The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean

by Carolina Lopez-Ruiz

  Crete

  Crete, and especially its central region, has revealed enough such “exotic” artifacts (Stampolidis and Kotsonas 2006: 337–60). The cemeteries of Knossos in particular and around it, as well as at Kommos and Eleftherna, have produced significant numbers of Phoenician and Cypro-Phoenician pottery. Especially at Kommos, one could talk about an initial “cargo” of transport and storage vessels already around 900 bce, but one must wait until the late ninth or early eighth centuries bce to discern a larger variety of pottery, although in smaller numbers. At Eleftherna from the end of the ninth century but mainly during the eighth centuey bce (even early seventh century bce), Phoenician and Cypro-Phoenician lekythoi have been found along with a series of Cypriot oinochoai, as well as a large number of lekythoi of the Creto-Cypriot type (local), also present in other sites on the island. Similar pottery in smaller quantities comes from Phaistos, Kounavoi at Herakleion, and Kourtes (an oinochoe of possible Syrian origin).

  Toys, amulets, and small objects made of faience, Egyptian blue and glass, small figurines, scarabs, vessels, and other artifacts common in the Near East and easy to transport have been found in graves at Knossos and around it, at Amnissos, Eleftherna, Idaion Andron, Itanos, the Psychro cave, Prinias, Gortys, Kommos, Aphrati, Kavousi, Vrokastro, Praissos, and Palaikastro.

  Ivory, the par excellence “exotic” material, or even the teeth and horn of rhinos or hippos from Asia or Africa, need not had been processed exclusively in the Near East, but also came through workshops in Anatolia and the Aegean. Nonetheless, ivory artifacts have been identified as Phoenician and northern Syrian in Crete and especially in the Idaen Cave, a site that has yielded the largest number of ivory items for its time. Fewer come from the northern cemetery at Knossos, as well as from Inatos, Psychro, and Eleftherna (e.g., the goddess with the lion).

  Metal vessels and jewelry found in various sites across the island have also been associated with Phoenicia or northern Syria. The discovery of a bronze bowl with an incised Phoenician inscription is considered particularly important, found in grave J of Teke, dated circa 900 bce.

  A group of bronze jugs with a lotus-shaped handle found in the Idaen Cave and at Knossos dating to the tenth century bce is Egyptian (or Egyptianizing, but Phoenician according to some). Their circulation has been attributed to the Phoenicians. Shallow bronze bowls of an Egyptianizing-Phoenician style have been found at the Idaen Cave, Eleftherna, and Knossos, some of which might have come from the same production centers. Finally, the “shields” of the Idaen Cave type seem associated with northern Syrian and Phoenician workshops (or Near Eastern in general) found at the cave itself, as well as at Eleftherna, Aphrati, Phaistos, and Palaikastro. It is possible that similar artifacts, such as the “drum” from the Idaen Cave, with Assyrian influences, were not created by Cretans, at least during the early phases of the ninth century bce, and should somehow be linked directly with eastern craftsmen. Finally, there is very little jewelry that can be associated with workshops of the Syro-Palestinian coast. The discovery of jewelry and remains of gold-working resembling Phoenician/Near Eastern style in a tholos tomb at Teke near Herakleion can be explained as property of the tomb’s owners, rather than of an eastern or Phoenician goldsmith. If such a goldsmith existed in Crete, he would have been associated directly with the tomb’s owners.

  It is obvious from these examples that contacts between the Syro-Palestinian coast, Cyprus, and Crete existed since at least the end of the tenth century bce, and that they became closer from the end of the ninth century and especially during the eighth and seventh centuries bce. Therefore, even if one accepts that most artifacts were brought to Crete by eastern seamen and traders, is it extremely difficult to discern whether they were specifically brought by Phoenicians. In most cases, the associated context, as well as the number and chronological sequence of the finds, points to a Cypriot “give and take.” Of course, the Cypro-Phoenician presence cannot be excluded from a certain chronological point onward (end of the ninth century bce). Only the Kommos finds are closer to a possible Phoenician presence, at first occasional and more systematic later on, reinforced by the finds within temple B (e.g., three Phoenician-like pillars, Sekhmet and Nefertum figurines). After all, bronze figurines of eastern deities found at cave sanctuaries of Crete, together with the faience toys and figurines of the same deities, are perhaps the most interesting signs of eastern beliefs penetrating Crete in the Early Iron Age.

  The possible temporary residence of easterners, probably Phoenicians or northern Syrians, can be deduced and may indicate that some (at least the first) craftsmen worked in Crete and taught their craft to the local population.

  A more permanent settlement of easterners or Phoenicians on the island can only be detected in sites such as cemeteries, which can prove very informative, at least in some cases, on the origins of the deceased. Apart from the aforementioned presence of an eastern goldsmith at the Tholos tomb of Teke, which nonetheless does not constitute proof of his burial there, John Boardman pointed out a second possibility for settlement and burial of easterners at the cemetery of Aphrati in southeast-central Crete, owing to the resemblance of the urns and deposition practices to similar ones at Carchemish (Boardman 2000: 60–61, fig. 31). Nevertheless, the large number of urns at Aphrati and the similar deposition practices at the nearby Rhetion do not allow us to draw any definite conclusions yet.

  For now, the cemeteries of Eleftherna and Knossos have provided stone stelae (cippi) with parallels only to cemeteries of Phoenicia proper, the Syro-Palestinian coast (Dor, Akko), and the western Phoenician colonies (Carthage, Sicily, and elsewhere) (figures 32.1 and 32.2). As the cippi do not seem to have been adopted by the local population, their limited number (three at Eleftherna and two at Knossos), along with the presence of eastern products in those cemeteries, signifies a more long-term stay by easterners, or more specifically Phoenicians there. This presence is especially plausible if we associate it with the Phoenician/Cypro-Phoenician finds from the cemeteries of Eleftherna and Knossos and elsewhere in central Crete, which show a wide variety (bronze vessels, bowls, ceramic vessels, cippi, etc.) (Stampolidis 1998: 153; Stampolidis 2003a: 221–26; Stampolidis 2003b: 233, 238, 258ff.).

  Figure 32.1 Phoenician cippus from the necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna, during the excavation in 2001.

  Source: Stampolidis 2003a: 223, fig. 6.

  Figure 32.2 Phoenician cippus from Eleutherna.

  Source: Stampolidis 2003a: 224, fig. 8.

  Here, I would like to add the new epigraphic material from the recent excavations at Eleutherna. Numerous fragments of stone inscriptions were found at the site, dating to the sixth–fifth centuries bce. This corpus show that, among the letters of the Greek alphabet as it was formed by then, there is a digamma written in the Phoenician manner (), as is also the case in some inscriptions from the neighboring Axos, the city southeast of Eleutherna at higher altitude and closer to the Idean Cave. This is possibly the only Phoenician letter surviving in this form from the archaic Cretan inscriptions corpus (Oikonomaki 2010: 237–40, pl. pp. 242–44). This piece of evidence, connected with the cippi and the metalwork, might give us a hint that some Phoenicians worked and lived (and died) in some Cretan cities, where the natives presumably welcomed them.

  Eastern Aegean and the Cyclades

  On the eastern Aegean, at Rhodes, Kos, and Samos (sanctuary of Hera), several eastern products and imitations of the Early Iron Age have been found. The picture of early pottery we have from Ialysos at Rhodes is similar to that of Crete (Coldstream 1969; for the Early Geometric pottery from the area with a different viewpoint, see Farmakidou 2004; also, e.g., Stampolidis 2003b: 312n329, 487n893, and elsewhere). Imitations of Cypriot pottery shapes (e.g., lekythoi, barrel-shaped pots) are dominant. From the mid-eighth century bce, two groups are evident: small perfume containers closer to the polished originals from Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus (?), and others with a less polished surface and decoration closer to the Greek standards.
The influence of these regions in the ceramics of Rhodes at the time is also clear on jugs and small vessels for perfumes with masks on the neck, whose earliest examples date around the middle of the eighth century bce. Toward the end of the century, though (not only at Ialysos but also at Kamiros and Exochi), similar vessels in terms of shape, structure, and decoration evolved closer to Phoenician prototypes, which has led researchers to postulate the possible establishment of a workshop for small perfume bottles on the island. Their concentrated occurrence around Ialysos in particular was associated with the mentioned later sources regarding a Phoenician settlement on the area.

  Furthermore, it has been argued that the large number of faience and glass Egyptianizing objects on Rhodian sanctuaries and burials from the eighth century bce onward is an indicator of the presence of a Phoenician workshop on the island, or at least a common Phoenician presence, also deduced from the discovery of scarabs, as well as a Phoenician amphora used as a funerary urn for a child’s burial. Based on these hypotheses, one could argue for a more regular Phoenician presence, a settlement even, at Rhodes and more specifically in the vicinity of Ialysos.

  At Kos, the discovery of Cypriot pottery and imitations leads us again toward a direct or indirect association with Cyprus. Intermediaries such as the Phoenicians could trade pottery with Syrian characteristics of the Middle Geometric types (i.e., the end of ninth and first half of the eighth centuries bce), which the locals soon imitate, naturally with variations in decoration (e.g., Stampolidis 2003b: 255n124).

  The sanctuary of Hera at Samos is one of the few sites with a large percentage of “exotic” artifacts (e.g., figurines, toys, various amulets, and bronze or glazed vessels) originating from the broader Near East (Anatolia, Armenia, Iraq) and the Levant (Syria, Syro-Palestinian coast, Phoenicia) (Stampolidis 2003b: e.g., 487n892, 480n870, 390n597, 504n 593, etc.). Whether we can talk about a more or less direct presence of the producers in Samos, these artifacts speak clearly of traders-carriers, with Cypriots and Phoenicians logically among them, and a little later, at least during the seventh century bce, including the Samian sailors and tradesmen themselves.

  At the Cyclades, relevant objects have been found at the sanctuary of Aphrodite and the cemetery of ancient Thera, the islands of Despotiko (next to Antiparos) and Paros, and elsewhere. A series of faience figurines of eastern deities, toys, amulets, and ostrich eggs, all mainly dating to the eighth–seventh centuries bce, could be interpreted as “exotic” artifacts brought by Phoenician merchants. The maritime prowess of most islands’ inhabitants and their Euboean neighbors, however, could also easily account for the introduction of these products (the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Thera is practically unpublished; material from the Cyclades was occasionally presented in Stampolidis 2003b: e.g., 499n941 [ostrich eggs with Phoenician/Cypriot/Cycladic (?) traders], 505n955–58).

  A similar process can be seen later on, when the production of sarcophagi from Parian marble was exported to Sidon during Classical and Hellenistic times (Karageorghis 2010). Only the occurrence of bilingual inscriptions in Greek and Phoenician at Paros, as in Rhodes and Kos, of the fourth–third centuries bce can ultimately advocate the circulation of these products via Phoenician trade. A wealthy and well-established Phoenician community, however, did leave a mark on the island of Delos, attested epigraphically during from the fourth century bce onto Roman times (references in Quinn 2018: 39–40).

  Attica and Euboea

  The Syro-Palestinian bowl of the ninth century bce from the Athenian Kerameikos, as well as several faience beads, a Bastet figurine, and glass beads from various graves across Athens (latest account in Stampolidis 2007), are only a few of the indications of a Phoenician trading presence. Although several unpublished or recently published “exotic” artifacts from Athens may have reached the city in the Early Iron Age through Oropos and other ports of eastern Attica, there is still valid doubt as to whether these objects were traded by Phoenicians, Cycladians, Euboeans, or other Greeks.

  One of the most important areas that yielded “exotic” products from the Near East, and at a very early stage at that, since the second half of the tenth century bce is Euboea (Popham et al. 1980: 96, 218; Muhly 1999: 523; Lemos 2003: 189; Coldstream 2007: 135). A large number of faience, glass, gold objects, and bronze vessels were found at Lefkandi, Palaia Perivolia (T24 and 25A), Skoumbri, Toumba, and Xeropolis. Grave 39 at Toumba is especially interesting, as it was previously attributed to a Near Eastern female, but the burial practice and multitude of artifacts implies a multiple burial. An impressive pendant with faience lions’ heads, hawks, and an Isis figurine in the middle comes from grave 27, while a large quantity of Cypriot, Syrian, and Phoenician pottery (two bichrome Phoenician vessels, the earliest examples in the Aegean) comes from grave 79. Part of a scale and a Syrian cylinder seal of 1800 bce were also found with them. The burial assemblage is dated by two attic jugs to the early ninth century bce. Although some researchers argued that the grave belonged to a Phoenician merchant, the cremation of the deceased with his weapons (sword, spearheads, javelins, and knives) and the placement of the charred bones in a Cypriot bronze cauldron point to a member of the local elite, comparable to other similar burials—of a later date—from “hero burial” at Eretria. But the fact that the deceased of grave 27 at Toumba (at Lefkandi) had direct or indirect connections with the Near East is more than obvious.

  Another grave at Lefkandi produced a North Syrian bronze bowl (circa 900 bce) while grave 59 at Lefkandi offered examples of gold-working, whose technique points to a local craftsman, even if influences from eastern motifs and artworks are possible. The prowess of Euboean sailors—possibly together with the Cycladians—was known since antiquity, as the discovery of Euboean, Attic, and Cycladic pottery in various sites of the Syro-Palestinian coast shows, already since the Protogeometric era (ninth century bce) makes it difficult to conclude on a more overt Phoenician presence in Euboea.

  Evidence of well-established Phoenician communities in Attica comes from inscriptions from Athens and Piraeus, such as a bilingual epigraph (Phoenician–Greek) of a man who died at sea (Stager 2005) and official inscriptions, also bilingual, honoring the Sidonian community at Piraeus (esp. IG II2 2946, Phoenician text in KAI 60; see also chapter 16, this volume).

  The Northern Aegean

  There are few finds in the northern Aegean associated with the eastern Mediterranean (e.g., Karabournaki, Methone), a fact that by itself leads us to a similar conclusion for the northern Aegean—at least in the early phases of the Early Iron Age—since both the Euboean and the Cycladic presence at the Thermaic gulf and the peninsula of Chalcidike are common and well documented (Tiberios 2004; the finds from Methone are still unpublished, and information is provided by the excavator, M. Bessios; see also Stampolidis 2008: 155–60). Although some of the best preserved and earliest Phoenician amphorae come from Methone (Kasseri 2012: 300–303), and perhaps contact with Phoenicians is a new body of about 190 early Greek inscriptions on ostraka, which match the earliest graffiti in Greek from Eretria and Pithekoussai, notable nodal points for Greek–Semitic contact (Papadopoulos 2016).

  In any case, the possible presence of Phoenician sailors and merchants in the central and northern Aegean, at least during an early phase, would certainly depend on people who knew the difficult weather conditions, the currents, the harbors and bays, the cities, and the sanctuaries. These could have been Euboeans or Cycladians traveling to the Near Eastern coasts and coming into contact with the Phoenicians. The dynamics must have been analogous to what we already proposed for the Cypriots, who knew the routes and ports in the eastern Mediterranean, the southeastern Aegean, and Crete. Their regular contacts by the Phoenicians, initially at the ports of the Near East, and later on through the Phoenician settlement at Kition and other sites in Cyprus, gradually led (from the late ninth and during the eighth centuries bce) to a more frequent Phoenician presence in the Aegean, to a possible settlement at Rhodes, and from there to Crete. This is the p
icture suggested by excavations and their interpretation at the moment. The advancement of archaeological research is the sole path for a revision of this scenario in the future.

  References

  Aubet, M. E. 2001. The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies, and Trade. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  Boardman J. 2000. The Greek Overseas; Their Early Colonies and Trade. Fourth edition. London: Thames and Hudson.

  Coldstream, J. N. 1969. “The Phoenicians of Ialysos.” BICS 16: 1–18.

  Coldstream, J. N. 1982. “Greeks and Phoenicians in the Aegean.” In Phönizier im Western, edited by H. G. Niemeyer, 262–75. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.

  Coldstream, J. N. 2007. “Foreigners at Lefkandi?” In Oropos and Euboea in the Early Iron Age. Acts of an International Round Table, University of Thessaly, June 18–20, 2004, edited by A. Mazarakis Ainian, 135–39. Volos: University of Thessaly Press.

  Farmakidou, E. 2004. “Από τα νεκροταϕεία της αρχαίας Ιαλυσού: Δύο γεωμετρικές ταϕές στην Κρεμαστή Ρόδου.” In Το Αιγαίο στην Πρώιμη Εποχή του Σιδήρου, Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Συμποσίου, Ρόδος 2002, edited by N. C. Stampolidis and A. Giannikouri, 165–76. Athens: University of Crete and Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Institute of the Aegean Studies.