Leleges

As Leleges ( Λέλεγες, lat Leleges ) a population of Greece and Asia Minor was called in ancient times who do not like the Pelasgians spoke Greek and probably was one of the pre-Indo- residents. Some said they were understood in ancient Greece under Leleges also Achaean Greeks from Asia Minor.

Leleges as tribe

According to the earliest Greek writers and traditions the Leleges were mainly in western and south-western Asia Minor, where adjacent the Carians, a resident. Later sources mention Leleges as very early inhabitants of some Greek regions or places. Modern research assumes that the name Leleges is not indigenous, but a Greek name. However, the Libraries of Apollodorus is the origin of the native name of a king Lelex. From the many mentions in ancient authors, that in classical times with a population nichtgriechischem idiom in some parts of Greece was still comprehensible (see Aegean languages).

Leleges in Asia Minor

Homer's Iliad is the Leleges as allies of the Trojans, although they are not mentioned in the Catalogue of the Trojans in the Iliad again and their origin is not mentioned. Generally, a distinction from other peoples is not always clear. This raises the question whether the Leleges are identical perhaps with the pre- Indo-European Pelasgians or other Indo-European peoples of Asia Minor as the Carians, Lydians or Phrygians.

Leleges in Greece and the Aegean

According to Hesiod, the Leleges were also established in Locris in Central Greece. Herodotus, who himself came from Ionia / Caria, claims that the Leleges were related to Minos on Crete and expelled by the invading Greek tribes of the Dorians and Ionians to south-west Asia Minor, and later became known as Carians.

Other authors of the 4th century resettle the Leleges also in Boeotia, in Leucas, in Thessaly, Euboea, Megara, Lakedaimonien and Messinia. This prompted several authors to suggest a migration. Others have concluded that the Leleges everywhere represent the remains of a pre-Indo- indigenous peoples in the eastern Mediterranean area.