The Black Sea, Paphlagonia,

Pontus and Phrygia in Antiquity

Aspects of archaeology and ancient history

Edited by

Gocha R. Tsetskhladze

With the assistance of

Erguen Laflı, James Hargrave and William Anderson

BAR International Series 2432

2012
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The Black Sea, Paphlagonia, Pontus and Phrygia in Antiquity: Aspects of archaeology and ancient history

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 THE SAGA OF THE ARGONAUTS: A REFLEX OF THRACO-PHRYGIAN
MARITIME ENCROACHMENT ON THE SOUTHERN PONTIC
LITTORAL*

Fred C. WOUDHUIZEN
Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society, c/o Het Hoekstuk 69, 1852 KX Heiloo, The Netherlands
fredwoudhuizen@yahoo.com

Abstract: The saga of the Argonauts is generally assumed to be a reflex of Greek maritime activity in the Black Sea region, either
during the Early Iron Age or even during the Late Bronze Age. In accordance with this assumption, the presence or absence of Greek
or Mycenaean archaeological material is used as a criterion for verification or falsification of the historical validity of the myth. This
approach, however, disregards the fact that the saga in question is embedded in the ‘Minyische Schicht’ of the royal house of Iolkos,
in which qualification Minyan refers to the original inhabitants of Greece encountered by the first Greeks at the time of their arrival
in this country, dateable to the period of the shaft graves (ca. 1600 BC). In this paper, then, I will argue that among the pre-Greek
population groups a dominant position was taken by Phrygian and Thracian tribes, which, if they refused to submit to the rule of
their new overlords, were driven from their homeland by the Greek conquerors and forced to take refuge in the North Aegean and
southern Pontic region. Such a population drift would go a long way to explain, for example, why the Kaskans posed an ever
growing threat to Hittite control of their northern provinces from the later phase of the Old Kingdom period, i.e. the 16th century
BC, onwards, whereas before this even the coastal town of Zalpa formed an integral part of the Hittite realm and relations with it
were only disturbed by dynastic troubles. If the saga of the Argonauts is indeed a reflex to this particular population drift, or of
maritime contacts between Greece and the southern Pontic region anterior to this, its historical nucleus is not only much more
ancient than commonly assumed, but generations of scholars have also been looking for the wrong set of archaeological data to
either substantiate or dismiss it.

ARGONAUTLAR SÖYLENCESİ: GÜNEY PONTOS KIYISINDA THRAKIA-PHRYGIA

DENİZCİLİK YAKINLAŞMASI
Özet: Argonautlar söylencesi ya Erken Demir Çağı’nda, ya da Geç Bronz Çağı’nda Karadeniz’de vuku bulmuş Hellen denizcilik
faaliyetlerinin bir yankısı olarak düşünülür. Bu görüşe paralel olarak Karadeniz’de Hellen ya da Myken arkeolojik materyallerinin
varlığı ya da yokluğu bu söylencenin tarihsel geçerliliğinin doğrulanması ya da yanlışlanması için kullanılır. Bununla beraber, bu
bakış açısı söz konusu söylencenin silindir şeklindeki mezarların tarihi olan yaklaşık İ.Ö. 1600’lerde Yunanistan’tan Karadeniz’e ilk
gelenleri anlandırmak için kullanılan “Minyan” teriminin geçtiği Iolkos’un kraliyet evinin “Minyan tabakası”nda saklı olduğu
gerçeğini göz ardı eder. Bu bildiride bölgede Hellen öncesi toplumlar arasında Hellenler tarafından yurtlarından edilip, Kuzey Ege
ve Güney Pontos bölgesine göç ettirilen Phryg ve Thrakialı kavimlerin baskın olan konumlarını tartışacağım. Bu tür bir nüfus
sapması aslında birçok sebeplerden dolayı vuku bulmuş olabilir. Örneğin Kaşkalılar, Hititler’in kuzey eyaletlerini kontrolü için Eski
Krallık devrinden, yani İ.Ö. 16. yy.’dan itibaren bir tehdit olmaya başlamıştır. Bununla beraber bu olaydan önce bir kıyı kenti olan
Zalpa Hitit hakimiyet ve etki alanı ile bütünleşmiştir. Eğer Argonautlar söylencesi bu nüfus sapmasını ya da Yunanistan ile Güney
Pontos Bölgesi’nin denizsel ilişkilerini yansıtıyorsa, söylencenin tarihi özü belki de inanılandan çok daha eskidir. Bu da o takdirde
çok uzun zamandan beri bilim adamlarının arkeolojik verileri yanlış kullandıklarını gösterir.

INTRODUCTION* early 7th century BC onwards whereas the saga of the

The saga of the Argonauts tells us the story of how Jason
and his companions from all over Greece travelled by sea
in their ship called the Argo from Jason’s hometown
Iolkos in Thessaly to the land of king Aeetes, Colchis
(present-day Georgia), situated at the eastern shore of the
Black Sea, in pursuit of the Golden Fleece, and how, with
the help of the daughter of king Aeetes, Medea, they
managed to bring this fleece back to their homeland
Greece (cf. Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica). Now, it
has been suggested in the past that this saga might be a
reflection of Greek colonisation of the Black Sea region.
A problem is posed, however, by the fact that this
colonisation, apart from the faint memory to a pre-
Cimmerian settlement at Sinope, only took place from the
*
My thanks are due to Willemijn Waal and Jan de Boer for sharing with
me their expertise on Hittite and maritime affairs, respectively.
Argonauts already features in 8th century BC Greek
sources like the epics of Homer (Iliad 7. 467-71; Odyssey
12. 70) and the work of Hesiod (frgg. 37-42). More
recently, the Austrian scholar Stefan Hiller has suggested
that the Argonauts’ saga may have Late Bronze Age roots
as the names of many of its heroes can be traced in Linear
B documents.1 Again, however, a problem is posed by the
fact that, as most recently pointed out by Jan de Boer, not
a sherd of Mycenaean pottery has been found along the
shores of the Black Sea and it therefore is unlikely that
Mycenaean Greeks already sailed through the Bosporus
and prospected the sea lanes beyond it.2
In the face of these problems, are we not simply forced to
give up the idea that the saga of the Argonauts might be a
1
Hiller 1991.
2
de Boer 2006-07.

263
THE BLACK SEA, PAPHLAGONIA, PONTUS AND PHRYGIA IN ANTIQUITY: ASPECTS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANCIENT HISTORY
Fig. 1: Frieze of the Schimmel vase (after Watkins 2002, 170, fig. 1)
reflection of an historical reality altogether? Against such
a conclusion militates the fact that the motif of the
Golden Fleece, as observed by Victor Haas, although
faintly traceable in Greek myth (viz. in the competition
for the kingship of Mycenae between the sons of Pelops,
Atreus and Thyestes), strikingly recalls the Hittite
KUŠ
kurša, a royal symbol of prosperity, which was hung in
a certain species of tree in the neighbourhood of an altar,
and the disappearance and recovery of which symbolised
the change from the winter to the summer season or the
recovery of natural abundance to the kingdom.3 This
Hittite symbol of prosperity, then, is depicted on the so-
called Schimmel vase next to a tree and in association
with a quiver and the head and hoofs of a stag (see Fig.
1), and, as stipulated by Calvert Watkins, actually
consists of a hunting bag, in which the hunter gathers his
trophies.4 It seems unlikely to assume that the Greeks
preserved the memory of such a specific Hittite religious
item as the KUŠkurša in such astonishing detail without
intimate contacts, in whatever form, actually having taken
place in the period in question, which means the Late
Bronze Age.5
In this connection, it deserves our attention that the
contacts between the Mycenaean Greeks and the Hittites,
though directly attested in the form of, for example, the
correspondence between the Hittite king Muwatallis II
and the king of AÌÌiyawa, were of a superficial nature,
and, as most recently shown by Jorrit Kelder, Mycenaean
influence in Anatolia as reflected in the distribution of
Mycenaean pottery was confined to the margins of the
western coastal zone.6 At any rate, in later Greek literary
sources the memory to the Hittites is almost negligible,
being largely confined to the mythical Amazons upon
which those penetrating into the Anatolian heartland, like
Bellerophon going from Lycia to the interior or the
Phrygians under Otreus and Mygdon along the Sangarios,
are reported to have stumbled.
3
Haas 1978.
4
Watkins 2002.
5
Note that the appointment of a wasÌaī kursà ‘lord of the fleece’ by the
Phrygian king Midas according to a Luwian hieroglyphic inscription
from Babylon of the late 8th century BC indicates that the religious
practice continued into the Early Iron Age among the Phrygians, so that
the possibility of a transfer to Greece in the latter period, though
less likely, cannot be entirely excluded (see Woudhuizen 2004, 105-
06).
6 10
Kelder 2004-05.
264
On the other hand, it is worth noting that the general
setting of the Argonauts’ sage is situated in the reign of
king Pelias over Iolkos, who belongs to the ‘Minyische
Schicht’ in the royal house in question, and hence is
datable in archaeological terms to the earlier phase of the
Late Bronze Age, say Late Helladic I-IIB (ca. 1600-1400
BC), which is still characterised by Minyan ware and cist
graves typical of the Middle Helladic period.7 As a con-
sequence, if we take this setting seriously, we should not
be looking to Mycenaean Greek contacts with Anatolia in
general and the southern Black Sea region in specific, but
those of the original Middle Helladic population groups,
usually grouped together in the literary sources under the
blanket terms Minyans or Pelasgians.
In order to determine the validity of this entirely new
corner of incidence, I will in the following survey the
relevant data, first from an Anatolian viewpoint and then
from a Greek.
ANATOLIAN PERSPECTIVE
Working from an Anatolian perspective, there are three
questions of relevance to our topic:
(1) Why did Palaic die out already during the Old Hittite
period, presumably sometime in the 16th century
BC?8
(2) Where did all the Kashkans come from, who troubled
the Hittites in the northern parts of their realm from
an advanced stage of the Old Hittite period (from
Ëantilis I onwards) only, whereas formerly for
example the northern coastal town of Zalpa had
formed an integral part of the Hittite realm,
endangered only by dynastic troubles?9
(3) How can we explain for the fact that Mita of
PaÌÌuwa, a ruler of the region to the northeast of the
Hittite heartland at the time of TudÌaliyas II and
Arnuwandas I in the late 15th and beginning of the
14th century BC bears a Phrygian royal name,
namely Midas?10
7
Woudhuizen 2006a, 62.
8
Melchert 1994, 10.
9
Bryce 1998, 74, 90.
Bryce 1998, 155-56.
 F.C. WOUDHUIZEN: THE SAGA OF THE ARGONAUTS: A REFLEX OF THRACO-PHRYGIAN MARITIME ENCROACHMENT…
In order to answer these questions, we will have to
address the problem of the Hittite northern frontier, often
left as a blank zone in the maps, in general and that of the
ethnic make-up of the Kashkans more in particular.
In his 1965 work on the Kashkans, Einar von Schuler
distinguished a group to the west of the mouth of the
Halys and one to the east of it. The western Kashkans are
recorded to have taken possession of the province of
Tumana in the reign of Suppiluliumas I. This latter
province is associated with the River DaÌara and the
mountain Kassu, which, against the backdrop of Tumana
corresponding to classical Domanitis, can positively be
identified with respectively the River Amnias (present-
day Gök Irmak) and Mount Olgassys (present-day Ilgaz
Dağları). As specified by von Schuler,11 there are no
Kashkans recorded west of the river called Parthenios in
the classical sources (present-day Filyos). The eastern
Kashkans feature prominently in the texts from Tapika or
Maşat Höyük,12 dated to the reign of Suppiluliumas I’s
father TudÌaliyas III, and are located along the
KummesmaÌa river, positively identified with the classi-
cal Lykos (present-day Kelkit Irmak). The source of this
river lies a little south of classical Trapezus (present-day
Trapzon), to the east of which the bordering kingdom and
later Hittite province of Azzi-Ëayasa must be situated,
where in Urartian and classical sources QulÌa13 or the
Kolkhoi and Makrones are located. Although the border
with the eastern Kashkans, like the one in the west,
shifted in time, von Schuler places it along the line of
Osmancık–Gümuş (north of Amasya) –Turhal–Kelkit
Irmak.14
If we realise that the entry to the province of Pala is
formed by mountains west of Mount Kassu, it lies at hand
to assume that it was situated south of the cluster of
mountains to be found here (present-day Isik Dağ,
Yıldırum Dağ, Külüklü Dağ and Benli Dağ) and hence is
not to be identified with classical Blaende along the upper
Amnias. At any rate, it is clear from the relevant sources
that Pala formed an integral part of the Hittite empire,
whereas the region north of the aforesaid cluster of
mountains, stretching out to west of the Parthenios river,
certainly did not. Accordingly, Gordion along the upper
Sangarios, to be identified with Hittite SaÌiriya (present-
day Sakariya), may well have belonged to the province of
Pala, which coincides with the fact that its Late Bronze
Age levels are characterised by Hittite pottery and
Luwian hieroglyphic sealings.15 In fact, the northern limit
of the distribution zone of Luwian hieroglyphic seals and
sealings may give us a fair idea of the northern border of
the province of Pala or the northern limits of Hittite
influence in this region more in general (see Fig. 2).16
11
von Schuler 1965, 62.
12
Alp 1991.
13
Salvini 1995, maps.
14
von Schuler 1965, 52.
15
Güterbock 1980; Henrickson and Voigt 1998.
16
Marazzi 1986 and 1990, Tav. XXI: no. 17 Gordion; no. 60 Yağri; no.
7 Bıtık; no. 15 Eskiyapar; no. 14 Doğantepe. Marazzi 1986 and 1990,
Tav. XXI also include a Luwian hieroglyphic inscription on an orthostat
from İnandık, which, however, I could not trace in the sources referred
to and therefore have omitted from my Fig. 2.
265
Within the frame of this reconstruction of the northern
limits of the Hittite empire, it is noteworthy that, for
example, the Hittite king Ëattusilis III was so proud of
his recovery of Nerik, just a little south of Zalpa along the
Halys river, that he named his son Nerikkailis after it.
And yet, even this king who put the greatest effort of all
to integrate the Kashkans within the empire, was not able
to reconquer Zalpa along the coast just a few kilometres
north of Nerik. If we add to this that the Hittite kings for
a long period exercised a strategy of depopulation in the
territory in control of the Kashkans and these still were
eager to encroach on Hittite lands, one cannot but
conclude that in the course of time there just happened to
arrive more and more of them, probably by sea.
This brings us to the ethnic make-up of the Kashkans. In
line with the observations of von Schuler, it cannot be
denied that the majority of the place and personal names
of the Kashkans are just straightforwardly Anatolian, if
not IE Anatolian. Nevertheless, there can be distinguished
among them a category which is definitely not Anatolian,
but either Thracian or Phrygian. Among the first category
I would classify the personal names Pittagatallis,
Pittaparas, Pendumlis, and the place names PittalaÌsa,
Zagapura, ËuÌazalma, Aripša, among which we can
determine the Thracian onomastic or toponymic elements
Pitta-, Bend-, -para, -poris, -zelmis, and the Homeric
Trojan place name Arisbē, sometimes in combination
with IE Anatolian elements, like the formation of agent
nouns in -talli- and -ÌuÌa- ‘grandfather’.17 To the second
category, on the other hand, belong the personal names
AsÌapalas, Kurijallis, Taskuwalis,18 and the place names
Midduwa,19 Duma or Tumma (from which Tumana is
derived), Kurtalisa, Pargalla, ZidaparÌa, Taskulija,
bearing testimony of the onomastic or toponymic
elements Aska-, Kurija-, Dasky-, Mida-, Gord-, and
Briga-,20 etc., sometimes in combination with IE
Anatolian elements, again, like adjectival -ali- and zida-
‘man’, and the vocabulary word duma- for some sort of
social organisation.21 In view of this evidence, it stands to
reason to assume that the Kashkans consisted of Thraco-
Phrygian population groups, who infiltrated the Anatolian
heartland from the European continent already before
their kinsmen from the Early Iron Age did so. This
Thraco-Phrygian population drift from the European
continent, then, helps us to explain why Palaic died out,
as its speakers were probably ousted by the newcomers
who, in contrast to their kinsmen to the north,
subsequently integrated into the Hittite empire.
17
Woudhuizen 1993b; cf. Detschew 1976.
18
19
Mora 1987, group VIb 1.22.
If we realise that the current toponymic element -nuwa ‘new’ can be
represented by syncopated -nwa, or perhaps even by the reversal of its
middle vowel as -unwa, in Sakkadunwa, it may reasonably be argued
that Mudduwa originates from *Middunwa by apokope of syllable-final
[n] and hence belongs to this rather common group of IE Anatolian
place names indicating one time new foundations.
20
Note that the different forms of the Phrygian ethnonym, like Briges or
Brugoi or Phruges or Phrugoi, epichoric vrekun-, and the related
personal name (W)rakios or Awarkus (see Forlanini 1996), just like the
toponymic element parga- or parÌa- all seem to be derived from PIE
*bhṛĝh(i)- ‘high’ as a reference to dwellers of heights comparable to
Celtic Brigantes.
21
Cf. Woudhuizen 2008-09.
THE BLACK SEA, PAPHLAGONIA, PONTUS AND PHRYGIA IN ANTIQUITY: ASPECTS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANCIENT HISTORY

Fig. 2: Map of Anatolia with distribution of findspots of (a) Hittite cuneiform texts and (b) Luwian
hieroglyphic Late Bronze Age inscriptions (b1) on rock and stone monuments, (b2) on seals and sealings,
and (b3) on a bronze bowl, and the extent of the Hittite empire based hereon (after F. Starke, In Die
Hethiter und ihr Reich, Das Volk der 1000 Götter [Bonn 2002], 55)

GREEK PERSPECTIVE Against this backdrop, then, it is highly relevant to

If we turn to the Greek side of the evidence, it
immediately strikes us that, provided some amount of
overlapping, this happens to be largely complementary to
that of the Anatolian side.
Starting with the most prominent overlap, it needs to be
observed that the famous city along the Dardanelles,
Homeric Troy or (W)ilion, is known from Hittite sources
as well in form of Tarwisa or Wilusa. Now, owing to the
merit of the Russian scholar Leonid Gindin it has been
established that—if the Homeric data may be assumed to
have a bearing on the Late Bronze Age—the Trojans can
safely be grouped with the populations of a Thraco-
Phrygian ethnic identity. Particularly instrumental in this
respect are names like the Skaiaí gates, Kebriónēs,
Laomédōn ho Phrúks and his wife Strumō, Páris, the
Phrygian descent of Priamos’ wife Hekábē, and the
correspondence of the first element of Príamos to that of
the place names Príapos, Priēnē, and Phrygian Prietas
(cf. the Phrygian vocabulary word prieis ‘carae’ < PIE
*priyá- ‘(be)love(d)’).22
22
Gindin 1999: 57-58, 62-64, 263; cf. Woudhuizen 2006a, 108, n. 520.
Note that the Luwian hieroglyphic seal discovered at Troy (cf. Latacz
2001, 67-95) in a disturbed layer from the 12th century BC may
plausibly be attributed to an official of the kingdom of Mira under
which the Troad fell away in the final stage of the Bronze Age, as
indicated in our Fig. 2.
observe that, as pointed out by James Mellaart,23 Troy and
its immediate surroundings in northwest Anatolia up to
the Sangarios river are characterised during the Middle
and Late Bronze Age by Minyan ware (see Fig. 3),
which, as we have already noted in the above, also
typifies (after ca. 1600 BC only those districts initially
unaffected by the process of Mycenaeanisation of)
mainland Greece during this period. Although I am aware
of the fact that pots do not necessarily equal people, it
cannot be denied that sometimes this happens to be the
case and in the case of Minyan ware we may well be
dealing with such an exception as the Greek literary
sources about the pre- or non-Greek population groups, as
we have seen usually grouped together here under the
blanket term Minyans or Pelasgians, inform us, if
they are more specific, about Thracians (Eumolpos in
Eleusis, Tereus in Daulis) and Phrygians (Pelops
after whom the Peloponnese is named, Mopsos
after whom Attika is named Mopsopia) in middle and
southern Greece. This can be sustained by evidence from
Linear B, according to which, for example, a stirrup jar
from the ‘House of Kadmos’ in Thebes of Cretan
manufacture and to all probability destined for the
Theban hinterland is inscribed with the ethnic o-du-ru-wi-
jo ‘Odrysian’ (note that Tereus is an Odrysian royal
name).
23
In Palmer 1965, 326-27.

266
 F.C. WOUDHUIZEN: THE SAGA OF THE ARGONAUTS: A REFLEX OF THRACO-PHRYGIAN MARITIME ENCROACHMENT…
Fig. 3: Map of Anatolia with distribution zones of (a) Luwian hieroglyphic inscriptions
and (b) Minyan ware (after Palmer 1965, 326, fig. 46)
If we next continue with the Greek evidence concerning
the region behind Troy, about which the Hittite sources
appear to be silent, we are confronted with Thraco-
Phrygians, again. In the first place, there is Merops of
Perkote, the father of the leader of the Trojan contingent
from the district of Adresteia, Pityeia, and Tereia (Homer
Iliad 2. 828-834), whose name is of the same type as that
of Pelops, Mopsops, and Phainops, whereas the place
names are of Phrygian (Adrāstos) or Thracian (gloss pitúē
‘treasure’, Tērēs) type. Secondly, we are informed that
Priamos when still able to fight himself, which means
about a generation before the Trojan war of ca. 1280 BC,
had come to the aid of the Phrygians under Otreus and
Mygdon who had mustered their forces along the banks
of the Sangarios in order to ward off the threat by the
Amazons (Homer Iliad 3. 184-187). Finally, the
Kaukones, who are stated by Herodotus (4. 148) to
ultimately originate from Triphylia in the Peloponnese,
especially the region where later places like Lepreon,
Makistos, Phrixai, and Pyrgos are found, and who are
identified by Paul Kretschmer24 as Phrygians, probably
had already taken their historic position in the region
across the lower Sangarios up to the Parthenios river in
classical Paphlagonia (see Strabo 12. 3. 5) at the time of
the Trojan War (cf. Homer Iliad 10. 429; 20. 329). It
should be noted, however, that this latter possibly
Phrygian population group originating from southern
Greece penetrated into a region which apparently falls
outside the distribution zone of the Minyan ware.
On the analogy of the Kashkans being divided into a
western and an eastern group, the Greek literary sources
also inform us, alongside the Phrygians in the west just
mentioned, about Phrygians in the east. Thus, the one
who preceded Jason in his voyage to Colchis and left the
Golden Fleece there, Phrixos, is nothing but a heroe’s
eponym of the Phrygians, whose presence in the region is
24
Kretschmer 1896, 207.
267
further attested by the place name Phrixopolis (Ideëssa)
to the north of the River Phasis (Strabo 11. 2. 18) and the
ethnonym Moskhoi (a variant spelling of Muski),25 in
between Colchis and Armenia, after whom Moskhike, the
Moskhian mountains, and Moschorum tractus are named
(DNP s.v. Moschoi). Next, the origin of the Armenian
tribe of the Makrōnes, inhabiting the coastal zone to the
east of the later Greek colony Trapezus, is according to a
scholium to Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica 1. 1024
traced back to Pelasgians from Euboia, which in
the given context appears to coincide reasonably well
with Herodotus’ view (7. 73) that the Armenians
are a[poikoi of the Phrygians.26 Against the backdrop of
these eastern Phrygians, then, the identification of the
name of Mita of PaÌÌuwa, whose realm shared a number
of places with that of Azzi-Ëayasa,27 located, as we have
seen, to the south-east of the source of the present-day
Kelkit Irmak, in the habitat of the Kolkhoi and the
Makrōnes, as a Phrygian royal name needs no special
pleading.
25
Pace Wittke 2004, who maintains that the ethnonym Muski does not
refer to Phrygians; note, however, that the presence of Muski in the
neighbourhood of the realm of TarÌuntassa is documented already by a
Luwian hieroglyphic inscription of king Ëartapus dated to the 12th
century BC, bearing testimony of the country name Masàkana- (see
Woudhuizen 2004, 36). The ultimately western origin of the ethnonym
Muski and related country name Masakana, moreover, can further be
underlined by the fact that both are derivatives from the ethnonym or
country name Masa or Mysia (cf. Luwian hieroglyphic Muśaī-
‘Mysian’), the former in -k- and N(m/f) pl. in -i (cf. Phoini-k-es, Cretan
hieroglyphic Payaki ‘Phaiakians’ of seal no. 296 and Etrus-c-i
‘Etruscans’, etc.) and the latter in -kana- < PIE *ĝenh1- (for comparative
evidence of ethnonyms showing a reflex of PIE *ĝenh1-, cf. Etruscan
Tursikina- and Avhircina- as attested for Rix 1991, Cl 2.3 and AT 3.2,
respectively).
26
Note in this connection that within the Indo-European group of
languages Phrygian, Armenian, possibly Thracian, and Illyrian are most
closely related to Greek (see Woudhuizen 2006a, 65-67; 2006b, 139-
40); and that Phrygian for its close relation to Mycenaean must have
split off from Greek during the Late Bronze Age (see Woudhuizen
1993a; 2008-09).
27
del Monte and Tischler 1978, s.v. Azi.
THE BLACK SEA, PAPHLAGONIA, PONTUS AND PHRYGIA IN ANTIQUITY: ASPECTS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANCIENT HISTORY

Fig. 4: Map of the Mediterranean with distribution of (a) Linear A inscriptions found
outside Crete and (b) places referred to by Linear B forms related to toponyms located
outside Crete and the Greek mainland (including Euboea); note that the remaining legends
refer to locations with tin deposits presumably mined already during antiquity

CONCLUSION APPENDIX

From the preceding survey it may safely be concluded
that the relevant Hittite and Greek sources are largely
complementary about a Thraco-Phrygian population drift
from the southern Balkans if not altogether middle and
southern Greece to northwest Anatolia and the southern
shores of the Black Sea from the beginning of the Late
Bronze Age (ca. 1600 BC) onwards. Evidently, this
population drift had been set in motion by the conquest of
southern Greece by a Hyksos-like gang of chariot
fighters, some of whose leaders were buried in the shaft
graves at Mycenae.28 Although it cannot be strictly
proven, it seems, on the basis of the prominent position of
the Argo in the saga of the Argonauts, that shipping
played a role in the given population drift (note that the
inability of the Hittites to reconquer Zalpa along the shore
of the Black Sea serves as a hint to Thraco-Phrygian
maritime supremacy in this region). In any case, such a
scenario may well receive further emphasis from the fact
that the Minoans from Crete and after them the
Mycenaean Greeks can, on the basis of the distribution
of Linear A inscriptions (including Amisos or Eski
Samsun) and reflexes of toponyms in onomastics (i.c. pa-
pa-ra-ko ‘Paphlagon’ and ko-ki-da ‘Kolkhidas’ or ko-ki-
de-ja ‘Kolkhideios’) be shown to have been at least
indirectly (probably through the intermediary of Thraco-
Phrygian inhabitants of the north Aegean region) in
contact with the southern littoral of the Black Sea (see
Fig. 4).29
28
Woudhuizen 2006a, 59-67.
29
The given Minoan contacts may be assumed to have culminated in a
dynastic marriage, as the owner of the Cretan hieroglyphic royal seals
nos. 255 and 300 bears the Kashkan name Pittaparas (see Woudhuizen
2006b, 80-81).
(a) Distribution of Linear A inscriptions found outside
Crete
1. Monte Morrone, Sulmona (Facchetti and Negri
2003, tav. I)
2. Ayos Stephanos (HS Zg 1)
3. Kythera (KY Zg 1; Za 2)
4. Kea (KE 1; Wc 2; Zb 3-5)
5. Melos (MI Zb 1; 2)
6. Thera (THE Zb 1-4)
7. Samothrace (SA Wc 1)
8. Drama (DRA Zg 1)
9. Troy (TRO Zg 1-2)
10. Miletos (MIL Zb 1)
11. Lycia (Meriggi)30
12. Amisos (Bossert 1942, Abb. 6)
13. Tel Haror (Oren 1996, 99, fig. 1a)
Sources: Godart and Olivier 1976-85; Niemeier 1996
(Miletos), 99, fig. 3 (overview); Godart 1994 and Faure
1996 (Troy); Oren 1996, 99, fig. 1a (Tel Haror); Facchetti
2002, 138 (Samothrace); Facchetti and Negri 2003, 188-
91, tav. I (Monte Morrone); Bossert 1942, Abb. 6 (Eski
Samsun = Amisos); Meriggi (Lycia); cf. Woudhuizen
2006b, 35, fig. 8.
30
The Lycian evidence, referred to in a note by Meriggi which
unfortunately I cannot trace back, consists of the attestation of only one
sign in form of a spoked wheel, which in terms of Cretan Linear A
means L 29 ka. Admittedly, this particular sign may alternatively come
into consideration as an instance of Luwian hieroglyphic *290 Ìa+r(a/i)
without the ‘thorn’ *383 +r(a/i), 2. Notwithstanding this fact, its Cretan
Linear antecedents appear to receive further emphasis from the fact that
signs of Cretan Linear origin like, for instance, the double-axe L 52 a,
can be found in the later Lycian alphabet, in the given case for
secondary e (= ẽ), whereas such an observation does not apply to the
possible Luwian hieroglyphic option.

268
 F.C. WOUDHUIZEN: THE SAGA OF THE ARGONAUTS: A REFLEX OF THRACO-PHRYGIAN MARITIME ENCROACHMENT…

(b) Linear B forms related to toponyms located outside Crete and the Greek mainland (including Euboia)

Linear B form tablet

1. za-ku-si-ja PY Sa 787 ‘Zakynthian (f)’
za-ku-si-jo MY Oe 122 ‘Zakunsios’
2. qe-ra-jo KN Vc 5523 ‘Thēraios’
3. ra-mi-ni-ja PY Ab 186 ‘Lāmniai (< Lamnos = Lemnos)’
ra-mi-ni-jo PY An 209, etc. ‘Lāmnios’
4. i-mi-ri-jo KN Db 1186 ‘Imbrian’
5. ku-pa-si-ja KN V 1043 ‘Kupasian (f)’
6. ki-si-wi-ja PY Aa 770 ‘Khian (f)’
ki-si-wi-jo KN V 60 ‘Khian’
7. to-ro KN Dc 5687 ‘Trōs (cf. Hit. Tarwiša)’
to-ro-ja PY Ep 705 ‘Trōjā (f)’
8. si-mi-te-u KN Am 827, etc. ‘Smintheus’
9. ra-pa-sa-ko PY Cn 131 ‘Lampsakōi’
10. pe-ri-te-u KN B 5025, C 954, ‘Perintheus’
PY An 654
11. ka-pa-ti-ja PY Eb 338, etc. ‘Karpathiā (f)’
12. ma-sa (-de) KN X 744 ‘(from) Masa (= Mysia)’
13. a-pa-si-jo PY As 767 ‘Ephesian (< Hit. Apaša = Ephesus)’
14. mi-ra-ti-ja PY Aa 798, etc. ‘Milātiai (cf. Hit. Milawanda)’
mi-ra-ti-jo TH Fq 177, etc. ‘Milesian’
15. ze-pu2-ra3 PY Aa 61 ‘Zephurai (< Zephuriā = Halikarnassos)’
ze-pu2-ro PY Ea 56 ‘Zephuros’
16. ki-ni-di-ja PY Aa 792, etc. ‘Knidiai’
17. wo-di-jo KN V 60, etc. ‘Wordios (< *Wordos = Rhodos)’
18. ru-ki-jo PY Gn 720, etc. ‘Lycian’
19. a-si-wi-ja or PY Fr 1206, etc. ‘Aswiāi (Asians (f) ≈
a-swi-ja Lydians, cf. Hit. Aššuwa and Eg. ’Isy)’ 31
a-si-wi-jo or KN Df 1469, etc. ‘Aswios (> Asios, see remarks
a-swi-jo to the previous forms)’
20. mi-ra PY Eb 905, etc. ‘Mira (≈ Lydia)’
21. pa-pa-ra-ko PY Jn 845 ‘Paphlagōn (< Paphlagonia ≈ Hit. Pala)’
22. ai-ku-pi-ti-jo KN Db 1105 ‘Aiguptios (< ˙wt-k-Pt˙ ‘soul-house of Ptah [= Memphis]’)’
23. a-ra-si-jo KN Df 1229, etc. ‘Alasian (< Hit. Alašiya = Cyprus)’
24. ku-pi-ri-jo KN Fh 347, etc. ‘Kuprios’
25. su-ri-jo KN X 5962 ‘Syrian’
26. a-ra-da-jo KN As 1516 ‘Arwadian’
27. po-ni-ke-ja KN Ln 1568 ‘Phoinikeiāi’
po-ni-ki-jo KN Ga 418 ‘Phoenician’
28. tu-ri-jo KN Nc 4473, etc. ‘Tyrian’
29. ki-nu-qa KN Ap 618 ‘KinaÌÌi or KinaÌna (= Canaan)’
30. ko-ki-da KN Sd 4403, etc. ‘Kolkhidas (< Colchis, cf. Urartian QulÌa)’
ko-ki-de-jo KN Fh 5465 ‘Kolkhideios’

Sources: Ventris and Chawick 1973, glossary, s.v.; Smit 1986-87, 50, n. 14 (mi-ra, ma-sa-de); Palaima 1991, 280, n. 37
(pa-pa-ra-ko), 307 (ku-pa-si-ja); Hiller 1991, 214 (ko-ki-da, ko-ki-de-jo); Plath 1994, 403 (pe-ri-te-u); Parker 1999 (ki-
ni-di-ja, mi-ra-ti-ja, ra-mi-ni-ja, ki-si-wi-ja, a-swi-ja, to-ro, pa-pa-ra-ko, wo-di-jo, i-mi-ri-jo, ru-ki-jo); Morris 2001 (a-
pa-si-jo); Aravantinos et al. 2001 (mi-ra-ti-jo); cf. Woudhuizen 2004-05.

31
Mira is the name for the remainder of the kingdom of Arzawa after its defeat by Mursilis II in 1319 BC, whereas Aššuwa or Asia refers to a short-
lived coalition of forces from Wiluša or Troy in the north to Lycia in the south headed by the royal house of Arzawa, which dissolved after its defeat
by the Hittite king TudÌaliyas II sometime during the final decades of the 15th century BC or the beginning of the 14th.

269
THE BLACK SEA, PAPHLAGONIA, PONTUS AND PHRYGIA IN ANTIQUITY: ASPECTS OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANCIENT HISTORY
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