The
Ionian League (
ancient Greek: ,
Íones; ,
koinón Ionon; or ,
koine sýnodos Ionon;
Latin:
commune consilium), also called the Panionic League, was a
confederation formed at the end of the Meliac War in the mid-7th century BC comprising twelve
Ionian cities (a
dodecapolis, of which there were many others). These were listed by
Herodotus as
- Miletus, Myus, and Priene, all in Caria (a region in Asia Minor) and speaking the same dialect;
- Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenae and Phocaea, in Lydia and-or the region known today as Ionia (both also in Asia Minor, Lydia extending inland much farther relative to Ionia), speaking another dialect;
- Chios (island) and Erythrae (Asia Minor), with a common dialect; and
- Samos (island), with its own dialect.
After 650 BC
Smyrna, an originally
Aeolic city, was invited to diminish
Aeolis and increase
Ionia by joining the league, which it did.