Dead Men Tell No Tales: Ethnic Diversity in Sicilian Colonies and the Evidence of the Cemeteries

Abstract

There have been recent suggestions that an indigenous element in ancient Greek settlements in Sicily can be detected through funerary customs. This paper reviews the evidence for 'indigenous' burial methods in Greek cemeteries, concentrating on multiple, contracted and acephalous burials. It argues that such evidence is limited and open to various interpretations and that while it is highly likely that Greek settlements did incorporate an indigenous population, the funerary record cannot be used as a reliable identifier of such groups. The paper also briefly assesses the evidence for the presence of Greeks deriving from areas other than the historical mother-cities and suggests that such individuals are also very difficult to detect. It concludes that the general impression given by Sicilian Greek cemeteries is one of overall subscription to coherent burial systems, which may be viewed as part of an attempt to forge a unified and independent cultural identity.When Archias, the Corinthian oikist of Syracuse, received a Delphic oracle instructing him to found a colony in order to expiate the murder he had committed, he was given a description of the site of Syracuse in order that he could identify it:An isle, Ortygia, lies on the misty ocean Over against Trinacria, where the mouth of Alpheius bubbles Mingling with the springs of broad Arethusa. (Paus. 5.7.3).Pausanias earlier explains the myth of Arethusa and Alpheios: the hunter Alpheios fell in love with Arethusa, a huntress, and pursued her across the sea from Greece to Sicily, where she turned into a spring on the island of Ortygia. Alpheios in turn was changed into the river of the same name at Olympia, whose water went under the sea and mingled with the spring on Ortygia (Paus. 5.7.2). On a more banal level, Strabo volunteers the information that in obeying the oracle Archias acquired most of his settlers at Tenea in the Corinthia and that en route to Ortygia he picked up some Greeks ('Dorians') at Zephyrion in Italy who had parted company with the founders of Megara (Strabo 8.6.22; 6.2.4).These passages give us more detail than we have for many colonial foundations and contain information which may have implications for determining the precise nature of the early stages of Greek colonies, particularly those in the West. The myth of Arethusa and Alpheios has OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 24 (2) 115-136 2005 4 As for example Ts 436 and 450 in the Fusco necropolis (Orsi 1895): both were impressive seventh century monolithic sarcophagi, the former containing an adult and child with two further skeletons extended on the cover; the latter had two enchytrismos burials on the cover and an adult and child inside. 5For example Ts 205, 320 (without goods; Orsi 1895), Ts 204, 425 and 471 (with goods; Orsi 1895).

Examining the osteological paradox: Skeletal stress in mass graves versus civilians at the Greek colony of Himera (Sicily)

“…Some of this social and cultural diversity likely is expressed through heterogeneity in mortuary styles seen throughout the necropolis (Vassallo, ). As in other Greek colonies on Sicily (Holloway, ; Shepherd, ; Sulosky Weaver, ), many burial types are found at Himera, including cremations, simple inhumations, and inhumation graves of varying configurations of stone and tile, as well as sarcophagi. Inhumations alone in the West necropolis are quite heterogeneous, and include individuals buried in a variety of positions including supine and in varying states of flexion, and they include varying amounts and types of grave goods (similar to what is seen in the East necropolis; Fabbri et al, ).…”

Evidence for Migration Influx into the Ancient Greek Colony of Metaponto: A Population Genetics Approach Using Dental Nonmetric Traits

“…This would not necessarily imply direct participation in the political life of the colony, as for example, women, slaves or foreigners would have been excluded to varying degrees. Ultimately, this result lends greater weight to the idea, put forward by Ridgway (, ) and Shepherd (), that the cohesion of colonies as communities was based on the construction of a common colonial identity (as expressed through material culture) that went beyond strict ethnic boundaries and biological realities (see also Lombardo, ).…”

“…Archaeological discoveries in almost every region where Greek colonisation occurred show a complex picture that resists simple associations between assemblages and specific mother cities (Shepherd, ; Yntema, ). For example, painted pottery typical of different areas of Greece, such as Corinth, Athens, Euboea and Laconia, were often both imported and locally produced within one colony (Osborne, ; Yntema, ).…”

Evidence for long‐term migration on the Balkan Peninsula using dental and cranial nonmetric data: Early interaction between Corinth (Greece) and its colony at Apollonia (Albania)

“…However (as documented in other Greek colonial contexts (Shepherd, 1993(Shepherd, , 2005Leighton, 1999)), a mix of Greek and local burial practices is observed at Apollonia (Amore, 2005(Amore, , 2010. Following colonization, traditional Illyrian tumuli at Apollonia begin to include large numbers of Greek ceramics and grave goods as well as Corinthian-style limestone sarcophagi (Galaty, 2002;Stocker and Davis, 2006;Amore, 2010).…”

“…The identification of Greeks versus nonGreeks in colonial cemeteries has previously been based on inferences from mortuary analysis (Shepherd, 1993(Shepherd, , 2005Leighton, 1999;Amore, 2010), with the presence of a mix of Greek and local burial inclusions interpreted as evidence of intermarriage between Greeks and local populations (Buchner, 1975; as discussed in Hodos, 1999;van Dommelen, 2012). However, mortuary contexts with combinations of Greek and Illyrian elements may also result from trade, cultural hybridization, or other forces (Graham, 1984(Graham, , 1995Hodos, 1999).…”