Artistic Bilingualism in the Greek Poleis of the Northern Black Sea: a Note on the Olbian Kouros in the State Hermitage Museum

Abstract The contact between Greek artistic tradition and that of the local populations in the Northern Black Sea area has traditionally been addressed in oppositional and hierarchical terms, often employing categories determined by ethnic criteria. This trend is not only limited to this specific area, but is a phenomenon that concerns the so-called “frontiers” of the Greek world, such as Magna Graecia and Sicily. By adopting a non-hierarchical perspective, the well-known kouros from the gymnasium of Olbia is here reconsidered as case-study. This object has always puzzled scholars, often leading to rather bizarre interpretations. By contextualizing it in the local panorama and comparing it, in particular, with the kurgan stelae, the hybrid status of this artefact is highlighted, both from a formal, technical, and iconographic point of view. Since this conclusion suits better the archaeological evidence of Archaic Olbia, this analysis ultimately prompts a reconsideration of the materials from the Northern Black Sea poleis according to more flexible paradigms, enabling the dialectical exchange between various languages developing within the same “artistic space”.