A Trade Route From the Propontis to Phrygia: Assessing the Economic Status of Kios Between the Archaic and the Early Hellenistic Periods

Abstract

This article proposes a reassessment of the role that Kios played as a nexus of trade between the northern Aegean, the Black Sea and inland north-west Anatolia. The city was founded as an emporium at the end of the seventh century BC and joined the Delian League in the following century. The autonomous city was subsequently ruled by a Persian dynasty during the fourth century BC, while retaining its Greek identity. Three groups of ceramics will be analysed for this reassessment: one from rescue excavations at Kios itself; another from surveyed sites in the surrounding region; and a third from other excavated settlements. It is argued that both locally-produced fine wares and transport amphoras allow chronological periods to be traced to relatively high resolutions, and that these reveal Kios to have been a significant market town that was deeply involved in trade with the Aegean and the Black Sea.