and their Delian connections, does not connect directly with the amber
route, but it is animated by an awareness of these links (Hdt. 4.32–36).
The other exotic material that needs to be explained is the pigment
Egyptian blue, which is found in a surprising number of tombs and in
rural locations.^50
Devotion to the activities associated with the mortuary process,
despite looting within a short time of death, is one of the most intriguing
aspects of northern cultures. How should we imagine this shared
connection between cultures that were separated by language, geog-
raphy, and political considerations? Bruno Latour has offered an escape
from conventional sociological approaches to cultural groups in his
Actor-Network theory, which dissolves the quiddity of‘the social’and
of‘societies’in favour of something more nuanced, but also more
dynamic. His impatience with hard-edged social theories has something
to contribute to our perceptions of societies in the northern Aegean
because it allows for change, as we have seen it taking place, several
times over, between one radical time period, the Greco-Persian Wars,
and another—the intervention of Roman authorities in the economies of
the region. Latour argues that theories of the social need to be sensitive to
the dynamics of human behaviour. Interactions do not happen in the
same way in different places, but they are triggered by a complex pattern
of consecutive causes that have different origins. Particular social envir-
onments do not operate automatically, but need individuals to come
together to bring about a shared event.^51 Therefore, we do not have to
argue that the same kinds of processes or activities were at work every-
where. On the other hand, we do need to create a narrative that animates
the chain of interactions that we want to study. My narrative has been
about the consequences of invasion and the reactions of the populations
along the northern Aegean to a historic threat that affected the region as
a whole. The adjustments that followed created new forms of consump-
tion based on the cavalry class that provided military defence. It is not
clear how these societies modified their behaviour once Roman political
power began to affect their resource base directly, but the ostentatious
mortuary practices that are so visible until the third centurybcunder-
went significant changes. This implies that whole populations were
obliged to adjust their consumption patterns to the new situation
by modifying some of their most fundamental social expressions of life
(^50) Brécoulaki 2006, 55–8; Brecoulaki and Perdikatsis, 2002; Brecoulaki et al. 2006;
Tsimbidou-Avloniti 2005, 198–99; 202–3, Table 1; Kisyov 2005, 66; Ivanova 2011.
(^51) Latour 2005, 175–220.
Continuity and commemoration 319