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International audience; Pendant les trois derniers millénaires, Ainos (moderne Enez, dans la province turqued’Edirne, en Europe) a été un des carrefours commerciaux de la Méditerranée orientale, entrel’Asie Mineure, l’Europe du Sud et les Balkans. Située sur une île qui est définitivementdevenue, au Néolithique, une presqu’île, entre les embouchures du fleuve Hèbre (en turcMeriç) et la mer Égée, Ainos/Enez a contrôlé tout le trafic Ouest-Est le long de la côteégéenne, mais aussi Nord-Sud, le long de la vallée du fleuve et de ses affluents. À l’époqueantique et médiévale, le delta de l’Hèbre n’avait pas encore atteint la ville elle-même, qui étaitentourée par la mer. Des bancs de sable ont progressivement fermé les golfes autour de lapresqu’île, donnant naissance à des lagunes propices à l’installation des ports, des salines etdes pêcheries. Cette importance stratégique d’Ainos est confirmée par les auteurs anciens etmodernes, mais aussi par les découvertes archéologiques extrêmement riches, surtout dans lesnécropoles fouillées par Sait Başaran autour de la ville.Dans cet exposé, nous évoquerons l’histoire d’Ainos, reconstituée à partir de sourceslittéraires confrontées à la documentation archéologique et géoarchéologique. Dans lapremière partie, nous nous concentrons sur l’espace urbain (l’« Acropole » et l’espace habitéautour), depuis le VI e siècle av. J.-C. à l’époque ottomane. Dans la seconde partie, nousprésentons les espaces frontaliers : les fortifications et quelques découvertes des nécropoles,actuellement à l’étude au Musée d’Edirne. Dans la dernière partie, nous synthétisons nosrésultats sur les ports urbains et extra-urbains, et sur les routes reliant Ainos (et Gala Gölü) aureste du monde.

Νησί των Νεολιθικών χρόνων, χερσόνησος από την Εποχή του Χαλκού, η πόλη του Αίνουυπήρξε ένα από τα κύρια εμπορικά σταυροδρόμια του Βορείου Αιγαίου, στις εκβολές τουΈβρου, μεταξύ της ελληνικής θάλασσας και της θρακικής ενδοχώρας. Οι ετήσιες τουρκικέςαρχαιολογικές ανασκαφές (ξεκίνησαν το 1973, υπό τη διεύθυνση του Sait Başaran για σχεδόν40 χρόνια, έως το 2019) έχουν αποκαλύψει αρκετά στοιχεία της χώρας (νεκροπόλεις, δρόμοι,οχυρώσεις). Η γεωαρχαιολογική έρευνα, που ξεκίνησε από τους Helmut Brückner, WolfgangRabbel και Thomas Schmidts στο 2011-2012, συνεχίστηκε τώρα στο πλαίσιο μιας γαλλικήςδιεθνούς αποστολής που συντονίστηκε από την Anca Dan, παρήγαγε δεδομένα για τη θέσηκαι την χρονολογίαν των λιμανιών της πόλης και για τις περιβαλλοντικές αλλαγές στηνεπικράτεια. Σε αυτή την εργασία, θα παρουσιάσουμε τα κύρια αποτελέσματα των κοινών μαςέργων σχετικά με τη φυσική εξέλιξη του ακρωτηρίου του Αίνου και του δέλτα του Έβρου,καθώς και για τις ανθρώπινες επιπτώσεις στην περιοχή., Island in Neolithic times, peninsula from the Bronze Age onwards, Ainos has been one of themain hubs of the Northern Aegean, at the mouth of the Hebros, between the Greek sea and theThracian hinterland. Annual Turkish archaeological excavations and surveys (started in 1973,directed by Sait Bașaran for nearly 40 years, until 2019) have revealed several components ofthe chora (necropoleis, roads, fortifications). The geoarchaeological research, initiated byHelmut Brückner, Wolfgang Rabbel and Thomas Schmidts in 2011-2012, now continued inthe frame of a French international mission coordinated by Anca Dan, produced data for thelocation and evolution of the city’s lagoonal harbours as well as for the environmentalchanges in the territory. In this paper, we will present the main results of our joint projectsabout the natural evolution of the Ainos promontory and Hebros delta, as well as about thehuman impact in the region.

International audience; The archaeological research started in Ainos in 1971-1972, under the direction of Arfif Erzen;it continued during 1978-1993, with the participation of Sait Bașaran, who directed theresearch from 1994 until 2019. During these decades, Ainos transformed itself from a simpletoponym, known from some ancient literary and epigraphic texts, published from the 19 thcentury onwards, to one of the best known archaeological sites in European Turkey. Thenearby Hoça Keșme, discovered by Sait Bașaran and his family and excavated by MehmetÖzdoğan, is now the most important Neolithic site in SE Europe. Ainos’ Greek, Roman andEarly Byzantine funerary zones (the so-called Çakıllık, the Su Terazisi and the Taşaltınecropoleis), excavated in very difficult conditions, due to the rising water table, have filledtwo rooms with exceptional finds in the Edirne Museum. Enez’s Kale (“Acropolis”) revealedthe traces of the oldest Greek habitation and is now open to the public, with a fully restored“Fatih” or “Hagia Sophia” Mosque.Sait Bașaran put Ainos on the map of the studies on Thrace, publishing or co-publishingnearly all the important historical and archaeological studies about this area. He opened hisexcavation to international and interdisciplinary projects, supported by the DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft (SPP Häfen; 2012-2017) and by the French National ResearchFoundation and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mission d’Ainos; 2017-2021), whichmade significant progress in identifying Ainos’ topography, in particular the harbours andtheir chronology, from Greek Antiquity to late Ottoman times. Geoelectric profiles combinedwith geomagnetic and georadar surveys gave hints for the shape of two ancient harbourbasins, besides several other anchoring points. The sediment cores in the basins as well as onformer beaches show the evolution of the ancient maritime gulf south of Ainos into the Taşaltıand Dalyan lagoons. Through geochemical analyses, combined with the study of pollen andmicrofauna, our team was able to reconstruct the ecological history of these lagoons, and toidentify and date the human actions which transformed them first into harbours and later intosimple fishing basins.In this paper, we present a survey of the most important archaeological and geoarchaeologicalfinds and hypotheses concerning Ainos: after a general presentation of the historical andarchaeological data about the city (with a particular focus on the Roman time), we try toreconstruct the city’s connectivity, by discussing the Roman roads and harbour evidence,including the preliminary results of the 2021 campaign.

Ainos (moderne Enez, en Turquie) est une des villes les plus longévives de l’histoire grecque, qui a connu aussi bien la prospérité et la capacité de s’imposer devant ses voisins dans la vallée de l’Evros, que l’isolement du bout de tous les chemins. L’occupation continue pendant au moins trois millénaires rend la tâche de l’archéologue difficile, surtout quand il y a eu rupture et effacement de la mémoire. Toutefois, des bribes d’histoires mises bout à bout avec les trouvailles archéologiques, on apprend les mythes et les rites d’un si long passé. On peut s’étonner devant la survivance de certains traits - comme les cultes dans les grottes, le respect pour les eaux - autant que dans la discontinuité des autres - comme dans le cas du christianisme, après l’échange de populations de 1923. En reprenant ensemble le dossier cultuel et culturel d’Ainos, nous nous intéresserons à Hermès en tant que divinité poliade égéenne, ensuite aux Nymphes et aux cultes des eaux (dont Hébros lui-même, devenue “Maritsa”), et au final à l’orthodoxie grecque si florissante à l’époque byzantine et même ottomane dans la ville d’Ainos et dans ses alentours. Nous essayerons donc de voir quels sont les facteurs de continuité et de véritable rupture et quels sont leurs effets sur la ville et ses monuments.

The Kane-Peninsula in modern-day Turkey is a promontory blocking great parts of the Kaikosvalley from the sea. Within a coastline of approximately 45 km at least three harbor citieswere located in antiquity: Elaia, Pitane and Kane. To understand the various ports, anchoragesand landings along the Kane peninsula and the Bay of Elaia, the Kane Regional HarbourSurvey has been conducted since 2014 (DAI Istanbul – University Cologne – ERC RomPort).The project was conceptualized as a multi-disciplinary archaeological project includinggeophysical and shallow-water geoarchaeological prospections. In conjunction with the latestresearch in Elaia, the harbor city of Pergamon, the project offered the chance to study thecoastal zone of a micro-region with a hierarchy of major and minor ports and bays suitable forcabotage and their relationship to Pergamon in a diachronic perspective. Furthermore, thisregion is also a good example to investigate the changes in the location, the maritimeinfrastructure, the economic and political importance as well as the frequentation of harboursites during the Roman period compared to the Classic and Hellenistic era.In this paper we will outline the development of Pegamon’s sea front in a diachronicperspective from the Classical era to Roman Imperial times based on the latest research alongthe coast of the Kane peninsula and the Bay of Elaia. On the one hand, we will concentrate onthe major port cities of Kane, Pitane, and Elaia, their historic development and their maritimeinfrastructure. On the other hand, we will introduce minor anchorages and coastal sites andask for their significance within the local harbor networks. Key questions are: How did thedifferent port cities and anchorages relate to each other? How did the harbour infrastructureand facilities develop from Classical to Roman Imperial times? What were the driving factorsthat changed the local maritime networks and the relevance of the different port cities?

The so-called “Bactrian bowls” reveal aspects of the cultural history of “Greater Iran” during the Sasanian period and have remained understudied until today. Even if they are often deprived of archaeological contexts, these pieces of silverware have been correctly located and dated by Boris Marshak as being executed in Bactria and neighbouring regions from the fourth to the fifth century onwards, after the Sasanian withdrawal but still under strong Sasanian influence. They combine Sasanian and “Hunnish” features with iconographic and literary motifs inherited or imported from the West, during the Hellenistic “colonization,” as well as through commercial contacts with the Roman Empire. By the rigorous study of their details, compared with Greek, Roman, and Iranian parallels, we can show how Greek mythical and historical characters, dressed in Indo-Iranian cloths, were addressed to the Eastern Iranian public. This is the case of Jocasta and Oedipus, illustrating the Zoroastrian xwēdōdah on a bowl found in Kustanai (now in the Hermitage), and also of Heracles and Hermes on a seventh-century bowl from the Stroganoff collection (also in the Hermitage). Using the same method, we would like to offer a new reading for the silver bowl in the Freer collection: This is not a collection of random tragic scenes but a representation of Bellerophon’s fatal destiny, which perhaps echoed that of Kay Kāwus to a culturally Iranian audience.

« Και τώρα μη με αρχίζεις ευφυολογίες, τα «Πού οι Έλληνες;» και «Πού τα Ελληνικά πίσω απ’ τον Ζάγρο εδώ, από τα Φράατα πέρα». Τόσοι και τόσοι βαρβαρότεροί μας άλλοι αφού το γράφουν, θα το γράψουμε κι εμείς. Και τέλος μη ξεχνάς που ενίοτε μας έρχοντ’ από την Συρία σοφισταί, και στιχοπλόκοι, κι άλλοι ματαιόσπουδοι. Ώστε ανελλήνιστοι δεν είμεθα, θαρρώ. »When he wrote his Philhellene, Constantin Cafavy could not know that his scenario was appropriate not only for Parthian minters, but also for “Bactrian” silversmiths who created a large price ware of Hellenic inspiration. From the 3rd to the 6th or 7th centuries CE, between Northwest India (Gandhara) and Sogdiana, throughout Bactria-Tokharistan, they produced silver bowls with a “Greek” decoration in relief, reminiscent of the Hellenistic “Megarian bowls” known from ceramic specimens. While the technique of crimped pieces betrays Roman and Sasanian influences (they are not copies of Macedonian-Seleucid prototypes), the meaning of the scenes has remained largely misunderstood until now. Some of these vessels were even suspected to be fakes, so much that this hybridization of Greco-Roman and Indo-Iranian art appeared unlikely under the domination of Kidarite and Hephtalite Huns – a “dark age” of Central Asian history which followed the withdrawal of the Sasanians. At that time, the coinage indicated rather a rejection of all Classical canons. In this paper, we shall present a general survey of the “Bactrian bowls”, focusing on Greek literary themes: Homer and the Trojan cycle, Attic tragic poets (Sophocles and Euripides), the Alexander Romance. We shall explain how the myths were shaped and spaced, how they were “translated” for an Indo-Iranian and Hunnish milieu. The challenge is to grasp the enduring strength of Hellenism, of its logoi and eikones, in pre-Islamic Central Asia and on the Silk Road.

Le premier monument antique d’Ainos mentionné par un voyageur étranger est la fameuse« grotte de Pan », située au cœur de la ville. Elle doit son nom au relief sculpté au bout d’unecheminée de 5m de profondeur : aujourd’hui très abîmé, ce relief avait été identifié parCyriaque d’Ancône comme représentant Pan et les nymphes. De fait, il s’inscrit dans la sériedes reliefs tardo-classiques et hellénistiques, connus surtout en Attique. Mais l’histoire de lagrotte d’Ainos est plus complexe : à en croire les auteurs hellénistiques, elle a pu servir delieu de culte chtonien avant d’être transformée en crypte funéraire chrétienne avec plusieursréaménagements, et finalement en atelier de métallurgie (au XX e siècle). Comme les deuxpièces de la grotte sont toujours plongées dans le noir, toute étude et relevé architectural ouphotographique a été impossible auparavant. Sous la direction de Sait Başaran, en 2017-2019 et en 2021, nous avons réalisé un nettoyage de la grotte, suivi par des prises de vuespour la photogrammétrie, à l’aide de très puissantes lampes LED. Frédérique Marchand-Beaulieu a réalisé un ensemble des 1536 photographies, qu’elle a transformées en nuage depoints, à l’aide du logiciel Agisoft Photoscan®. Le modèle 3D généré couvre l’ensemble dela grotte, du sol au plafond. Il permet d’entamer l’étude de quelques peintures pariétalesassociées à des éléments architecturaux sculptés dans la roche. Cette présentation montre lespremières hypothèses d’une recherche multidisciplinaire en cours.

L’Antiquité et les « antiquités » ont joué un rôle essentiel dans la construction des identités modernes, bien au-delà des États-nations qui ont pu se revendiquer comme héritiers directs de l’empire gréco-romain. Les peoples des confins, que les Grecs et les Romains ont conçus en tant que « Barbares » au miroir desquels ils pouvaient se définir eux-mêmes, ont également servi de « racines » pour des nations diverses, qui ne pouvaient pourtant prétendre à aucune forme de « continuité » spatiale, ethnique, culturelle avec ce passé éloigné. Reinventés de multiples fois par les lecteurs d’Hérodote de toutes les époques, les Scythes sont un cas intéressant pour observer les usages extrêmes des textes et des traces archéologiques antiques, suivant des méthodes contestables mais pour des objectifs valables à toutes les époques. Nous souhaitons offrir ici une première esquisse historique critique de la réception du logos scythe d’Hérodote, des auteurs romains, byzantins, renaissants aux archéologues, linguistes et historiens des deux derniers siècles. Notre méthode est celle de la comparaison critique des sources historiques et archéologiques, portant sur la steppe eurasiatique. Dans une première partie, nous discutons la manière dont Hérodote lui-même a « inventé » l’espace-temps des Scythes dans le contexte culturel de son temps. Deuxièmement, nous dressons un bilan des réceptions du logos d’Hérodote entre le moment où Cicéron en fait le « père de l’histoire » et les historiens de la Renaissance, qui le redécouvre grâce aux Byzantins. Dans le troisième et dernier temps, nous montrons comment, à l’époque contemporaine, l’archéologie a été vue et utilisée en tant que nouvelle source d’information confirmant le monde d’Hérodote et, par son intermédiaire, le rattachement de l’Europe du Sud-Est au centre méditerranéen du monde classique.

La ville d’Ainos, à l’embouchure du fleuve Hèbre, en Thrace orientale, a été habitéecontinuellement pendant les quatre derniers millénaires. En conséquence, malgré sa richessecertaine, cette ville du dieu Hermès a révélé peu de traces d’habitat urbain avant l’époque byzantine.Une maison romaine incendiée et brusquement abandonnée après 275 apr. J.-C. avait, dans une deses pièces, une mosaïque illustrant une scène théâtrale restée, jusqu’ici, non identifiée. Nousproposons ici une nouvelle reconstitution et l’identification avec la scène initiale de la comédie deMénandre, Synaristôsiai, « Les femmes qui déjeunent ensemble », modèle de la comédie latine dePlaute, Cistellaria, « La cassette ». Bien que cette mosaïque ne soit la copie exacte d’aucune autremosaïque connue, elle peut être comparée surtout aux scènes analogues des mosaïques de Zeugma,d’Antioche (Daphnè) et – plus proche d’Ainos – de Mytilène : l’esclave de la prostituée Philainisapporte la casette du côté gauche ; la figure de sa vieille maîtresse est désormais perdue. La filleadoptée, Plangon, parle avec son bras droit levé ; son vêtement et ses cheveux noirs contrastentavec l’aspect brillant de son amie située à sa gauche, la courtisane Pythias. L’image est entourée parune série de cadres bicolores, décorés par une variété remarquable de figures géométriques. Ladécouverte d’un trésor monétaire sur le sol, accompagné de trois statuettes en bronze et d’autreséléments de décoration de la maison (fenêtre, fresques, colonnes) que nous présenterons dans leurcontexte, assure la datation de l’ensemble au III e siècle apr. J.-C.

Zwischen 2011 und 2021 umfasste das archäologische Projekt „Taman'“ unter der Leitung von Udo Schlotzhauer und Denis Zhuravlev auch einen bedeutenden geoarchäologischen Aspekt, gefördert von Hans-Joachim Gehrke, dem ehemaligen Direktor des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Dank der Zusammenarbeit mit den Geomorphologen Helmut Brückner und Daniel Kelterbaum kam es zu völlig neuen Erkenntnissen, nicht nur für die Geowissenschaften, sondern auch für die Archäologie und Alte Geschichte. H. Brückner und D. Kelterbaum revolutionierten die gängige Meinung über die holozänen Meeresspiegelschwankungen des Schwarzen Meeres. Sie zeigten, dass die bis dahin postulierten Regressions-Transgressions-Zyklen – insbesondere die sog. Phanagoreische Regression zwischen etwa 800 und 200 v.Chr. – nicht stattgefunden haben und stattdessen der Meeresspiegel des Schwarzen Meeres während des Holozäns kontinuierlich gestiegen ist und nur lokal durch tektonische Prozesse beeinflusst wurde. Darüber hinaus belegen die Sedimente aus ihren Bohrungen auf der Taman'-Halbinsel die ehemalige Existenz eines Archipels aus vier Inseln westlich der Mündung des Kuban-Flusses seit der Bronzezeit. Durch den Abgleich zwischen geowissenschaftlichen sowie den reichen archäologischen Befunden mit alten und modernen Texten und Karten, die seit mehr als einem Jahrhundert von Ausgrabungen und Vermessungen gesammelt wurden, konnten wir ein kohärentes Szenario für die Identifizierung der meisten antiken und mittelalterlichen Orts- und Flussnamen erstellen sowie den historisch überlieferten mentalen Rahmen der Landschaftsbeschreibungen rekonstruieren. Daraus ergibt sich eine völlig neue Sicht auf die Entwicklung der Topographie der heutigen Taman'-Halbinsel. In diesem Beitrag erläutern wir beispielhaft die Folgen der neuen Erkenntnisse für die antike Stadt Kepoi und dem heutigen Ort Taman'. Wir zeigen, dass die archäologischen und historischen Zeugnisse mit der geographischen Rekonstruktion der Landschaft im Umfeld dieser milesischen Kolonie im asiatischen Teil des Kimmerischen Bosporus und dem modernen Ort Taman' vereinbar sind.

Les vases en argent présents dans l’Antiquité sur les territoires compris entre le Nord de l’Inde(Gandhara) et les provinces perses orientales de Bactriane et de Sogdiane offrent un éclairage inéditsur la circulation des savoirs et des savoir-faire entre Orient et Occident. Depuis l’expéditiond’Alexandre le Grand et jusqu’à la conquête islamique, des bols, des coupes, des plats et desbouteilles ont été importés par l’Océan Indien ou sur les chemins caravaniers de l’Asie. Ils ont étérépliqués, réinterprétés et transformés en un répertoire centrasiatique qui se distingue autant parson mélange d’influences artistiques et techniques gréco-romaines et indo-iraniennes, que par sonoriginalité. Si les textes – comme le Périple de la mer Érythrée – gardent quelques références àl’exportation d’objets romains finis, nous n’avons aucune information sur la circulation des modèles,des moules ou des maîtres. C’est seulement par l’étude de ces objets – souvent dépourvus decontexte archéologique – que nous pouvons observer l’immense diversité et complexité destransferts. Dans cette présentation, nous nous arrêtons sur quelques exemples précis : le plat d’Aulis,fabriqué probablement en Italie au I er siècle av. J.-C., qui a pu arriver en 265-266 apr. J.-C., suite auxguerres de Shapur Ier, dans un temple kuchan du dieu Manabag (le Zoroastrien Vohu Manah, Maîtrede la pensée) ; un plat fragmentaire d’or, découvert à Datong (en Chine), qui a dû être moulé auGandhara selon un modèle romain du III e siècle apr. J.-C., retravaillé ; un bol kidarite, au IV e siècle apr.J.-C., qui pourrait conserver la seule trace iconographique des mystères dionysiaques organisés dansles cités de l’Asie Mineure pré-chrétienne, transposée par une technique sassanide, en un contextehun.

Les élites « hunnes » des états chionites, kidarites et hephtalites comprenant le Tokharistan (ancienne Bactriane) et l'Inde du Nord-Ouest à partir du 4e siècle apr. J.-C. étaient non seulement éprises d'art gréco-romain hérité ou importé, mais avaient aussi une fine connaissance des cycles mythologiques helléniques. Or, la lecture des reliefs décorant les petits bols d'argent dits « bactriens », datés par Boris Marshak après la retraite sassanide de l'Asie Centrale, n'a guère progressé depuis 1943, quand Kurt Weitzmann y avait vu des morceaux choisis au hasard d'Euripide. L'illustre fondateur des études sur l'enluminure antique et byzantine ne pouvait savoir, sur la base des conceptions admises à son époque, que les notions d'illustration et d'anthologie aléatoire sont anachroniques pour les arts anciens. À titre d'exemple, le bol de Kustanai (Ermitage S-62) représente bien des scènes théâtrales: inspirés d’ « Oedipe roi » et d’ « Oedipe à Colone » de Sophocle, ces décors en langage iconographique gréco-romain (2e siècle av. J.-C.-3e s. apr. J.-C.) ont pu être réélaborés en Asie Centrale, entre Gandhara et Sogdiane, dans un contexte zoroastrien où l'on pratiquait le mariage avec la mère.

Vom 3. bis zum 6. oder 7. Jh. n. Chr., stellten die Menschen zwischen Nordwestindien (Gandhara) und Sogdiana, insbesondere in Baktrien-Tokharistan, Silberschalen mit einem „griechischen“ Reliefdekor her, das an die hellenistischen Terrakottaschalen erinnert, die als „Megarisch“ bekannt sind. Sie verwendeten die Falztechnik, die römische und insbesondere sassanidische Einflüsse verrät. Daher waren diese Vasen keine anachronistischen Kopien von „makedonischen“ / „seleukidischen“ oder „kuschan“ Prototypen, sondern wurden nach den besten metallurgischen Techniken, die in Asien vor der islamischen Zeit bekannt wurden, hergestellt. Im Gegenteil, die Bedeutung der Szenen, die bisher weitgehend missverstanden wurden, ist hauptsächlich „griechisch“, mit weiteren „baktrischen“ und sogar „hunnischen“ semantischen Implikationen. Die Ergebnisse unserer Untersuchung sind umso überraschender, als die literarischen Quellen über die „Hunnen“ und die Münzprägung der Kidariten und der Hephthaliten eher auf eine Ablehnung aller klassischen Kanons hinweisen. Einige dieser „baktrischen“ Gefäße wurden sogar als Fälschungen verdächtigt, so sehr, dass diese Hybridisierung von griechisch-römischer und indo-iranischer Kunst unter der Herrschaft der Hunnen, einem „dunklen Zeitalter“ der zentralasiatischen Geschichte, das aufden Rückzug der Sassaniden folgte, unwahrscheinlich erschien. Dennoch lädt uns die Identifizierung der mythologischen Szenen auf diesen Vasen und ihre Verbindungen zu berühmten griechischen literarischen Texten sowie zu einigen griechischrömischen oder sassanidischen Vorbildern dazu ein, das Phänomen der „baktrischen“ Vasen im Sinne einer „Übersetzung“, einer „Übertragung“ und einer „Überformung“ zu erklären. In diesem Vortrag geben wir einen allgemeinen Überblick über die „baktrischen Schalen“ mit besonderem Akzent auf griechische Literaturthemen: Homer und der Trojanische Zyklus, attische Tragiker (Sophokles und Euripides), der Alexanderroman. Wir werden erklären, wiedie Mythen geformt und verteilt wurden, wie sie für ein indo-iranisches und hunnisches Milieu „übersetzt“ wurden. Die ultimative Herausforderung besteht darin, die kulturellen Kontakte im Kern der Seidenstraße zu erklären.Publikationen: http://www.archeo.ens.fr/Argenterie_Asie_Centrale.html, From the 3rd to the 6th or 7th centuries CE, between Northwest India (Gandhara) and Sogdiana, people in Bactria-Tokharistan produced silver bowls with a “Greek” decoration in relief, reminiscent of the Hellenistic terracotta bowls known as “Megarian”. They used the technique of crimped pieces, which betrays Roman and especially Sasanian influences: therefore, these vases were not anachronistic copies of “Macedonian” / “Seleucid” or “Kushan” prototypes, but were done according to the best metallurgic technics known in Asia, before the Islamic times. On the contrary, the meaning of the scenes, which remainedlargely misunderstood until now, is mostly Greek, with further “Bactrian” and even “Hunnic” semantic implications. The results of our research are all the more surprising, since the literary sources about the “Hunns” and the coinage of the Kidarites and of the Hephthalites indicated rather a rejection of all Classical canons. Some of these vessels were even suspected to be fakes, so much that this hybridization of Greco-Roman and Indo-Iranian art appeared unlikely under the domination of the Huns, a “dark age” of Central Asian history which followed the withdrawal of the Sasanians. Nonetheless, the identification of the mythological scenes on these vases and their links with famous Greek literary texts as well as with some Greco-Roman or Sasanian models, invites us to explain the phenomenon of the “Bactrian” vases in terms of “translation” and “transformation”. In this lecture, we shall present a general survey of the “Bactrian bowls” with a special accent on Greek literary themes: Homer and the Trojan cycle, Attic tragic poets (Sophocles and Euripides), the Alexander Romance. We shall explain how the myths were shaped and spaced, how they were “translated” for an Indo-Iranian and Hunnish milieu. The ultimate challenge is to explain the cultural contacts at the core of the Silk Road.Publications: http://www.archeo.ens.fr/Argenterie_Asie_Centrale.html

Despite Justinian's efforts to reinforce the defence of the Danubian limes byfortifying number of Black Sea and Danubian sites, the successive attacks of theAvars, Slaves and Bulgarians put an end to the Greco-Roman presence on theterritory of Dobrodgea (SE of today's Romania and NE of Bulgaria) in the firstdecades of the 7th century. Taking over from Procopius' inventory of fortifications(On Buildings), this presentation lists the archaeological traces attestingthe latest contacts of the Greek sites on the Western Black Sea coast with theByzantine Empire, during Heraclius' reign. Going through the rich bibliography which deals with the chronological break in the Byzantine presence at the mouthsof the Danube (7th-11th centuries), the paper discusses the objective proofsof the break (discontinuity in toponymy and archaeological culture) and theirtreatment in the historiography of the Romanian and Bulgarian ethnogenesis.

Jusqu’au XIXe siècle, Ainos (aujourd’hui Enez, dans la région turque d’Edirne) a été l’un des plus importants centres commerciaux entre le monde méditerranéen et l’arrièrepays balkanique. Située sur une île qui est devenue, dès le Néolithique, une péninsule, dans l’ancien golfe marin aujourd’hui colmaté par le delta de l’Hèbre (moderne Evros/Maritsa/Meriç), la cité éolienne a contrôlé le trafic fluvial et maritime d’Est en Ouest (de la Macédoine à la Troade) et du Nord au Sud (de la Thrace, à Samothrace, Athènes, les Cyclades et jusqu’en Égypte). L’importance stratégique de cette cité d’Hermès, comme carrefour et point de passage pour tous ceux qui emprunté la voie de l’Hèbre et de ses affluents, est confirmée par les textes (littéraires et épigraphiques), les monnaies ainsi que par les importantes découvertes faites par Sait Başaran dans les nécropoles autour du noyau urbain. Deux projets interdisciplinaires et internationaux récents (SPP « Häfen », de la Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, 2012-2017, co-dirigé par Helmut Brückner et Thomas Schmidts, ainsi que Legecartas du CNRS, dirigé par Anca Dan et continué par l’actuelle mission du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères à Enez) ont apporté des nouveautés importantes sur la paléogéographie de la ville, ses ports et son territoire. Nous faisons ici un bilan des découvertes historiques, archéologiques et géoarchéologiques en cours de publication.

After the reconnection between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea c. 5600 BC, an archipelago evolved in the area of the later Taman Peninsula (Russia). As sea level rise decelerated, the primary coasts turned into secondary ones by the continued progradation of the Kuban delta, and by the evolution of sand spits and sand bars due to cliff erosion and longshore drift. When the Greek traders and settlers arrived during the 8th/7th century BC, at least two waterways were still open which connected the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov: several Greek and Latin sources included both channels into the “Cimmerian Bosporus”. Nonetheless, modern scholars who were not aware of the existence of a second channel before our discoveries, reduced the “Cimmerian Bosporus” to the Kertch Strait. This is why, in order to mark the modern character of the reconstruction of the second channel further to the east, we called it the “Kuban Bosporus” (or, for some colleagues now, the “Sindian Bosporus”). This second channel was subdivided into several outlets, but had at least one main corridor near the centre of the recent Taman Peninsula. This natural setting of a special coastal configuration with small inlets, extended sand barriers and sand bars as well as sheltered embayments created ideal harbour sites for the Greek settlers from Archaic up to Hellenistic and, in some cases, up to the Roman times. The reconstruction of this palaeogeography sheds new light on the descriptions of ancient authors like Strabo, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy. For the first time, we can suggest identifications of sites ancient toponyms such as Hermonassa, Korokondame, Kepoi, Sindikos Limèn, Kimmerikon, Clazomenian Towers, Satyrou Mnêma which fit all the literary descriptions and distances. The spatio-temporal coastline changes can be exemplified for several of the ancient Greek settlements, but are still lacking a high precise model for the entire Taman Peninsula.

Before the closing of its lagoons and the progradation of the Hebros delta, Ainos took advantage of an almost insulate position, which made it one of the main hubs between the Greek Aegean and the Thracian hinterland. Annual Turkish archaeological excavations (since 1973) and international geoarchaeological research (since 2011) have revealed several components of the polis’ territory (necropoleis, roads, anchoring sites, fortifications) and offered information about the ecological impact of the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman occupation on the natural environment. The campaigns of the last three years – organized through the cooperation of the German Universities of Cologne and Kiel with the French CNRS and the Turkish Ministry of Culture in the project LEGECARTAS (Lectures géoarchéologiques des cartes anciennes) – brought more light on the use of the city’s shores. We are now able to point to a precise location for the main harbour of the city (based on literary sources, geomorphological and geophysical evidence). We can also formulate scenarios for the use of the lagoons at the SE and NE of the city as fisheries and salines (by comparing them with other sites, studied by archaeologists on the shores of the Mediterranean and of the Atlantic, and by suggesting identifications with the names transmitted by ancient and medieval sources). This paper will present a short synthesis of these recent hypotheses, which can serve as a basis for the reconstruction of Ainos’ environmental history.

Until the 19th-20th century, Ainos (modern Enez, in Turkey’s region of Edirne) has been one ofthe most important trading centers between the Mediterranean world and the Thracian/Balkanhinterland. Situated on an island which became, in Neolithic times, a peninsula, between themouths of the Hebros (modern Evros/Maritsa/Meriç river) and the sea, Ainos/Enez controlledthe maritime and fluvial traffic East-West (from Northern Greece/Macedonia to Aeolis/Troas,following the sea-coast) and North-South (from Thrace, to Samothrace, Athens, the Cycladesand even up to Egypt). The strategic importance of Ainos, as a hub and a check-point of thecirculation on the Hebros river and its basin, is confirmed by ancient and modern writers,ancient coins and inscriptions, as well as the significant archaeological discoveries in the city’snecropolis, excavated since the 1980s by Sait Başaran and his collaborators. Two recentinternational and interdisciplinary projects (SPP “Häfen”, financed by the Deutsche ForschungGemeinschaft, 2012-2017, co-directed by Helmut Brückner and Thomas Schmidts, andLegecartas, 2017-2019 financed by the French CNRS and directed by Anca Dan) brought newdata about the geography of Ainos, its harbours and territory, thanks to the use of aninterdisciplinary, geoarchaeological methodology. This presentation summarizes the historical,archaeological, and geoarchaeological data available today about Ainos, its urban monuments,necropoleis, harbours, and territory.

International audience; Following on from the geoarchaeological reconstruction of the ancient archipelago and channels of the Kerch Straits before the progradation of the Kuban Delta, this paper offers arguments for the identification of Coracanda with the “Kuban Bosporus”, of Korokondamè with Volna 1 and the southern part of the Taman Island, and of Korokondamitis with the Bugaz, Kyzyltash and Zukur Liman. These ancient names could go back to an Old Iranian description of the straits as a “throat, gorge”. They are coherent with other Greek and non-Greek toponyms in the region and could have influenced the local anchoring of the Cimmerian myth.

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At the crossroads of civilisations, Old and New Smyrna were always occupied by people from Europe and Asia who spoke different languages at the same time. Some of them - like the Leleges and Maeonians - are now but mere names, while others - like the Carians and Lydians - are better known thanks to the recent, ground-breaking discovery of documents in Anatolian linguistics and archaeology. The Greek and Roman traditions on the city’s origins, however, reflect only part of this ethnic variety and do not always correspond to the rest of the evidence. Elaborated mostly in the first centuries of Roman domination, they are “intentional stories”; they contain information dated from the Archaic to Hellenistic times, but written down from an Ionian perspective in order to attract and obtain advantages from a Roman audience. Local orators selected and compiled two foundation myths - involving Tantalos and Pelops, and Theseus and the Amazons - as well as the foundation legend of Alexander the Great. Strabo, Tacitus, Aelius Aristides, and Pausanias transmitted these myths to us. This coherent series of three traditions covers the entire spectrum of Smyrna’s local, ethnic, and paradigmatic identity from the heroic settlement in the mountains to the most beautiful city of Ionia on the sea., Medeniyetler kavşağında yer alan Eski ve Yeni Smyrna her daim Avrupa ve Asya’dan gelen ve aynı anda farklı diller konuşan halklar tarafından iskân edilmiştir. Bunlardan bazıları - örneğin Lelegler ve Maeonialılar - günümüzde bir isimden öteye gitmezken, diğerleri - mesela Karialılar ve Lydialılar -Anadolu dil bilimi ve arkeolojisinde yakın zamanda gün yüzüne çıkarılan ve çığır açan nitelikteki belgeler sayesinde daha iyi bilinmektedirler. Bununla birlikte kentin kökenine dair geleneksel Yunan ve Roma dönemi anlatımları söz konusu etnik varyasyonun sadece bir bölümünü yansıtmaktadır ve geri kalan veriler ile her zaman eşleşmemektedir. Bunlar çoğunlukla Roma hâkimiyetinin ilk yüzyıllarında detaylı olarak biçimlendirilmiş “kasıtlı öykülerdir”; Arkaik ve Hellenistik dönemlere tarihlendirilen bilgiler içermekle birlikte Romalı dinleyici kitlesini cezbetmek ve bu kitlenin faydalarından yararlanmak amacıyla İonia’lı bir bakış açısıyla yazıltmışlardır. Yerel hatipler Tantalos ve Pelops ile Theseus ve Amazonları içeren iki kuruluş hikâyesini seçip derlemişler, bunun yanı sıra Büyük İskender tarafından gerçekleşen kuruluş efsanesini de tercih etmişlerdir. Bu mitler bize Strabon, Tacitus, Aelius Aristides ve Pausanias tarafından aktarılmıştır. Birbirini tamamlayıcı nitelikteki söz konusu üç geleneksel anlatım, kahramanlar döneminde tepelerdeki kuruluşundan deniz kıyısındaki en güzel İonia kentine dönüşmesine kadar Smyrna’nın yerel, etnik ve paradigmatik kimliğini tüm açılardan kapsamaktadır.

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International audience; The revival of Alexander the Great’s prestige in the Roman Empire of the 3rd–5th centuries has an Eastern counterpart: the post-Sassanian, Kidarite, and especially Hephtalite elites of Central Asia used the so-called “Bactrian” silverware decorated with Greco-Roman motives, through which they praised their glory as much as sometimes that of Alexander, heir of the Achaemenids and conqueror of India. At the same time, Sogdians of Samarkand honored Alexander as founder (of their city and of Nana’s temple). The Jews, who saw Alexander as their forerunner on these eastern edges of the world, reinforced his fame, presenting him as the first guide towards the nearby Earthly Paradise. According to our interpretation, the “Greek bowl” from Lhasa is a “Bactrian” silver bowl from the late 5th-6th century, which provides the earliest image of a Jewish version of the Alexander Romance: Alexander plucking the incense tree and drinking the water of life in a paradeisos on the extremities of India. The bowl confirms the importance of Jewish communities in Central Asia before the Islamic conquest and shows the contribution of Judaism to the transcultural invention of the Earthly Paradise, between the Greco-Roman and the Indo-Iranian worlds.

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http://www.bulletinasiainstitute.org/abst/vol28/SimsWilliams.html; International audience; Two decorative plates with Bactrian and Middle Persian inscriptions offer new evidence about the cultural transfers from the Mediterranean to Bactria and India in Roman times.The so-called “Aulis” plate was probably made in Italy, by the middle of the 1st century BC and, as such, it could be the earliest object of this type preserved to our days. Based on Homer’s and Euripides’ accounts of the Achaean assembly in front of Artemis’ sanctuary in Aulis, before the crossing of the Aegean towards Troy, the plate shows the debates preceding the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The artist captures Agamemnon’s hesitation, Menelaus’ engagement, Achilles’ wrath, Calchas’ and Ulysses’ ruses, in an atmosphere marked by the respect for the goddess and for the collective duty. This image could be an allegory of the aristocratic circle around the Licinii Luculli, assimilated to the Atreides brothers after their war against Mithradates VI Eupator. This may explain why the attitudes of the main characters are not simple copies of their models – known to us from Hellenistic cast-bowls showing Euripidean scenes and from the Tabulae Iliacae – but careful reelaborations, influenced by the debates on passions and emotions in the Peripatetic, Academic and Stoic schools of the time. The plate could have been offered to one of the members of the Licinii’s client networks in the East and preserved in a sanctuary of Cappadocia or Syria up to Shāpur’s I plundering expeditions in AD 253 and 260. Shortly after, in AD 265/266, a “satrap” (þαοραβο) with a Bactrian name, Sen-gul, the son of Friy-gul, offered it to the god Mana – a reflection of the Zoroastrian deity Vohu Manah “Good Thought”, known from Kushan coins. Two pointillé inscriptions on the back record the name of the owner, and the plate’s weight following Bactrian and Sogdian standards, recording the value of the “satrap’s” donation to Mana’s sanctuary.The “Graces” plate is the only illustration known today of the wedding of Pasithea, one of the Charites / Graces, with Hypnos, the Sleep, following Hera’s promise in Homer’s Iliad (14.231–291). It is also the only preserved image of Hypnos as an active god, although other ancient representations are mentioned in Greek and Latin texts. The figures and the manufacture are half-way between Alexandrian models and Sassanian silverwares. Although the image is organized in two registers, one on top of the other – corresponding to the two major moments of a maiden’s wedding, the daytime veiling and the night unveiling and intercourse – as on other Roman plates, the artist took also into consideration the ring composition, specific to Eastern vessels. Moreover, even if the three Charites correspond to Hellenistic and early Roman iconographic types of divine beauties – in particular Aphrodite-Isis-Cleopatra and Eros –, some elements point to the artist’s effort to adapt them to an Indo-Bactrian taste. Details of the women’s bodies and the decency of the poses must have fitted the expectations of Brahma-dad (an Indian merchant?) and of his wife to whom he offered this plate, which weighs 150 silver staters, as recorded by the Bactrian inscription on the back (a slightly different weight is given in a second early Sassanian inscription, indicating 153 staters in Middle Persian numbers). The scripts of the inscriptions and some technical features – like the reliefs, cast and hammered separately, or the “naturalistic drapery style” specific to the early Sassanian toreutic schools – indicate a 3rd-4th century AD date, somewhere between Bactria, Kapisa and Gandhara, as well as the long lasting connections between the Mediterranean and Kushanshar.

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International audience; The Hermitage silver plate Inv. no. ω 1 represents Meleager and Atalanta, accompanied by two servants at the beginning of their successful hunt of Calydon. The plate can be compared with the famous David plates discovered in Cyprus, for some decoration details but also for their aim in political communication. Heraclius, the basileus who claimed Cappadocian and maybe even Arsacid roots, was hunter of lions and wild boars (Fredegar, Chronicle 4.65 630). He probably used the royal symbolism of the boar hunting imitating the emperors Diocletian, Constantine, Constance II as well as Gregory the Illuminator, the convertor of the Armenians. Through the epic myth of Meleager, Heraclius could have express his ambition or pride at defeating the most terrible boar ravaging his empire and killing the innocent lamb, symbol of the Holy Cross and of his Christian subjects: this “Boar of the Empire” was Šahrwarāz, general of the Sassanian king Chosroes II and king himself in 630 AD. The tragic myth of Meleager, who sacrificed himself for his love towards Atalanta, was also a good answer to those who criticized Heraclius’ incestuous marriage with Martina, his companion in the Persian campaigns. Even if we lack literary sources confirming it, we must assume that representations of Meleager and Atalanta, common in the Roman art of the 2nd-5th/6th centuries AD, were still well known at the beginning of the 7th century. More precisely than the stamps who suggest a date before 630 AD, this show-plate fits the context of 622/624 AD, when Heraclius and Martina (alias Meleager and Atalanta) get married and obtained their first important victories against the Sassanians in Asia Minor.