spat, it was perfectly possible for one state to deny another access to its
markets, because commercial transactions between states were predi-
cated on a system of mutual agreements to trade. Individual traders from
a partner state could then operate freely under these previously agreed
terms.^28
We thinkfirst of all about trading agreements between Greek-speak-
ing states, because much of the surviving written evidence for trading
agreements reflects transactions between such partners. However, there
is no reason to believe that commercial agreements (synthēkai) of this
kind were concluded only with Greek-speaking communities. The Greek
alphabet was used by many non-Greeks in the Iberian peninsula for a
variety of local languages besides Greek, to say nothing of the diffusion of
Phoenician scripts. The inland distribution of such scripts makes it clear
that the received picture of predominantly coastal users of Greek is
false.^29 In the same way, some of the north Aegean and Hellespontine
harbours developed an international profile, which allowed traders from
many different parts of southern Europe and the Aegean to conduct
transactions. Kyzikos and Byzantion became the best-known commer-
cial centres of the northern periphery of the Mediterranean, with an
international reputation. Although it is hard to point out documentary
evidence of transactions with the cities and communities of the contin-
ental interior, the clearest evidence is in the wide, capillary-like distribu-
tion offinds that have a distinct commercial profile. Kyzikene electrum
staters enjoyed a wide circulation in the Black Sea, continental Thrace,
and western Asia Minor. We know much less about its port history.
Byzantion, on the other hand, was an entrepôt for inland communities
on either side of the Bosporus, as well as a port for ships travelling
through the Straits. Much of the direct documentary evidence belongs
to thefinal three centuriesbc. But its origins go back to much earlier
times (Hdt. 4.144.2).^30 The long-term success of the network of tax
stations on both shores of the Bosporus, and of Byzantion in particular,
accounts in part for the extraordinary rise of this city. The process by
which it began to develop its assets can be traced from the later years of
the Peloponnesian war down to the introduction of the Tax Law of Asia
in thefirst centurybc. Byzantion began to develop a regional strategy in
the fourth centurybc, as it gradually loosened the hold previously
imposed on it by the Athenian navy. During the third century, Byzantion
(^28) Bresson 2000a, 116–30, for a detailed exposition of the political mechanisms and
further discussion of this key text. 29
See the discussion and detailed distribution maps in de Hoz 2010.
(^30) See further Chs 2 and 3; Archibald forthcoming b/.
Introduction 19