ABSTRACT
Archaeological remains show very clearly that Pithekoussai proved attractive to settlers from various parts of Greece. What the archaeology does reveal is something of the social organisation and cultural life of Pithekoussai. Pithekoussai was a cosmopolitan place. It is the pottery that provides the most vivid illumination of the cultural life of Pithekoussai. A great deal of the pottery that has been found in the graves takes the form of cups, vessels for mixing wine, jugs, and other pots associated with drinking parties. In fact Greek archaeology has very largely been driven by texts. Pausania's guidebook, with its highly selective description of what there was to see in his day, a description which concentrates on remains of the classical period and earlier, and passes over many more recent monuments, has been in the hands of travellers and archaeologists in central and southern Greece ever since the modern 'rediscovery of Greece'.
