Le roi Kersobleptès, Maronée, Apollonia, Thasos, Pistiros et l'histoire d'Hérodote

The epigraphical text found at Vetren, published in the BCH in 1994 and repeated in Pistiros I, can be dated to the beginning of the reign of Cersobleptes, son of Cotys I, who was assassinated in 359 BC. The emporitai it refers to originated in Maroneia, Pontic Apollonia and Thasos. They are related by the Ionian syngeneia. Some commitments of the Thracian king can be detailed: relative judicial autonomy within the context of this kinship, no cancelling of Thracian debts, no taking of hostages, no troop encampments. The problem is raised of the roads practicable for vehicles and goods wagons from the inland Thracian plain to Maroneia, Apollonia, Thasos, Pontus and the Aegean. To take into account the new data provided by the finding of the Vetren inscription, a fresh study is suggested of the historical account in Herodotus Book VII, and a re-examination of the routes taken by the Persian army: having passed by Doriskos, Xerxes' right wing marched up the Evros, encircled the Rhodope mountains from the north and encountered Pistiros in the place where it can now correctly be located, and not where it was thought to be, the west of the Nestos delta. The Cystirioi, mentioned once in an Attic tribute list (434/3) should be identified as the Pistiros people, who could have had a special status from the time of the 5th century.