Les Leukosyriens : quelques notes d’ethnographie sinopéenne1

Abstract

AbstractFollowing on from a critical ‘inventory’ of ancient evidence and modern interpretations regarding the presence of Syrians, Assyrians or Leukosyrians in the North-East of Asia Minor, I propose a geographical explanation for this strange homonymy in ancient ethnography: the presence of Syrians in Pontic and Eastern Mediterranean regions could be regarded, in Greek and Roman times, as the effect of a narrowed perception of the oekoumene. This could explain also the presence of Arabs, Chaldeans and Chalybes in the North as well as in the South of the Eastern extremity of the ancient world.