ABDERA, A TRADE AND CULTURAL NEXUS BETWEEN THE AEGEAN SEA AND THE THRACIAN HINTERLAND
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-17

One of the main aims of the Archaeological Project of Abdera and Xanthi (APAX) is the understanding of the relations between different cultural groups. The first colonisation episode at Abdera took place in the mid-7th century BC when colonists from Clazomenai in Asia Minor established a polis in coastal Thrace. One of the first activities at Abdera was the erection of a fortification wall for protection from the indigenous Thracian tribes, the conflict between them has been confirmed by texts of the Archaic period. A unique occurrence at Abdera is that there was a second colonisation episode with new colonists from Teos in coastal Asia Minor that took place in the mid-6th century BC. Despite the conflicts between the Greek colonists and the Thracian tribes for land, there was close interaction between the two groups in cultural, economic and political level. The available information regarding the Thracians, their culture and the character of their interaction with the Greeks is known to a limited extent. APAX has shed more light for the first time on the character of the settlements, economy and the culture of the Thracians in a regional scale. Moreover, they allow a broader understanding of the diachronic relations between the Greek colonists and the indigenous Thracians. The success of Abdera as a colony is based on its economy and use of its large port in a regional trade that encompassed northern and eastern Aegean. The presence of a military ship-shed, the local production of amphora and the importation of numerous amphorae from the Aegean reveal the degree of exchanges through the sea. At the same time Abdera acted as a nexus of Thracian produce that reached this polis from the Thracian hinterland and were exchanged through its busy port to the broader Aegean.


Author(s): Georgiadis, Mercourios (Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham) - Garcia, Arnau (University of Cambridge) - Kefalidou, Eurydice (University of Athens) - Kallintzi, Constantina (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)