Title:
Trading with the Enemy: Greek Pottery in the Persian Empire

Abstract:
Gordion, in central Turkey, was the capital of the Phrygian empire in Anatolia until about 600 B.C. By the mid-6th century, it came under the Persians. During the over 200 years of Persian control, the residents of Gordion imported a surprising amount of high-quality Athenian fine ware pottery. The presence of Athenian pottery at Gordion prompts a number of questions that we will examine in this talk: HOW did it get there? Gordion lies 500 km from the Aegean and Black Sea coasts, which is unusual because exported Athenian pottery usually clings to the coasts in the Eastern Mediterranean. WHY did the residents of Gordion want Athenian pottery? At the height of importation in the late 6th and early 5th centuries B.C. weren’t the Persians and Athenians archenemies?