. HESPERIA 7I (2002) TH E COLON IZATION OF Pages23I-260 SAMOTH RACE ABSTRACT Three aspectspertaining to the Greekcolonization of Samothraceare ad- dressed:the originof the colonists,the foundationdate, and relationsbe- tweenGreeks and non-Greeks.Relevant literary sources and other indica- tions makeit clearthat the Greekcolonists came from Samos; the current theorythat they were Aeolians should be abandoned.No foundationdate is preservedin the ancientsources, but archaeological remains, especially from cemeterieson theisland, point stronglyto the first halfofthe 6th centuryB.C. Evidencefor a Greektakeover of a non-Greekcult, and,especially, for the useof a non-Greeklanguageaswell as Greek, makes the coexistence of Greeks andnon-Greeks a plausiblehypothesis. Althoughthere are many Greek colonies of theArchaic period about which we knowvery little, we usuallyknow the city or citiesfrom which the colonistscame, and in manycases the dateof foundation.In the caseof Samothrace,1the prestige of the Sanctuaryof theGreat Gods has ensured thatthere are many references to Samothracein ancientliterature. Lewis found241 itemsfor his collectionof the literarysources in Samothrace1, andBurkert found two othersthat had been missed by Lewis.2Yet, in spiteof this abundanceof literaryreferences, the originof the colonists anddate of the foundationare matters of disputeor, as Lazaridisput it, obscure.3Cole considered these issues an openquestion.4 It is my aimin thisarticle to discuss,first, these two basic questions, and then to consider therelations between the colonists and the non-Greek inhabitants, which areat Samothraceboth interesting and potentially significant. 1. Specialthanks are due to sityof Pennsylvaniafor a grantto reviewersfor theiruseful comments. In DimitrisMatsas for his kindreception financemy travel.I wouldalso like to this article,all references to Lewisare whenI visitedthe islandin 1995. thankKevin Clinton, who kindlyread to Samothrace1. Apartfrom showing me archaeologi- a draftof thispaper and made helpful 2. Samothrace1; Burkert1993, cal sites,he alsogave me muchinvalu- suggestlonstor ltS lmprovement; pp. 179, 181-182. ableinformation. I am grateful to the SaraOwen, for adviceabout Thracian 3. Lazaridis1971, p. 18. ResearchFoundation of the Univer- matters;and the anonymousHesperia 4. Cole 1984,pp. 1S11. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org , , , , \ , , , ^ 232 A. J. GRAHAM THE ORIGIN OF THE COLONISTS THE LITERARY EVIDENCE Mostof ourinformation about Samothrace from the literary sources con- cernsmyth, so thereare few passagesthat are valuable for the historyof theGreek colonization.5 Of thesethe earliest is a fragmentof Antiphon's speechOn theTribute of theSamothracians, which states that the colonists camefrom Samos, whence they were expelled by tyrants. The filllpassage (MinorA2ic OratorsI, Loeb,fr. A.2; Lewis40 [asthroughout, numbers referto Lewis'spassages in Samothrace1]) is asfollows: zat yap ot TNV apXNv oLMCoavT£g Nsav Latot, £g XV F£tt £y£VO£0a. MaT0Xt^0N^aV 8£ aVayMn, OVM £zL0Vtua Tt V^OV. , , \ C \ , , , \ , . £%£z£a0V yap vzo TVpaVVXV £M maZov zat TVXn £XtO^aVTO TaVTn- £Lav XaovT£c: aso qc, (3paxNc,a(pzvouvTat £Cg TNV V^OV.6 Forthose who originally settled the islandwere Samians, and from themwe aredescended. They were settled by necessity,not by desire of the island;for they were expelled from Samos by tyrantsand experiencedthis misfortune; having taken booty from Thrace they arrivedat the island.(Lewis, trans., adapted) Thisis a clearstatement of origin.While Athenian orators freely per- vertedhistorical truth if it suitedtheir advocacy, they could not make false statementsabout well-known facts in speechesdesigned to be heardby a S.The relevantpassages are given largeaudience,7 if theywere not to loseall credibility. In thiscase, it is hard in FGrHist 548 (Anhang),with to doubtAntiphon's information about the originof the colonists. characteristicallyacute and learned Antiphon'sstatements are, moreover, supported by the Aristotelian commentsbyJacoby in IIIb (Text), politeiaof the Samothracians,which we knowfrom Herakleides' epitome pp.47(}475 (Noten),pp. 279-281. (FGrHist548F5b; Lewis 41) and, less fillly, from the scholion to Apollonius Thereis an extendeddiscussion of thesepassages in Prinz1978, pp. 187- Rhodius,916-918 (FGrHist546 Flb; Lewis37). The passageof Hera- 205. Althoughmainly interested in kleidesstates: mythology,Prinz also treats the origin of the colonistsat length. f EaZo0paMf To £V £6 apg £Ma£tTo ^£vXavLa, 8La To £VXN 6. I providehere the textofJacoby, FGrHist 548 FSa,who regardsthe £lVaL V^T£00V 8£, @ptaMXVMaTatOVTXV, @ptaMCa.TOVTXV 8£ transmittedtext as sound,but breaking £XtZ0VT0V, V^T£00V £T£aLV £zTaMooLoLg EaCot MaTZzLoav avqv off too soon;see IIIb (Text),p. 475, £XT:£a0VT£t t OLM£Lat,MaL mafoUp,aMNv £xat£sav. Kommentarto FSa.It is understandable, however,that editors have suspected a Samothracewas originally called Leukania, because of beingwhite, lacunaafter TaiMq, or addedxat before butlater, when Thracians occupied it, Thrakia. When these had left Artav,because of the asyndeton.While it, sevenhundred years later Samians settled it, whenthey had been Jacobyis rightto take'mXn TaiMq as expelledfrom their own country, and called it Samothrace. referringback to avarxrlxX., he does not considerthe problemof the asyn- WhilePs.Scymnus does not explicitly state that the Samians had been deton.A certainconclusion on the matterseems unattainable. expelledfrom their homeland, his accountof the historicalcolonization 7. SeeMeiggs 1972, pp. 240-241; agreeswith Antiphon and the Aristotelianpoliteia on the Samian origin of Rhodes1972, pp. 90-91; Harris 2000, the colonists(679-680, 690-695; Lewis 58): p.496. Touc,, , 8£ SaFo0p,axac,,\ \ , Tpxac,e ovTac,e > y£V£t, , \ , THE COLONIZATION OF SAMOTHRACE 233 Tr£pawSaFo0paxN 8' £Ct vnvo5To@6xn, £Xovaa rilv o'cxatv ava£Fty£vNv . aso Tov TOZOV 8£ @p,axag£zLMaX0V£VOVg, aL £V^£D£LaV £yzata£tvat TZ Tow. £V AISO8£tta T0V Satxv 8' avTott =0T£ , , ,, , £Trapx£savw, rnvxavT £M t maFov £Trt8£ia£wOttvat AVVOLMOVt £OXO^aV. Oppositeis Samothrace,a Trojan island, which has mixed inhabi- tants.... Butthe Samothracians,being Trojan by race, but called Thraciansfrom the geographical position, stayed in the placebe- causeof piety.But when in a famineonce, the Samianssupplied them,at thattime they received some from Samos and had them as fellow-inhabitants. The Samianorigin of theGreek colonists is alsofound in Iliadscholia, most notablyEustathius's commentary on 24.78 (Lewis51), wherehe writes: SaFo0paxNv . N A£vxxvta, vast, T:00T£00V £Ma£tT0, £tTa V=0 SaFtxv otzTa0£Coa, xv Ta oxa! avTo06atX,uaBat Opnovat za£xavaav, SaFo0paxN xvoFasTa. Samothrace. which,they say, was formerly called Leukonia, and then,having been settled by Samians,whose boats captive Thracian womenburnt there, it wasnamed Samothrace.8 Thereis generalsupport for the Samianorigin of the colonistsof Samothracein Herodotos'saccount of anincident in theBattle of Salamis (8.90.1-3;Lewis 97, butbreaking off too soon): Ey£V£T0 O£ MatToa£ £V TZ oO0VpX TOVT0. T0V T6V£t oOLV6XXV,T0V at V££t aL£goapaTo £X00VT£g wapaDasX£a at£5aEov Tovt ,,. c ,W,, , , > , e , e , .vac,, xc,aL £X£LVOVtasototaTo at V££t, 0t spooovTXv. AVVNV£tM£XV OVTZ 0aT£ IxvxvT£ TOVt oxpazyoug! asok£aOat oOLV6XXVT£ TOVt ataDaEovtatXap£Lv ToLova£ Ftooov.£'Tt TOVT0V Tavta£yOVT0V £V£pa£ vt 'ATn SaFo0ptz! vNvg.N £ aN o * \ cs o \ o o * o o - o cs ATTtMNMaT£av£To Mat£zL9£00F£VN ALyLVatN VNVt MaT£OV^£ T0V Sallo0ptzxv zv v£a. aT£ a£ £0VT£t axovtccat ot Sa,uo0ptz£t ToUc, £zLDaTac aso qc, xataavaavc, w£0tpaVOuT£t asNpagav zat £T:£p^aV T£ Mat£q0V avzv. Tavtay£VO£Va Tovg"Ixuat £ppvaaTo Zg yap £lO£ ^9£at £pit £pyOV £ra £pYaAa£VOVg, 8. The sameinformation is foundin £Tpa=£T0 =0ot TOVt WoTvTxat ota V=£pAV=£0F£VOt T£ zat wavTat the ScholiaTownleiana on the same atTtZCu£vog MaL ^9£0V £X£X£V^£ Tat M£aXag asoTa£Lv 'tva f passagefrom Homer; see Lewis45. avTot MaMot y£VO£VOt Tovt a£Lvovat atapaXoL. 234 A. J. GRAHAM It happenedalso amid this disorder that certain Phoenicians whose shipshad been destroyed came to the kingand accused the Ionians of treason,saying that it wasby theirdoing that the shipshad been lost;the endof whichmatter was, that the Ioniancaptains were not putto death,and those Phoenicians who accusedthem were re- wardedas I willshow. While they yet spokeas aforesaid,a Samo- thracianship charged an Attic; and while the Attic ship was sinking, a shipof Aeginabore down and sank the Samothracian;but the Samothracians,being javelin throwers, swept the fightingmen with a showerof javelinsoff fromthe shipthat had sunk theirs, and boardedand seized her themselves. Thereby the Ionianswere saved; forwhen Xerxes saw this great feat of theirarms, he turnedon the Phoenicians(being moved to blameall in thebitterness of his heart) andcommanded that their heads be cutoff, that so theymight not accusebetter men, being themselves cowards. (A. D. Godley,trans., Loeb) Fromthis it is clearthat for Herodotos the Samothracians were Ionians. AndHerodotos had himselfbeen to Samothrace,as thepassage 2.51.2-4 (Lewis140) shows: °axtS 8£ Ta Ka£Cpxv opyta £vat, Ta La,uo0pCz£g £T:tT£X£0V^t wapaBabov£g wapa H£Basyxv, °VT°g XV0 068£ T0 £y0- QV yap LaZo0pNXtNv06X£0V =00T£00V £aAyOt OVT06 ot s£p A0NvatototAVVOLMOt £y£VOVTO, Matwapa tovv EaCuo0ptM£g Ta opyta wapaBaavovot. opOa xv £X£LV Ta atAota TayaBZata tov 'Epsu£0'A0Nvatot spot E);ANvxv CuaoovT£g TrapatI£aAyXv £TCOL^aVTO-