The Danubian Lands

between the Black,

Aegean and Adriatic Seas

(7th Century BC – 10th Century AD)

Proceedings of the Fifth International
Congress on Black Sea Antiquities
(Belgrade – 17-21 September 2013)

edited by
Gocha R. Tsetskhladze, Alexandru Avram
and James Hargrave

Archaeopress Archaeology
 Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
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ISBN 978 1 78491 192 8

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Table of Contents

Principal Editor’s Preface������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ vii

Gocha R. Tsetskhladze
Message from the President of the Congress����������������������������������������������������������������������� ix
Sir John Boardman
Welcome by the Secretary-General��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi
Gocha R. Tsetskhladze

List of Illustrations and Tables��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii

List of Abbreviations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ xxi

Opening Lecture
Black Sea cultures and peoples����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������3
Miroslava Mirković

Section 1: The Black Sea Greek Colonies and their Relationship with the Hinterland
Greeks, locals and others around the Black Sea and its hinterland:
recent developments�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������11
Gocha R. Tsetskhladze

Feasting and diplomacy in colonial behaviour in the northern Black Sea����������������������������43

Ivy Faulkner

The Black Sea area in Xenophon’s Anabasis�������������������������������������������������������������������������49

Luigi Gallo

Hegemony and political instability in the Black Sea and Hellespont

after the Theban expedition to Byzantium in 364 BC�����������������������������������������������������������53
José Vela Tejada

Femmes et pouvoir chez les peuples des steppes eurasiatiques�����������������������������������������59

Marta Oller

The Bosporus after the Spartocid kings��������������������������������������������������������������������������������63

Stefania Gallotta

Leuce Island as a part of the Pontic contact zone: constructing a sacred Topos������������������67
Ruja Popova

Sinope and Colchis: colonisation, or a Greek population in ‘poleis barbaron’?�������������������73

Jan G. de Boer

Greek colonies and the southern Black Sea hinterland: looking closer into
a long, complex and multidimensional relationship������������������������������������������������������������81
Manolis Manoledakis

Phrygia and the southern Black Sea littoral�������������������������������������������������������������������������91

Maya Vassileva

i
Perception and the political approach to foreigners of the West Pontic Greek colonies
during the Hellenistic period������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������97
Alina Dimitrova

The Greek colonisation of Abkhazia in the light of new archaeological discoveries:

the palaeogeographic, ecological and demographic situation in Sukhum Bay����������������� 101
Alik Gabelia

New data on the dynamics of relations between Greeks and Barbarians at the mouth
of the Tanais river in the final stage of Scythian history (5th-3rd centuries BC)��������������� 105
Viktor P. Kopylov

Greek colonisation of the European Bosporus������������������������������������������������������������������ 109

Viktor Zinko and Elena Zinko

The Cimmerians: their origins, movements and their difficulties������������������������������������� 119

Ioannis K. Xydopoulos

Section 2: The Danube and the Black Sea Region

Verbindung zwischen dem Schwarzen Meer und der Adriatik durch Ozean
und/oder Donau im Weltbild der archaischen Griechen��������������������������������������������������� 127
Alexander V. Podossinov

Between the Euxine and the Adriatic Seas: ancient representations

of the Ister (Danube) and the Haemus (Balkan mountains)
as frames of modern South-Eastern Europe��������������������������������������������������������������������� 133
Anca Dan

Cultural Transfers and artistic exchanges between the Adriatic and Black Seas,
4th century BC������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
Maria Cecilia D’Ercole

Celts in the Black Sea area������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159

Jan Bouzek

Antonia Tryphaina im östlichen dynastischen Netzwerk��������������������������������������������������� 169

Victor Cojocaru

Wine for the Avar elite? Amphorae from Avar period burials in the Carpathian Basin���� 175
Gergely Csiky and Piroska Magyar-Hárshegyi

Sur quelques inscriptions possiblement tomitaines���������������������������������������������������������� 183

Alexandru Avram

The ecclesiastical network of the regions on the western and

northern shores of the Black Sea in late antiquity������������������������������������������������������������ 189
Dan Ruscu

Religion and society on the western Pontic shore������������������������������������������������������������ 197

Ligia Ruscu

L’Europe du sud-est chez les géographes de l’époque impériale:

continuités et ruptures������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 205
Mattia Vitelli Casella

Colonisation in the urban and rural milieu of Noviodunum (Moesia Inferior)������������������ 213
Lucreţiu Mihailescu-Bîrliba

Aquileian families through Pannonia and Upper Moesia�������������������������������������������������� 219

Leonardo Gregoratti

ii
The city of Tomis and the Roman army: epigraphic evidence������������������������������������������ 223
Snežana Ferjančić

The imperial city of Justiniana Prima as a paradigm of Constantinopolitan

influence in the Central Balkans��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 229
Olga Špehar

Empreintes et originaux: les monnaies avec monogramme BAE������������������������������������� 235

Pascal Burgunder

The Roman harbour of Ariminum and its connections with the Aegean
and the Black Sea������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 243
Federico Ugolini

L’Istros dans l’horizon géographique ancien: un aperçu historique sur les

traditions et les connaissances géographiques concernant son bassin��������������������������� 249
Immacolata Balena

De la mer Égée jusqu’aux Carpates: la route du vin de Rhodes vers la Dacie������������������ 255
Dragoş Măndescu

Section 3: Roman and Byzantine Limes. Varia

Women at the verge: Roman and Byzantine women on the Danubian Limes����������������� 263
Il Akkad and Milena Joksimović

Funerary images of women in tomb frescos of the Late Antique

and Early Byzantine period from the Central Balkans������������������������������������������������������ 269
Jelena Anđelković Grašar

Regarding the fall of the Danubian Limes with special reference

to Scythia Minor in the 7th century��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 277
Gabriel Custurea and Gabriel Mircea Talmaţchi

Some East Pontic amphorae of Roman and Early Byzantine times���������������������������������� 283
Andrei Opaiţ

Some thoughts about Seleucid Thrace in the 3rd century BC������������������������������������������ 293
Adrian George Dumitru

Eastern Crimea in the 10th-12th centuries AD: similarities and differences�������������������� 299
Vadim V. Maiko

Les Romains en mer Noire: depuis les villes greques au IIe siècle après J.-C.������������������ 315
Livio Zerbini

Castles made of sand? Balkan Latin from Petar Skok to J.N. Adams�������������������������������� 323
Vojin Nedeljković

Ancient coins on Bulgarian lands (1st century BC-5th century AD):

the archetype of Dominance/Power–God/Emperor/King on a Throne���������������������������� 329
Sasha Lozanova

Ceramics from the Danubian provinces on sites of the Chernyakhov-Sîntana

de Mureş culture�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 337
Boris Magomedov

Section 4: New Excavations and Projects

Thracia Pontica: Apollonia, Mesambria et al. A comparative archaeometrical
approach�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 355
Pierre Dupont

iii
Old digs, new data: archaeological topography of the southern part of the acropolis
of Istros during the Greek period (the Basilica Pârvan Sector)������������������������������������������ 363
Valentin-Victor Bottez

Stratégies coloniales et réseaux d’occupation spatiale gètes sur le littoral

de la Dobroudja du Nord: les acquis du Programme ANR Pont-Euxin������������������������������� 371
Alexandre Baralis et Vasilica Lungu

Rock-cut monuments in Thrace and Phrygia: new perspectives from

the Gluhite Kamani project����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 387
Lynn E. Roller

Deultum-Debeltos: archaeological excavation of the street spaces

and structures, 2004-13���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 395
Hristo Preshlenov

The civic centre of Archaic Borysthenes: a new approach to localisation������������������������� 403

Dmitry Chistov

Changes in the structure of faunal remains at the settlement on

Berezan island (northern Black Sea) during its existence�������������������������������������������������� 415
Aleksei Kasparov

Using, reusing and repairing pottery: the example of two small Bosporan centres –
Tanais and Tyritake (everyday life, economic status, wealth and
the resourcefulness of the population)����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 423
Marcin Matera

Excavation of Ash Hill 2 in Myrmekion������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 431

Alexander M. Butyagin

Lesale, an unknown centre in western Colchis������������������������������������������������������������������ 437

Annegret Plontke Lüning

Recent discoveries at Tios and its territory����������������������������������������������������������������������� 441

Sümer Atasoy and Şahin Yıldırım

The rescue excavation of the Selmanli tumulus in Kastamonu����������������������������������������� 445

Şahin Yıldırım

New findings on the history and archaeology of the Eastern Black Sea region
of Turkey: the excavation of Cıngırt Kayası������������������������������������������������������������������������ 453
Ayşe F. Erol

On settlement problems in north-western Anatolia (Zonguldak region)

from the 7th century BC to the Roman period������������������������������������������������������������������ 463
Güngör Karauğuz

Achaemenid presence at Oluz Höyük, north-central Anatolia������������������������������������������ 467

Şevket Dönmez

New data about Roman painted pottery discovered at Cioroiu Nou,

Dolj county, Romania��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 475
Dorel Bondoc

The cooking devices of Apollonia Pontica (Bulgaria): preliminary study of

the specificities of the ceramic assemblage of this Greek colony������������������������������������� 481
Laurent Claquin

The construction of Marcianopolis: local and imported stone production and

the relationship with the West Pontic colonies during the Principate������������������������������ 491
Zdravko Dimitrov

iv
An architectural complex in the north-western part of the Chersonesian fortress
belonging to the Chaika settlement in the north-western Crimea������������������������������������ 495
Tatyana Egorova and Elena Popova

Christian buildings in the fortress of Anacopia������������������������������������������������������������������ 505

Suram Sakania

Appendix 1
Programme: Fifth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities................................... 512

Appendix 2
Summaries of papers: Fifth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities.................... 518
Contributors/lead authors and contact details (published papers).................................... 561

v
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium
Sinope and Colchis: colonisation, or a Greek population
in ‘poleis barbaron’?
Jan G. de Boer
(University of Amsterdam)
The idea that the later Greek colony of Sinope (Fig. 1) on
the southern Black Sea coast was named after a mythical
nymph or Amazon has already been hotly debated since the
late 1930s.1 It became clear, however, that a mythological
origin of Sinope’s name is an Archaic Boeotian2 or later
invention.3 It is much more likely that that the name of
Sinope, as already claimed by John Garstang, has a Hittite
origin, probably being developed from the Hittite Sinuwa
or Sinuua, meaning ‘home of the tomb’ – referring to the
tomb of a king.4 Continuation of the name of an earlier
settlement by the Greeks is not unique. For example,
the name Mesambria for the Greek sites on the western
Black Sea and the northern Aegean coast is Thracian.
Following this line of thought, it is possible that Sinope
already existed during the Hittite period or even earlier.5
But, in fact, the history and foreign contacts of the south-
eastern Black Sea coast span approximately six millennia.
During the Late Chalcolithic (4000-3000 BC), ceramics at
Sinope, Ikiztepe, Dündartepe and Samsun resemble those
of Turkish Thrace, the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and
even the northern Pontic area.6 The same maritime koine,
otherwise now called the ‘Circumpontic Metallurgical
Province’, seems to have existed during the Early Bronze
Age,7 while the Chalcolithic ‘pan Black Sea pottery
interaction’8 now seems to be supplemented by Bronze
Age (metal)trade in the region itself,9 to the south,10 and
to the ‘Maikop culture’ in the north.11 The area between
present-day Sinop and Trabzon was connected, through a
side branch, with the so-called early Bronze Age III ‘Great
Caravan Route’ between Cilicia and Troy,12 and during
the Middle Bronze Age to the trade network of the Old
Assyrian colony period, in which the trade of copper to
Kanesh in the south involved the exchange of wool to the
north.13 The ‘Great Sea’ of Hittite sources was probably
the Black Sea, as Hittite trade during the Old Kingdom
penetrated to Amisos and Sinope on the Black Sea coast.14
1
Bowra 1938, 213-21; Braund 2005, 110; 2009; 2010, 17; Ivantchik
1997, 36-37; 1998, 299-305; 2005, 137-42; West 2002, 132.
2
Bowra 1938, 217.
3
Braund 2009; 2010, 16, n. 4, 17.
4
Garstang 1929, 74.
5
Dönmez 2005, 263.
6
Thissen 1993, 207, Bauer 2006, 232, Ivanova 2012a, 359.
7
Yakar 1975, 138; Efe 2004, 35; Bauer 2006, 233; Zimmerman 2007, 30;
Nikolova 2008, 165; Bauer 2011, 176.
8
Bauer 2013, 18.
9
Özdemir et al. 2010, 1040.
10
Kohl 2006, 17.
11
Edens 1995, 53; Ivanova 2007, 21; 2012, 54.
12
Efe 2007, 48.
13
Kuhrt 1998, 23; Barjamovic 2008, 98; Lassen 2010, 171.
14
Maksimova 1951, 80. For instance, the remains of oysters, discovered
in the early layers of Hattusha, probably originated from the Black Sea
73
Interesting in this case is the location of the Hittite town
of Zalpa on or near the Black Sea coast. According to a
Hittite legend, king Anumhirwe conquered a town called
Zalpa, which was situated at the mouth of the Kizil-Irmak
near Bafra, in order to get a grip on the trade in this region.15
This is an indication that Sinope could be identified with
Zalpa, together with the sites of Ikiztepe near Samsun16
and Oymaağač Höyük near Vezirkopru, though this last
site is identified as the Hittite holy town of Nerik.17
This region was lost by the Hittites at the end of the Old
Kingdom and never re-conquered again.18
During the New Kingdom, the area bordering the southern
Black sea coast was occupied by the Kashka. The general
opinion of the Kashka tribe is that it consisted of nomadic
people, coming from the north, who penetrated into
northern Anatolia in the second half of the 2nd millennium,19
although more recent theories say that they had a Phrygian
and/or Thracian origin and arrived by sea,20 or that they
were the remains of the original Hatti population of
Anatolia, pushed by the Hittites to the extreme north.21
Another regular opinion is that the Kashka tribe had
no settlements. The fact, however, that Hittite textual
references indicate that the Kashka maintained a standing
force of regular troops, that they employed chariots, that
some of their leaders ruled like kings,22 and that they
were able to resist the mighty Hittite army for hundreds
of years makes this very unlikely.23 In this line of thought,
it is not impossible that settlements like Nerik and Sinope
existed and were involved in trade also during the rule of
the Kashka tribes. The fact that Hittite objects were found
in Sinope and Amisos24 and that this latter settlement was
captured by the Hittite king Mursili25 strengthens again the
evidence for the existence of both settlements during this
period.
The reason for this rather long and exhaustive introduction
to the area under discussion is that the history of the
southern and eastern Black Sea coast has to be seen, as
(Genz 2011, 322).
15
Haas 1977, 17.
16
Haas 1977, 18.
17
<http://www.nerik.de/oezet/>..
18
Corti 2010, 93.
19
Singer 2007, 168.
20
Woudhuizen 2012, 265.
21
Glatz and Matthews 2005, 55-59.
22
von Schuler 1965, 73; Glatz and Matthews 2005, 56; Singer 2007, 169.
23
Glatz and Matthews 2005, 54-56.
24
Maksimova 1951, 75.
25
Garstang 1943, 38; Houwink ten Cate 1979, 165-67.
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium

The Danubian Lands between the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas

Fig. 1: The walls of Sinop (after a 19th-century engraving by Jules Laurens).

already proposed by Owen Doonan,26 in a long-term

perspective that accords with the models of Fernand
Braudel27 and Horden and Purcell.28 This long-term history
of an area with an extremely complicated history indicates
a long tradition of stable commercial settlements in which
Ionian migration is only a part of the whole picture.

After the fall of the New Hittite kingdom and the migration
of the Kashka to the east, the south-eastern Black Sea
coast seems to have been inhabited by a group which were
called Leuko (White) Syrians by the Greeks and who were
probably descendants of the Semitic Assyrian traders of
the Colony period.29 During this period, Sinope, Amisos
and the hinterland had close contacts with the Balkans,
the Caucasus and the Ukrainian steppes, indicated by the
resembling architecture of semi-pit-houses, pottery30 and
the remains of seasonal settlements of fishermen from the
Fig. 2: The south-eastern Black Sea coast with several
northern Black Sea region, following the fish migration.31 Iron Age sites (after Dönmez 2007, 151).
Ps.-Skymnos (943) clearly stated that Sinope was a
Leuko-Syrian city when the first Ionian Greeks arrived
there, more or less confirmed by Xanthos of Lydia, who
writes that the mother of the Lydian king Gyges came Pteria, Ikiztepe and Zindankaya near Samsun,32 proves
from the town of Sinope around 720 BC. According to that they were able to defend their settlements effectively
Herodotus, the invading Cimmerians stayed in or near against foreign intruders (Fig. 2). In theory, it is possible
Sinope (Herodotus 4. 12), but the fact that they killed the that Sinope was already a Greek colony in the 8th century
Ionian Greek Habron (Ps.-Skymnos 943) does not mean BC,33 being wiped out by the Cimmerians, but, in the 8th
that Sinope was already a Greek colony in 8th century century BC, the Ionian cities were hardly developed as
BC. It is much more likely that the Cimmerians raided this trading towns, the Phrygian and Lydian kingdoms would
area, killing some of the first Ionian traders here. The fact have prevented colonisation in this period and there is a
that the Leuko-Syrians built fortresses at Akalan, probably lack of archaeological material. Thus, all of these make
this extremely unlikely.
26
Doonan 2010, 68.
27
Braudel 1972.
28
Horden and Purcell 2000.
Eusebius (Chronographia 01 37. 2) gives a date for the
29
Dan 2011, 97; Summerer 2008, 264. Greek foundation at Sinope in 633 BC, while Ps.-Skymnos
30
Doonan 2004, 57-59; Tsetskhladze 2000, 165; 2005, 213; for metalwork,
see Stoljanov 2000, 61. 32
Dönmez 2002, 243; 2004, 67; 2007; 2010, 167.
31
Doonan 2009, 72. 33
Burnstein 1976, 14.

74
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium
J.G. de Boer: Sinope and Colchis: colonisation, or a Greek population in ‘Poleis Barbaron’?
Fig. 3: The Greek settlements in the Black Sea area (after Tsetskhladze 1998a, 23).
(986-995) suggests a double foundation, one in the 8th
and a second at the beginning of the 6th century BC, both
probably based on Phlegon of Tralles who, in turn, was
probably based on Demetrius of Callatis and Hecateus of
Miletus.34 Excavations in Sinope during the early 1950s
gave no indication of an early foundation date, except one
unpublished sherd of SiArchaic 1c from the last decades
of the 7th century35 and a relatively small quantity of Late
Corinthian and Attic material from the first four decades
of the 6th century BC, all among large amounts of local
ware.36 Eusebius, strangely enough, dates an emporion of
Sinope, Trapezus, already to 757 BC. However, if there
was an 8th-century BC settlement there, it may have been
a Leuko-Syrian settlement made for trade with Urartu and
which probably did not survive the Cimmerian invasions.
Anyway, the higher date of Trapezus is, according to
John Hind, based on a mistake in a later translation of
the Armenian version of Eusebius’ Chronographia.37 At
Sinope, there is no evidence for Archaic and Classical
Greek involvement outside the town itself, while large
scale amphorae exports only started in the Late Classical
period.38 Greeks from Sinope should have immediately
founded the following emporia: to the west Kytoros, to
the east Cotyora, Kerasus and Trapezus, the latter probably
already in Colchian territory (Fig. 3). Unluckily, not one of
these sites is properly excavated, at least not in respect of
pre-Roman period.39
34
Hind 1999, 26; Boshnakov 2004, 117; Ivantchik 2005, 144; Dan 2009,
83.
35
Graham 1990, 52.
36
Akurgal and Budde 1956.
37
Hind 1988, 2013.
38
Doonan 2007, 616.
39
Erciyas 2007.
75
Amisos too was a Leuko-Syrian city before the first
Greeks arrived: archaeological finds clearly demonstrate
the existence of a pre-colonial settlement.40 On the whole
stretch of the Cappadocian Black Sea coast, the site of
Amisos is the only place where there is an open road into
the interior (which led to the Phrygian settlement at former
Hattusas where early Greek pottery from about 600 BC
is found).41 The first Greek pottery from Amisos itself is
a little later than 600 BC and it seems that Amisos was
for most of its pre-Roman existence inhabited by a mixed
population and surrounded by Leuko-Syrian settlements.42
Unlike the Greeks in Sinope, those at Amisos seem to have
been particularly interested in the hinterland on account
of the trading routes into the interior, and archaeological
evidence confirms a close link between Greeks and the
native population.43 According to Strabo (12. 3. 4), at
some time after the foundation of Amisos, a Cappadocian
chief (archon), Timades, enlarged Amisos, which means
that the city came under the control of the Cappadocians.
The rich Hellenistic tomb which was discovered near
Amisos is an anomaly in the necropolis of a Greek
colony,44 although a similar one was found at Kumkapi
near Sinope.45 While tombs can be found in the Greek
necropolises on the western and northern Pontic coast,
these large and rich ones can only be compared with the
Scythian and Thracian tombs of those regions, such as
one long-vanished near Sozopol,46 and form a strong
40
Bilabel 1920, 28; Summerer 2007, 29.
41
Summerer 2007, 30.
42
Summerer 2007, 29.
43
Summerer 2008, 265.
44
Erciyas 2006, 67-114.
45
Doonan 2004, 73.
46
Degrand 1905, 302.
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium
The Danubian Lands between the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas
indication for a continuous presence of Cappadocian
rulers, at least at Amisos.
During the second half of the 7th century BC, the eastern
Black Sea coast went through considerable changes as
some Scythains, retreating from the Near East, settled in the
area of modern-day Abkhazia. The coast of the Colchian
depression was not depopulated like that of some parts of
the northern and western Black Sea coast. Accordingly,
here the first Greek traders and settlers met a strong tribe-
related government of a new mixed aristocracy of Scythian,
Iranian and Colchian origin. The earliest Ionian imports in
Colchis from the first third of the 6th century BC are very
small in quantity47 which does not prove a Greek presence,
let alone Greek colonisation, in this area.48 Herodotus does
not mention any Greek towns or settlements in Colchis, nor
does Xenophon any Greek colony north of Trapezus. The
Greeks are supposed to have founded at least four colonies
in present-day Georgia: Phasis, Gyenos, Dioscuria (Fig.
3), while the ancient name of the site of Pichvnari may
not have survived, though the name Cygnum or Cycnum
is proposed.49 Pichvnari lies inland from the Black Sea
and was occupied in the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
An area near the sea was used for burials by the native
Colchian population and immigrant Greeks, at first in
separate cemeteries, but by the Hellenistic period in one.50
The Greeks are attested at Pichvnari during the second
part of the 6th century BC and were apparently poor, but
this situation changed in the middle of the 5th century
BC, possibly through an influx of Sinopean refugees
after the Athenian intervention at Sinope by Pericles in
438/7 BC.51 Regardless of the discussion about the truth
of this story, it is clear that during the second part of the
5th century BC there is strong archaeological evidence
for an Athenian presence in Sinope, as well as in Amisos
and Pichvnari. Vani, in inland Colchis, also seems to have
had trade relations with Athens during the same period.52
After the defeat of the Athenians by the Macedonians of
Philip II around 330 BC, the Attic population at Pichvnari
dwindled and the leading role in trade with Colchis was
assumed again by Sinope. Immigrants from Sinope started
to arrive once more and Sinopean amphorae started to
appear in Colchis in larger quantities than those from any
other production centre, although the number of amphora-
stamps found in Colchis is still completely insignificant
compared with other areas of the Black Sea coast. Another
Greek settlement on the eastern Black sea coast was
Phasis, allegedly situated near the town of Poti on the
River Rioni, founded as an oppidum by the Milesians
under the leadership of Themistagoras.53 (This may refer to
a trader of Sinopean origin as the name Themistagoras was
well known in Sinope.54) A constitution of the Phasians is
known, but Strabo (11. 2. 16-17) calls Phasis an emporion
47
Tsetskhladze 1994, 80.
48
Sens 2009, 53-56; Tsetskhladze 2013a, 74.
49
Inadze 2004, 40.
50
Vickers and Kakhidze 2001, 66.
51
Surikov 2001, 354; de Boer 2005, 167.
52
Braund 1994, 114.
53
Lordkipanidze 2000, 54.
54
Hind 1999, 32.
76
of the Colchians and not a Greek city. A very interesting
site is the supposed Greek colony of Gyenos, mentioned
by Ps.-Stcylax (81), which, allegedly, was situated near
the present-day town of Ochamchire and is dated to about
the middle of the 6th century BC. The dwellings at the
site, wooden buildings and dugouts, were modest in the
extreme, while there were some traces of craft production,
agriculture and animal husbandry, fishing and hunting. It
is not very different from several other Colchian sites in
its neighbourhood and was probably a Colchian trading
station for Sinope and Athens. Farther north, on the coast
near the town of Sukhumi, lie the remains of the Archaic
and Classical city of Dioscuria, now underwater, while the
Hellenistic town is presently covered by the modern one.
In burials near the town, some weapons and helmets of
Attic and Corinthian type were found. But weapons are
also found in some Colchian towns in the hinterland, such
as Vani and at the site of Sairkhe, indicating that Greek
weapons were also used by Colchian warriors. None of
the Greek settlements in Colchis had more than a very
small chora, but they were situated in a good position to
act as intermediaries between Ionia and the northern Black
Sea coast. Brown-clay amphorae of the so-called variant
A type, sometimes stamped, were produced in Colchian
territory from the middle of the 4th century BC onwards
(Fig. 4). These were based on Sinopean models and were
probably made by migrating Sinopean potters using local
clay and temper from Trapezus.55 Potters from Sinope also
migrated to Chersonesus during this period, while those of
Heraclea Pontica probably worked in Apollonia Pontica.56
This is but a brief overview of the existing material.57 It
suggests the following conclusions: the south-eastern
and eastern Black Sea coast had already a millennia-
long history of foreign contacts before the first Ionian
immigrants arrived; the Greek presence at Sinope was
part of a larger spatial and temporal process in which
links with the Crimea were already established in earlier
periods; the presence and trading of these groups of
Ionian migrants should not be studied as a phenomenon
on its own, ‘Greek colonisation’, but as a part of a long-
term historical development; the evidence from ancient
authors and archaeology gives a rough sketch of small
groups of immigrants, mostly traders and artisans,
living in local communities and committed to their own
religious practices, at least until the Late Classical period;
a powerful tribe-related state in the hinterland prevented
the foundation of Greek settlements with an independent
economy, based on a large chorai with agricultural territory
of their own and forced their economies to be largely
based on trade; naturally friendship was forced upon the
Greeks by being a small minority, and their relationship
was probably based on tribute, tax and bribery.58 The
question can be asked if most Greek sites on the southern
Black Sea coast, in Colchis and even on the northern Black
55
Tsetskhladze and Vnukov 1992.
56
de Boer 2008, 113.
57
For a lengthy discussion, see Tsetskhladze 1998b; and now
Tsetskhladze 2013b.
58
Tsetskhladze 2010.
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium

J.G. de Boer: Sinope and Colchis: colonisation, or a Greek population in ‘Poleis Barbaron’?

Fig. 4: Colchian variant A type amphorae

(after Tsetskhladze and Vnukov 1992, figs. 3-4).

Sea coast were really Greek colonies,59 at least until the
Late Classical or Hellenistic period – and then possibly
only Sinope and Phasis and due to Athenian interaction.
Many inhabitants could have been the children of mixed
marriages as ‘Greekness’ was not very important, at least
in the Archaic period and so far from the homeland.60
59
See, for instance, Solovyov 2007, 534.
60
On Greeks adopting their way of life to local physical and other
conditions, see Tsetskhladze 1997.
In this case, it would be interesting to combine Irad
Malkin’s ideas about the so-called middle ground – based
on actors and connectors, such as the activities of mobile
individuals, and in which local groups adapted Greek
practices or cultural products and integrated these into
their existing cultures resulting in some kind of hybridity61
– with Charles Knappet’s network theory based on the
detailed archaeological data for production, distribution
61
Malkin 2004; 2011.

77
 Copyright material: no unauthorized reproduction in any medium
The Danubian Lands between the Black, Aegean and Adriatic Seas
and consumption,62 an idea already proposed in general
for Greek Archaic migration.63 Many settlements on the
southern and eastern Black Sea coast, such as Amisos,
Trapezus, the site at Pichvnari, Gyenos and Dioscuria, are
too easily called Greek cities. One should consider some of
these settlements as ‘poleis barbaron’ with a large Greek
population, involved in trade, being the commercial force
as the Greeks, Jews and Armenians were on this coast
during the Ottoman period.
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