Doric Hexapolis

Doric Hexapolis Δωρικὴ Ἑξάπολις
c. 1100 BC–c. 560 BC
Greek settlements in western Asia Minor, Doric area in blue
Location of the Doric Hexapolis in Anatolia
Capital	Halicarnassus(largest city) (modern-dayBodrum,Muğla,Turkey)
Government	Independent city-states
Historical era	Ancient Greece
• Established	c. 1100 BC
• Disestablished	c. 560 BC

The ruins of theMausoleum at Halicarnassus,one of theSeven Wonders of the Ancient World

TheDoricorDorian Hexapolis(Greek:Δωρικὴ Ἑξάπολις or Δωριέων Ἑξάπολις) was afederationof six cities ofDorianfoundationin southwestAsia Minorand adjacent islands, largely coextensive with the region known asDorisorDoris in Asia(Δωρίς ἡ ἐν Ἀσίᾳ),and included:

• Cos,on the island ofCos;
• CnidusinCaria;
• Halicarnassusin Caria;
• Lindus,on the island ofRhodes;
• Ialysuson Rhodes; and
• Camiruson Rhodes.

The members of thishexapoliscelebrated a festival, with games, on theTriopian promontorynear Cnidus, in honour of the TriopianApollo;the prizes in those games were brazen tripods, which the victors had to dedicate in thetempleof Apollo; and Halicarnassus was struck out of the league, because one of her citizens carried the tripod to his own house before dedicating it in the temple of Apollo. Thehexapolisthus became theDoric Pentapolis.(Herod.i. 144.)

Pliny(v. 28) says,Caria mediae Doridi circumfunditur ad mare utroque latere ambiens,by which he means that Doris is surrounded byCariaon all sides, except where it is bordered by the sea. He makes Doris begin atCnidus.In the bay of Doris he placesLeucopolis,Hamaxitus,etc.An attempt has been made among scholars to ascertain which of two bays Pliny callsDoridis Sinus,the more probable being theCeramic Gulf.This Doris of Pliny is the country occupied by the Dorians, whichThucydides(ii. 9) indicates, not by the name of the country, but of the people: Dorians, neighbours of the Carians.Ptolemy(v. 2) makes Doris a division of hisAsia,and places in itHalicarnassus,Ceramus,andCnidus.The term Doris, applied to a part of Asia, does not appear to occur in other writers.

In theDigesta seu Pandectae(533), the second volume of thecodification of laws orderedbyJustinian I(527–565) of theEastern Roman Empire,alegal opinionwritten by theRoman juristPaulusat the beginning of theCrisis of the Third Centuryin 235 AD was included about theLex Rhodia( "Rhodian law" ) that articulates thegeneral average principleof marine insurance established on the island ofRhodesin approximately 1000 to 800 BC as a member of the Doric Hexapolis, plausibly by thePhoeniciansduring the proposedDorian invasionand emergence of the purportedSea Peoplesduring theGreek Dark Ages(c. 1100– c. 750) that led to the proliferation of theDoric Greekdialect.The law of general average constitutes the fundamentalprinciplethat underlies allinsurance.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Smith, William,ed. (1854–1857). "Doris".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.London: John Murray.