Who were Ionians? What was their contribution to Greek philosophy? Were they influenced by ancient India?

Answer 1

The Ionians were known by the Indians as 'yavans' and Panini, the great grammarian of India has referred them as 'yavanani'. Anaxagoras, the chief ionian from Clazomenae of Asia Minor was greatly influenced by the Upanishads of the ancient India which is reflected in his philosophy, specially the sankhya teachings. The mystic tradition is definitely un-Greek in its character.

The ionians were from Anatala which was under Persia during a period when Indian culture was dominating the lives of Persians. The word anatal itself was an indian sanskrit word which means nether land.

Answer 2

The Ionians were one the predessor peoples to the modern Greeks.

This is an article about the Ionians.

The Ionians, were a people who migrated from western Anatolia, Attica, and other Greek territories, directly following the Dorian immigration into mainland Greece (roughly 1,000 BC). They were the first Greek-speaking peoples to have reached mainland Greece and are thought to have been the precursors and creators of Mycenean Culture. The Ionians, prior to their arrival in Greece, were considered subjects of the Persian Empire in Anatolia. Once the Ionians immigrated to Greece, their position within Greek society was moderately compromised due to their former relations with Persia (a known enemy of the Greeks). Militaristically, they were considered by the vast majority of Greek society (from 450 BC onward), to be soft compared to the Dorians and other Greek militaristic factions. Whether this view was perpetuated by Ionian and Persian politics, or by the racial view of the Greeks, is debatable (more than likely a combination of both). What is known, is that by the year 450 BC, the Greeks (at the time of Herodotus), had invented a detailed ethnological theory of its people, which placed the Ionians with the aboriginal elements of ancient Greece, commonly referred to as the Pelasgoi.

The Ionians ruled parts of Euboea, Attica, and most of the islands of the Aegean Sea, as well as the western coast of Asia Minor. Many of its cities were instrumental in setting up trade routes with such places as the Black Sea. From a cultural perspective, the Ionians added a great deal to classical Greece. From the Ionian and Attican dialects, came the introduction of the language Ionian-Attic, a combination of both dialects which permeated most of Ionia and many of the Ionian islands; and which became the almost exclusive written language used by historians, writers, scientists, and philosophers of the 6th Century BC. In addition to language, the Ionians also maintained the adage of the Homeric epics, and early iambic poetry. By the 6th Century BC, the Ionians had entered areas of architecture, biology, historiography, philosophy, and many other areas of Greek culture which permeated the age of Classical Greece.

These are some informative links:

http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/ionians.htm
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa100698g.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionians
http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/loc/ionia.htm

Answer 3

Ionians Philosophy

Answer 4

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