The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India
Rostovtzeff, Caravan Cities 25, 95; id., SEHHW 457–61.
48. In the Aegean basin itself there is evidence attesting the presence of individuals from the Near East. For example, an inscription from the island of Andros in the Aegean, dated palaeographically to the third century B.C. (IG XII.5715 = I. Estremo Oriente 99), records a decree that honors a certain Dromon, son of Phanodemos, a Babylonian; see Appendix X. Other public documents from Delos and Delphi mention persons from Antioch and Laodikeia (presumably the Syrian cities), Sidon, Tyre, Beirut (I. Delos 2598) and Seleukeia on the Tigris (I. Delos 2429 and 2445; see also Klee, Gymnischen Agone 16 [Kos]). A Delphic proxenos decree honored Asklepiades, a Phoenician (SGDI 2589), while documents from Delos refer to Theokritos (IG XI.4 591.3) and Xenodemos (IG XI.4 633.3–4), both Syrians, as well as Hyspasinos/Hyspaisinos, a Bactrian (I. Delos 442.B.108, 1432.AaII.27).
A number of individuals from SELEUKEIA on the Tigris are found taking part in agonistic contests or resident in various places in the Greek world—e.g., Athens (C. Habicht and S. V. Tracy, Hesperia 60 [1991] 188, col. I.6 [170/69 B.C.]), Lebedeia in Boeotia (S. N. Koumanoudes, Archaiologikon Deltion 26 [1971] 36 [second/first century B.C.]), Rhodes (C. P. Jones, Tyche 7 [1992] 124, l. A.18 [second/first century B.C.]), and Olympia (Eusebius Chron. I [ed Schoene, 1875] 212 [100 B.C.]). The Panathenaic victor lists from Hellenistic Athens include, for example, individuals from as far away as ANTIOCH near Daphne, LAODIKEIA by the Sea, LAODIKEIA in Phoenicia, ANTIOCH in Mygdonia (Nisibis), and SELEUKEIA on the Tigris, as well as persons from ANTIOCH on the Kydnos and ANTIOCH on the Pyramos in eastern Asia Minor. There is epigraphic evidence for a merchant from Gerrha in Arabia at Delos in the mid-second century B.C.; see I. Delos 1439 Abc II.24, 1442 A.82, B.58; 1444 Aa.45, 51; 1449 Aab II.28–29, 61; 1450 A.119; see also C. Robin, Semitica 24 (1974) 95. Further evidence for commercial relations between the Aegean basin on the one hand and southern Mesopotamia, Susiana, the Persian Gulf, and Arabia on the other is provided by Rhodian amphora handles found at, among other places, SELEUKEIA on the Tigris, BABYLON, SELEUKEIA on the Eulaios (Susa), IKAROS in the Persian Gulf, and Thaj in Arabia (C. Börker, BaM 7 [1974] 31–49). S. M. Sherwin-White (Ancient Cos [Göttingen, 1978] 246, 370–71) called attention to a fragmentary inscription from Kos recording a dedication of Kasmaios son of Abdaios, which she suggested might provide evidence for another merchant from Gerrha. Note, however, that E. Eissfeldt, Kleine Schriften [Tübingen, 1963] 2: 310 read Kasmaios’s ethnic as ΓΕΡ[ΑΣΗΝΟΣ]. In other words, Eissfeldt believed the reference was to Gerasa in Trans-Jordan; followed by H. Seyrig, Syria (1965) 26 n. 2, who, nevertheless, mentioned the objection of J. T. Milik, who observed that “Kasmaios son of Abdaios” was an unlikely name for someone from Gerasa at this date. Milik preferred restoring ΓΕΡ[ΡΑΙΟΣ], i.e., for one of the towns named Gerrha.
49. Arr. Anab. 7.19.3–20.10 and Ind. 43.8; Strabo 16.1.11, 16.4.27. See also H. Schiwek, BJ 162 (1962) 36–97; C. Roueché and S. M. Sherwin-White, Chiron 15 (1985) 6–7; Högemann, Alexander 80–111; G. W. Bowersock, Gnomon 59 (1987) 508–11; Potts, Arabian Gulf 2:4–6; Martinez-Sève in Seleucids 56–63.
50. Polyb. 13.9.4–5. On this expedition see, for example, Schmitt, Antiochos 49; Salles in Hellenism 96; Boucharlat and Mouton in Arabia Antiqua 277; Teixidor in Materialien 292–93.
51. See ALEXANDREIA/ANTIOCH/Spasinou Charax, n. 15. The historical setting of this third expedition has been the subject of much discussion, based as it is on two problematic references in Pliny. At NH 6.147 Pliny mentions an expedition that Antiochos IV Epiphanes allegedly dispatched to explore the coast of Arabia (“We will now describe the coast from Charax onward which was first explored for [King] Epiphanes”; trans. Rackham; cf. NH 6.138–39). At NH 6.152 Pliny says that “the governor of Mesene appointed by King Antiochus, Numenius, here won a battle against the Persians with his fleet” (trans. Rackham). There are problems with both these passages: (a) Antiochos IV Epiphanes was not the first Seleucid king to explore the Persian Gulf; (b) Pliny does not specify which King Antiochos appointed Numenios. As Roueché and Sherwin-White noted (Chiron 15 [1985] 9 and n. 21), the attested Greek explorations of the Gulf are (1) Alexander’s explorers, (2) the expedition of Antiochos III, and (3) the military expedition of Numenios. Roueché and Sherwin-White concluded that Pliny’s attribution of the expedition of Numenios to Epiphanes resulted from his confusing Antiochos IV with Antiochos III. On the other hand, Mørkholm (Antiochus 169; see also Mittag, Antiochos IV 302) suggested that Antiochos Epiphanes did, in fact, explore the Gulf and that Pliny erred only in claiming that Epiphanes’ expedition was the first. Finally, in a forthcoming article, P. J. Kosmin has called attention to the fragmentary Astronomical Diary for 164 B.C., which mentions “Antiochos the k[ing . . . ] from the cities o[f . . . ] who went along the seashore” (Astronomical Diaries 2:497, no. 164 Obv. C13–14 [trans. Kosmin]; see also D. Gera and W. Horowitz, JAOS 117 [1997] 243–49). This would appear to confirm the information in Pliny NH 6.147. For other discussions see Mørkholm Antiochus 169 n. 14; and ALEXANDREIA/ANTIOCH/Spasinou Charax, n. 15.
In connection with these allusions to Seleucid naval activity in the Gulf, we may note there has been some discussion as to whether the Seleucids maintained a (permanent) fleet in the Gulf. Salles claimed there was such a “naval presence” (in Hellenism 97 and Topoi 4 [1994] 607); Hannestad—pointing to the scanty nature of the material remains to support such a theory—questioned this (in ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΣ 55). However, the discovery in 1997 and subsequent publication in 2002 of the dedication made on Bahrain by Kephisidoros suggest the Seleucids probably did maintain a permanent fleet in the Persian Gulf; see below, p. 116; and BAHRAIN.
52. See Tarn (GBI2 481–85), who suggested there was a Seleucid settlement around the Strait of Hormuz. Note, however, Salles, who correctly observed (in Hellenism 80) that although this is a plausible suggestion it is thus far unsupported by any archaeological evidence. In addition, I would mention ALEXANDREIA in Carmania and ZETIS, which may have been located on the Iranian coast of the Strait of Hormuz or just beyond it. Finally, we may search for ARTEMITA, TRAPEZOUS, and KARRHAI in the Persian Gulf area. Unfortunately, we do not know the exact location of any of these settlements.
53. In Hellenism 75–109.
54. For the problem relating to the location of these last three settlements see ARETHOUSA (in southern Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf).
55. R. Boucharlat, RA (1989) 216–17; id. in Golf-Archäologie 289; Boucharlat and Mouton in Arabia Antiqua 279–80; Boucharlat and Mouton in Materialien 224; Teixidor in Materialien 293.
56. P.-L. Gatier, P. Lombard, and K. al-Sindi, AAE 13 (2002) 223–31; J. Marcillet-Jaubert, Syria 67 (1990) 665–73; Herling and Salles in Materialien 161–82; Teixidor in Materialien 292; Potts, Arabian Gulf 2:103–24; Salles in Hellenism 81; see also BAHRAIN. Note, on the other hand, Boucharlat, who earlier emphasized the paucity of Greek finds at Qal’at al-Bahrain (in Bahrain 440). For similar cautionary notes see, for example, Salles in Hellenism 86–87 and in Arabie Orientale 161; see also Garlan in Trade and Famine 37, 40. This caution should now be balanced against the more recent discovery of the Greek inscriptions mentioned above.
57. In general, see Sprenger, Geographie Arabiens 135–37; Tkac, RE Suppl. VII, s.v. “Gerrha”; Högemann, Alexander 89–94; and Potts, Arabian Gulf 2:85–97.
58. See above.
59. Potts in Arabie Orientale 119; T. G. Bibby, Preliminary Survey in East Arabia 1968 (Copenhagen, 1973) 16; A. Jamme and V. Grace, Studi Semitici 23 (1966) 83; C. Börker, BaM 7 (1974) 45. For the likely identification of Thaj as the site of Gerrha see Potts, Arabian Gulf 2:85–88; see also the popular article by R. Covington, Saudi Aramco World (March/April 2011) 32–33. It is possible that there was a mint at Thaj (Potts, Pre-Islamic Coinage p. 13).
60. See, for example, O. Mørkholm, Kuml (1960) 203–4; id., Kuml (1972) 195–202; C. Robin, Semitica 24 (1974) 84–125; Potts, Pre-Islamic Coinage pp. 13–14, 17, and, for example, nos. 43–74 and 485–88; id., Pre-Islamic Coinage, Supplement nos. 8–48; Coinage of the Caravan Kingdoms 42–49, nos. 104–14. See also C. J. Howgego and D. T. Potts, AAE 3 (1992) 183–89.
61. AJN 14 (2002) 77–78.
62. Strabo 11.13.6, 15.3.12, 16.1.17, on which see, for example, Biffi, Strabone 130. On