Institutia proxeniei în spaţiul pontic. Istoricul cercetării

Abstract

The “Proxenia” in the Black Sea Area. A Survey on the History of Its Research

In the context of a monograph on proxenia in the Black Sea area, the author has embarked on investigating into the history of modern research. This article provides him with the opportunity to expand on this topic, starting with a brief reference to two proxeny decrees published by A. Boeckh (1843) in CIG, vol. II, part XI, among113 inscriptions of North Pontic origin. Next, several observations are made regarding the approaches of foundational studies, such as “Les proxenies grecques' (P. Monceaux, 1885), IOSPE I2 (V. V. Latyschev, 1916), “Proxenie und Euergesie” (A. Wilhelm, 1942), “Proxenos’ (F. Gschnitzer, 1973), “Die Proxenie” (Chr. Marek, 1984), “D’Olbia a Tanais” (Chr. Muller, 2010), “Prosopographia Ponti Euxini externa" (A. Avram, 2013). Also taken into account were the contributions of the Soviet scholars, especially of A. I. Tjumenev, I. P. Nikitina, Ju. G. Vinogradov, V. P. Jajlenko, and S. Ju. Saprykin. Western historiographical discourses on proxeny tend to ignore almost completely the contributions of the Sovietschool. Likewise, however, the latter tend to neglect most work done by Western colleagues. Thus, this study offers a first attempt at a systematic discussion on the history of research related to proxeny in the Black Sea area.

Keywords: Black Sea area, “Proxenia”, proxeny decrees, Greek cities, historiographical discourse, history of research.