sehepunkte 24 (2024), Nr. 6

Jens A. Krasilnikoff / Benedict Lowe (eds.): The Greeks in Iberia and their Mediterranean Context

Since the beginning of what can be called "modern historiography", Ancient Greece has enjoyed a high degree of interest by scholars due to the perfect combination of Eastern exoticism and shared Western cultural values. However, as it happened in the times of Herodotus [1], Iberia and its scant Greek presence remained a peripheral issue, especially when compared with the densely colonised Magna Graecia; the fact that the former was mainly within the Phoenician sphere of influence only accentuated such bias, as they were, by far, the least studied "great Ancient colonising culture". [2] [3] Nowadays, the study of Greeks in Iberia keeps this overall trend: the international interest on that issue is low but existent [4], and the scholarship on that issue within Spain (or Catalonia, for that matter) is very fragmentary despite the century-long academic tradition on that subject.

This volume, the result of a workshop held in Aarhus University in October 2013, intends to "reflect the diversity of approaches to the experience of the Greeks in the Far Western Mediterranean" (preface, page xii) by presenting multiple case studies and issues regarding the Italian and Iberian peninsulas. The book is comprised of 12 short contributions from scholars of different disciplines and comprises a wide range of topics and approaches towards Greek presence in the Western Mediterranean. The first one, by A. J. Domínguez Monedero (Iberia and the Greek World: What Role for the Greeks in Iberia?), reflects the author's view that the locating of myths in the Western Mediterranean reflects the experiences of Greek sailors and merchants; P. Rouillard expands on that issue with his chapter (Exchanges between the Greek World and the Iberian Peninsula from the Eighth to the Fourth Century BC) with a light overview on the extant literary and material evidence.

After the introductory chapters, the discourse focuses on the Iberian case with several chapters devoted to painting a broad picture of Greek-indigenous relations: R. Capra (The Merchants of Emporion: Selling (and Being) Greek in the Iberian Market) focuses on trade contacts, as well as J. A. Krasilnikoff (Some Experiential Observations on Trading, Farming and Sharing of Place in 6th to 2nd Century BC Emporion), with the added feature of rural settlement. Following that section, after a brief literary analysis of Strabo's work by B. Lowe (Footprints in the Sea: Strabo's Τρία Πολίχνια Μασσαλιωτῶν and the Greeks in the Levant), the focus moves further south, with an overview on the "Greek" presence in Southern Iberia by P. Moret (Iberian Or Greek?: Current Debate on the Coastal Settlement of La Picola (Santa Pola, Alicante). Finally, and still in the South, the presence of dense Phoenician settlements plays a key role in E. García Alfonso's chapter (The Greeks and the Bay of Málaga: Five Centuries of Relationships and the Trade in the Phoenician West), while C. Sánchez Fernández and D. Rodríguez Pérez (Images in Motion: Fourth Century BC Athenian Pottery from the Iberian Peninsula: Workshops and Iconography) present an iconographic and material overview on Greek pottery.

The last section intends to "encourage discussion and to bridge the tendency towards insularity and specialisation that has led to the isolation of the Iberian Peninsula from the broader debates surrounding Greek colonisation" (preface, page xii). While J. R. Hall (Piracy and the Western Greek Experience) untangles the nuanced concept of "ancient piracy" and presents it from a Hellenic perspective, J. A. Krasilnikoff (Dionysius I of Syracuse and the Spatial Order of Rule By One: The Early 4th Century Syracusan Arché as Cultural Contact Zone and Food System) focuses on Sicily, one of the main "experimenting grounds" for Greek colonisation; similarly, K. Lomas (Cultural Memory and Cultural Change in Hellenistic and Roman Magna Graecia) and J. H. Petersen (Assessing Identities in Culturally Diverse Archaeological Contexts: Funerary Case Studies from Magna Graecia) do the same for Southern Italy.

To sum up, the book tries to make a brief synthesis of the wide debate on Greek colonisation and the true nature of their contact with different Mediterranean indigenous groups, especially in the case of the Iberians. Although the interpretative approaches tend to be rather conservative and the depth of the presented archaeological evidence varies a lot depending on the chapter, the well-thought selection of chapters and the academic renown of many of the authors make up for any shortcomings. However, the study of the Greek presence in Iberia, at least by Spanish scholarship, is still heavily reliant on outdated or, at the very least, debatable paradigms, and so a theoretical overhaul is much needed, especially one that gives more agency to the Iberians as key partners in a bilateral relationship that keeps proving itself ever more balanced in the locals' favour. [5]

Thus, it becomes evident that the complexities of ancient colonialism demand a nuanced understanding of power dynamics, cultural exchange, and socio-political structures. By critically engaging with the scholarship presented in this volume, scholars can contribute to a more comprehensive and inclusive narrative of ancient Mediterranean interactions. In such a context, books such as this one serve as a useful foundation from which to build a reliable discourse on colonial interactions in ancient times and, in doing so, they pave the way for a deeper appreciation of the multifaceted nature of historical encounters and their enduring impact on contemporary perspectives.

Notes:

[1] J. M. Alonso-Núñez: Herodotus on the Far West, in: L'Antiquité Classique 56, (1987), 243-249.

[2] E. Ferrer Albelda: Gloria y ruina de la Iberia Cartaginesa. Imágenes del poder en la historiografía española, in: Cuadernos de prehistoria y arqueología 28-29, (2003), 7-22.

[3] F. Gracia Alonso: Historiografía de la investigación de la presencia fenicia en Cataluña, in: Contactes. Indígenes i fenicis a la Mediterrània occidental entre els segles VIII i VI ane, ed. by D. Garcia i Rubert / I. Moreno Martínez / F. Gracia Alonso, Alcanar 2008, 15-38.

[4] F. De Angelis (ed.): A Companion to Greeks across the Ancient World, Oxford 2020.

[5] A. Delgado Hervás / M. González Vázquez / A. Rivera Hernández / L. Marín Muñoz / M. Ferrer / J. Calvo Cortés: Paisajes rurales y comunidades locales en el entorno de Emporion: dinámicas de ocupación, uso y gestión del territorio (siglos X-II a.C.), in: SPAL: Revista de prehistoria y arqueología de la Universidad de Sevilla 32(1), (2023), 77-109.