Sostratos of Aegina

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sostratos of Aegina ( Greek  Σώστρατος , Σόστρατος), son of the Laodamas of Aegina , was an incredibly wealthy trader from the time of the Greek colonization .

He is mentioned by Herodotus , who, when speaking of an extremely profitable trade voyage, thinks that nobody else would have made such a profit, except of course Sostratos of Aegina, with whose successes nobody can compare.

It is believed that an Aeginian dedicatory inscription found on an anchor in Gravisca , the port of Etruscan Tarquinii , in 1970

Ἀπο / λόν / ος Αἰ / γινά / τα ἐμ / ί. Σόστ / ρατος / ἐποίε / σε / hο ––
“ I belong to Apollo of Aegina. Sostratos ... let me do it. "

refers to the Sostratos mentioned by Herodotus. It is also believed that the ceramic mark SO ( ΣΟ ), which was found on over 100 pieces of black-figure Attic ceramics, indicates Sostratos or a descendant. All pieces whose origin is known come from Etruria and from the 2nd half of the 6th century BC. Chr.

literature

  • Raimund Schulz : Antiquity and the Sea. Primus, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-89678-256-8 , p. 52.
  • Beat Schweizer: Between Naukratis and Gravisca: Merchants in the Mediterranean region of the 7th and 6th centuries. v. Empórion - port of trade - extra-urban sanctuary: from xenía to emporía . In: Martin Fitzenreiter (ed.): The holy and the goods. On the tension between religion and economy . Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-1-906137-03-8 ( Internet contributions to Egyptology and Sudan archeology 7), pp. 307-324; in detail on the sources, on the problem of identifying the person, on the context of Greek trade history; hu-berlin.de (PDF; 262 kB).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus, Histories 4.152
  2. ^ First publication: Mario Torelli : Il santuario di Hera a Gravisca. In: La Parola del Passato 26, 1971, pp. 55-60. See Oswyn Murray: Early Greece. Munich 1982, p. 278; Astrid Möller : Naukratis: trade in archaic Greece. Oxford 2000, p. 56.
  3. ^ AW Johnston: Trademarks on Greek Vases. Warminster / Wiltshire 1979, p. 80 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Sostratos of Aegina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trader of the early Greek period
DATE OF BIRTH between 10th century BC BC and 6th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Aegina
DATE OF DEATH between 10th century BC BC and 6th century BC Chr.