Aeolians
Aeoliansa branch of the ancient Greeks. Aeolian was one of the Greek dialects spoken by the Achaeans, who settled in Greece between 2000 and 1700 B.C. The Aeolians lived in Thessaly and central Greece, which was invaded by the Dorians about 1100 B.C. The Aeolians retreated eastward into Attica, onto the northern Aegean islands, and to the west coast of Asia Minor. The island of Lesbos and the coastal area adjacent to it became known as Aeolis, or Aeolia.
The cities of mainland Aeolis were small and of little influence in Greek life. Lesbos, however, was a center of commercial activity and of culture. In the early seventh century B.C. the Aeolians of Lesbos occupied the Troad (the area around ancient Troy) and founded cities on the Hellespont. At the end of the century Lesbos produced two of the great poets of ancient Greece—Sappho and Alcaeus.