Interaction Networks between Greeks and non-Greeks: The Frontier Phrouria in the Hinterland of Greek Sicily

Author(s)

Viviana Lo Monaco

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia (MAE)
• Defense date: 2018-09-17

Examining board members

Maria Beatriz Borba Florenzano; Christiane Teodoro Custodio; Elaine Farias Veloso Hirata; José Roberto Pellini; Marcelo Candido da Silva

• Advisor: Maria Beatriz Borba Florenzano

Abstract

Ancient Greek literature has given us a rich vocabulary to describe the way of life of Hellenic peoples throughout the Mediterranean. These same words were used to define the urban and social organization of non-Greek peoples, whose structures and original lexica are largely unknown to us. From the classic era onwards, the principal meaning of the noun phrourion is fort, or fortified outpost, and the Roman, but culturally and linguistically Greek, historian Diodorus Siculus, writing about Greek language and culture, alternates the term with polis to refer to indigenous cities. Scholars of Greek Sicily now use phrouria to refer to native cities still displaying a strongly Hellenic character after their contact with the apoikoi. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the so-called phrouria of central Sicily, Sicania, with particular emphasis upon the landscapes in which they developed, their urban and extraurban structures, and the material culture evidence for interactions between Greeks and non- Greeks, from the end of the 7th until the 4th century BC. Despite its apparent geographic isolation, this region was part of networks that interconnected diverse areas of the Mediterranean basin since the Neolithic. In the first half of the 6th century BC, the region entered the orbit of interest of the Rhodian-Cretan component, entangling predominantly pacific relations that were determined by historical contingencies and the needs and interests of different players. In line with the new political reality, indigenous cities played specific roles that were based upon their location and the cultural factors that distinguished them. It can be observed that the choice of settlement location, the organization of urban space, and the natives\' relationship with the new monetary economy, are eloquent expressions of the new cultural reality which begun from the first moment of contact with the Greeks. While still adopting, in some cases, Hellenic architectural forms, local populations organized the land differently to the typical orthogonal scheme of the apokiai. Equally, the monetary system as a barter vehicle was accepted with difficulty. People continued to prefer weighted metal and, as a result, heavy bronze coins from Akragas were the most widespread currency, continuing to circulate long after their official emission. Native settlements continued to be located on top of hills until the end of the 5th century, and it is proposed here that this trend started to change only from the 4th century onwards, when local citizens joined with mercenaries of largely peninsular origin. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/03580-3 - Interaction networks between Greeks and non-greeks: the frontier fruria in the hinterland of Greek Sicily
• Grantee: Viviana Lo Monaco
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)