The Achaeans (Homer)

The Achaeans (as the term is used in Homeric works and times) refers to the Greek people. This is one of the oldest names for the Greeks, well before the Archaic and Classical periods, probably during the Mycenaean age.

The Achaeans of Homer

In the works of Homer he refers to the Greek people as the Achaeans — specifically with the term Ἀχαιοί (Akhaioi) — as his most preferred term by far. Akhaioi (Ἀχαιοί) is found a total of 598 times in the Iliad, often accompanied by the epithet “long-haired”. [1] As such, and while the age of Homer’s epics is not known for certain, it seems clear that this was the name of the people into the second millennium BCE.

By comparison, the next most common terms for the Achaeans (the Greeks) used by Homer in the Iliad were: the Danaans (138 times), Argives (182 times), with Panhellenes and Hellenes both beings used once each. [1]

By the later Archaic and Classical periods of Greece the term “Achaeans” was specifically used to refer to the inhabitants of the region of Achaea, rather than all Greeks. [1]

Herodotus identified the Achaeans of the northern Peloponnese as the descendants of Homeric Achaeans. [1] Pausanias (writing 2nd century CE more than a thousand years after Homer’s time) states that “Achaean” originally referred to the Greeks living in Argolis and Laconia — the regions where the mother of Perseus, Danae, lived.

Pausanias and Herodotus (much later in time) both recount how the Achaeans were forced from their homeland by the Dorians. This occurred during the legendary Dorian Invasion of the Peloponnese, resulting in the Achaeans settling in the land later called Achaea.

No consensus has yet been achieved on the historicity of the Achaeans, nor the origins of the historic Achaeans. [1] John A. Scott wrote on article emphasizing the blond locks of the Achaeans compared to the dark locks of the “Mediterranean” Poseidon. [1]

The Achaeans in Hittite and Egyptian Documents

Hittite texts mention a land to the west known as Ahhiyawa, while the earliest reference simply calls it Ahhiya. [1] This ancient references was found in a letter outlining treaty violations of the Hittite vassal Madduwatta. [1]

Another important ancient reference is found in the Tawagalawa Letter written by an unnamed Hittite king (probably Hattusili III) during the empire period (14th-13th century BCE) to the king of Ahhiyawa. The Hittite king treats the king of Ahhiyawa as an equal, and discuses matters of state. Hattusili imples Miletus is under his control, refers to an earlier “Wilusa episode” of hostility on the part of the Ahhiyawa. [1]

The Ahhiyawa have been identified as the Homeric Achaeans, while Wilusa has been identified as the city of Troy (from early Greek Ϝιλιον Wilion, later Ἴλιον Ilion, the name of the acropolis of Troy), and the “Wilusa episode” possibly the Trojan War. [1]

Further Reading

• The Folk of Danu — The Mysterious Dananns and Danavas