Ideas Concerning the Historical Identity and the Connections of the City of Phaselis an Eastern Mediterranean Port

Abstract

This article is based upon ancient sources and numismatic and epigraphic evidence and evaluates the historical identity of Phaselis, located on the border of Lycia-Pamphylia, within the framework of its relations with eastern Mediterranean ports. Phaselis and settlements such as: Gagai, Corydalla and Rhodiapolis had a Hellenic identity in early times and this is compatible with Rhodes’ attempts especially in the VII c. to found new colonies in Lycia and Cilicia, reflecting its desire to participate in the ongoing commercial activities in the eastern Mediterranean. When the temporal context of this dominance is investigated, antroponymic data interestingly reveals that Phaselis retained its Hellenic characters until the Roman Period, while other Rhodian colonies on the east Lycian coast lost many elements of their Hellenic identity in the V and IV centuries B.C. The second section deals with the inferences drawn concerning the historical identity of the city in the perspective of its connections within the eastern Mediterranean. This section examines the commercial aspects of this relationship in particular through presenting the spread of Archaic Period coins struck by Phaselis in eastern Mediterranean cities such as: Damanhur, Benha el Asl, Zagazig, in Syria, in the Anti-Lebanon and in Jordan. Thus, through extending the observations of these commercial links within the context of emporion the city possessed in the Classical and Hellenistic Periods, data concerning the network of regional and inter-regional relations formed by Phaselis in the eastern Mediterranean are examined in detail.