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The Commerce of Sinope1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

Walter Leaf
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Extract

A year ago I had the honour of speaking to you on the need of a History of Greek Commerce, and of proposing to you a way in which this Society might make an important contribution to that history, in the shape of a commentary on the three books of Strabo which deal with Asia Minor. That proposal, I am happy to think, has been warmly taken up by the Council; a Strabo Committee has been appointed, and has settled the main outlines of the work, which will consist of a Greek text, a translation, and a commentary laid out on broad lines. Large portions of the work have been assigned to the men who are best fitted to deal with them, and even under the shadow of the great preoccupation some progress has actually been made in putting on paper materials already in hand. The war must of necessity delay the completion of the task; in some cases it will be desirable that contributors should make special journeys to their districts, and Asia Minor is at the moment a sealed land to us. But there is much which can be dealt with already, and we can make progress not merely with spade-work, but with actual construction.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 36 , November 1916 , pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1916

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References

2 The evidence will be found in Robinson's, D. monograph, A.J.P. xvii. 132.Google Scholar See particularly Strabo xii. 3, 11 ἀξιολογωτάτη τῶν ταύτηι πόλεων…κατασκευασαμένη δὲ ναυτικὸν ἐπῆρχε τῆς ἐντὸς Κυανέων θαλάσσης.

3 Enc. Brit. 25, 149; HGAM. p. 28.

3a It is to be hoped that Mr. Robinson has published elsewhere the exact location of these milestones; such a loose form of expression is to be deprecated. It would seem from his indications that they came from near the junction of the Amnias and the Halys, by which, as we shall see, the main road from Pontus to Bithynia must have passed.

3b See Strabo vii. 4, 3 συχνοὶ γοῦν τῶν διαπλευσάντων τὸν πορθμὸν ἅμα ϕασὶν ἰδεῖν ἀμϕοτέρας ἑκατέρωθεν τὰς ἄκρας (sc. Karambis and Kriu Metopon in the Crimea). The statement has been doubted, but appears to be correct. Robinson (p. 136) says ‘Ancient navigators could cross the Pontus just at this point without losing sight of land for more than a few hours on ordinary days, and on very clear days without losing sight of it at all… Both promontories can be seen to-day from the middle of the sea,’ and in a note ‘The officers of Black Sea steamers volunteered this information to me.’ The distance is 144 nautical miles; the geometrical condition that land should be visible on both sides is that it should rise at least 4,600 feet above the sea. This condition appears to be fulfilled in the Crimea, but I am not sure about the Asiatic side; there are hills there of considerably greater height, but those whose heights are recorded lie a certain distance inland. But refraction would in certain states of the atmosphere very largely increase the distance at which they would be visible.

4 Polyb. iv. 56. Similarly Strabo xii. 3, 11 points ont that it was by siege that Sinope lost her liberty on more than one occasion; αὐτονομηθεῖσα δὲ πολὺν χρόνον, οὐδὲ διὰ τέλους ἐφὑλαξε τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ πολιορκίας ἐάλω καὶ ἐδούλευσε Φαρνάκηι πρῶτον, ἔπειτα τοῖς ὄια δεξαμἑνοις ἐκεῖνον μὲχρι τοῦ Εὐπάτορος, καὶ τῶν καταλυσάντων ἐκεῖνον ῾Ρωμαίων

5 J.H.S. xxi. 53–5.

6 Ibid. p. 53.

7 Xenophon, , Anab. v: 1sqq.Google Scholar

8 Another station lay on the west, namely Kytoron; τὸ δὲ Κύτωρον ἐμπόριον ἦν ποτε Σινωπίων . . .πλείστη δὲ καὶ ἀρίστ πύξος φύεται κατὰ τὴν ᾿Αμαστριανήν, καὶ μάλιστα περὶ τὸ Κύτερον. (Strabo xii. 3, 10.) It was a main station for the timber trade.

9 ‘In the whole stretch of coast, from Amastris on the west to Trapezus on the east, Amisus is the only door into the interior,’ Munro, , J.H.S. xxi. 52Google Scholar.

9a See also Hekataios quoted in xii. 3, 25. Skymnos (917) says that these older colonists came from Phokaia.

10 ἐν δὲ τῇΚαππαδοκίχ γίνεται καὶ ἡ λεγο- μένη Σινωπικὴ μέλτος, ἀρίστη τῶν πασω¨ν ἐνἁ μιλλος δ᾿ ἐστίν αὐτῇ καὶ ἠ ᾿Ιβηρική ὠνομάσθη δὲ Σινωπικἠ, διότι κατάγειν ἐχεῖσε εἰώθεσαν´ οί ἔμποροι πρὶν ἠ τὸ τῶν ᾿Εφεσίων ἐμπόριον μέχρι τῶν ἐνθάδε ἀνθρώπων δῦχθαι.—xii. 2, 10.

11 See note at end.

12 See, in addition to the passage already quoted, iii. 2, 6: ἐξάγεται δ᾿ ἐκ τῆς Τουρδη- μίλτος οὐ χείρων τῆς Σινωπικῆς γῆς

13 pinxerunt et Ephesio minio, quod derelictum est quia curatio magni operis erat, xxxiii. 117.

14 quae autem in Ephesiorum metallis fuerunt officinae nunc traiectae sunt ideo Romam qucd id genus venae postea est inventum Hispaniae regionibus, e quibus metallis glaebae portantur et per publicanos Romae curantur, vii. 8, 4.

15 It is possible that the missing words in Theophrastos may lie hidden in the meaningless μικρὸν ἐν καλοῖς a little below the words ὑπὲρ ᾿Εφέσου μικρόν (58). This may represent a marginal note to the effect “after μικρὸν insert ἐν Κιλβιανοῖς.”