Chapter 6 - Ionianness outside Ionia

Summary

That Ionianness was used as a form of cultural capital also outside of Ionia is demonstrated in the sixth chapter which turns attention to the littorals of the Black Sea, where a number of colonies from the Ionian cities founded in Archaic times cultivated their distinct cultural identities even in the Roman period. Further, the cities of Isinda in Pisidia and Synnada in Phrygia started to call themselves Ionians on their civic coins from the 2nd c. AD on. These examples of mythological kinship affiliations demonstrate that Ionianness remained a valid cultural resource in the Roman Imperial period employed to bestow prestige on cities in the competitive environment of the Roman provinces.