Les Leukosyriens : quelques notes d’ethnographie sinopéenne1

Abstract

Following on from a critical 'inventory' of ancient evidence and modern interpretations regarding the presence of Syrians, Assyrians or Leukosyrians in the North-East of Asia Minor, I propose a geographical explanation for this strange homonymy in ancient ethnography: the presence of Syrians in Pontic and Eastern Mediterranean regions could be regarded, in Greek and Roman times, as the effect of a narrowed perception of the oekoumene. This could explain also the presence of Arabs, Chaldeans and Chalybes in the North as well as in the South of the Eastern extremity of the ancient world.

In the Shadow of Phoenicia: North Syria and ‘Palestinian Syria’ in Herodotus

“…). On the Leukosuroi, see Nöldeke (1881) 446-47;Dan (2010). 9 The primary (Hieroglyphic Luwian) text is KARKAMIŠ A4b §6, which J.D.…”

“…key testimony about North Syria in the first book of the Anabasis, a source Nöldeke leaves largely untouched. 10 The Surioi (and 'Leukosuroi') of Anatolia have recently been the subject of two studies (Dan (2010); Simon (2012)), both of which incorporate Near Eastern evidence to supplement the Graeco-Roman sources. The latest offerings to follow in the mode of Nöldeke are R. Rollinger's two 2006 articles, which also exploit new Near Eastern evidence.…”