Trafics orientaux en Méditerranée occidentale. Quelques remarques sur la diffusion des styles céramiques dans le répertoire des cités grecques de Sicile orientale

Abstract

Megara Hyblaea, one of the oldest Greek colonies of Sicily, has played a central role in scholarly debates on “ Greek colonization”, Greek Archaic pottery and local productions. Until the 1960’ s, many articles were devoted to the discovery of Archaic pottery of local production in Megara. Recently, scholars from the French School at Rome and the Centre Camille Jullian have undertaken the re-examination of a great quantity of local material of Archaic date, which was recovered during old excavations and which had remained for the main part unpublished. New issues were addressed through this reappraisal : are there any stylistic and technical links in the fabrics and decorations of the pottery between the metropolis and the apoikia ? If so, does this “ stylistic identity” match the classical tradition that distinguishes Greek settlers into ethnic groups (Euboean, Corinthian, Megarian and Cretan) ? The new results give a less clear-cut picture of the cultural components of a Greek establishment in Sicily, as the local pottery made in Megara in the 8th and 7th centuries B. C. does not refer to a single source but rather demonstrates a melting pot of influences, from Megara, Attica, Corinth, Euboea and Crete. Some of the observations and questions raised by this study are presented in this article.