GREEK COLONISATION in the ADRIATIC1 Pierre Cabanes

Pierre Cabanes

The ‘Ionian Gulf ’ naturally presents itself as a means of access from southern to Central Europe, despite the Alpine arc that makes com- munication between the Upper Danube and the Po plain very difﬁ cult. The Adriatic Sea (Fig. 1) has also played an important rôle in relations between East and West, Greece and Italy. It has served, by turns, as a limit or border between the known world and the mysterious world beyond, and as a pass between two very proximate shores. This dual function was not just apparent in the ancient period; it has been a constant throughout the history of the neighbouring countries.

The Age of Myths

The ﬁ rst contact between the Greek world and the two shores of the Adriatic Sea has been the subject of many legends, transmitted by vari- ous Greek and Latin authors. Their accounts, some transcribed in a later period, can occasionally be examined in the light of archaeological evidence, and latterly of epigraphic, numismatic or toponymic sources, without necessarily taking the legend themselves, which are mostly made up of epic poetry, for historical fact. These legends were often reworked, embellished and altered where necessary. It is thus, for the most part, impossible to place the reported events in time and space, and this also applies to the peoples or descriptions of places cited. The blessed countries of the Hyperboreans were situated in the north, although the actual maritime or terrestrial route leading there is unknown to us.2 Apollonius of Rhodes (4. 614) approaches Pindar

1 For summaries of recent research into the ancient Adriatic, see Recherches 1987; 1988; 1993; 1997. See also generally the contributors to Cabanes 1987; 1993b; 1999; Garašanin 1988b; and the exhibition catalogues Piceni 1991; Pharos 1995; Pugliese Carratelli 1996. 2 Pindar Pythian Odes 10, 29–36, 44–48: ‘neither by sea nor land could you ﬁ nd the marvellous road to the feast of the Hyperboreans’; Hesiod Theogony 274–275; Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus 790–815; ﬁ nally, see Coppola 1991. 156 pierre cabanes

Aquileia●

Adria● ●Padua Sava

Po ● Felsina Spina ●

● Ravenna

Ancona Salonae● ● ● ● Numana ● TraguriumEpetium Pharos ● Narona● Issa● ● Neretva Black Corcyra Epidaurum ● Palagruža

Drin Scodra● Nymphaeum Gargano Lissos ●

Elpia Epidamnus- ● ● Dyrrhachium Shkumbi

Seman Brindisi Apollonia ● ● ●Taranto

Aoos

Corcyra ● 0 100 km

Fig. 1. Map of the Adriatic showing sites of Greek colonisation.