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The northern Black sea shores of the Pontic Kingdom (actual Crimea and Kerch peninsula) remained independent in 63 BC under Pharnaces II as an ally and friend of Rome. This Bosporan Kingdom remained a "Vassal Client State" of the Roman Empire until 341

The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (see Strait of Kerch). It is interesting as the first truly 'Hellenised' state in the sense that a mixed population adopted the Greek language and civilization.

The Bosporan Kingdom was the longest surviving known Roman Client Kingdom. It was a Roman Province from 63 to 68, under Roman Emperor Nero. The 1st and 2nd centuries was a period of a new golden age of the Bosporan state. In the end of the 2nd century, the King Sauromates II inflicted a critical defeat to the Scyths and included all the territories of the Crimea in the structure of his state.

The prosperity of the Bosporan Kingdom was based on the export of wheat, fish and slaves, and this commerce supported a class whose showy wealth over the centuries is still being dug out, often illegally, from numerous burial barrows or kurgans. The once thriving cities of the Bosporan have left extensive architectural and sculptural remains, while the kurgans continue to yield spectacular Greco-Sarmatian objects, the best examples of which are now preserved in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. These include gold work, vases imported from Athens, coarse terracottas, textile fragments and specimens of carpentry and marquetry.

Early Greek colonies[link]

Panticapaeum and other ancient Greek colonies along the north coast of the Black Sea

The whole district was dotted with Greek cities: on the west side, Panticapaeum (Kerch), the chief of all, often itself called Bosporus, Nymphaeum and Myrmekion; on the east Phanagoria (the second capital), Kepoi, Germonassa, Portus Sindicus, Gorgippia. These Greek colonies were mostly settled by Milesians, Panticapaeum in the 7th or early in the 6th century BC, but Phanagoria (c. 540 BC) was a colony of Teos, and Nymphaeum had some connection with Athens — at least it appears to have been a member of the Delian League.

Kings of Cimmerian Bosporan[link]

See Also: List of Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus

According to Diodorus Siculus (xii. 31) the locality was governed from 480 BC to 438 BC by a line called the Archaeanactidae, probably a ruling family, who gave place to a tyrant Spartocus (438 BC - 431 BC), apparently a Thracian. He founded a dynasty which seems to have endured until c. 110 BC. The Spartocids have left many inscriptions which indicate that the earlier members of the house ruled as archons of the Greek cities and kings of various native tribes, notably the Sindi of the island district and other branches of the Maeotae. Unfortunately, the texts, inscriptions and coins do not supply sufficient material for a complete list of these monarchs.

Bosporan Phiale (top view), 4th century BC

Satyrus (431 BC - 387 BC), the successor of Spartocus, established his rule over the whole district, adding Nymphaeum to his dominions and laying siege to Theodosia, which was a serious commercial rival because of its ice-free port and proximity to the grain fields of eastern Crimea. It was reserved for his son Leucon (387 BC - 347 BC) to take this city. He was succeeded by his two sons conjointly, Spartocus II, and Paerisades; the former died in 342 and his brother reigned alone until 310. Then followed a civil war in which Satyrus defeated his younger brother Eumelus at the Battle of the River Thatis in 310 BC but then was killed giving Eumelus the throne.^[1]

His successor was Spartocus III (303 BC - 283 BC) and after him Paerisades II. Succeeding princes repeated the family names, but we cannot assign them any certain order. We know only that the last of them, Paerisades V, unable to make headway against the power of the natives, in 108 BC called in the help of Diophantus, general of King Mithridates VI of Pontus, promising to hand over his kingdom to that prince. He was slain by a Scythian named Saumacus who led a rebellion against him.

The house of Spartocus was well known as a line of enlightened and wise princes; although Greek opinion could not deny that they were, strictly speaking, tyrants, they are always described as dynasts. They maintained close relations with Athens, their best customers for the Bosporan grain export, of which Leucon I set the staple at Theodosia, where the Attic ships were allowed special privileges. The Attic orators make numerous references to this. In return the Athenians granted him Athenian citizenship and set up decrees in honour of him and his sons.

In the 1st century BC, after his defeat by Roman General Pompey in 63 BC, King Mithridates VI of Pontus fled with a small army from Colchis (modern Georgia) over the Caucasus Mountains to Crimea and made plans to raise yet another army to take on the Romans. His eldest living son, Machares, viceroy of Cimmerian Bosporus, was unwilling to aid his father. Mithridates VI had Machares killed, and Mithridates VI took the throne of the Bosporan Kingdom. Mithridates then ordered the conscriptions and preparations for war. In 63 BC Pharnaces II, the youngest son of Mithridates VI, led a rebellion against his father, joined by Roman exiles in the core of Mithridates VI's Pontic army. Mithridates VI withdrew to the citadel in Panticapaeum, where he committed suicide. Pompey buried Mithridates VI in the rock-cut tombs of his ancestors in Amasia, the old capital of the Kingdom of Pontus.

Roman Cimmerian Bosporan Kingdom[link]

The "Regnum Bosphoranum" during Roman emperor Trajan conquests

After the death of Mithridates VI (63 BC), Pharnaces II (63 BC - 47 BC) made his submission to Pompey, and then tried to regain his dominion during Julius Caesar's Civil War, but was defeated by Caesar at the Zela and was later killed by his former governor and son-in-law Asander.

Before the death of Pharnaces II, Asander had married Pharnaces II’s daughter Dynamis. Asander and Dynamis were the ruling monarchs until Caesar commanded a paternal uncle of Dynamis, Mithridates II to declare war on the Bosporan Kingdom and claimed the kingship for himself. Asander and Dynamis were defeated by Caesar’s ally and went into political exile. However, after Caesar’s death in 44 BC, the Bosporan Kingdom was restored to Asander and Dynamis by Caesar’s great nephew and heir Octavian (future Roman Emperor Augustus). Asander ruled as an Archon and later as King until his death in 17 BC. After the death of Asander, Dynamis was compelled to marry a Roman usurper called Scribonius, but the Romans under Statesman Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa interfered and set Polemon I of Pontus (16 BC - 8 BC) in his place. Polemon married Dynamis in 16 BC and she died in 14 BC. Polemon ruled as King until his death in 8 BC. After the death of Polemon, Aspurgus, the son of Dynamis and Asander, succeeded Polemon.

Ruins of Panticapaeum, modern Kerch, the capital of the Bosporan Kingdom.

The Bosporan Kingdom of Aspurgus was a "Client State" of the Roman Empire, helped by Roman garrisons. Aspurgus (8 BC - 38) founded a line of kings which endured with certain interruptions until 341. Aspurgus adopted the Roman names "Tiberius Julius" because he received Roman citizenship and enjoyed the patronage of the first two Roman Emperors, Augustus and Tiberius. All of the following kings adopted these two Roman names followed by a third name, mostly of Pontic, Thracian origin (such as Kotys, Rhescuporis and Rhoemetalces), but also of local origin (such as Sauromates, Eupator, Ininthimeus, Pharsanzes, Synges, Terianes, Theothorses and Rhadamsades).

The Roman Client Kings of the dynasty had descended from King Mithridates VI of Pontus and his first wife, his sister Laodice, through Aspurgus. The kings adopted the "Pontic Era" introduced by Mithridates VI, which started with 297 BC; this era was used to date coins. Bosporan kings struck coinage throughout the kingdom period, which included gold staters bearing portraits of the respective Roman Emperors. However this coinage increasing became debased in the 3rd century. Hence, we know their names and dates fairly well, though scarcely any events of their reigns are recorded. Their kingdom covered the eastern half of Crimea and the Taman peninsula, and extended along the east coast of the Maeotian marshes to Tanais at the mouth of the Don, a great market for trade with the interior.

They carried on a perpetual war with the native tribes, and in this were supported by their Roman suzerains, who even lent the assistance of garrison and fleet. In 63 for unknown reasons, the Roman Emperor Nero disposed Bosporan King Cotys I from his throne. Perhaps Nero wanted to minimise the role, power and influence of local client rulers and desired the Bosporans to be completely governed by the Roman state. The Bosporan Kingdom was incorporated as a part of the Roman Province of Moesia Inferior from 63-68. In 68, the new Roman Emperor Galba had restored the Bosporan Kingdom to Rhescuporis I, the son of Cotys I.

At times rival kings of some other races arose and probably produced some disorganization. At one of these periods (255) the Goths and Borani were able to seize Bosporan shipping and raid the shores of Anatolia.

With the coins of the last king Rhescuporis VI in 341, materials for a connected history of the Bosporan Kingdom come to an end. The kingdom probably succumbed to the Huns, who defeated the nearby Alans in 375/376 and moved rapidly westwards, bringing destruction in their wake.

Byzantine Cimmerian Bosporan[link]

A few centuries after the Hunnic invasion, the Bosporan cities seem to have enjoyed a revival, under Byzantine Empire (and Bulgarian) protection. Phanagoria was the capital of Old Great Bulgaria. From time to time Byzantine officers built fortresses and exercised authority at Bosporus, which constituted an archbishopric.

They also held Ta Matarcha on the eastern side of the strait, a town which in the 10th and 11th centuries became the seat of the Kievan Rus' principality of Tmutarakan, which in turn gave place to Tatar domination.

With the Diaspora, and thanks to the nearby Khazars state, a Jewish element had been added to the population, and under its influence were developed in all the cities of the kingdom (especially Tanais) societies of "worshipers of the highest God," apparently professing a monotheism without being distinctively Jewish or Christian.

Numismatics of the Cimmerian Bosporan Kingdom[link]

Although considered somewhat exotic prior to the demise of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Bosporan coins are now plentiful on the international coin markets, hinting at the vast quantities once produced. Several large series were produced by Bosporan cities from the 5th century BC, particularly in Panticapaeum (modern Kerch). The gold staters of Panticapaeum bearing Pan's head and a griffin are especially remarkable for their weight and fine workmanship. There are also coins with the names of the later Spartocids and a singularly complete series of dated solidi issued by the later or Achaemenian dynasty. In them may be noticed the swift degeneration of the gold solidus through silver and potin to bronze.

See also[link]

• Cimmerian Bosporus
• Kingdom of Pontus
• Roman Empire
• Roman Crimea

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rare and Unique Coins of Bosporan Kingdom. Bulletin of the Odessa Numismatics Museum. Issues 7,8,9. 2001. Odessa. Ukraine.
• Artezian, a fortified settlement on the Crimean Peninsula
• Гайдукевич В.Ф. Боспорское царство. М.—Л., 1949 (лит.).
• Полная библиография работ П.О. Карышковского на русском и английском языках на сайте Фридман А.С
• Bosporus: Roman control of ancient Crimea

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Pontian Greeks
Έλληνες του Πόντου (Ρωμιοί)

Pontian Greek man in traditional clothes.
Total population
c. 3,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Greece, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Armenia, Cyprus
Languages
Predominantly Modern and Pontian Greek. Also the languages of their respective countries of residence.
Religion
Greek Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Muslim (Only in Turkey)

Pontus region.

The Pontic Greeks of the Pontians (Greek: Πόντιοι, Turkish: Pontus Rumları) are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea. They consist of Greek descendants and speak the Pontic Greek dialect, a distinct form of the standard Greek language which, due to the remoteness of Pontus, has had a process of linguistic evolution different from that of the rest of the Greek world.

Population[link]

Nowadays, due to extensive intermarriage (also with non-Pontic Greeks), the exact number of Greeks hailing from the Pontus, or people with Greek descent living there, is unknown. After 1988, Pontian Greeks in the Soviet Union started to migrate to Greece settling in and around Athens and Thessaloniki. They are known as "Russian Pontians" (Ρωσσοπόντιοι) by fellow Greeks. The largest communities of Pontian Greeks (or people of Pontian Greek descent) around the world are^[1]:

Country / region	Official data	Estimation	Concentration	Note(s)	Article
Greece		over 2,000,000	Athens, Macedonia, Thrace
USA		200,000			Greek American
Germany		100,000			Greeks in Germany
Russia	97,827 (2002)		34,078 in Stavropol Krai 26,540 in Krasnodar Krai		Greeks in Russia
Ukraine	91,548 (2001)		77,516 in Donetsk Oblast		Greeks in Ukraine (Sometime referred to as Crimean Greeks)
Australia		56,000			Greek Australian
Canada		20,000			Greek Canadians
Cyprus		20,000			Greek Cypriots
Czech Republic		less than 3,500; 12,000 (1949–1974)			Greeks in the Czech Republic
Georgia	15,166 (2002)		7,415 in Kvemo Kartli 3,792 in Tbilisi 2,168 in Adjara		Greeks in Georgia
Kazakhstan	12,703 (2010)		2,160 in Karagandy 1,767 in Almaty 1,637 in Zhambyl		Greeks in Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan	10,453 (1989)[2]				Greeks in Uzbekistan
Armenia	1,176 (2001)[3]	2,000	655 in Lori 308 in Yerevan		Greeks in Armenia

History[link]

Antiquity[link]

In Greek mythology the Black Sea region is the region where Jason and the Argonauts sailed to find the Golden Fleece.

Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus.

The first recorded Greek colony, established on the northern shores of ancient Anatolia, was Sinop, circa 800 BC. The settlers of Sinop were merchants from the Ionian Greek city state of Miletus. After the colonization of the shores of the Black Sea, known until then to the Greek world as Pontos Axeinos (Inhospitable Sea), the name changed to Pontos Euxeinos (Hospitable Sea). In time, as the numbers of Greeks settling in the region grew significantly, more colonies were established along the whole Black Sea coastline of what is now Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania.

The region of Trapezus, later called Trebizond, now Trabzon, was mentioned by Xenophon in his famous work Anabasis, describing how he and other 10,000 Greek mercenaries fought their way to the Euxine Sea after the failure of the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger whom they fought for, against his older brother Artaxerxes II of Persia. Xenophon mentions that when at the sight of sea they shouted "Thalatta! Thalatta!" – "The sea! The sea!", the local people understood them. They were Greeks too and, according to Xenophon, they had been there for over 300 years.^[4] A whole range of trade flourished among the various Greek colonies, but also with the indigenous tribes who inhabited the Pontus inland. Soon Trebizond established a leading stature among the other colonies and the region nearby become the heart of the Pontian Greek culture and civilization. A notable inhabitant of the region was Philetaerus (ca. 343 BC–263 BC) who was born to a Greek father^[5] in the small town of Tieion which was situated on the Black Sea coast of the Pontus Euxinus, he founded the Attalid dynasty and the Anatolian city of Pergamon in the secong century BC.^[5]

This region was organized circa 281 BC as a kingdom by Mithridates I of Pontus, whose ancestry line dated back to Ariobarzanes I, a ruler of the Greek town of Cius. The most prominent descendant of Mithridates I was Mithridates VI of Pontus, who between 90 and 65 BC fought the Mithridatic Wars, three bitter wars against the Roman Republic, before eventually being defeated. Mithridates VI the Great, as he was left in memory, claiming to be the protector of the Greek world against the barbarian Romans, expanded his kingdom to Bithynia, Crimea and Propontis (in present day Ukraine and Turkey) before his downfall after the Third Mithridatic War.

Roman Diocese of Pontus, 400 AD.

Nevertheless, the kingdom survived as a Roman vassal state, now named Bosporan Kingdom and based in Crimea, until the 4th century AD, when it succumbed to the Huns. The rest of the Pontus became part of the Roman Empire, while the mountainous interior (Chaldia) was fully incorporated into the Byzantine Empire during the 6th century.

Middle Ages[link]

Alexios III (1338–1390), Emperor of Trebizond, and his wife. Chrysobull at Dionysiou monastery, Mount Athos.

Cardinal Bessarion of Trebizond (1395–1472), a Pontian Greek scholar, statesman, and cardinal.^[6]

Pontus was the birthplace of the Komnenos dynasty, which ruled the empire from 1082 to 1185, a time in which the empire resurged to recover much of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.

In the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Empire of Trebizond was established by Alexios I of Trebizond, a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos, the patriarch of the Komnenos dynasty. This empire lasted for more than 250 years until it eventually fell at the hands of Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1461.

During the Ottoman period a number of Pontian Greeks converted to Islam and adopted the Turkish language. This could be willingly, for example so to avoid paying the higher rate of taxation imposed on Orthodox Christians or in order to make themselves more eligible for higher level government and regular military employment opportunities within the empire (at least in the later period following the abolition of the infamous Greek and Balkan Christian child levy or 'devshirme', on which the elite Janissary corps had in the early Ottoman period depended for its recruits). But conversion could also occur in response to pressures from central government and local Muslim militia (e.g.) following any one of the Russo-Turkish wars in which ethnic Greeks from the Ottoman Empire's northern border regions were known to have collaborated, fought alongside, and sometimes even led invading Russian forces, such as was the case in the Greek governed, semi-autonomous Romanian Principalities, Trebizond, and the area that was briefly to become part of the Russian Caucasus in the far northeast.

Modern[link]

Greek population in Anatolia and Asia Minor in blue color, 1911.

In fact, the second half of the nineteenth century saw large numbers of such pro-Russian Pontic Greeks from the eastern Trebizond region resettle in the area around Kars (which together with southern Georgia already had a nucleus of Caucasus Greeks), which was ceded to the Russian Empire following the Russo-Turkish war that culminated in the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano. They had declined the expedient of conversion to Islam, abandoned their lands, and sought refuge in territory now controlled by their Christian Orthodox "protector", which used Pontic Greeks, Georgians, and southern Russians, and even non-Orthodox Armenians, Germans, and Estonians to "Christianize" this recently conquered southern Caucasus region, which it now administered as the newly created Kars Oblast (Kars Province).

On the eve of World War I, the Young Turk administration exerted a policy of assimilation and ethnic cleansing of the Orthodox Christians in the Empire, which affected Pontian Greeks too. In 1916 Trabzon itself fell to the forces of the Russian Empire, fomenting the idea of an independent Pontic state. As the Bolsheviks came to power with the October Revolution (7 November 1917), Russian forces withdrew from the region to take part in the Russian Civil War (1917–1923).

Proposed flag of the Republic of Pontus.

Pontian Greek women and children harvesting tea in the Black Sea town of Chakva, Georgia, ca. 1905–15. Photograph by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.

In 1917–1922, there existed an unrecognized by the name Republic of Pontus, led by Chrysanthus, Metropolitan of Trebizond. In 1917 Greece and the Entente powers considered the creation of a Hellenic autonomous state in Pontus, most likely as part of a Ponto-Armenian Federation.^[7] In 1919 on the fringes of the Paris Peace Conference Chrysanthos proposed the establishment of a fully independent Republic of Pontus, but neither Greece nor the other delegations supported it.^[8]

Once the Russians had evacuated Pontus, Greeks and Armenians in the region became the targets of irregular Turkish and Kurdish militia. Seeing the fate of Armenians, Pontian Greeks were themselves forced to take up armed resistance, leading to what became known as the Pontus resistance (αντάρτικο του Πόντου in Greek), which lasted until 1923,^{[citation needed]} when the population exchange between Greece and Turkey was agreed under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne. While most Christian Pontians were forced to leave for Greece - avoiding nearby Russia, which in the decade post-1917 was of course plunged into the chaos of revolution and civil war - those who had converted to Islam (and in accordance with historical precedent were considered to have "turned Turk") remained in Turkey and were assimilated into the Muslim population of the north and northeast, where their bi-lingual Greek- and Turkish-speaking descendents can still be found (including amongst the notoriously nationalistic Turks of present-day Trebizond).^{[citation needed]}

Rumca, as the Pontian Greek language is known in Turkey, survives today, mostly among older speakers. After the exchange most Pontian Greeks settled in Macedonia and Attica. Pontian Greeks inside the Soviet Union were predominantly settled in the regions bordering the Georgian SSR and Armenian SSR. They also had notable presence in Black Sea ports like Odessa and Sukhumi. About 100,000 Pontian Greeks, including 37,000 in the Caucasus area alone, were deported to Central Asia in 1949 during Stalin's post-war deportations. Big indigenous communities exist today in former USSR states, while through immigration large numbers can be found in Germany, Australia, and the United States.

Persecution and population exchange[link]

Like Armenians, Assyrians and other Ottoman Greeks, the Greeks of Trebizond and the short-lived Russian Caucasus province of Kars (which in 1916 fell back under Ottoman control) suffered widespread massacre and what is now usually termed ethnic cleansing at the beginning of the 20th century, first by the Young Turks and later by Kemalist forces. In both cases, the pretext was again that the Pontic Greeks and Armenians had collaborated or fought with the forces of their Russian co-religionists and "protectors" before the termination of hostilities between the two empires that followed the October Revolution. Death marches^[9] through Turkey's mountainous terrain, forced labour in the infamous "Amele Taburu" in Anatolia and slaughter by the irregular bands of Topal Osman resulted in tens of thousands of Pontic Greeks perishing during the period from 1915 to 1922. In 1923, after hundreds of years, those remaining were expelled from Turkey to Greece as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey defined by the Treaty of Lausanne. In his book Black Sea, author Neal Ascherson writes:

The Turkish guide-books on sale in the Taksim Meydane offer this account of the 1923 Katastrofĕ: 'After the proclamation of the Republic, the Greeks who lived in the region returned to their own country [...].' Their own country? Returned? They had lived in the Pontos for nearly three thousand years. Their Pontian dialect was not understandable to twentieth-century Athenians.^[10]

The suffering of the Pontian Greeks did not end upon their violent and forceful departure from the lands of their ancestors. Many Pontian Greek refugees perished during the voyage from Asia Minor to Greece. Notable accounts of these voyages have been included in Steve Papadopoulos’ work on Pontian culture and history. Pontian Greek immigrants to the United States from that era were quoted as saying:

Many children and elderly died during the voyage to Greece. When the crew realized they were dead, they were thrown overboard. Soon the mothers of dead children started pretending that they were still alive. After witnessing what was done to the deceased, they would hold on to them and comfort them as if they were still alive. They did this to give them a proper burial in Greece.^{[citation needed]}

Settlements[link]

Traditional rural Pontian houses.

Some of the settlements historically inhabited by Pontian Greeks include (current official names in parenthesis):

In Pontus

Amasia (Amasya), Meletios (Mesudiye), Aphene, Kerasounta (Giresun), Kissa, Kromna, Amisos (Samsun), Sinope (Sinop), Themiscyra (Terme), Trapezounta (Trabzon), Bafra, Argyroupolis (Gümüşhane), Xeroiana (Şiran), Ofis (Of), Santa (Dumanlı), Tonya, Matsouka (Maçka), Galiana (Konaklar), Sourmena (Sürmene), Imera (Olucak), Rizounta (Rize), Mouzena, Kotoiora (Ordu), Livera, Platana, Kel Kit, Nikopolis, Kakatsis, Merzifounta, Tokat, Oinoe (Ünye), Neokaisareia (Niksar), Fatsa, Tripolis (Tirebolu), Thermi (Terme), Gümüşhacıköy, Komana, Hopa, Athina (Pazar), Koloneia, Gemoura (Yomra), Akdağmadeni.

Outside Pontus

Kars Oblast, Balya, Sevasteia (Sivas), Çorum, Bayburt, Adapazarı.

In Crimea and the northern Azov Sea

Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum, Soughdaia, Tanais, Theodosia.

On the Taman peninsula, Krasnodar Krai and the Colchian coast

Batis, Dioscurias, Germonassa, Gorgippa, Heraclea Pontica, Phanagoria, Phasis, Pitsunda, Sebastopolis.

On the southwestern coast of Ukraine and the Eastern Balkans

Mariupol, Antiphilos, Apollonia (Sozopol), Germonakris, Mesembria, Nikonis, Odessos (Varna), Olbia, Tira.

Culture[link]

The culture of Pontus has been strongly influenced by the topography of its different regions. In commercial cities like Trebizond, Samsunda, Kerasounda and Sinopi upper level education and arts flourished under the protection of a cosmopolitan middle class. In the inland cities such as Argyroupolis, the economy was based upon agriculture and mining, thus creating an economic and cultural gap between the developed urban ports and the rural centers which lay upon the valleys and plains extending from the base of the Pontic alps.

Language[link]

Pontic's linguistic lineage stems from Ionic Greek via Koine and Byzantine Greek with many archaisms and contains loanwords from Turkish and to a lesser extent, Persian and various Caucasian languages.

Education[link]

Close-up view of Sümela Monastery.

The rich cultural activity of Pontian Greeks is witnessed by the number of educational institutions, churches, and monasteries in the region. These include the Phrontisterion of Trapezous that operated from 1682/3 to 1921 and provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the region.^[11] The building of this institution still remains the most impressive Pontic Greek monument in the city.^[12]

Another well known institution was the one of and Argyroupolis, built in 1682 and 1722 respectively, 38 highschools in the Sinopi region, 39 highschools in the Kerasounda region, a plethora of churches and monasteries, most notable of which are the St. Eugenios and Agia Sophia churches of Trapezeus, the monasteries of St. George and St. Ioannes Vazelonos, and arguably the most famous and highly regarded of all, the monastery of Panagia Soumela.

Music[link]

The Phrontisterion of Trapezous, early 20th century.

Pontian music retains elements of the musical traditions of Ancient Greece, Byzantium, and the Caucasus (especially from the region of Kars). Possibly there is an underlying influence from the native peoples who lived in the area before the Greeks as well, but this is not clearly established.

Musical styles, like language patterns and other cultural traits, were influenced by the topography of Pontos. The mountains and rivers of the area impeded communication between Pontian Greek communities and caused them to develop in different ways. Also significant in the shaping of Pontian music was the proximity of various non-Greek peoples on the fringes of the Pontic area. For this reason we see that musical style of the east Pontos has significant differences from the that of the west or south-west Pontos. The Pontian music of Kars, for example, shows a clear influence from the music of the Caucasus and elements from other parts of Anatolia. The music and dances of Turks from Black Sea region are very similar to Greek Pontic and some songs and melodies are common. Except for certain laments and ballads, this music is played primarily to be danced to.

An important part of Pontic music is the Acritic songs, heroic or epic poetry set to music that emerged in the Byzantine Empire, probably in the 9th century. These songs celebrated the exploits of the Akritai, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire.

Traditional Pontian musical instruments; Kemençe, davul, zurna. Photo from 1950s in Matzouka, Trabzon, Turkey.

The most popular instrument in the Pontian musical collection is the kemenche or lyra, which is related closely with other bowed musical instruments of the medieval West, like the Kit violin and Rebec. Also important are other instruments such as the Angion or Tulum (a type of Bagpipe), the davul, a type of drum, the Shiliavrin, and the Kaval or Ghaval (a flute-like pipe).

The zurna existed in several versions which varied from region to region, with the style from Bafra sounding differently due to its bigger size. The Violin was very popular in the Bafra region and all throughout west Pontos. The Kemane, an instrument closely related to the one of Cappadocia, was highly popular in south-west Pontos and with the Pontian Greeks who lived in Cappadocia. Finally worth mentioning are the Defi (a type of tambourine), Outi and in the region of Kars, the clarinet.

Dance[link]

Folk dances in Turkey. Horon in blue.

Pontian dance retains aspects of Persian and Greek dance styles. The dances called Horoi (Greek: Χοροί), singular Horos (Greek: Χορός), meaning literally "Dance" in both Ancient Pontian and Modern Greek languages, are circular in nature and each is characterized by distinct short steps. A unique aspect of Pontian dance is the tremoulo (Greek: Τρέμουλο), which is a fast shaking of the upper torso by a turning of the back on its axis. Like other Greek dances, they are danced in a line and the dancers form a circle. Pontian dances also resemble Persian and Middle Eastern dances because they are not led by a single dancer. The most renowned Pontian dances are Tik (dance), Serra, Maheria or Pyrecheios, Kotsari and Omal.

In popular culture[link]

• In the 1984 movie Voyage to Cythera (Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα),^[13] directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos, the protagonist is a Pontian Greek who was deported to the Soviet Union after the Greek civil war. He returns to Greece after 32 years.

• In his 1998 movie From the Edge of the City (Από την άκρη της πόλης),^[14] the film director Constantinos Giannaris describes the life of a young "Russian Pontian" from Kazakhstan in the prostitution underworld of Athens.

• In the 1999 movie Soil and Water (Χώμα και νερό),^[15] one of the characters is a Pontian Greek from Georgia who works as a woman's trafficker for a strip club.

• In the 2000 movie The Very Poor, Inc. (Πάμπτωχοι Α.Ε.),^[16] one of the characters is a Pontian Greek from the Soviet Union named Thymios Hloridis. A mathematician with a specialty in Chaos theory, Hloridis is forced to make a living selling illegal cigars in front of the stock-market.

• In the 2003 Turkish movie Waiting for the Clouds (Bulutlari Beklerken, Περιμένοντας τα σύννεφα),^[17] one Pontian Greek woman, who didn't leave as a child with her brother during the general expulsion of Pontian Greeks to the Greek Peloponnese after the first world war and the Treaty of Lausanne's mandated Population transfer, meets Thanasis, a Pontian Greek man from the Soviet Union, who helps her to find her brother in Greece. The movie makes some references to the pontian genocide.

• In the 2008 short movie Pontos,^[18] written, produced, and directed by Peter Stefanidis, he aims to capture a small part of the genocide from the perspective of its two central characters, played by Lee Mason (Kemal) and Ross Black (Pantzo).

Notable Pontian Greeks[link]

See also[link]

• Urums
• Hamshenis
• Greek genocide
• Greek Muslims
• Chepni

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Halo, Thea. Not Even My Name. Picador. 2000. ISBN 978-0-312-26211-2.
• Hofmann, Tessa, ed. Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912–1922. Münster: LIT, 2004. ISBN 978-3-8258-7823-8

External links[link]

• Michel Bruneau (ed.), Grecs pontiques: Diaspora, identité, territoires, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Cnrs) Éditions, Paris, 1998 (recension and presentation)
• Nikos Doukas, The Pontian muslims at the target of Turkey
• About Pontic Culture of Anatolia
• The official web site of the Pontian Federation of Greece
• Web site of everything Pontian
• World wide Pontian Forum
• Pontian Federation of Australia
• Pontian Association in Stuttgart, Germany
• Pontian Association in South Russia
• Pontian web site catalogue
• Pontian Association in Frankfurt, Germany / Verein der Griechen aus Pontos in Frankfurt
• Pontian International site
• Internet Radio "Akrites tou Pontou"
• Pontian folk music
• Tsiambasin, traditional Pontian song
• Trebizond Greek: A language without a tongue
• All about Pontian culture
• Website with map showing colonization of the Black Sea by Greek
• The Incredible Odyssey of the Black Sea Greeks
• Greek Penetration of the Black Sea
• Matthaios Tsahouridis, A great Pontian Lyra player

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The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe.

Pan and Pfeil (2004) count 87 distinct "peoples of Europe", of which 33 form the majority population in at least one sovereign state, while the remaining 54 constitute ethnic minorities. The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans.^[1]

There is no precise or universally accepted definition of the terms "ethnic group" or "nationality". In the context of European ethnography in particular, the terms ethnic group, people (without nation state), nationality, national minority, ethnic minority, linguistic community, linguistic group and linguistic minority are used as mostly synonymous, although preference may vary in usage with respect to the situation specific to the individual countries of Europe.^[2]

Overview[link]

There are eight peoples of Europe (defined by their language) with more than 30 million members residing in Europe:

1. the Russians (ca. 95 million residing in Europe),^[3]
2. the Germans (ca. 82 million),^[4]
3. the French (ca. 65 million)^[5]
4. the Italians (ca. 61 million)^{[note 1]}
5. the British (55 - 61 million)^{[note 2]}
6. the Spanish (ca. 47 million),^[6]
7. the Ukrainians (ca. 41 million),
8. the Poles (ca. 38 million).

These eight groups between themselves account for some 465 million or about 65% of European population.

About 20-25 million residents (3%) are members of diasporas of non-European origin. The population of the European Union, with some five hundred million residents, accounts for two thirds of the European population.

Both Spain and the UK are special cases, in that the designation of nationality, Spanish and British, may controversially take ethnic aspects, subsuming various regional ethnic groups, see nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain and native populations of the United Kingdom. Switzerland is a similar case, but the linguistic subgroups of the Swiss are not usually discussed in terms of ethnicity, and Switzerland is considered a "multi-lingual state" rather than a "multi-ethnic state".

v t e Overview map of the peoples of Europe Size and geographic distribution of the 87 peoples of Europe according to Pan & Pfeil (2004).[7] Font size reflects population size (groups smaller than 2 million not to scale) Groups not shown due to lack of geographic concentration: Romani (3.8 million), Jews (1.3 million), Karaim (4,600). Small Caucasian groups (<0.2 million) not shown in map: Cherkes, Karachays, Lak, Tabasarans, Balkars, Nogais, Rutuls, Tats, Tsakhurs. Albanians Belarusians Bulgarians Croats Czechs Danes Finns French Occitans Ger ma ns Greeks Hungarians Irish Ita     li         ans Tatars Lithuanians Dutch Norwegians Poles Portu guese Romanians Russians Serbs Slovaks Span iards Catalans Swedes Turks Ukrainians English Scots Welsh Sardinians Basques Slovenes Macedonians Bosniaks Montenegrins Faroese Sami Icelanders Manx Maltese Latvians Livs Estonians Frisians Chuvash Bashkirs Chechens Avars Dargins Kabards Lezgins Mordvins Ingush Ossetians Udmurts Komi Permyaks Mari Komi Kalmyks Karelians Vepsians Izhorians Romansh Kashubs Bretons Cornish Aromanians Lux. Sorbs Kumyks Gagauz Inuit

Linguistic classifications[link]

Languages in Europe

Of the total population of Europe of some 730 million (as of 2005), over 80% or some 600 million fall within three large branches of Indo-European languages, viz., Slavic, Latin (Romance) and Germanic. The largest groups that do not fall within either of these, or the so-called separate groups, are the Greeks and Armenians (about 12 million each) and the Albanians (about 8 million). Beside the Indo-European languages there are two other major language families on the European continent: Turkic languages and Uralic languages. The Semitic languages that dominate the coast of the northern Africa as well as the Near East are preserved on the Malta islands, a Mediterranean archipelago. The Basque language is a linguistic isolate unrelated to any other languages inside or outside of Europe.