IONIA (anc. geog.), a district of the Hither Asia, a great colony of Greeks, led thither after that of Aolia. It consisted of twelve cities, ten of which were on the continent, and two on the islands of Samos and Chios; extending from Phocæa to Miletus, inclusive from north to south, according to Herodotus, Strabo, and Mela: Though Ptolemy confines it between the Hermus to the north, and the Meander to the south. Jones or Jaones the people, (Homer) taking name from Javan their progenitor: A soft and luxurious nation. Plato banishes from his republic the Ionian music, as too effeminate. The Attagen Ionicus, (Horace, Martial), was a bird in esteem for its flavour with persons who loved good eating.—The Ionian sea was that part of the Mediterranean extending between Epirus and Peloponnesus to the east, and Magna Græcia and part of Sicily to the west.