Using a particular example of Pithekoussai and the Euboians

The city that it was found at was the city of Pithekoussai. There is literary evidence for the settlement of the island of Ischia and the city being established in the history of Livy, and the works of Strabo. There is no date given by either but Livy does say that the island was settled before the city of Cumae was founded and due to other pottery shards being found that date back to late 8th century BC it is clear to assume, as many historians do, that the city was founded by the 8th century. This is early for colonialists and therefore the question must be asked why the island become colonised. Firstly, the people of the island were Euboian, and the island of Euboea was a dense wooded area, wood obviously provides for ships. Yet the Euboians as most other Greeks were trading at this time with the Phoenicians and the east. The valuable goods that were being bought by the Greeks were being paid for by metal. Abulafida makes a distinct point in arguing that the Euboians were already having a boom in trade with the East before the colony on Ischia, however they looked to the west to find more metal. This argument is indeed the most common for the reason for the settlement in the west, to support this there is also evidence of metal working on the island. There was also Phoenician colonies to the west too, such as Carthage and these may have provided some sort of guideline to the Greeks and Euboians about where to colonise. The cup itself acts a clear indication of the great trading networks in the Mediterranean. The cup itself is Rhodian, this is understood from the different aryballoi in the area. There is also evidence that the cup itself was made by a Phoenician living in Rhodes at the time. As mentioned this is a clear to see the way that trade amongst the various peoples of the Mediterranean was prolific, another clear example of this is the fact that found in Carthage was around 12 Euboian cups or imitations, Ridgeway using this as new evidence when writing argued that the Euboians in the West were bringing the beginning of the end of the Phoenician trading dominance. The settlement of a cosmopolitan society brought up by Osbourne.

The cup that makes mention is Nestor's cup a cup found at Pithekoussai and is dated to the 8th century, also provides us with an early Greek inscription