Dianatomia
Regular Member
- Messages
- 403
- Reaction score
- 131
- Points
- 43
- Ethnic group
- Greek
Yeah, but Phocaea itself was founded by Phocian Greeks from central Greece, under the leadership of Athenians. Identity wise they can prove to be a mess, bearing in mind that the original Phocians were Dorians, but Phocaea of Asia Minor was Ionic-speaking. And above all that, Phocaea was essentially within the Aeolic region (of Asia Minor), or at the very least on the borders of it. As for the rest, we all agree, we are desperate for Classical Greek samples from a number of regions, and some more Mycenaeans shouldn't be out of the equation.
It seems possible that Ionian Greeks may have been more EEF than mainland Greeks in the first place. I am not saying this purely on speculation. In the Mycenaean study there is evidence that Western Bronze Age Anatolians were shifted somewhat towards the Near East compared to Mycenaeans. Even compared to Minoans. So if Dorians of Phocaea settled there, they could only have shifted Western Anatolians towards the Mycenaeans if the Dorians themselves were more Steppe. Provided there was intermixture ofcourse. But given the fact that the Phocaeans spoke Ionian and not Doric, there most certainly was.
My guess is that Doric tribes carried more Steppe admixture, representing the proto-Greeks prior to the fact that they intermixed with the local pre-Greeks. The Mycenaeans already intermixed with the pre-Greeks and are therefore not a good representation of the proto-Greek language barriers. Just like the people of Phocaea (Asia Minor) are not good representatives of the Dorians.