• anatolian greeks
• cultural contact
• ethnicity
• pamphylia
• pamphylian alphabet
• pamphylian dialect

This doctoral dissertation explores the history of the dialect-speaking communities of Aspendos, Perge, and Sillyon in Classical and Hellenistic Pamphylia (Turkey) through a multidisciplinary approach. The research focuses on the interactions between these three Pamphylian cities and the Greek world, as well as on the role played by writing in shaping such interactions, drawing from an anthropological perspective on the ancient world. To reconstruct such interactions, I combined historical analysis with archaeological, epigraphic, linguistic, and statistical observations. The dissertation is structured into four chapters. The first chapter outlines the research questions and the methodologies I employ. I then discuss anthropological approaches to cultural contact dynamics and writing, providing an overview of the history of such studies. Finally, I introduce the research focus: the historical region of Pamphylia, providing an overview of the scholarly discourse surrounding it. The second chapter delves into the history of the cities of Pamphylia from the 5th to the 2nd century BC and their relationship with the Greek world. First, I argue that foundation myths had a role in shaping the relationship between Pamphylians and Greeks, and I identify three distinct key moments in the selection process of the myths. Second, I contend that, from a cultural standpoint and not only from a political one, the dialect-speaking communities of the Pamphylian cities were integral parts of the Anatolian world and the Persian Empire during the Classical era, contrary to what previously thought, and that such character was most apparent to contemporary Greeks. Conversely, during the Hellenistic period, the Pamphylian cities undergo a process of gradual assimilation to the Greek world, which is particularly evident in the transformation of city institutions and the proliferation of mercenary activities. Nevertheless, Greek authors persist in classifying Pamphylian people as «barbaroi». The third chapter addresses issues concerning the Pamphylian language and alphabet. By employing a computational analysis grounded in contemporary studies on intelligibility, I propose that the Pamphylian dialect was not mutually intelligible to speakers of Ionic-Attic dialects; I further proceed to demonstrate that the Pamphylian alphabet stemmed from a corpus doctrinae encompassing the «dark blue» alphabets of northeastern Peloponnese. I argue that the creation of this local alphabet did not occur solely because of linguistic needs but also in response to social and anthropological requirements, particularly evident in the treatment of the posterior approximant. Even in the Hellenistic period, the cultural value of the alphabet is made clear by the dynamics of its koineization: while in some cases a local standard was created, in many others deliberate actions were taken to maintain traditional spellings.In the fourth chapter, after providing an overview of the funerary material culture of the Classical period, I propose a classification of stelae types from the Hellenistic necropolis of Aspendos based on their material characteristics, on the basis of the autopsy carried out at the Antalya Archaeological Museum. In doing so, I highlight the characteristics of both originality and internal homogeneity of the Hellenistic stelae of Aspendos. I suggest that the stelae reflect the community’s desire to define itself both as autochthonous and, simultaneously, as part of the Greek world. In addition, a computer-based Social Network Analysis was conducted on a group of stelae to observe the interaction of different aspects such as linguistic-alphabetic and material features in these objects.Finally, in the tables one will find photographs and drawings made during the autopsy of the documents most important ones examined, including the large dialectal inscriptions of Sillyon and Aspendos.