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Agrarian land-plots in the environs of Chersonesos and Metapontion

Publication

Abstract

This poster deals with the system of land-plots in the surroundings of two greek colonies: Chersonesos (founded in 6th century BC in SW Crimea, Ukraine) and Metapontion (founded in 7th century BC in the region of Basilicata, Italy). These two colonies have been one of the rare and well-preserved examples where it is possible to study the phenomenon of ancient greek polis and its chora, which creates the agricultural hinterland of polis.

In case of Chersonesos and Metapontion also the source of their wealth and fame. Surroundings of these two poleis were covered by dense net of plots of unificated size and measurement, probably using one single modul as the basis.

We can compare these two systems from many points of view. On one hand there are many similarities in the size of individual lots and the plotting themselves but from the other hand these two systems have been very different.

The major difference can be seen in the fact that the chora of Metapontion seems to be settled year-round unlike to the one in Chersonesos. The strongest evidence for this statement is the presence of multitude rural necropoleis directly in the area of its chora which has not been found in the chora of Chersonesos,yet.

Another fact that confirms the yearlong presence of farmers is the so called rural sanctuaries which also do not have any parallels in the chora of Chersonesos... So the poster is conceived as a conclusion of common features and differences which can be found between these two colonial chorai.