colonies, Roman and Latin Greeks. Venice.
(republican); Colonization, Greek; Emporion; Rouillard, P. (1991) Les Grecs et la péninsule
Ionian migration; Migration; Oikistes. ibérique du VIIIe au IVe siècle avant Jésus-Christ.
Paris.
Tsetskhladze, G. R., ed. (1998) The Greek
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
colonization of the Black Sea area: historical
Boardman, J. (1999) The Greeks overseas: their interpretation of archaeology. Stuttgart.
early colonies and trade, 4th ed. London. Tsetskhladze, G. R., ed. (2006) Greek colonization:
Graham, A. J. (1983) Colony and mother city in an account of Greek colonies and other settlements
ancient Greece, 2nd ed. Chicago. overseas. Leiden.

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Apoikia (overseas Attention was focused to the west: first CORCYRA

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