Doris (Greece)
Doris (
Greek: :
Eth. ,
pl. , ;
Latin: Dores, Dorienses), is small mountainous district in ancient
Greece, bounded by
Aetolia, southern
Thessaly, the
Ozolian Locrians, and
Phocis; the original homeland of the
Dorian Greeks. It lies between Mounts
Oeta and
Parnassus, and consists of the valley of the river
Pindus (), a tributary of the
Cephissus, into which it flows not far from the sources of the latter. The Pindus is now called the
Apostoliá. (
Strabo ix. p. 427; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 72, 92.) This valley is open towards Phocis; but it lies higher than the valley of the Cephissus, rising above the towns of
Drymaea,
Tithronium, and
Amphicaea, which are the last towns in Phocis.
Doris is described by
Herodotus (viii. 31) as lying between
Malis and Phocis, and being only 30 stadia in breadth, which agrees nearly with the extent of the valley of the Apostoliá in its widest part. In this valley there were four towns forming the
Doric tetrapolis, namely,
Erineus,
Boium,
Cytinium, and
Pindus (Strab. x. p. 427.) Erineus, as the most important, appears to have been also called
Dorium. (Aesch. de Fals. Leg. p. 286.) The Dorians, however, did not confine themselves within these narrow limits, but occupied other places along Mount Oeta. Thus Strabo describes the Dorians of the tetrapolis as the larger part of the nation (ix. p. 417); and the Scholiast on Pindar (Pyth. i. 121) speaks of six Doric towns, Erineus, Cytinium, Boium,
Lilaeum,
Carphaea, and
Dryope. Lilaeum (Lilaea) seems to have been a Doric town in the time of the
Persian invasion, since it is not mentioned among the Phocian towns destroyed by
Xerxes; Carphaea is probably Scarphea near
Thermopylae; and by Dryope is probably meant the country once inhabited by the
Dryopes. The Dorians would appear at one time to have extended across Mount Oeta to the sea coast, both from the preceding account and from the statement of
Scylax, who speaks (p. 24) of . Among the Doric towns
Hecataeus mentioned
Amphanae, called Amphanaea by
Theopompus. (
Steph. B. s. v. .)
Livy (xxvii. 7) places in Doris
Tritonon and
Drymiae, which are evidently the Phocian towns elsewhere called Tithronium and Drymaea. There was an important mountain pass leading across Parnassus from Doris to
Amphissa in the country of the Ozolian Locrians: at the head of this pass stood the Dorian town of Cytinium.
Doris is said to have been originally called Dryopis from its earlier inhabitants the Dryopes, who were expelled from the country by
Heracles and the Malians. (Herod. i. 56, viii. 31, 43.) It derived its name from the Dorians, who migrated from this district to the conquest of
Peloponnesus. Hence the country is called the Metropolis of the Peloponnesian Dorians (Herod. viii. 31); and the
Lacedaemonians, as the chief state of Doric origin, on more than one occasion sent assistance to the metropolis when attacked by the Phocians and their other neighbours. (
Thuc. i. 107, iii. 92.)
The Dorians were supposed to have derived their name from
Dorus, the son of
Hellen. According to one tradition, Dorus settled at once in the country subsequently known as Doris (Strab. viii. p. 383; Conon, c. 27); but other traditions represent them as more widely spread in earlier times. Herodotus relates (i. 56) that in the time of king
Deucalion they inhabited the district
Phthiotis; that in the time of Dorus, the son of Hellen, they inhabited the country called
Histiaeotis at the foot of
Ossa and
Olympus; that, expelled from Histiaeotis by the
Cadmeians, they dwelt on
Mount Pindus, and were called the
Macedonian nation; and that from thence they migrated to
Dryopis; and having passed from Dryopis into the Peloponnesus, were called the Doric race. For this statement Herodotus could have had no other authority than tradition, and there is therefore no reason for accepting it as an historical relation of facts, as many modern scholars have done. In
Apollodorus (i. 7. § 3) Dorus is represented as occupying the country over against Peloponnesus on the opposite side of the
Corinthian gulf, and calling the inhabitants after himself Dorians. By this description is evidently meant the whole country along the northern shore of the Corinthian gulf, comprising Aetolia, Phocis, and the land of the Ozolian Locrians. This statement, according to
Smith, is at least more suitable to the facts attested by historical evidence than the legends given in Herodotus. It is impossible to believe that the inhabitants of such an insignificant district as Doris Proper conquered the greater part of Peloponnesus; and the common tale that the Dorians crossed over from
Naupactus to the conquest is in accordance with the legend of their being the inhabitants of the northern shore of the gulf.
In the historical period the whole of the eastern and southern parts of Peloponnesus were in the possession of Dorians. Beginning with the isthmus of
Corinth, there was first
Megara, whose territory extended north of the isthmus from sea to sea; next came Corinth, and to its west
Sicyon; south of these two cities were
Phlius and
Cleonae: the
Argolic peninsula was divided between
Argos,
Epidaurus,
Troezen, and
Hermione, the last of which, however, was inhabited by Dryopes, and not by Dorians. In the
Saronic gulf,
Aegina was peopled by Dorians. South of the Argive territory was
Laconia, and to its west
Messenia, both ruled by Dorians: the river
Neda, which separated Messenia from
Triphylia, included under
Elis in its widest sense, was the boundary of the Dorian states on the western side of the penisula. The districts just mentioned are represented in the
Homeric poems as the seats of the great
Achaean monarchies, and there is no allusion in these poems to any Doric population in Peloponnesus. In fact the name of the Dorians occurs only once in Homer, and then as one of the many tribes of
Crete. (
Od. xix. 177.) The silence of Homer indicates that the Dorian conquest of Peloponnesus must have taken place subsequent to the time of the poet, and consequently must be assigned to a much later date than the one usually attributed to it.
From the Peloponnesus the Dorians spread over various parts of the
Aegean and its connected seas. Doric colonies were founded in mythical times in the islands of Crete,
Melos,
Thera,
Rhodes, and . About the same time they founded upon the coast of
Caria the towns of
Cnidus and
Halicarnassus: these two towns, together with Cos and the three Rhodian towns of
Lindus,
Ialysus, and
Camirus, formed a confederation usually called the
Doric Hexapolis. The members of this hexapolis were accustomed to celebrate a festival, with games, on the
Triopian promontory near Cnidus, in honour of the Triopian
Apollo; the prizes in those games were brazen tripods, which the victors had to dedicate in the temple of Apollo; and Halicarnassus was struck out of the league, because one of her citizens carried the tripod to his own house instead of leaving it in the temple. The hexapolis thus became a pentapolis. (Herod. i. 144.)
The Doric colonies founded numerous further colonies in historic times. Corinth, the chief commercial city of the Dorians, colonised
Corcyra, and planted several colonies on the western coast of Greece, of which
Ambracia,
Anactorium,
Leucas, and
Apollonia were the most important.
Epidamnus, further north, was also a Doric colony, being founded by the Corcyraeans. In
Sicily we find several powerful Doric cities:
Syracuse, founded by Corinth; the
Hyblaean Megara, by Megara;
Gela, by Rhodians and Cretans;
Zancle, subsequently peopled by Messenians, and hence called Messene;
Agrigentum, founded by Gela; and
Selinus, by the Hyblaean Megara. In southern
Italy there was the great Doric city of
Tarentum, founded by the Lacedaemonians. In the eastern seas there were also several Doric cities:
Potidaea, in the peninsula of
Chalcidice, founded by Corinth; and
Selymbria,
Chalcedon, and
Byzantium, all three founded by Megara.
In the invasion of Xerxes, Doris submitted to the Persians, and consequently its towns were spared. (Herod. viii. 31.) Subsequently, as we have already seen, they were assisted by the Lacedaemonians, when attacked by the more powerful Phocians and neighbouring tribes. (Thuc. i. 107, iii. 92.) Their towns suffered much in the Phocian, Aetolian, and Macedonian wars, so that it was a wonder to Strabo that any trace of them was left in the
Roman times. (Strab. ix. p. 427.) The towns continued to be mentioned by
Pliny (iv. 7. s. 13; comp. Müller
Dorians, book i. c. 2; Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 90, seq.).
