文档介绍：STUDIES IN THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF HELLENISTIC PONTUS: THE
SETTLEMENTS, MONUMENTS, AND COINAGE OF MITHRADATES VI AND
HIS
PREDECESSORS
A dissertation submitted to the
Division of Research and Advanced Studies
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY (.)
In the Department of Classics of the College of Arts and Sciences
2001
by
D. Burcu Arıkan Erciyas
. Bilkent University, 1994
. University of Cincinnati, 1997
Committee Chair: Prof. Brian Rose
ABSTRACT
This dissertation is the prehensive study of the central Black Sea region in
Turkey (ancient Pontus) during the Hellenistic period. It examines the environmental,
archaeological, literary, and numismatic data in individual chapters. The focus of this
examination is the central area of Pontus, with the goal of clarifying the Hellenistic kingdom's
relationship to other parts of Asia Minor and to the east. I have concentrated on the reign of
Mithradates VI (120-63 .), but the archaeological and literary evidence for his royal
predecessors, beginning in the third century ., has also been included. Pontic settlement
patterns from the Chalcolithic through the Roman period have also been investigated in order to
place Hellenistic occupation here in the broadest possible diachronic perspective. The
examination of the coinage, in particular, has revealed a significant amount about royal
propaganda during the reign of Mithradates, especially his claims to both eastern and western
ancestry. One chapter deals with a newly discovered tomb at Amisos that was indicative of the
aristocratic attitudes toward death. The tomb finds indicate a high level mercial activity in
the region as early as the late fourth/early third century ., as well as the significant role of
Amisos in connecting the interior w