The role of Hellenistic Tell Es-Sweyhat: cultural variation between the core and fringe within the seleucid upper Euphrates

Abstract

Cultural interaction and diffusion is a multi-faceted phenomenon, which occurs varyingly in different contexts. The site of Tell es-Sweyhat, located in modern Syria, off the east bank of the Euphrates River, was occupied over many time periods. In the Hellenistic period, this site was under the administration of the Seleucid Empire (312 B.C. ? 63 B.C.). Tell es-Sweyhat presents an opportunity to examine adaptations and consistencies in a fringe site in the Seleucid world, which has been interpreted as a military outpost. An analysis of the archaeological pottery assemblage at Tell es-Sweyhat, when compared with the proximate and more prominent site of Jebel Khalid, provides one means of evincing the extent of cultural / technological differences between core and fringe sites in the Seleucid world.