Abstract
The purpose of this PhD dissertation is to examine under what political and social conditions the trade and the local economy of Sinope developed. The focus of our research interest is the Sinope region, aiming at exploring the relationship that this region maintained with other regions of Asia Minor and the wider Greek area. We focused on the period of the reign of Mithradates VI of Eupatorus (120-63 BC), but also included the archaeological and philological details of his predecessors, aiming at the best and most complete presentation, evaluation and analysis of the data.Sinope was the first colony of the Milesians on the south coast of the Black Sea, the subsequent metropolis of other colonies of the wider area and the last capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. So Sinope together with two other cities, Amisos and Amasia, acted as the gates of the Black Sea in the southern provinces of Anatolia.The economy, the fertile subsoil of Pontus, were an ideal choice for establishing colonies and ...
The purpose of this PhD dissertation is to examine under what political and social conditions the trade and the local economy of Sinope developed. The focus of our research interest is the Sinope region, aiming at exploring the relationship that this region maintained with other regions of Asia Minor and the wider Greek area. We focused on the period of the reign of Mithradates VI of Eupatorus (120-63 BC), but also included the archaeological and philological details of his predecessors, aiming at the best and most complete presentation, evaluation and analysis of the data.Sinope was the first colony of the Milesians on the south coast of the Black Sea, the subsequent metropolis of other colonies of the wider area and the last capital of the Kingdom of Pontus. So Sinope together with two other cities, Amisos and Amasia, acted as the gates of the Black Sea in the southern provinces of Anatolia.The economy, the fertile subsoil of Pontus, were an ideal choice for establishing colonies and the spread of trade, an activity that constitutes a way of fostering diplomatic relations between the regions involved. As a result, colony trade relations developed among the Black Sea region with the cities of western Asia Minor, the Aegean islands and Greece, as well as with other cities on the north and west coasts of the Black Sea.This thesis examines the commercial and economic relations of the southern coastline of the Black Sea and the Aegean, mainly during the Hellenistic period, with an emphasis on the area of Sinope. Particular emphasis is given to the political and social conditions that contributed to the development of the trade and local economy of Sinope.Through the bibliographical sources (ancient texts) and the archaeological material (inscriptions and coins), which were deployed and studied, an attemptis made to document the findings of this study and to identify possible gaps in the research.Byzantium, given its geographical position, benefited from the fungible products between the Mediterranean and Pontus. By the complete control of Byzantium over the ships that crossed there, the Byzantine authorities imposed a tax on products among the regions of Pontus and the Mediterranean. Taxing was detriment to traders. This led to the capitulation that put an end to the war between the Byzantium and Rhodes, whereupon the tax on fungible products was abolished. Anyone who controlled the Straits, was able to exert great economic influence.Heavy taxation has resulted in a significant reduction in the merchant's profits. This was the point that the traders complained against Byzantium in 220 B.C. Many scholars regard the Black Sea region as the main point of slave trade. On the western coasts of Istria and Odessa the Thracians captVIes were gathered, while along the southern coastline Sinope and Amisos were the territories of the trade of slaves from Paphlagonia and Bithynia. However, the people who traded slaves in the Mediterranean markets had also to go through these regions of Pontus and therefore Byzantium exercised control over the trade of the slaves. In 220 B.C. there was a particular influence on the fungible products of Rhodes and Sinope and the neighboring regions, and a possible closure of this passage for some time would create a greater loss of revenue for traders.The great boom in the sector of economy is also documented by the coins during the era of the governance of Mithridates VI of Eupatorus.Sinope in the era of the governance of Mithridates VI was an important center for the trade of wine and olVIe oil in the area, but also as an intermediary in commerce in the Aegean Sea, especially with Athens, as evidenced by the amphorae found there among the other fungible products such as cereals, fish, leather and wood.The political and military unification in Pontus, combined with the gold and silver coins that were being circulated in Asia Minor at the end of the 2nd century B.C., is part of the political propaganda that Mithridates VI exercised. However, the mintage of coins on the north coast was valid for payments within the Bosporus and neighboring territories.The amphorae from Sinope, both the sealed and the plain amphorae, may belong to the same morphologic type as the Sinope I type. However, new findings of different typology have emerged which gave the opportunity to process the hypothetical general shape of the evolution of the Sinope type in the later Roman times. The production of Sinope amphorae in the early Roman period is characterized by a variety of types, perhaps because this indicates the existence of two different traditions of production in the center of the city.The examination of the available historical and archaeological dataunveils the reign of Mithradates VI in the Black Sea region and the surrounding areas, particularly in the northern Black Sea region and western Asia Minor.This study is an attempt to better understand the available data to this day about the Pontus region and its inhabitants during the Hellenistic period and the early Roman Empire, providing more details on the study of the available archaeological material the recent archaeological research has revealed, but also contributing to the improvement of the knowledge of the structuring elements of the society of the Pontian kingdom.
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