Editing Ionic Greek (section)

==History==
The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland across the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] around the 11th century BC, during the early [[Greek Dark Ages]]. According to tradition, the ancestors of Ionians first set out from Athens, in a series of migrations, to establish their colonies on the coast of Asia Minor and the islands of the Cyclades, around the beginning of the [[Protogeometric style|Protogeometric period]] (1075/1050{{nbsp}}BC).{{Sfn|Miller|2013|p=139}} Between the 11th and 9th century BC, the Ionians continued to spread around those areas. The linguistic affinity of [[Attic Greek|Attic]] and Ionic is evident in several unique features, like the early loss of /w/, or the merger of /ā/ and /ē/, as seen in both dialects.{{Sfn|Miller|2013|p=139}}

By the end of [[Archaic Greece]] and early [[Classical Greece]] in the 5th century BC, the central west coast of [[Asia Minor]], along with the islands of [[Chios]] and [[Samos Island|Samos]], formed the heartland of [[Ionia]] proper.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} The Ionic dialect was also spoken on islands across the central Aegean and on the large island of [[Euboea]] north of Athens. The dialect was soon spread by Ionian colonization to areas in the northern Aegean, the [[Black Sea]], and the western Mediterranean, including [[Magna Graecia]] in [[Sicily]] and [[Italy]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The Ionic dialect is generally divided into two major time periods, Old Ionic (or Old Ionian) and New Ionic (or New Ionian). The transition between the two is not clearly defined, but 600{{nbsp}}BC is a good approximation.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The works of [[Homeric|Homer]] (''[[The Iliad]]'', ''[[The Odyssey]]'', and the [[Homeric Hymns]]) and of [[Hesiod]] were written in a literary dialect called [[Homeric Greek]] or [[Epic Greek]], which largely comprises Old Ionic, but with some admixture from the neighboring [[Aeolic]] dialect to the north,{{Sfn|Horrocks|2009|p=44}} as well as with some [[Mycenaean Greek|Mycenaean]] elements as a result of a long pre-Homeric epic tradition.<ref name=":0" /> This Epic Ionic was used in all later hexametric and [[elegiac]] poetry, not only by Ionians, but also by foreigners such as the [[Boeotia]]n [[Hesiod]].<ref name=":0" /> Ionic would become the conventional dialect used for specific poetical and literary genres. Ιt was used by many authors, regardless of their origin; like the Dorian [[Tyrtaeus]], composing elegies in a form of Ionic.{{Sfn|Derks|Roymans|2009|p=45}} This ability of poets to switch between dialects would eventually temper regional differences, while contributing to the awareness of the Greekness that all dialects had in common.{{Sfn|Derks|Roymans|2009|p=45}} The poet [[Archilochus]] wrote in late Old Ionic.

The most famous New Ionic authors are [[Anacreon]], [[Theognis of Megara|Theognis]], [[Herodotus]], [[Hippocrates]], and, in Roman times, [[Aretaeus of Cappadocia|Aretaeus]], [[Arrian]], and the [[Lucian]]ic or Pseudo-Lucianic ''[[On the Syrian Goddess]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

Ionic acquired prestige among Greek speakers because of its association with the language used by both Homer and [[Herodotus]] and the close linguistic relationship with the [[Attic dialect]] as spoken in Athens.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} This was further enhanced by the writing reform implemented in Athens in 403{{nbsp}}BC, whereby the old Attic alphabet was replaced by the Ionic alphabet, as used by the city of [[Miletus]]. This alphabet eventually became the standard Greek alphabet, its use becoming uniform during the [[Koine]] era. It was also the alphabet used in the Christian [[Gospel]]s and the book of [[Acts]].{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}