 |
 The
group of Dorians who headed towards the Argolid were led by Temenus.
Around 1100 BC, after his victory, he captured Mycenae and settled in Argos,
which was situated on a fortified site on the route leading to the eastern Peloponnese,
and thus ensured rule over the whole plain of the Argolid.
Later, these Dorians colonized Epidaurus, Troezen, Cleonae, Phleius and Sicyon, whilst in the mid-10th century BC approximately, the Dorians of Epidaurus
colonized Aegina. |
 Some of the
native inhabitants were forced to depart from the area of the Argolid,
whilst most of them remained and became part of the state as free men but without
political rights. These pre-Dorian races continued to cultivate their land
and work in their workshops and formed the tribe of Hyrnathioi -the counterpart of
the perioikoi of Sparta. This policy of both Temenus and his successors
can be seen, on an ideological level, through the stressing of their lineage from Agamemnon and their being
inheritors to the state he had ruled. |
| The conquering policy of the Dorians during the centuries following their invasion in
the Peloponnese contributed to the creation of a powerful state both in area and
population. Besides Epidaurus, Sicyon, Troezen, Cleonae and Phleius -the
five cities in which Dorians with Temenid leaders had settled- they formed a religious
league with its centre at the sanctuary of Pythaeus Apollo. |