Athens, Daskyleion, and Kyzikos

Abstract

Abstract The final chapter analyses Athenian fiscal and commercial strategies at the straits between the Aegean and the Black Sea, the Bosporos and Asiatic Propontis, from two perspectives: first through consideration of one allied community, Kyzikos, its unique electrum coinage, and the peripheral position it occupied between Athenian and Achaemenid influences; and second through discussion of Athenian taxation at the straits, the one known location where the Athenians themselves imposed a tax on mobility beyond Attica. The chapter argues that the Athenians were pragmatic in their intervention or lack thereof in their exploitation in the straits. The uniquely fragmented and competitive geography allowed the Athenians to skim surplus from numerous allied communities better integrated into Black Sea networks—a dynamic attested in the material record through the circulation of the Kyzikene electrum staters—and into inland areas not dominated by Greek poleis. Simultaneously, the Athenians asserted their own fiscal claims directly. Their interests overlapped and sometimes aligned with those of allied communities, and also of the Achaemenid satrap. The Athenian approach to coinage and its use, like its approach to fiscal exploitation, was highly pragmatic.