Editing Ionia (section)

===Athenian empire===
[[File:EPMA-IGI(3)259-272-Tribute list-1.JPG|thumb|upright=0.75|The Ionic section of the [[Athenian tribute lists|Athenian tribute list]] for 454/3 BC.]]
The victories of the Greeks during the [[Persian invasion of Greece]] and the liberation of [[Thrace]], [[Macedon]], and Ionia from the Persian Empire had the effect of enfranchising their kinsmen on the other side of the Aegean, and the [[Battle of Mycale]] (479 BC), in which the defeat of the Persians was in great measure owing to the Ionians, secured their emancipation. They henceforth became the dependent allies of Athens within the [[Delian League]]. In the [[Athenian tribute lists]], one of the regions of the empire is the ''Ionikos phoros'', a region that includes the cities of Ionia, but also [[Aeolis]] and [[Mysia]] to the north. Caria to the south was initially its own region, but was folded into the Ionikos phoros in 438 BC.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=25}}

The Athenians advanced an expansive definition of Ionian identity, which included most of the communities under their control and emphasised common descent from Athens. This was probably intended to legitimise their rule over the region. It clashed with the restrictive definition of Ionian identity that was maintained by the Ionian League.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18-19}}

Herodotus, who came from [[Halicarnassus]], a Dorian city in southwestern Asia Minor which was also part of the Athenian Empire, writes in opposition to the Ionian League's claims that "it would be stupid to say that they are more truly Ionian or better born ...."<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D146 1.146].</ref> He lists other ethnic populations among the settlers: Abantes from [[Euboea]], [[Minyans]] from [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], Cadmeians, [[Dryopia]]ns, [[Phocis|Phocians]], [[Molossians]], Arcadian [[Pelasgians]], [[Dorians]] of [[Epidaurus]], and others. Even "the best born of the Ionians" had married girls from [[Caria]]. He defines Ionians as all peoples who were descended from Athenians and celebrated the [[Apaturia]] festival,<ref>Herodotus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D147 1.147].</ref> which aligns with the expansive Athenian definition of Ionian identity.{{sfn|Hallmannsecker|2022|p=18-19}}