Sostratos of Aegina

Sostratos of Aegina (Greek: Σώστρατος ὁ Αιγινήτης) is reported to be a famous merchant in the sixth century BC Hellenic world. He is said, by Herodotus, to be the most successful trader of all time.^[1] A stone anchor dedicated to Apollo at Gravisca (the port of the Etruscan city of Tarquinii) is thought to have been dedicated by Sostratos and can now be seen at the museum there.^[2] Clay storage jars are found throughout Etruscan archaeological sites of the period marked with the Aeginetan letters "SO", may have stood for Sostratos, and are often presumed to be the packaging in which his goods were delivered.^[3] Not all scholars, however, accept that the marks on these jars refer to Sostratos.^[4]

Notes

1. The History of Herodotus, Book 4: Melpomene: 152. See translation by G C Macauley
2. Nancy Thomson de Grummond; Erika Simon (20 April 2009). The Religion of the Etruscans. University of Texas Press. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-0-292-78233-4.
3. Cornell (1995), p. 111
4. Graeme Barker, Tom Rasmussen, The Etruscans, p87, Blackwell Publishing, 2000 ISBN 0-631-22038-0

References

• Tim Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, C.1000-263 BC, Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-415-01596-0