ABSTRACT
The presence of Greek pottery in the territory of the province of Málaga links to the Phoenician settlements. The connection between the main Greek production centres and the Phoenician traders began very early in the harbours of Syria-Palaestina and Cyprus and later in the Aegean, continuing after in the central Mediterranean and, probably, in the West. Pottery was a supplementary product in this trade, but the main cargoes were raw materials as well as oil and wine. The Greek vessels could also be symbols of ethnic identity since the pottery is associated with customs and rituals with different meanings for each context. The earliest Greek imports on the coast of Málaga were Euboean-Cycladic skyphoi from La Rebanadilla, dated in the 9th century BC. Later we find wares from other production centres, like Corinth, Attica and several places in East Greece, mainly Samos. The first half of the 6th century BC is the apogee of the Phocaean trade that disappeared ca. 550 BC. In this period Mainake could have been a Greek emporion inside a Phoenician town like Málaka. Later other Greek agents who operated from southern Italy and Sicily replaced this earlier Ionian network. The Greek wares of the 5th and 4th centuries BC from Málaga have not attracted the attention of researchers. These wares are repetitive Attic products and are often badly preserved. Nevertheless, the period after 500 BC is of great interest because it reveals a radical change in the trade networks that were operating in the Phoenician West focusing on new distribution centres at Carthage and Empúries. Punic Málaka was the point of contact redistributing Greek pottery to the surrounding area, supplying the Iberian aristocracy based in oppida like Cártama.
