Ainos

Anca Dan (1) , Sait Başaran (2)

1 AOROC - Archéologie et Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident
2 Université d'Istanbul

Until the 19th -20th century, Ainos (modern Enez, in Turkey’s region of Edirne) has been one of the most important trading centers between the Mediterranean world and the Thracian/Balkan hinterland. Situated on an island which became, in Neolithic times, a peninsula, between the mouths of the Hebros (modern Evros/Maritsa/Meriç river) and the sea, Ainos/Enez controlled the maritime and fluvial traffic East-West (from Northern Greece/Macedonia to Aeolis/Troas, following the sea-coast) and North-South (from Thrace, to Samothrace, Athens, the Cyclades and even up to Egypt). The strategic importance of Ainos, as a hub and a check-point of the circulation on the Hebros river and its basin, is confirmed by ancient and modern writers, ancient coins and inscriptions, as well as the significant archaeological discoveries in the city’s necropolis, excavated since the 1980s by Sait Başaran and his collaborators. Two recent international and interdisciplinary projects (SPP “Häfen”, financed by the Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, 2012-2017, co-directed by Helmut Brückner and Thomas Schmidts, and Legecartas, 2017-2019 financed by the French CNRS and directed by Anca Dan) brought new data about the geography of Ainos, its harbours and territory, thanks to the use of an interdisciplinary, geoarchaeological methodology. This presentation summarizes the historical, archaeological, and geoarchaeological data available today about Ainos, its urban monuments, necropoleis, harbours, and territory.

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire; Etudes classiques; Art et histoire de l'art; Environnement et Société

Anca Dan, Sait Başaran. Ainos. Beyond the Northern Aegean 2021 Fall Seminar, Oct 2021, Los Angeles, United States. ⟨hal-03919399⟩