Maritime Greek Trade

Partendo da una panoramica degli studi sulla rete di relazioni intercorse tra Numana e il mondo greco, il contributo si propone di approfondire la conoscenza di questo campo di indagine alla luce delle recenti ricerche. L’ambito cronologico di riferimento è compreso tra VI e IV sec. a.C., periodo che offre una ricca ed articolata documentazione costituita in gran parte dalle importazioni di ceramica attica, ma anche da altri prodotti dell’artigianato greco e magnogreco. L’analisi sarà condotta principalmente sulla scorta della documentazione funeraria e della lettura in contesto dei materiali, al fine di evidenziare non solo aspetti storico-commerciali legati all'acquisizione dei prodotti di importazione, ma anche di indagare il loro uso come fenomeno culturale.

Numana e Ancona, approdi costieri situati a sud e a nord del promontorio del Conero, sono stati da sempre luoghi di frontiera e sedi privilegiate non solo di commerci ad ampio raggio, ma anche di incontri tra popoli e culture diverse.
Dopo un’introduzione sulle ricerche pregresse su questi aspetti, il contributo si focalizza sull’analisi della documentazione archeologica di età preromana databile principalmente tra VI e III sec. a.C., in gran parte inedita.
L’indagine è condotta alla luce delle ricerche recentemente avviate sulle necropoli e sugli insediamenti di Numana e di Ancona e si incentra sui fenomeni di interazione culturale che si possono cogliere dall’analisi della ritualità funeraria e dei materiali di importazione e di produzione locale restituiti dai contesti abitativi e dalle necropoli.

Ευχαριστώ θερμά τον Στρατηγό, Νομικό και Συγγραφέα κ. Νικόλαο Τασιόπουλο για την τιμη που μου έκανε να συμπεριλάβει τη βιογραφία και το συγγραφικό έργο μου στο εξαιρετικό πόνημά του, το οποίο αναφέρεται στην προσφορά στις Επιστήμες και τις Τέχνες των απανταχού Γαλαξειδιωτών ανά τους αιώνες.https://www.dropbox.com/s/hptxwz5k4n6r4mr/%CE%B5%CE%BE%CF%89%CF%86%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%BE%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%B4%CE%B9.pdf?dl=0

Using deposits recently excavated from the Panayia Field, this volume substantially revises the absolute chronology of Corinthian Hellenistic pottery as established by G. Roger Edwards in Corinth VII.3 (1975). This new research, based on quantitative analysis of over 50 deposits, demonstrates that the date range for most fine-ware shapes should be lowered by 50-100 years. Contrary to previous assumptions, it is now possible to argue that local ceramic production continued in Corinth during the interim period between the destruction of the city in 146 B.C. and when it was refounded as a Roman colony in 44 B.C. This volume includes detailed shape studies and a comprehensive catalogue. With its presentation of this revised "Panayia Field chronology," Corinth VII.7 is a long-awaited and much-needed addition to the Corinth series.

For a long time, it has been assumed that the place names for the regions east of the Ganges in Claudius Ptolemy's geographical guide refer to loci in countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and China. The careful analysis of a few detailed map representations according to Ptolemy's text, however, leads to different and also surprising conclusions. In these geographical maps that were made at the end of the Middle Ages, at the beginning of the age of discovery, we could recognise the oldest charts of the territory of today's state of Myanmar, former Burma. Changes and continuity regarding the settlement history and landscape become particularly plain through the depictions.

In his treatise on cartography, Claudius Ptolemy also wrote about the Taprobane Island, which is Sri Lanka today. In the surviving text books of this work, vivid depictions of this island were enclosed. Compared to maps of the ancient island of Taprobane known to us, which were printed in the late 15th and in the 16th century, others contained in late mediaeval manuscripts show a multitude of details. Especially one map from Burney MS 111 and one other by Nicolaus Germanus offer unsurpassed accuracy. Unexpectedly, one can also detect much information contained in the drawings of the islands surrounding Taprobane on these depictions. Even identifications of present-day settlements and localities are better possible with these mediaeval hand-drawn maps.

Ένα από τα κύρια χαρακτηριστικά της Δήλου κατά την αρχαιότητα ήταν η μεγάλη ανάπτυξη του εμπορίου, ιδιαίτερα κατά την ύστερη ελληνιστική εποχή. Οι ανασκαφές αποκάλυψαν πολυάριθμες εμπορικές εγκαταστάσεις, δημόσιες και ιδιωτικές, που χρονολογούνται από την κλασική έως την ελληνιστική εποχή.
Τα κτήρια τριών οικοδομικών τετραγώνων, που βρίσκονται στη δυτική ακτή της Δήλου, ανήκουν στα πλέοναντιπροσωπευτικά δείγματα της δηλιακής εμπορικής αρχιτεκτονικής. Ανασκάφηκαν στις αρχές του 20ου αιώνα αλλά η συστηματική τους μελέτη ξεκίνησε πριν από μερικά χρόνια. Τα δύο νότια τετράγωνα αποτελούνται από ένα ενιαίο κτήριο το καθένα. Πρόκειται για δύο από τα μεγαλύτερα και καλύτερα διατηρημένα εμπορικά κτήρια
της Δήλου, που έλαβαν τις συμβατικές ονομασίες Εμπορικό κτήριο με το λουτήρα και Εμπορικό κτήριο με κίονες. Το τρίτο οικοδομικό τετράγωνο περιλαμβάνει ένα σύνολο ανεξάρτητων μεταξύ τους κτισμάτων, ανάμεσα στα οποία ταυτίστηκαν πολυάριθμες αποθήκες και δύο οικίες.
Η αρχιτεκτονική των κτηρίων και των τριών τετραγώνων είναι η γνωστή από τα υπόλοιπα ιδιωτικά κτήρια της Δήλου. Το πιο διαδεδομένο υλικό δομής είναι ο γνεύσιος, ενώ χρησιμοποιούνται σε μικρότερο βαθμό ο γρανίτης και το μάρμαρο. Ευρεία ήταν η χρήση του ξύλου, το οποίο δεν άφησε κατάλοιπα. Τα ευρήματα από την ανασκαφή υπήρξαν ελάχιστα και δεν βοηθούν στην ταύτιση των κτηρίων. Έτσι, η κατανόηση του τρόπου λειτουργίας τους βασίζεται σχεδόν αποκλειστικά στη μελέτη της τοπογραφίας της ευρύτερης περιοχής και της αρχιτεκτονικής διαρρύθμισής τους. Το συμπέρασμα που προκύπτει είναι ότι τα κτήρια αυτά χρησίμευαν ταυτόχρονα στην αποθήκευση και τη διαχείριση των εμπορευμάτων, στις συναντήσεις εμπόρων, ακόμη και στην προσωρινή διαμονή τους. Επιχειρείται στη συνέχεια η τοποθέτησή τους μέσα στο ευρύτερο πλαίσιο της εμπορικής αρχιτεκτονικής της Δήλου και του σύγχρονου ελληνορωμαϊκού κόσμου. Διαπιστώνεται έτσι η μοναδικότητα των
κτηρίων αυτών, που οφείλεται στις ιδιαίτερες ιστορικές συνθήκες που επικρατούσαν στο νησί κατά την ύστερη ελληνιστική εποχή.

In: Armit, I., Potrebica, H., Črešnar, M., Mason, P. & Büster, L. (eds) 2016. Cultural Encounters in Later Prehistoric Europe. Budapest: Archaeolingua.

This paper aims at analyzing cross-culture trade (i.e. trade between people of local origin and seaborne traders coming from Greek or Phoenician colonies or from Italy) in the northern part of the Iberian world (i.e. modern-days eastern Aragon, Catalonia and the southern part of the Languedoc), during the Iron Age and previously to the Roman invasion.  It will discuss the prevalent and often implicit assumption according which trade would have been made according to norms established by the seaborne traders themselves. It will briefly review the institutions of trade typical of the ancient Eastern and Central Mediterranean, and outline the materiality of such institutions. Through comparison, it will emphasize the specificities of the Iberian trading practices, mainly based on interpersonal relationship and mutual trust, and show that the seaborne traders adapted themselves to this peculiar reality. Last, it will discuss the modalities of this adaptation, by reconsidering the well-known Greek text of Pech-Maho (Sigean, Aude, France).

On the basis of evidence of written sources and modern meteorological data the article is examined briefly a question of the sailing seasons in the Black Sea (Pontus) in the Classical period. Particular attention is paid to practice of maritime grain trade between Pontus and Greece. As a result, in the article assumes that seasonal calendar of  Greek grain trade was largely defined by meteorological phenomena in the Bosphorus and the harvest schedule in the North Black Sea regions.

Transport amphorae were produced on the Western Anatolian coast and the nearby islands starting from the middle of the 7th century BC onwards. Klazomenai, Chios, Miletos, Samos and Lesbos were the leading production centers. The new data obtained in the recent years show that alongside these centers, transport amphorae were also produced in centers
like Erythrai, Ephesos, Knidos and Teos.