Ancient Greeks: West and East

673 Pages·1999·67.98 MB·English

by  Gocha R. Tsetskhladze

A N C I K NT G R E E KS
W E ST A ND E A ST
MNEMOSYNE
BIBUOTHECA CLASSIGA BATAVA
C< >U-EGERUNT
H PINKSTER - H.W PLEKET
GJ. RUU^H - I' II SCIIRIJVERS · DM. SCHENKEVEIJ)
HBUOTHEGAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CIUMVIT
C.J. RUJJGH. KI.VSSIEK SEMINARIUM. OUDE ll'RFMARK'I 12··. AMSTERDAM
SL'l'PLKMKML'M CKN'I KSIMl'M XONAGKSIXH'M SKXTt/M
GOCHA R. I SKTSKHLADZE (ED.)
A N C I E NT G R E E KS
W E ST A ND E A ST
'68*
A N C I E NT GREEKS
WEST AND EAST
EDITED BY
GOCHA R. TSETSKHLADZE
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KOLN
1999
This book is primed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ancient Greeks west and east / edited by Gocha R. Tselskhladze.
p. em. (Mnemosyne-, hibliotheca elassiea Ralava. ISSN
0169-8958. Supplcmeimim ; 196)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004111905 (doth : alk. paper)
I. Greece Civilization To 146 B.C. 2. Mediterranean Region
Civilization Greek influences. 3. Mediterranean Region
Antiquities. 4. Excavations (Archaeology) Mediterranean Region.
I. Tsetskhladzc, Gocha R. II. Series.
DF77.A593 1999
938 dc2l 99-31268
GIF
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einhe its aufnähme
[Mnemosyne / Supplementum]
Mnemosyne : bibliothcca elassiea Batava. Supplementum. Iriden ;
Boston ; Köln : Brill
Früher Schriftenreihe
Teilw. u.d.T.: Mnemosyne / Supplements
Reihe Supplementum /.u: Mnemosyne
196. Ancient Greeks west and east. 1999
Ancient Greeks west and east / eel. bv Gocha R. Tselskhladze.
Leiden ; Boston ; Köln : Brill, 1999
(Mnemosvne : Supplement urn ; 196)
ISBN 90 04-11190-5
ISSN 0169-8958
ISBN 90 04 I 1190 5
© Copyright 1999 by Konink/ijke Brill NV. Leiden, The Netherlands
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CONTENTS
Introduction vii
G.R. Tsetskhladze (London)
List of Abbreviations xv
List of Illustrations xxii
1. M.I. Rostovtzeff in England: a Personal Experience of West
and East 1
G.M. Bongard-Levin (Moscow)
2. Greek Racism? Observations on the Character and limits of Greek
Ethnic Prejudice 47
C. Tuplin (Liverpool)
3. Pomponius Mela on Colonies in West and East 77
J. Hind (Leeds)
4. Between the Aegean and the Learnt the Philistines 85
J. Vanschoonwinkel Brussels/Nice
5. Greeks Overseas in the 8th Century B.C.: Euboeans, Al Mina
and Assyrian Imperialism 109
R.A. Kearsley (Sydney)
6. The Excavated History of Al Mina 135
J. Boardman (Oxford)
7. From East to West: the Eponymous Amazon Cleta 163
L. Moscati-Castelnuovo (Milan)
8. Medea in Italy: Barter and Exchange in the Archaic
Mediterranean 179
C.J. Smith (St. Andrews)
9. Euboean Colonisation in the Gulf of Naples 207
B. d'Agostino (Naples)
10. From Death to Life. The Cemetery of Fusco and the
Reconstruction of Early Colonial Society 229
R. Frederiksen (Copenhagen)
Vi CONTENTS
11. Fibulae and Females: Intermarriage in the Western Greek Colonies
and the Evidence from the Cemeteries 267
G. Shepherd (Birmingham)
12. Hellenisation in Iberia?: The Reception of Greek Products and
Influences by the Iberians 301
AJ. Domínguez (Madrid;
13. Dama de Elche: Embodying Greek-Iberian Interaction 331
S. Aguilar (Cambridge)
APPEXDIX: The Case of the Lady of Elche: a Review Article .... 352
R. Olmos and T. Tortosa (Madrid)
14. Erbinna, the 'Nereid Monument' and Xanthus 361
T. Robinson (Oxford)
15. ZYMBOAON. A Noteworthy Use for a Persian Gold Phiale 379
A.D.H. Bivar (London)
16. Between Greece and Persia: Rhyta in Thrace from the Late 5th
to the Early 3rd Centuries B.C. 385
S. Ebbinghaus (Oxford)
17. Thracian Cult - from Practice to Belief 427
Z.H. Archibald (Liverpool)
18. Between West and East: Anatolian Roots of Local Cultures of
the Pontus 469
G.R. Tsetskhladze (London)
19. The Scythian 'Rule over Asia': the Classical Tradition and the
Historical Reality 497
A. Ivantchik (Moscow)
20. Greeks, Scythians and Hippake, or """"""""""Reading Mare's-Cheese" .... 521
D. Braund (Exeter)
21. Early Types of Greek Dwelling Homes in the North Black Sea .... 531
V.D. Kuznetsov (Moscow)
22. Some Classical Subjects on the Lite Hellenistic Sarmatian
Phalerae (to the Origin of Phalerae) 565
M. Treister (Moscow)
23. The Silver Aryballos from Vani 605
N. Gigolashvili (Tbilisi)
General Index 615
INTRODUCTION
Goeha R. Tsctskhladzc
In recent years the problem of the relationship between Greece and
(he other parts of the ancient world has become a more popular
subject for investigation than ever before. Most publications concen
trate Oil the Dark Age and the Orientalising period (for the latest
see: Langdon 1997;·. Maybe the Dark Age has, step by Step-, come
into the light (Snodgrass 1998, 12 39), but the question of Greek-
Near Eastern interactions continues under the shadow of hot debate.
We can list Near Eastern objects found in Greece, but the mechanics
of this cultural exchange remain largely a closed book to modern
scholarship (Popham 1994; Morris 1997; cf. Snodgrass 1998, 40-66).
The appearance of M.L. West's fine book (1997) sheds some light
on West Asiatie elements in Greek poetry and myth. It must be
noted that linguists are paying increased attention to these problems
(Woodard 1997; Bernal 1997), helping to place a few more bricks
in the foundations of our understanding of cultural interactions in
the Dark Age and Archaic period. Thanks to Greek colonisation,
and enormous efforts by classicists to understand this phenomenon,
we are in a better position to make sense of cultural interactions in
this period than in the Dark Age (cf. Guralnick 1997), although many
gaps remain in our knowledge. There are several questions to which
scholars cannot agree on the answers. For example, we still have
too little rounded investigation of the reasons for Greek colonisation
(cf. Snodgrass 1994, 1; Miller 1997, 12-30). Another unsolved prob
lem is who transported Euboean pottery. Docs the presence of the
pottery necessarily mean that the Euboeans themselves were present
(Morris 1998; Papadopoulos 1996; 1997; 1998; Boardman 1996;
Boardman and Popham 1997; Snodgrass 1994a; cf. Morel 1997;
Ridgway 1997; 1999; Criclaard 1999; Euboica 1998)? Many further
examples could be given. The contradictions arising between archae
ologists and historians arc another problem (Graham 1990, 52-4;
Boardman 1991; 1998; Tsetskhladze 1994, 111-2; 1998, 19).
This book is not intended to present a catalogue of Greek objects
found outside Greece and foreign objects found within Greece. Nor
is it concerned exclusively with Greek colonisation. Rather, it seeks
viii INTRODUCTION
to demonstrate the concepts of 'West' and 'East1 as held by ancient
Greeks (cf. Fischer-Hanscn 1988). Cultural exchange in Archaic and
Classical Greece through the establishment of Hellenic colonies around
the ancient world was no simple phenomenon. Cultural exchange
was always a two-way process. To achieve a proper understanding
of it requires study from ever)' angle. Practically all papers in this
volume try to combine the different types of evidence, discussing
them from every perspective. One notable feature of this is that
events arc also examined from the point of view of the locals, not
just from that of the Greeks. It is for readers and reviewers to judge
how successfully this has been achieved. I have tried hard to assem
ble contributors who provide new evidence and new interpretations
for every region of the ancient world in which Greeks settled. I
would like to believe that this volume contains an accurate portrayal
of the way of life of Greeks outside Greece, whilst local societies and
peoples are not forgotten; without them the concept of 'Ancieni
Greeks West and East' is impossible to interpret.
The first paper is by G.M. Bongard-Levin on M.I. RostovtzefF in
England. It may at first glance seem an odd paper to be included
here. There are several justifications: Rostovtzeff was one of the first
to pay attention to the problems discussed in this volume, and inter
est in him and his work has been rekindled of recent years, not least
thanks to the efforts of Bongard-Levin and the work of his Moscow-
based Centre for Comparative Studies of Ancient Civilisations. For
many years our colleagues have wondered why such an eminent
scholar as RostovtzefT, having come to Oxford, had to leave it.
Bongard-Levin found the answer in archives in the United States
and Great Britain. It is nothing new to find personal experience and
political trends influencing what we write and research. Bongard-
Levin's paper is a true demonstration of one extremely fine scholar's
sad personal experience of West and East in Oxford. But for this
experience many of RostovtzefT's books would not have made such
a huge impact on modern scholarship.
C. Tuplin's article is important for understanding the Greek view
of 'Others' and the opposition of West and East within the Greek
world. We have mainly Greek accounts of local societies, called 'bar
barian*; we are just beginning to pay attention to Near Eastern
sources reflecting their own history, but for the colonial world there
are no local written records. It is extremely important for us to
understand how Greeks themselves viewed other people and why
iNTRonnrnoN
their attitude towards them is usually unfavourable. Is the negative
information given by Greeks accurate, or is it a deliberate under
mining of 'barbarians' by Greeks, to underline Hellenic superiority
and to satisfy themselves, for example, that Athens was the very cen
tre of the civilised universe? I favour the latter view, and Tuplin
encapsulates the nature of Greek racism. This paper is the best intro
duction to much of what follows (cf. Coleman 1997; Lcflcowitz 1997;
Hoist-Warhaft 1997).
Written sources about colonisation and the establishment of col
onics arc very often sparse and difficult to use. Usually we have no
contemporary written narratives for the establishment of colonies.
J. Hind deals with Pomponius Mela's information on colonies in the
West and East, which can be better trusted for the West, of which
Pomponius Mela was a native, than for the P^ast.
J. Vanschoonwinkel discusses the starting point of cultural contacts
between West and Easl as is reflected in the culture of the Philistines,
showing that the red herring of investigating their supposed Aegean
origins has been pursued to the detriment of a proper appreciation
of their culture.
Two papers deal with Al Mina. Recently, a large collection of
pottery from this site has been catalogued by the British Museum,
and thus is open to study by these two specialists. At the same time
there has been the publication of Near Eastern Iron Age pottery
from this site. R. Kcarslcy examines levels 108, discussing Euboeans
at Al Mina and Assyrian attitudes towards this site. She re-exam
ines early interpretations of Al Mina and offers a new one. She
makes a vers welcome study of the Greek and Near Eastern liter
ary tradition to reconstruct the political situation in the 8th century
B.C. with reference to this site. J. Boardman examines all available
evidence from Sir Leonard Woollcy's excavations at Al Mina. He
has studied thoroughly Woollcy's records of the excavation and the
characteristics of various deposits. These detailed investigations bring
him to some crucial conclusions, linking levels to historical events in
Greece and the Near East. Once again he has given a clear and
convincing picture of the development of Al Mina and its character.
Several articles deal with the western Mediterranean. L. Moscati-
Castclnuovo and CJ. Smith discuss the role of myths and mytho
logical traditions as well as trade in the study of the colonial world:
how to extract reality and where to draw the line between it and
Greek embellishment and invention. The article by B. d'Agostino