farther away from theagora.^96 The products of commerce recovered
from the excavation of theagoraitself are closely tied to the period
immediately preceding the market’s destruction: tradeamphoraefrom
Rhodes, Knidos, Kos, Thasos, Akanthos, and Chios predominate among
Aegean imports, alongside others from Brindisi, Latium, southern Italy,
and North Africa. Akamatis’earlier examination of the proportions of
stampedamphorahandles produced a rather different distribution pro-
file at Pella, with 32.8 per cent of the total represented by Rhodian
vessels, 23 per cent Thasian, 20 per cent from the‘Parmeniskos’group
(whether these originated in Mende or elsewhere in Aegean Thrace); and
12.5 per cent Knidian.^97 The coins associated with the ceramic and other
metalfinds in theagoraincluded a substantial number of copper alloy
issues, both those issued by Macedonian kings, and a wide range of civic
issues; while among the silver money coins, issues in the names of Philip
II and Alexander III predominated, with some in the name of the
Paionian king, Audoleon. Among the latest coins were Roman issues
and a hoard of‘new style’Attic tetradrachms, dated in the late 90sbc.
The range of civic issues may well tell us more about the specific
commercial links between Pella and merchants or trades people from
other Aegean and east Balkan communities. The data published so far
merely hints at these.
The sealings at Pella depict a cow—the manifest sign of one of the
area’s most prominent forms of livestock, and projected in another of the
city’s names,Bïýíïìïò,orBïıíüìåØÆ(St. Byz. 515.7–8). Where then was
the cattle market? Presumably this, like the‘dirtier’activities already
referred to, was located farther away from the residential streets. The
high level of planning in the city’s centre underscores the abstract
importance of theagora—as a focus for civic expertise and strategic
planning. Surely theagora was not built for the sale of cakes and
terracottas? The scale of the square’s architectural elaboration implies
that it served political as well as commercial purposes, managerial ones,
rather than the quite modest retail functions of its latter years.
Pistiros and KrastevichThe people of Pistiros, the Pistirenoi, are referred to in an inscription
carved on granite and found reused at the Romanmansio, known from(^96) Billot 1992 on tanners in Athens.
(^97) Akamatis 2000, 193–213; Akamatis 2012, 57–8, for chronological evidence of the
agora’s destruction in the late 90sbc.
Regionalism and regional economies 231