Testimony of the identity or the internationality? Archaic Greek mercenaries and theirs reflection in the sanctuaries of Ionia
Abstrakt
The Greek mercenaries or "Soldiers of fortune", who were trying their luck repeatedly in exotic countries in the service of foreign rulers, have always aroused great interest of the scholars as well as the general audience. The main research focus from the beginning was the reconstruction of the historical-political and socio-economic role of the mercenaries within the Polis Society.
Consequently, we gradually understand much better the origin of the mercenary phenomenon in the archaic period. However, the cultural-historical perspective of this phenomenon has rarely been analysed in classical research; even though the scholars have always pointed out the importance of the mercenaries in the co-establishing of cultural contacts between Greece and the states of the eastern Mediterranean or Egypt since the late 8th century BC.
The reason for this research gap was mainly the humble distribution of archaeological sources. It is therefore the main purpose of this paper to present the large amount of new findings from the Greek sanctuaries: In particular there are archaic armour scales of Assyrian type, which for the first time provide a direct evidence for the dedications of the East-Greek mercenaries at home, in Ionia.
Central for the examination is the nature of this archaeological record, because they represent primarily personal items dedicated in panhellenic cult places. Thus, considering the function of the Greek sanctuaries as a central meeting place of worship and the community, the high social status of these objects will be visible.
On the other hand, regarding the known "materiality of object" approach, the analysis of this objects allowed a new interpretation of mercenaries' role as a transmitter of knowledge, technology and ideas in the archaic Mediterranean.