Tyragetia (Dec 2013)
About some assertions on the spread of Greek amphorae in the Getae world
Abstract
The article is devoted to a critical analysis of the article by A. Levinschi "Греческие амфоры на гетских памятниках лесостепи Днестровско-Прутского междуречья - центры и ритмы поступления (Greek amphorae on Getae sites in the forest-steppe area between the rivers of Dniester and Prut - centers and rhythms of delivery)" published in the journal "Stratum plus" № 3 for 2013. The author of this work, not being a specialist in ancient times and Greek amphorae in particular, using for his own scientific research our monograph "Amforele greceşti în mediul barbar din nord-vestul Pontului Euxin în sec. VI - începutul sec. II a. Chr. (Greek Amphorae in the Barbarian World of the Northwestern Coast of Pontus Euxinus in the 6th - Early 2nd Centuries BC)" (Chişinău 2007), decided to revise the dating of Greek imports in the barbarian world of Getae, trying to convince us, the professionals, and perhaps himself, that the spread of Greek imports (including amphorae) in the Getae environment refers only to the time interval limited by the 6th - late 4th centuries BC. The effort to prove this timing has become for A. Levinschi "a matter of his scientific life", and he persistently tries to bring his scientific research under this framework. In this article we have tried to comment page by page those arguments that we consider not only wrong, but obviously biased, and which are explained, apparently, not only by ignorance of the specifics of Greek amphorae and their epigraphy and by insufficient knowledge of the professional literature, but also by the fact that the author of the paper under review has analyzed not the material itself but only its illustrations.
