Chasing Hygassos (Anatolia): Settlement under epigraphic evidence
Chasing Hygassos (Anatolia): Settlement under epigraphic evidence

Summary/Abstract: Although the epigraphic records do not attest an exact toponomy to confirm where exactly Hygassos is but rather announce an ethnic, this paper aims to suggest further by chasing the inter-relatability of some selected inscriptions. The supplementary data is also presented to find out and assess the question of settlement and chronology in a variety of contexts. The data repository attained from the close catchment of the Acropolis (in Kızılköy) give a lucid picture of a densely occupied “urban” zone and represents a flashback to the Hellenistic links of the deme, however it is quite a painful job to trace the earlier features that are highly disturbed or misrepresented in the khorai. Even though land use seems to be quite determined by the interplay of environmental and habitational dynamics (the settlement patterns hardly appear to be forcefully driven) in both, the inland deme of Hygassos and coastal/quasi-coastal Phoinix were the two diverse implantations in the Rhodian Peraia, in respect of attraction in the Hellenistic period. Changes within the spatio-temporal context are not that easy to explore, however, when architectural data and micro-plans are reviewed, mobility and/or seasonality could have been there, beyond the smooth layouts, particularly near the coastal hilly terrains of Hygassos. Still, crumbles of ceramic evidence which hint at Hygassos’ potential to offer links with the late Bronze Age and; cultic figures or linguistic rules that manifest her tendency toward a stronger Anatolian, hence Karian character in the Peraia, make her a lot more distinguished than the neighbouring demoiAlthough the epigraphic records do not attest an exact toponomy to confirm where exactly Hygassos is but rather announce an ethnic, this paper aims to suggest further by chasing the inter-relatability of some selected inscriptions. The supplementary data is also presented to find out and assess the question of settlement and chronology in a variety of contexts. The data repository attained from the close catchment of the Acropolis (in Kızılköy) give a lucid picture of a densely occupied “urban” zone and represents a flashback to the Hellenistic links of the deme, however it is quite a painful job to trace the earlier features that are highly disturbed or misrepresented in the khorai. Even though land use seems to be quite determined by the interplay of environmental and habitational dynamics (the settlement patterns hardly appear to be forcefully driven) in both, the inland deme of Hygassos and coastal/quasi-coastal Phoinix were the two diverse implantations in the Rhodian Peraia, in respect of attraction in the Hellenistic period. Changes within the spatio-temporal context are not that easy to explore, however, when architectural data and micro-plans are reviewed, mobility and/or seasonality could have been there, beyond the smooth layouts, particularly near the coastal hilly terrains of Hygassos. Still, crumbles of ceramic evidence which hint at Hygassos’ potential to offer links with the late Bronze Age and; cultic figures or linguistic rules that manifest her tendency toward a stronger Anatolian, hence Karian character in the Peraia, make her a lot more distinguished than the neighbouring demoi.

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