I am no antiquarian, but I could imagine that they were some unwarlike and harried race who were forced to accept that which none other would occupy.
Je ne suis pas un spécialiste de l’antiquité, mais j’imagine volontiers qu’il s’agissait d’une race peu guerrière, que des vainqueurs ont contrainte à accepter ce que personne d’autre ne voulait occuper.