Pistiros (Ancient Greek, Πίστιρος) was an inland Ancient Greek emporion, or trade center, in Ancient Thrace.[1] It is located near the modern city of Vetren, in the westernmost part of the Maritsa River valley.
The identification of the site as Emporion Pistiros, a name known from ancient sources,[2] is largely based on an ancient Greek inscription, known as the Vetren inscription, discovered nearby in 1990 (see below). The emporion sustained intensive relations with the main economic centers in Aegean Thrace, including Thasos, Maroneia, and Apollonia, and flourished in the 4th century BC.
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, P524.11
- ^ For a discussion of the identification of the site in ancient sources, see Velizar Velkov and Lidia Domardzka, "Kotys I (383/2-359 B.C.) and Emporion Pistiros in Thrace," in Pistiros I: Excavations and Studies, ed. Jan Bouzek, Mieczyslaw Domaradzki, and Zofia H. Archibald (Prague: Charles University, 1996), 209.