Wandering Greeks by Robert Garland

experience of the children of ethnically mixed unions living in a Greek settlement broadly similar? Some at least are likely to have grown up bilingual and may well have felt a stronger attachment to the indigenous culture. Thucydides (4.109.3–4) tells us that the indigenous populations of many of the cities on Athos were bilingual, and this may well have been the case, too, on the island of Lemnos, which was inhabited by several non-Greek peoples before it was settled by the Greeks ( IG XII.8, pp. 2–3; Boardman 1999, 85–86).
    Setbacks, Failures, and Eventual Successes
    Pioneers could never predict the outcome of their voyage. Violent tempests are a frequent occurrence in the Mediterranean, and once their ships had been driven off course, they would be exposed to all manner of dangers, as the tortuous wanderings of Odysseus and Aeneas make abundantly clear. As their ships could hold only limited supplies of food, they would frequently have to stop to replenish their stock, often taking enormous risks to do so. Starvation, both along the way and on arrival at their destination, was an ever-present danger. One cannot but sympathize with a Corinthian pioneer called Aithiops, who, en route to found a settlement at Syracuse, became so hungry that “he sold his mess-mate the klêros [allotment of land] which he had drawn by lot for the price of a honey cake” (Arichilochus fr. 293 IEG = Ath. Deipn . 4.167d). 3
    The dangers that attended even the best-prepared undertaking can hardly be exaggerated. The Greeks have for the most part recorded their successes, not their failures. An exception is Ennea Hodoi, which the Athenians made nine attempts to settle before they finally established a viable foundation nearby at Amphipolis (see appendix B ). Some ventures no doubt ended calamitously and with total loss of life. Others faltered because the settlers simply lost their resolve. Some settlements dissolved because they succumbed to internal strife. Yet other expeditions will have succeeded only after many twists of fortune. Often pioneers settled in what they believed to be an ideal location, only to be ejected after a few months or even a year—the situation that Vergil explores with profound insight in the Aeneid , in which the hero makes many missteps and is forced to relocate several times before reaching his final destination, only to face concerted opposition once he does.
    Sometimes the original Greek pioneers quarreled with the newcomers. This is what happened at Thurii, where those who originallyestablished Sybaris treated hoi prosgraphentes (those who signed up later) as second-class citizens (D.S. 12.11.1–2). Among other injustices, the Sybarites claimed the land that was nearest to the urban center and allocated to the newcomers land that was far away. In response, hoi prosgraphentes , who greatly outnumbered the Sybarites, rose up and massacred the latter. They then summoned pioneers from all over Greece and apportioned land on equal terms. Even in cases where the original inhabitants and the later settlers managed to coexist peaceably, some resentment may well have simmered beneath the surface, ready to flare up at a moment’s notice.
    Thucydides’ account of the wanderings and travails of some enterprising settlers from Megara perfectly exemplifies the complex trajectory that many pioneers had to undergo (6.4.1–2). These Megarians first settled at Trotilus on the east coast of Sicily. Their foundation did not prosper, however, so they threw in their lot with some Chalcidian pioneers, who had settled at Leontini. In time, however, the Megarians fell out with the Chalcidians and were expelled from Leontini. They went on to found Thapsus, situated a short distance away along the coast. When their leader died, they again became refugees. At the invitation of a Sicel king called Hyblon, they founded Megara Hyblaea a few miles to the north of Thapsus, naming the city in his honor