Before the Greek migrations that followed the end of the Bronze Age (c. 1200 bce), probably the only Greek-speaking communities on the west coast of Anatolia were Mycenaean settlements at Iasus and Müskebi on the Halicarnassus peninsula and walled Mycenaean colonies at Miletus and Colophon. The major Greek settlement of Anatolia’s west coast belongs to the Dark Age (c. 1200–c. 1000). In contrast to the at best sporadic colonization of the Mycenaean period, the movement has all the characteristics of a migration. Aeolian territory stretched north of the Gediz (Hermus) River up to Pitane, with Cyme as the most-important settlement. According to Herodotus, the Aeolians (perhaps coming from Boeotia and Thessaly or, more generally, from the eastern part of mainland Greece) once formed a league of 12 cities corresponding to those of Ionia, but their number was reduced to 11 by the Ionian capture of Smyrna. The 12 Ionian cities of historical times were the isles of Chios and Samos and the cities of Phocaea, Clazomenae, Erythrae, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, and Miletus. Among those, Ephesus (as the successor to Apasa, capital of the Luwian Late Bronze Age state of Arzawa) and Miletus had by far the best claims to historical fame. It is probable that the original number of towns of the 10th and 9th centuries was far larger. There may be a considerable element of truth in the tradition that identifies Athens as the departure point of the Ionians. Dorian Greeks settled on the Aegean islands of Rhodes and Cos before 900. Cnidus and Halicarnassus subsequently were founded on the peninsulas of western Caria. The Dorians formed a league of six (later five) cities. The Troas (Troy) region was colonized from Mytilene on the island of Lesbos early in the 8th century. By the 8th century the city league (a group of cities with a common devotion to the same sanctuary) had become the normal political institution among the Aeolians, Ionians, and Dorians. A certain measure of urbanization, which was dependent on the development of both local industry and foreign trade, preceded the development of these larger units.

Much less is known about the non-Greek populations of the interior. The Mysians, an aboriginal people of the valley of the Bakir (Caïcus) River and the mountains to the north, are mentioned in an 8th-century Carchemish inscription. The Carians, from the hinterland of Miletus and Halicarnassus, enter history as mercenaries in the service of the Egyptian king Psamtik, along with their Ionian neighbours, in the 7th century bce. Of the Lycians, to the east of Caria, nothing definite is known before the 6th century, though archaeological evidence shows that the Greeks had commercial contacts with Lycia as early as about 700. Curiously, it was under the aegis of Persian rule that Greek civilization penetrated into this region. Among the peoples subject to Croesus, Herodotus mentions the Pamphylians, whose country lay in the south, between Lycia and Cilicia. A Neo-Babylonian text of the mid-6th century confirms this, indicating that the Lydian borderline was situated at Sallune (classical Selinus, the most westerly coastal city of Cilicia). There is a remote possibility that post-Mycenaean Greeks may have had contacts with Pamphylia and Cilicia in the Dark Age after the fall of the Hittite empire, since in later Greek traditions the name of the Greek hero Mopsus—who figures in the legends surrounding the Trojan War—is associated with the foundation of settlements in both Pamphylia and Cilicia. The appearance of the house of Muksas (Phoenician: Mups) in the Karatepe bilingual inscription has suggested that there may be some historical basis for these traditions, which seem to be a heritage common to both the Greeks and the original Anatolian population. Archaeological finds indicate considerable Greek colonizing activity on the south coast of Anatolia in the 8th century bce and on the north coast in the 7th century. From the mid-8th century bce, Greek merchants were active on the Cilician coast. Evidence for that can be found in inscriptions of Sargon II, according to which merchant activities there began about a generation before his time. Greek place-names such as Anchiale and Pityoussa occur repeatedly in Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts of the 7th and 6th centuries bce relating to the south coast of Anatolia. The North Syrian harbour of al-Mīnaʾ was also of great commercial importance to the Greeks. It is likely that Urartian and other western Asian influences visible in the art of the Greeks and the Italian Etruscans were the result of such commercial contacts. The neo-Hittite state of Patina, located on the seacoast around al-Mīnaʾ, probably played an important role in that respect. The two main Ionian cities were Ephesus and Miletus; Miletus was very active in colonization, whereas at Ephesus, where the surrounding country produced enough grain and raw materials for the use of the city, there was less pressure for emigration and the founding of colonies. In the early 7th century the Milesians settled Abydos and Cyzicus in the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) region; Greek tradition suggests that the Lydian king Gyges collaborated in the foundation of Abydos. Dascylium was named for Gyges’ father and might be a foundation of the same period. On the Black Sea coast, Sinop (founded c. 630) was another colony of Miletus. Destruction layers in the excavations of Miletus, Ephesus, and Smyrna, dating from the mid-7th century, suggest that the Ionian cities suffered heavily from the Cimmerian invasion. By the mid-6th century the cities had all been subjected to Lydian rule.

Diversity of cultural influences

Between 546 and 334 bce, Anatolia was dominated politically by the Achaemenian Empire of Persia. Culturally, however, Greek influence continued to be strong and even increased. The coastal regions of Caria and Lycia and, farther east, Pamphylia and Cilicia were Hellenized to a considerable degree under the aegis of Persian rule. At the same time, Persian cultural influence penetrated the regions of Armenia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Commagene. The Persian deities Mithra and Anahita were honoured in Armenia. In Cappadocia, the influence of Persia is clearly visible in the names of the local rulers and in religious practices reported by classical authors. The religious life of eastern Anatolia during that period was characterized by a blend of Persian, Greek, and indigenous Anatolian elements. The indigenous Luwian groups maintained their linguistic and cultural independence most clearly in isolated areas such as Lycia and western Cilicia, but they are also recognizable in other southern provinces such as Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. The Persian influence was strong in the northeastern city of Dascylium, an originally Lydian settlement that was chosen to be the administrative centre of the satrapy (province) of Hellespontine Phrygia. Aramaic was the official language in the western parts of the Achaemenian Empire, and Aramaic inscriptions in stone and on coins are relatively numerous for Anatolia in the 4th century bce. The Lydian and Phrygian languages continued to be used in their original homelands. The changing nomenclature and boundaries of satrapies and kingdoms throughout that general period present a confusing picture. Under the Persian king Darius I (ruled 522–486) Anatolia was originally divided into five regions: Armina (Armenia), Katpatuka (Cappadocia, including the territories of the Hellespont), Sea Peoples (the south coast, including Cyprus), Sparda (Lydia), and Yauna (the west coast of Anatolia).