THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN RHODES AND THE ORIENT: THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN IDENTITY RODIANA IN THE ANCIENT WORLD (700 BC - 480 BC)

• Grant number: 22/14988-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Viviana Lo Monaco
• Grantee: Rodrigo de Oliveira Curriel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil

Abstract

When approaching antiquity and the cultural influences promoted between East and West, we recall the Mediterranean Sea as a central and Basilar figure in western culture and its history. It possessed this centrality both because of its vastness and because it connected different communities that played important roles in the construction of customs in antiquity. This project seeks to demonstrate how the relationship between the West and the Near East promoted changes in the construction of a Rhodian identity. To do this, it is necessary to conduct a study on one of the main forms of interaction that took place in the Mediterranean Sea, that is, commercial exchanges. We focus on the Archaic Period (700 BC- 480 BC), marked by the expansion of Greek culture through its colonies by the presence of other communities, such as the Phoenicians, who practiced maritime commerce throughout the Mediterranean Sea. From this point, my research addresses the construction of the identity of the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, a fundamental territory for Mediterranean trade due to its geographical position. The material culture shows that the multiple contacts with the East qualify a complex phenomenon of the exchanges made with these groupings. The amphorae, sculptures, and scepters found in the necrópolis constitute our main study materials in order to understand the process that took place in Rhodes and the Greek World. Through This research, we aim to understand the neworks approached by scholars, who promoted a study or approached by scholars, who promoted a research or approached the relations among peoples in antiquity and commercial exchanges made between them in the Mediterranean Sea.