- Key People:
- Cleisthenes Of Sicyon
- Related Topics:
- Hellene
Dorian
-
Who are the Dorian people?
The Dorians were a significant division of ancient Greek people, known for their distinct dialect and social structure based on the tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes. They are traditionally known as the conquerors of the Peloponnese around 1100–1000 BCE.
According to Greek tradition, the Dorians originated in Doris, a small district in central Greece, and successfully invaded the Peloponnese under the leadership of the Heraclidae, sons of Heracles. However, it is more likely that they originated in northern and northwestern Greece (Macedonia and Epirus). From there, they migrated southward into central Greece and the southern Aegean area, initiating a dark age by displacing the Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations.
Dorian settlements were mainly in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, establishing centers like Sparta and Corinth, and islands such as Crete and Rhodes. Their influence extended to Anatolia and as far as North Africa and the Black Sea through colonization. The Doric order of architecture and choral lyrics in Greek tragedy reflect their contribution to Greek culture.
3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where did the Dorians originally come from?
The Dorians were a significant group of ancient Greeks, known for their distinct dialect and social structure. Tradition holds that the Dorians originated in Doris, a small district in central Greece. However, it is more likely that they came from northern and northwestern Greece, specifically Macedonia and Epirus. Around 1100 BCE, they migrated southward into central Greece and the southern Aegean area, marking the end of the Bronze Age. They settled in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, establishing strongholds in regions like Laconia (Sparta), Messenia, and Argolis, as well as islands such as Crete, Rhodes, and Cos.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How were the Dorians different from other ancient Greek groups?
The Dorians, a significant group of ancient Greeks, were set apart by their distinct dialect and unique social structure. Unlike the Ionians, Dorians were divided into the tribes of Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes.
Originating from northern and northwestern Greece, the Dorians migrated southward around 1100 BCE, marking the end of the Bronze Age. Their migration led to settlement in the Peloponnese, establishing strongholds in regions like Sparta and Corinth, and also extended to islands such as Crete and Rhodes.
The Dorians had a relatively low cultural level, but their introduction of the iron slashing sword was a major technological innovation. In contrast to mercantile city-states where Dorians eventually integrated with local populations, in Sparta and Crete, they established a military ruling class, preserving an archaic society to maintain dominance.
5 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What impact did the Dorians have on ancient Greek culture?
The Dorians, originating from northern and northwestern Greece, migrated southward around 1100 BCE, marking the end of the Bronze Age. Their invasion swept away the declining Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations, plunging the region into a dark age before the emergence of Greek city-states.
Despite their relatively low cultural level and technological innovation limited to the iron slashing sword, the Dorians significantly influenced Greek art. The combination of the Doric people's art, characterized by restraint, power, and monumentality, with the grace, elegance, and ornateness of the Ionian peoples, led to the crowning achievements of Greek art and architecture from the 5th century BCE. The Doric order of architecture, with its massive and simple style, originated in the Dorian-populated cities of the southern Aegean, and the choral lyrics in Greek tragedy were also a Dorian invention.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What was the Dorian invasion, and why is it important?
The Dorian invasion refers to the traditional conquest of the Peloponnese by the Dorian people around 1100–1000 BCE. According to Greek tradition, the Dorians originated in Doris, a small district in central Greece. They were thought to have successfully invaded the Peloponnese, led by the Heraclidae brothers, to reclaim their heritage.
The invasion is important because the Dorians swept away the declining Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations, leading to a dark age from which Greek city-states later emerged. They settled in the southern and eastern Peloponnese and other areas, establishing significant centers like Sparta and Corinth. The Dorian dialect influenced Classical Greek, and their art combined with Ionian styles to shape Greek art and architecture.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How did Dorian society contribute to the development of Sparta?
The Dorians, originating from northern and northwestern Greece, migrated southward around 1100 BCE, settling in the Peloponnese, including Laconia, where Sparta is located. Unlike other Dorian settlements that integrated with indigenous populations, the Dorians in Sparta maintained power as a ruling military class.
To maintain dominance over a larger serf population, the Dorians in Sparta deliberately froze their society in an archaic form, sacrificing cultural and artistic advancements. Sparta, the greatest of the Dorian states, strategically used its anti-Dorian sentiment to gain allies, claiming to be the successors of Achaean kings. This led to the formation of the Peloponnesian League, ensuring military support for Sparta.
4 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Dorian, any member of a major division of the ancient Greek people, distinguished by a well-marked dialect and by their subdivision, within all their communities, into the “tribes” (phylai) of Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes. These three tribes were apparently quite separate in origin from the four tribes found among the Ionian Greeks. The Dorian people are traditionally acknowledged as the conquerors of the Peloponnese (in the period 1100–1000 bce).
In Greek tradition, the Dorians were thought to have gained their name from Doris, a small district in central Greece. According to this tradition, the sons of Heracles, the Heraclidae, were driven from their homeland in the Peloponnese by Eurystheus of Mycenae. The Heraclidae took refuge with Aegimius, the king of Doris. Several generations later, the Heraclid brothers Temenus, Aristodemus, and Cresphontes led the “Dorians” back in a successful invasion of the Peloponnese and thus recovered their heritage.
In actual fact, the origins of the Dorians are necessarily obscure, but it appears they originated in northern and northwestern Greece—i.e., Macedonia and Epirus. From there they apparently swept southward into central Greece and then into the southern Aegean area in successive migrations beginning about 1100 bce, at the end of the Bronze Age. The invading Dorians had a relatively low cultural level, and their only major technological innovation was the iron slashing sword. The Dorians swept away the last of the declining Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations of southern Greece and plunged the region into a dark age out of which the Greek city-states began to emerge almost three centuries later.
" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">
The migrating Dorians settled chiefly in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, establishing strong centres in Laconia (and its capital, Sparta), Messenia, Argolís, and the region of the Isthmus of Corinth. They also settled the southern Aegean islands of Melos, Thera, Rhodes, and Cos, along with the island of Crete. In fact, the Dorians reached as far east as the cities of Halicarnassus and Cnidus on the coast of mainland Anatolia (now southwestern Turkey). A great wave of renewed colonization beginning in the 8th century bce brought Dorian settlers to the island of Corcyra (modern Corfu), to Syracuse, Gela, and Acragas (now Agrigento) in Sicily, to Taras (now Taranto) in Italy, and to Cyrene in North Africa, as well as to scattered sites on the Crimean Peninsula and along the Black Sea. Sparta, Corinth, and Árgos were among the most important cities of Doric origin.
Doric was one of the major dialects of the Classical Greek language, along with the Ionic-Attic, Aeolic, and Arcado-Cypriot dialect groups. But because the Ionic-Attic dialect of Athens dominated Greek culture from the 5th century bce, very little remains of ancient writings in pure Doric dialect.
The Dorian peoples had a seminal influence on the later development of Greek art. Indeed, the crowning achievements of Greek art and architecture from the 5th century bce arose from the combination of the art of the Doric peoples (with its restraint, power, and monumentality) and that of the Ionian peoples (with its grace, elegance, and ornateness). The massive and simple Doric order of architecture earned its name from its origin in the Doric-populated cities of the southern Aegean. The choral lyrics in Greek tragedy were also a Doric invention.
Politically, the Dorian centres took two different courses of development. In Corinth, Rhodes, Árgos, and various other mercantile-oriented city-states, the Dorian invaders, though at first reserving political power unto themselves, eventually merged with the conquered indigenous peoples of their regions. In Sparta and the island of Crete, by contrast, the Dorians kept power to themselves and constituted themselves into a ruling military class. These militarized Dorian aristocracies deliberately “froze” an archaic form of society (and sacrificed most of their cultural and artistic promise in the process) in order to maintain dominance over a larger population of serfs.
The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.
SUBSCRIBE
