1 Introduction

Most of the tribes mentioned in Greek legends were descendants of Ogygus or Inachus.

The Perrhaebians and Aenianians (Malians, Centaurs), who lived in Thessaly, are also presumed to be descendants of Ogygus.

Exceptions were the Telchines and Delphians.

The Leleges (or Lelegians) appear in legends throughout the Greek world, but they were not the same tribe.

The Gephyraeans and Hyantes (Curetes), who were not Greeks, were also deeply involved in Greek history.

2 About the Perrhaebians

The Perrhaebians were part of the Amphictyons, convened by Amphictyon, son of Deucalion. [1]

All members of the Amphictyons, with the exception of the Delphians, were descendants of Deucalion, father of Hellen.

In other words, the Perrhaebians were also descendants of Deucalion and likely a branch of the Hellenes.

The Perrhaebians lived near Dotium and Mount Ossa in Thessaly. [2]

In 1246 BC, some Perrhaebians were driven by the Lapiths and migrated to the source of the Peneius River. [3]

Afterward, the Perrhaebians continued to live around Dotium, coexisting with the Lapiths. [4]

In 1186 BC, the Perrhaebians fought against the Thesprotians who invaded Thessaly, but were defeated. [5]

The Perrhaebians continued to live as penestae (serfs), subordinate to the Thesprotians. [6]

During the Persian invasion of Greece in the 5th century BC, the Perrhaebians offered earth and water to the Persian king. [7]

3 About the Aenianians

The Aenianians (or Enianians) were members of the Amphictyons, convened by Amphictyon, son of Deucalion. [8]

All members of the Amphictyons, except for the Delphians, were descendants of Deucalion, father of Hellen.

The Aenianians were likely descendants of Deucalion and a branch of the Hellenes.

The Aenianians lived near Dotium and Mount Ossa in Thessaly. [9]

In 1246 BC, some Aenianians were driven by the Lapiths and migrated to the vicinity of Mount Oeta. [10]

Some Aenianians migrated to the Auas River in the land of the Molossians and changed their name to Parauaei. [11]

The Aenianians continued to live in Thessaly and provided earth and water to the Persian king during Persian invasion of Greece in the 5th century BC. [12]

3.1 Malians

The following suggests that the Malians were a branch of the Aenianians.

1) The 3rd-century AD writer Antoninus Liberalis reports that the Malians ruled the area at the foot of Mount Othrys north of the Malian Gulf. [13]

2) Strabo reports that the Aenianians expanded their territory from the area near Mount Oeta to Echinus at the foot of Mount Othrys. [14]

In 1246 BC, the Malians migrated from the Dotium Plain to Trachis near Mount Oeta. [15]

In 1230 BC, the Malians expelled the Dryopians and captured Dryopia. [16]

Subsequently, the Malians expanded their settlement from Trachis eastward to the Malian Gulf.

3.2 Centaurs

The following suggests that the Centaurs were a branch of the Aenianians.

1) The Centaurs, pursued by Peirithous, son of Ixion, fled to the land of the Aethices, who lived in the Pindus Mountains. [17]

2) The Aenianians, who lived in Dotium, were pursued by the Lapiths and migrated to Aethicia. [18]

In 1390 BC, when the Pelasgians were driven out of Thessaly, Amphictyon, son of Deucalion, summoned a tribe called the Aenianians. [19]

The Aenianians are also thought to be a branch of the Aeolis, who had long lived in Thessaly.

The genealogy of Mimas, son of Aeolus, son of Hellen, and his son Hippotes is unknown.

It is believed that the ancestor of the Aenianians was a son of Mimas or Hippotes, who settled in Dotium after expelling the Pelasgians. [20]

Persecuted by Lapiths, some Centaurs fled to Aetolia, where they engaged in banditry and were destroyed by Heracles. [21]

Some Centaurs settled in Aethicia, in the Pindus Mountains near the source of the Peneius River. They later migrated to the Auas River in Molossia, where they became known as the Parauaei. [22]

At the end of the 5th century BC, the Parauaei, led by Oroedus, sided with Peloponnesus in the Peloponnesian War. [23]

In the 3rd century BC, the Parauaei lived on the outskirts of Macedonia. [24]

4 About the Delphians

4.1 Foundation of Lycoreia

In 1750 BC, a great flood occurred in the Cephisus River north of Mount Parnassus. [25]

Ectenes, led by Ogygus, fled downstream of the Cephisus River, while the sons of Inachus fled to Peloponnesus.

Lycorus (or Lycoreus), son of Parnassus' daughter Corycia, led the people to Mount Parnassus and founded Lycoreia. [26]

4.2 Foundation of Delphi

Delphus, son of Celaeno, daughter of Hyamus, son of Lycorus, founded a town slightly below Lycoreia. That town came to be called Delphi, after Delphus's name. [27]

Delphi was also called Pytho, after Delphus' son, Pythes. [28]

The founding of Delphi is estimated to have occurred in 1650 BC.

4.3 Migration to Lydia

In 1173 BC, the Delphians, along with the Magnesians, migrated to Lydia and founded Magnesia. [29]

5 About the Leleges

Strabo describes the Leleges as a nomadic people, having lived in Caria, Acarnania, and Locris. [30]

However, these Leleges were not a single tribe.

The original inhabitants of Boeotia and Euboea were also called Leleges. [31]

5.1 Leleges of Lacedaemon, Megara, and Acarnania

In 1430 BC, Lelex, son of Libya, migrated from Egypt to the region that would later become Lacedaemon.

The region was named Lelegia, and its inhabitants were called Leleges after Lelex. [32]

Later, Lelex migrated to Megara. [33]

The people of Megara also came to be called Leleges. [34]

In 1390 BC, Teleboas, son of Therapne, daughter of Lelex, led the Leleges into Acarnania. [35]

Teleboas' descendants became known as the Teleboans, and the Teleboans and Leleges lived in western Acarnania. [36]

5.2 Leleges of Asia Minor

In 1425 BC, Astypalaea, daughter of Phoenix, son of Agenor, married Idaean Heracles, who lived in Aptera, northwest of Crete. [37]

In 1416 BC, Idaean Heracles led a group of immigrants from Crete to Caria and founded five towns. [38]

Idaean Heracles was a Telchines, one of the Idaean Dactyls. [39]

In addition to Telchines, the group also included Arcadians.

They intermarried with the Carians who lived in Caria and changed their name to Leleges.

Ancaeus, the son of Idaean Heracles and Astypalaea, became king of Leleges. [40]

Leleges was a name given to people of mixed race who did not belong to any particular tribe. [41]

Pausanias describes the Leleges as a branch of the Carians, a race born from the interbreeding of Carians and Greeks. [42]

During the Trojan War, King Trambelus of the Leleges lived in Miletus. [43]

5.3 Leleges of Locris

In 1262 BC, Opus, son of Locrus, migrated from Physcus in Locris to the area between Thermopylae and the Strait of Euripus and founded Opus. [44]

Contributors to the construction of Opus came from Argos, Thebes, Arcadia, and Pisa. [45]

The people of Locris were a mixture of Dorians, Argives, Thebans, Arcadians, and Myrmidons, and came to be called Leleges. [46]

The Leleges, who lived in Locris, also expanded their settlement into Boeotia. [47]

6 About the Gephyraeans

6.1 Migration from Phoenicia to Boeotia

In 1420 BC, the Gephyraeans, a Phoenician tribe, joined Cadmus's expedition and migrated from Phoenicia to Boeotia. [48]

The Gephyraeans settled in eastern Boeotia, and the region came to be called Gephyra (later Tanagra). [49]

6.2 Marriage from Boeotia to Athens

In 1415 BC, when Eumolpus invaded Attica, the Athenians sought refuge with the Gephyraeans living around Tanagra, who accepted them. [50]

In 1392 BC, Erechtheus, the sixth king of Athens, married Praxithea, daughter of Diogenia, daughter of Cephisus, leader of the Gephyraeans. [51]

At this time, the Gephyraeans who migrated to Athens with Praxithea brought Phoenician letters to Athens.

6.3 Transmission of Constellation Knowledge

The tomb of Hyrieus's son Orion who became a constellation, was located at Tanagra.[52]

It is presumed that the Gephyraeans residing around Tanagra transmitted knowledge of constellations, acquired from the Babylonians, to the Greeks.[53]

6.4 Migration from Boeotia to Acarnania

6.4.1 Founding of Astacus

In 1204 BC, Gephyraeans captured during the Epigoni's siege of Thebes embarked on an expedition to Acarnania with Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus. [54]

Some of the Gephyraeans founded Astacus near the mouth of the Achelous River. [55]

6.4.2 The relationship between Astacus and the Gephyraeans

Astacus appears as the name of Melanippus's father, the commander defending Thebes during Adrastus's siege of Thebes. [56]

Astacus, founded in Bithynia in 712 BC, is said to have been named after the Sparti named Astacus. Melanippus' father Astacus was likely a Sparti. [57]

Astacus was inhabited by settlers from Megara and Athens. [58]

It seems unlikely that descendants of the Sparti Astacus were among the Megarians (Dorians), but rather among the Athenians.

The migration of Sparti to Athens is estimated to have occurred after the Epigoni's attack on Thebes in 1205 BC, when the Gephyraeans, who lived around Tanagra, were driven out by the Boeotians. [59]

Thus, Melanippus' father Astacus was a Gephyraean.

6.4.3 Settlement in Amphilochian Argos

Some of the Gephyraeans who had accompanied Alcmaeon on his expedition also settled in Amphilochian Argos, which Alcmaeon had founded near the Ambracian Gulf. [60]

In 430 BC, the Amphilochians, living alongside the Ambracians, began using the Greek language for the first time. [61]

6.5 Migration from Athens to Euboea

In 1085 BC, Gephyraeans living in Athens migrated to Euboea and founded Eretria. [62]

6.6 Migration from Euboea to Athens

In 514 BC, Hipparchus, brother of the Athenian tyrant Hippias, was assassinated by Aristogiton and Harmodius. [63]

Aristogiton and Harmodius were Gephyraeans from Aphidna. [64]

The Gephyraeans had migrated from Eretria in Euboea and settled in Aphidna. [65]

6.7 Migration from Athens to Bithynia

In 434 BC, the Athenians colonized Bithynia.[66]

In Bithynia, there was a town founded in 712 BC by Megarians led by Zypoetes.[67]

The inhabitants of the town founded by Zypoetes suffered attacks from surrounding tribes and requested the Athenians to send a colony, with whom they cohabited. [68]

The town was named Astacus after Sparti of Thebes. [69]

The descendants of Astacus are presumed to have been among the Athenian colonists.

7 About the Hyantes

7.1 The War against Cadmus

The Hyantes lived in Boeotia before Cadmus migrated there.

In 1420 BC, the Hyantes fought Cadmus but were defeated and driven westward.[70]

The Hyantes settled south of Lake Copais in Boeotia. [71]

Some of the Hyantes migrated to Aetolia. [72]

When Aetolus, son of Endymion, migrated from Elis around 1320 BC, the Curetes living in Aetolia were likely the Hyantes who had changed their name.

7.2 Migration to the West Side of Copais

In 1370 BC, Thersander's two sons, Coronus and Haliartus, founded Coroneia and Haliartus on the southern shore of Lake Copais.[73]

Hyantes, driven out by them, migrated to the west side of Lake Copais.

In 1350 BC, Aspledon, son of Orchomenus, founded Aspledon in the northwest of Lake Copais.[74]

Later, Aspledon migrated south and founded Mideia.[75]

It is likely that the northwest lands of Lake Copais were under strong Hyantes influence.

7.3 Founding of Hyampolis

In 1310 BC, Hyantes migrated from the northwest of Lake Copais to Phocis and founded Hyampolis.[76]

Orchomenus had reached its zenith during the reign of Minyas, son of Chryses, and Hyantes was likely driven north by the Minyans.

7.4 Occupation of Orchomenus

In 1188 BC, the Thracians and Pelasgians invaded Boeotia.[77]

The Thracians occupied Orchomenus, while the Pelasgians occupied Coroneia. [78]

7.5 Expulsion from Orchomenus

In 1126 BC, the Boeotians and Orchomenians expelled the Thracians occupying Orchomenus.[79]

The Thracians occupying Orchomenus were the Hyantes, who are thought to have migrated to Hyampolis in Phocis.[80]

8 Greek Dark Ages

The Perrhaebians lived in Thessaly and near the source of the Peneius River.

The Aenianians lived in Thessaly.

The Malians, who changed their name from the Aenianians, lived around the Malian Gulf.

The Parauaei, who changed their name from the Aenianians, lived in the land of the Molossians.

The Delphians lived in Delphi in Phocis and Magnesia in Lydia.

The Leleges, driven from their homes by the Ionians and Dorians, lived in Asia Minor.

The Gephyraeans lived in Eretria in Euboea.

The Gephyraeans lived in Acarnania.

The Hyantes lived in Phocis.

The Curetes, who changed their name from the Hyantes, lived in Aetolia.

End