al Mina

Coordinates: 36 ° 4 ′ 49.6 ″  N , 35 ° 59 ′ 13.5 ″  E

Al Mina​

Turkey

Al Mina ( Arabic الميناء, DMG al-Mīnāʾ ) was an ancient settlement on the Mediterranean coast of Syria on the territory of today's Turkey , at the mouth of the Orontes . It was possibly one of the earliest ancient Greek colonies ; however, it is not mentioned by the traditional Greek historians and thus the Greek name remains unknown.

history

The oldest archaeological remains of the settlement, which began in 825 BC. Chr. Can start, are Syrian. Around the middle of the 8th century BC BC Greek influence can be proven on the basis of large quantities of Greek pottery. The vessels turned out to be Euboean . Early Syrian and Phoenician pottery products can also be found at the same time . Whether Al Mina is a Syrian settlement with Syrian architecture and Greek influences or a Greek trading post is controversial among archaeologists. Al Mina was undisputedly an important trading post, where goods from Urartu and - via caravan routes - from Assyria were handled.

Some researchers believe that the Phoenician alphabet and other cultural and technological achievements came to Greece during the 8th century via Al Mina .

Around 700 BC Al Mina was destroyed, but then rebuilt. At the same time, the Euboean activity in Al Mina ends, which is very likely related to the Lelantic War , in which the two Euboian trading powers Chalkis and Eretria were involved. On the basis of pottery finds, a Greek influence can be traced back to the 4th century BC. Prove.

Excavation history

The first archaeological excavations took place in 1936 under Leonard Woolley . However, he had hoped for an older, Bronze Age port and soon relocated his search to Alalach . Since 2000 the Orontes estuary has been investigated as part of an interdisciplinary research project. It was possible to reconstruct the changes in the coastal landscape over the past six millennia. The center of the former port city of Al Mina is now 1.6 km inland at a bend in the Orontes.

literature

• John Boardman : Al Mina and history . In: Oxford Journal of Archeology . tape 9 , 1990, pp. 169-190 .
• John Boardman :  Al Mina, Turkey (Hatay province) . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
• T. F. R. G. Braun: The Greeks in the Near East . In: Cambridge Ancient History . III, part 3. Cambridge 1982.
• Walter Burkert : The Orientalizing Revolution. Near Eastern Influences on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age . Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1992, ISBN 0-674-64363-1 .
• John Nicolas Coldstream : Greeks and Phoenicians in the Aegean . In: H. G. Niemyer (Ed.): Phoenicians in the West . Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0486-2 , p. 261-272 .
• A. John Graham: The Historical Interpretation of Al Mina . In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne . tape 12 , 1986, pp. 51-65 .
• Gunnar Lehmann: Al Mina and the East: A Report on Research in Progress . In: Alexandra Villing (Ed.): The Greeks in the East . London 2005, ISBN 0-86159-157-7 , pp. 61-92 (= British Museum Research Publication 157).
• Poul Jørgen Riis : Greeks in Phenicia . In: H. G. Niemyer (Ed.): Phoenicians in the West . Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0486-2 , p. 237-255 .
• Leonard Woolley: The Date of al Mina . In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies . tape 68 , 1948.
• Leonard Woolley: A Forgotten Kingdom . Harmondsworth 1953.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joan du Plat Taylor : The Cypriot and Syrian Pottery from Al Mina, Syria . In: Iraq . tape 21 , 1959, pp. 62-92 .
2. ^ E. Gjerstad: The Stratification at Al Mina (Syria) and its Chronological Evidence . In: Acta Archaeologica . tape 45 , 1974, p. 107-123 .
3. ^ MR Popham et al .: Euboean Exports to Al Mina, Cyprus, and Crete: A Reassessment . In: The Annual of the British School at Athens . tape 78 , 1983, pp. 281-290 .
4. ^ R. Kearsley: Greeks Overseas in the 8th Century BC: Euboeans, Al Mina and Assyrian Imperialism . In: GR Tsetskhladze (ed.): Ancient Greeks West and East . Leiden 1999, ISBN 90-04-11190-5 .
5. ↑ John Boardman: The Excavated History of Al-Mina . In: GR Tsetskhladze (ed.): Ancient Greeks West and East . Leiden 1999, ISBN 90-04-11190-5 .
6. ↑ John Boardman: Colonies and Commerce of the Greeks. From the late 9th to the 6th centuries BC Chr. Munich 1981, ISBN 3-406-08039-1 .
7. ^ Ertuğ Öner: Alluvial Geomorphology and Paleogeographical Studies on the Asi (Orontes) Delta Plain. (PDF; 12.1 MB) In: Ege Coğrafya Dergisi. Retrieved April 12, 2011 .