East Greek pottery and Graeco-Anatolian mercenaries in the Southern Levant in Iron Age IIC (ca. 600 BCE)

© 2018 Dr. David Mark MouritzThis thesis questions the current scholarly consensus that East Greek mercenaries were responsible for the late seventh-century BCE East Greek pottery found in the Southern Levant. It is argued that it is possible that the pottery could also have been associated with Carian or Lydian mercenaries serving in the region at the time. This is supported by a comparative analysis of the East Greek pottery found in the Southern Levant with imported and imitated East Greek pottery from contemporary Carian and Lydian sites. The possibility of East Greeks, Carians, and Lydians being present in the Southern Levant at the relevant time is also examined in terms of the historical, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence for their presence in Egypt and the Near East. The nature of the relationship that existed among them while serving in the region is also considered