(P. A.) Harland Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations and Commentary II. North Coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 204). Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter, 2014. Pp. 564. €99. 9783110340143.

2016 ◽  
Vol 136 ◽  
pp. 252-253
Author(s):  
Julietta Steinhauer
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
North Coast ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Greco Roman

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Black Sea Coast ◽  
The Alps ◽  
South Shore ◽  
Sea Coast

In early 63 BC, Mithridates the Great, king of Pontos, who ruled a territory that included most of the Black Sea coast, was in residence at his palace at Pantikapaion, just north of the sea. For thirty years he had been fighting the Romans for dominance in Asia Minor and beyond, and although he had won numerous victories, the overall trajectory was one of steady defeat for the king as Roman power spread to the east. He had been forced to abandon his traditional capital of Sinope, on the south shore of the sea, and retreat to the farthest corner of his kingdom at Pantikapaion, one of the most remote cities of the Greco-Roman world, where winters were unimaginably cold and the barbarian threat was ever present. Many of his allies and much of his family had abandoned him. Although he planned an invasion of Italy by going up the Danube and south through the Alps, imitating his famous predecessor Hannibal, he devoted most of his time to botany and pharmacology, in the long-standing tradition of scholarly royalty. But eventually he realized that he had no other options, and thus asked a bodyguard to kill him. Thus ended the career of one of the most remarkable leaders of classical antiquity, the man whom his younger contemporary Cicero called “the greatest king since Alexander [the Great].”...

Trapezountian Pontic Greek in Etoloakarnania

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Spyros Armostis ◽  
Louiza Voniati ◽  
Konstantinos Drosos ◽  
Dionysios Tafiadis
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Historical Reconstruction ◽  
Standard Term ◽  
The One

The variety described here is Pontic Greek (ISO 639 name: pnt), and specifically the variety that originates from Trapezounta in Asia Minor (present-day Trabzon in Turkey) as spoken today in Etoloakarnania, Greece by second-generation refugees. The term ‘Pontic Greek’ (in Greek: ) was originally an etic term, while Pontians called their language by other names, mainly [ɾoˈmeika] ‘Romeika’ (Sitaridou 2016) but also [laziˈka] ‘Laz language’ (Drettas 1997: 19, 620), even though Pontians and Laz people do not share the same language, the latter being Caucasian. Nowadays, is the standard term used not only by researchers, but also by native speakers of Pontic Greek born in Greece to refer to their variety (but see Sitaridou 2013 for Romeyka in the Black Sea). Pontic Greek belongs to the Asia Minor Greek group along with other varieties, such as Cappadocian Greek (e.g. Horrocks 2010: 398–404; Sitaridou 2014: 31). According to Sitaridou (2014, 2016), on the basis of historical reconstruction, the Pontic branch of Asia Minor Greek is claimed to have been divided into two major dialectal groups: Pontic Greek as spoken by Christians until the 20th century in Turkey and Romeyka as spoken by Muslims to date in Turkey. Triantafyllidis (1938/1981: 288) divides Pontic varieties, as were spoken in Asia Minor, into three dialectal groups, namely Oinountian, Chaldiot, and Trapezountian, the latter consisting of the varieties that were spoken at Trapezounta, Kerasounta, Rizounta, Sourmena, Ofis, Livera, Tripolis, and Matsouka in Asia Minor (Trabzon, Giresun, Sürmene, Of, Yazlık, Tirebolu, and Maçka respectively in present-day Turkey). However, Triantafyllidis does not explain his criteria for this classification (Chatzissavidis 2012). According to one other classification (Papadopoulos 1955: 17–18; Papadopoulos 1958: $\upzeta$ ), the variety that was used in Trapezounta belongs to the dialectal group in which post-stressed /i/ and /u/ delete along other varieties, such as e.g. the ones that were spoken in Chaldia (present-day Gümüşhane), Sourmena, and Ofis (as opposed to the rest of Pontic varieties, such as the one of Kerasounta, in which those vowels are retained). Trapezountian Pontic Greek can also be classified with the group of varieties that retain word-final /n/, such as the varieties of Kerasounta and Chaldia, as opposed to the varieties that do not retain it, such as the ones of Oinoe (present-day Ünye) and (partially) Ofis (Papadopoulos 1958: θ).

The Founder

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Northern Asia ◽  
Black Sea Coast ◽  
New States ◽  
Hellenistic World ◽  
Sea Coast

The Pontic state began with the ambitions of Mithridates I, known as “the Founder,” a refugee from the unforgiving politics of the generation after Alexander the Great. He sought refuge in the rugged country of northern Asia Minor and declared himself king in the early third century BC, establishing what came to be called the kingdom of Pontos, creating its first capital, the fortress city of Amaseia on the Iris River. He also established a foothold on the Black Sea coast at Amastris. By the time of his death in 266 BC, Pontos had begun to emerge as one of the new states of the Hellenistic world.

Empire of the Black Sea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller
Keyword(s):  
Roman Republic ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Northern Asia ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Almost All

Existing from the early third century BC to 63 BC, the Mithridatic kingdom of Pontos was one of the most powerful entities in the Mediterranean world. Under a series of vigorous kings and queens, it expanded from a fortress in the mountainous territory of northern Asia Minor to rule almost all the Black Sea perimeter. This is the first study in English of this kingdom in its entirety, from its origins under King Mithridates I around 280 BC until its last and greatest king, the erudite and cultured Mithridates VI the Great, fell victim to the expanding ambitions of the Roman Republic in 63 BC. Through a series of astute marriage alliances (one of which produced the ancestors of Cleopatra of Egypt), political acumen, and military ability, the Pontic rulers (most of whom were named Mithridates) dominated the culture and politics of the Black Sea region for over two hundred years. This book is a thorough exploration of the internal dynamics of the kingdom as well as its relations with the rest of the Mediterranean world, especially the ever-expanding Roman Republic.

In Search of the Pontic Community in Antiquity

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN MITCHELL
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The Third ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Colonial Experience ◽  
Geographical Characteristics

The geographical characteristics of the Pontus combined with the historical circumstances of the region's colonization by the Greeks were important factors which defined the nature of this ‘world apart’, and these have been the dominant themes of modern historical study. However, neither physical geography nor the colonial experience inevitably implied the emergence of a distinct Pontic world or a Pontic community. Nor do the facts of geography or the major developments of external political history help to explain the identities that the peoples of Pontus claimed for themselves, or that were ascribed to them by outsiders. Indeed, there is a need to ask in what ways, and at what periods, the inhabitants of Pontus themselves felt any sense of shared identity to correspond with the outside perception, that they inhabited a world of their own. Given the obvious problems of regional definition, this chapter is divided into four sections. The first and second look at the Pontic region defined in its earliest sense as the territories and communities associated with the Black Sea itself. The third is concerned with the Pontic regions of Asia Minor. The fourth deals more specifically with the kingdom of the Mithridatids, the so-called kingdom of Pontus. But the starting point, which has led to this structure, is an analysis of the region's name, and in particular of the adjectival form Ponticus Ποντικός, which was derived from it.

Miletus

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The West ◽  
Major Player ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
The City

Originally famed for its philosophers of nature, Miletus became one of the great cities of commerce of the ancient world. Its four harbors and strategic location on the west coast of Asia Minor gave the city unique advantages as a vital port in both peace and war. Yet these factors also were the cause of repeated periods of invasion and destruction. Eventually Miletus ceased to be a major player in world affairs, not because of the fortunes of war, but because of the slower but deadlier effects of the gentle Meander River, which silted its harbors and created malaria-ridden marshes. Miletus is easily reached from Izmir by taking E87 south to Selçuk, then proceeding on highway 525 through Söke to Akköy, then north through Balat to the site of Miletus. Today it is difficult to imagine that Miletus once was situated on a narrow peninsula and boasted of four harbors, three on the west and one on the east. Due to the continual silting effects of the Meander River, the ruins of Miletus now are situated in a broad plain some 5 miles from the sea. The island of Lade, where the Persian armada burned and destroyed the Ionian fleet in 494 B.C.E., was once to the west of the coast of Miletus. Now it is merely a hill 4 miles west of Miletus. A Mycenaean colony that had cultural contacts with Crete and Greece existed in this location from 1400 B.C.E. Greeks settled in the area by at least the 10th century B.C.E. The city prospered and grew wealthy from its colonies on the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and even in Egypt. It was one of the first cities in the ancient world to mint coins. Soon Miletus became the most important of the twelve cities of the region of Ionia. The city came under Persian control in 546 B.C.E. and later opposed them in the Battle of Lade, but the result was the loss of their fleet and the complete destruction of their city in 494 B.C.E. Herodotus, in fact, said that Miletus was reduced to slavery. Subsequently, Ephesus surpassed Miletus as the first city of the region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document