#ancient map

Doris quickly rose to become the chieftain of the Achaeans settled there, who started dubbing themselves “Dorians” after him.

Four centuries later, in 1250, he was met by the unprecedented threat that were the Sea peoples, who, having escaped their dry homelands and in search for supplies, were raiding the coast of Phthiotis. In charge of the resettlement, he led the Dorians to Istiaeotis, displacing southwards the Aeolians that resided there.

Now, paralleling the Herakleides with Tiryns (Heracles’s birthplace):

Meanwhile, the drought had made itself present in the eastern Mediterranean. It, along with the constant raids launched by the Sea Peoples were enough for Tiryns, Mycenae’s sister, to rebel against him in 1212. Fearing another coup, he attempts to murder her, but she manages to flee and seek asylum in Athens. From there she would wander aimlessly for a while before finding herself in Istiaeotis.

Doris, still embittered by his exile and losing his right to the throne, welcomed her and proposed to work together as to launch an invasion into Peloponnesus and put an end to Mycenae’s tyranny. Their plans were, however, interrupted by the Cadmeians, who, pushing them inwards, forced them to resettle once more in the north of the mountain range of Pindus in 1210. A few years later, they would move to Dryopis (renamed to Doris) where they’d found the Doric Tetrapolis (:four cities). Erineus and Voion were the oldest, followed by Kytinion and Pindus. Erineus, being slightly older (by 2 minutes) and favoured due to his fighting skills was also called Dorion, after his father.

Around the end of the century, the palace of Tiryns was burned down by the Sea peoples. It was not rebuilt as, by then, the city was under the crown of Argos. Tiryns had nothing to return to now. Doris had promised her city back, but she remained faithful to the plan regardless, hoping that she’d achieve some favourable place in Doris’s court or that he would help her rebuild it.

Doris and Tiryns launched the first invasion in 1187, but were unsuccessful. Despite their initial failures, they were able to burn down the palace of Mycenae (1150), who fled to his brother, Argos, and prompted him to gather an army as to fight off the invaders. Multiple invasions followed, all falling in the pit of failure. By then, his four children had become of age and were able to partake in the struggle.

The final invasion was launched in 1104.

Doris and Mycenae engaged in a duel and, with one final blow, Doris came out victorious, killing Mycenae and fulfilling the prophesy. He then split Peloponnesus between him, his two sons and Aetolia, who’d been a notable ally in the invasion. Aetolia granted his portion to his daughter, Hlis.

Later, Doris and his children would invade Athens (unsuccessfully). He would die shortly after this, and would be succeeded in ruling Messenia by his daughter Kytinion. She, however, would not live long as she was killed in cold blood by Messene, daughter of Pylos (who had died in 1180), thus returning the governing of Messenia to the Achaeans.

Argos was pressured by both Sparta and Ephyra (Corinth) into spitting his territory, thus giving the thin strip of land connecting Central Greece with Peloponnesus to the latter.

I’ll put a parenthesis here as, initially, I had headcanoned that there had been 4 Dorian groups (instead of the mythological 3, Corinth and Argos being of the same group) due to me wanting to make a parallel between them and the four cities of Doris. The three paragraphs above are the new narrative as, of course, Doris would prioritise himself and his sons over his daughters.

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I was tempted to make Erineus and Dorion separate people, as to symbolise the dual kingship of Sparta, however that would become real complicated real quick.

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