The Dorians were one of the four Greek tribes of Ancient Greece. They originated in the mountainous regions of northern Greece, Macedonia, and Epirus, and they were named for Dorus, the son of Hellen. The Dorians had settled Crete by the time of the Trojan War in 1193-1183 BC, and, around 1103 BC, the Dorians invaded mainland Greece and destroyed the Mycenaeans. They ushered in a new dialect and new traditions to Greece, spread across the mainland, and ushered in the Dark Ages, which would last until 800 BC. The Dorians chased the Achaeans into southern Greece, and the Achaeans forced the Ionians to flee to Asia Minor; meanwhile, they settled in the Peloponnese. The warlike Dorians went on to found the city of Sparta, which would come to rival the Ionian city of Athens; they also came to inhabit most of central Greece (apart from Boeotia), the Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, and Halicarnassus.
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