The ancient population of a Chersonessian Heir: Phoinix Kersonesoslu

Upon the completion of its political organisation down to the late Classical era, the agrarian activities in the Carian origin Bozburun Peninsula (southwest Anatolia) accelerated due to the exploitation of the terrain to a large extent. The demes of the Peninsula transformed themselves to peripheral economies operating under the interests of Rhodes as well as indirectly serving the international market, beginning from the 3 century B.C. The economy, which specialized in terrace systems, and the boom thereof ultimately gave rise to tremendous demographic 1 Dr. (Independent Researcher), Middle East Technical University (METU), Dept. of Settlement Archaeology, zedok33@gmail.com 446 E.Deniz OĞUZ-KIRCA expansions within the region. This paper aims to estimate the Hellenistic population of an unattended deme, namely Phoinix in the countryside, by reconciling the settlement data and land exploitation rates as well as reinterpreting them in light of the historical data. The figures put forward that the Classical Phoinix experienced ca. a 255% increase as it grew into the Hellenistic period while the surplus her workforce created possibly substituted the scarce resources and served for export.