Contribution of epigraphy to the study on frontiers in the Ancient World: Thasos in Archaic and Classical periods

• Grant number: 14/15950-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2014
• Effective date (End): February 01, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Archeology - Historical Archaeology
• Acordo de Cooperação: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Maria Beatriz Borba Florenzano
• Grantee: Daniela Bessa Puccini
• Host Institution: Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 09/54583-1 - The organization of the chora: the Greek city and its hinterland, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 15/15067-9 - Routes and Pathways in the Construction of Spaces in Thasos in Archaic and Classical Times: A Survey of Primary Documentation, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

In this research we are aimed at discussing the concept of frontiers from the role played by the land routes - streets and roads - and by the sea in the polis of Thasos in archaic and classical periods. From the analysis of three epigraphical documents - the Stele from the Harbour, the Stele from Aliki and the Laws concerning Wine and Vinegar -, dated from the beginning to the end of V cent. B.C., the streets, roads and the sea will be discussed in the light of current debates on the frontiers studies in the Ancient World. According to Whittaker (1997 : 59) and Machado (1998 : 41-2), the frontier is not only the territorial boundary, but the point from which the polis expands. In the case of an island, that by definition has the coastal line as its direct frontier, it will be discussed the concept of seascape and peraia , the holdings of Thasos in the Thracian mainland, as elements of the frontier expansion. Thus the sea and the routes are boundaries and connections, the place where contacts and exchanges are projected and give dynamism to the polis life (idem). Thus, they fix the integration and the link between the different spaces of the polis: the insular city to peraia, the urban area to the countryside, the sanctuaries of the ásty to that of the khóra, the urban core to the komai. In the space of the ásty, the routes will link the outside to the inland, the public, pivate and sacred spaces, the oikos to the polis, the world of the labour to that of enjoyment. They will provide the contact between Greeks and Non Greeks, the inhabitants of the urban centre to that of the countryside, between men and women, between citizens, freeman and slaves. In these dynamic spaces of the daily life of the polis, instruments will be generated created to discipline the common life of the city. (AU)