Roman Military Units in Olbia

Around the middle of the first century, Olbia was under siege from the Getae. It was either destroyed or abandoned shortly before its destruction. It was only inhabited at the turn of the first century AD. It is assumed that Roman interest over Olbia only started after the middle of the first century. This chapter discusses the existence of Roman military units in Olbia during the years AD 106–111. These military units were believed to be present in Olbia to protect the city from barbarian intrusion. This assumption is established by the existence of inscribed grave-monuments and epitaphs belonging to Athenocles, and the Bosporans: indications of the attempts of the Rome to maintain its political strength and to defend the city from barbarians. Accordingly, after the collapse of the Olbian-Samartian alliance, the Roman Empire provided occasional military aid to Olbian during the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Other evidences that provide proof of the dependence of Olbia to the military aid given by the Roman military units are the presence of a Roman legionary garrison in Olbia including Thracian dedicatory reliefs.

Trakhtemirov: A Fortified City site on the Dnieper

This chapter focuses on Trakhtemirov, one of the most important ancient settlements of the Early Iron Age in the Ukraine. During the ancient period, the trade routes and caravans met at Trakhtemirov which was situated over the three crossing points of the Dneiper. Its location on the steep heights assured residents of Trakhtemirov security of settlement. On three sides it was protected by the course of the Dnieper while on the other side it was defended by the plateau of the pre-Dneiper elevation. The ancient Trakhtemirov city is located around 100 km below Kiev, on a peninsula which is jutted into the river from the west. Trakhtemirov in the Early Iron Age was important as it was the site of the Cossack capital of Ukraine. It was also the site of the most prestigious artefacts of the Scythian period and a site for various items of jewellery, tools and weaponry. The abundance of artefacts in Trakhtemirov suggests that the city is a central place among the scattered sites of the middle course of the Dneiper.

Olbia and the Barbarians from the First to the Fourth Century ad

This chapter examines Olbia during the first century to the fourth century AD. In the middle of the first century BC, Olbia was attacked by the Geto-Dacians of Burebista. Those inhabitants who survived the attacked fled from Olbia, causing the life at the city to come to an end for several decades. The Olbiopolitans were assumed to have taken refuge in other Greek communities and friendly barbarian areas. One of the places of refuge for the fleeing Greeks was the lower Dneiper with its Hellenized population. By the end of the first century BC, Olbia saw the resettlements. The Greeks returned to their old location, a process catalyzed by political change in the region and by the new unity among the citizens of Olbia. In 44 BC after the death of Burebista, his regime in Olbia collapsed and from 29 BC, the Romans pacified the Geta-Dacians who continually posed threats in the neighbouring communities. Meanwhile the settlements in the lower Dnieper were under pressure from the Samartians who were moving westwards. This movement caused Olbia and its immediate environs to be vacated once again by the Greeks who were avoiding the pressure by moving southwards. The city was established once again in the latter centuries wherein the renewal of the Olbia city was facilitated by Greeks and Hellenized Scythians.

Olbian–Scythian Trade: Exchange Issues in the Sixth to Fourth Centuries bc

This chapter focuses on the trade between the Greek and the Scythian worlds on the north coast of the Black Sea. The majority of previous articles and topics on this subject tended to revolve around the issue of the significance for the Scythian society of exchange with Greek cities, ignoring the significance of such exchange and trade for the Greek cities particularly for Olbia. Furthermore, little work has been devoted to the change of such significance for Olbia over time. Hence, this chapter sheds a new and fresh look at the Olbian-Scythian relationships, their beginnings and their developments. Exchange relationships between Olbia and Scythia began in the early sixth century BC and persisted through the fifth and the fourth centuries BC. These trade exchanges resulted in significant economic development and a great deal of exchanges were made during the fourth century. This slowly waned towards the end of the fourth century. The diminished trade exchanges between Olbia and Scythia were caused by a number of complex factors. Although Olbia's economical and market development depended on trade exchanges, its whole economy was not truly defined by the city's exchange, rather it was based on agriculture.

Herodotus and Olbia1

This chapter discusses Herodotus's account of Olbia. Whilst he was forthcoming about his visit and experiences in the Egyptian Thebes, Herodotus did not claim to see Olbia firsthand. And although he had seen Olbia for himself, he did not say so in plain terms. Although Olbia was very central to Herodotus's account of Scythia, his description and narrative of Olbia was rather limited. Olbia nonetheless received more attention from Herodotus compared to other Greek communities, however Olbia was peripheral to his interests. His avoidance of the city's official and designated name which was preferred by the citizens is not insignificant. His avoidance of the official name implied his manner of underplaying the importance of the place as a channel through which most of his Scythian information came. His accounts of the Scythian ethnography more than as results of long years of patient fieldwork were the results of information collected unsystematically as seen in his disordered presentation of the geographical and ethnographical information of Olbia. His accounts of the Scythian conservatism and resistance to foreign influence was out of convenience, allaying qualms about combining items of information gathered over time, but was not altogether borne out by his narrative. Unable to claim direct access to native Scythian informants on their own ground, he was not keen to advertise the derivative quality of his material, and close attention of the Olbiopolitai might have exposed what he wanted to camouflage.

Greater Olbia: Ethnic, Religious, Economic, and Political Interactions in the Region of Olbia, c.600-100 bc

This chapter discusses the ethnic, religious, economic and political interactions of Olbia with other communities during the 600–100 century BC. It focuses on the various relationship of the Greater Olbia with both Greeks and non-Greeks. Greater Olbia pertains to Olbia's mini-empire in the northwest Black Sea and spans across the estuary of the lower Bug, the lower Dnieper, the north-west Crimea, the outer estuary of Dnepier or Hylaea, the Berezan, the island of Lueke, and the settlements along Dniester. Greater Olbia was largely dependent on the maintenance of broadly symbiotic relationships with non-Greeks. These relationships and interactions with other non-Greek communities are reflected in the existence of a rich mix of traditional Greek and barbarian names in the personal names of Greeks. However distinct and Greek the Olbiopolitans may have perceived themselves, they were subjected to extensive cultural osmosis between Greeks and non-Greeks in and around the city. This osmosis and symbiosis can be seen in the religion, the pottery, the names and other aspects of the Olbiopolitan living such as the observation of Dio Chrysostom where he made note of a young Olbiopolitan cavalryman in a garb of a barbarian yet with his head full of Achilles.

Dio Chrysostom’s Construction of Olbia

This chapter discusses Dio Chrysostom, a wealthy Greek who was banished from Prusa and who was exiled to Olbia. It focuses on his construction and illustration of Olbia through his thirty-sixth speech entitled Borystheniticus Or. 36. This speech is assumed to be written during his exile in Olbia and was delivered on his return to Prusa. His Borystheniticus themes are ‘harmony, good order, and regular and predictable change on earth as in heaven’. His speech consists of a large introduction that narrates the location of Olbia. Out of the 61 pages of his Borystheniticus, 13 are devoted to the exterior setting of the city, the city itself, its inhabitants and its surrounding, giving the impression that the introduction was not intended as a mere introductory part. His account of Olbia in his speech was not just an indulging innocent reminiscence, rather it was a description aimed for a larger audience. Behind his illustration of the Obliopolitans as early Greeks lies a traditional and elaborate theory that suggest that the technical and cultural evolution, development and progress of civilization came at the same time as moral degeneration. He painted a gloomy picture of Olbia as a rhetorical strategy that allowed him to illustrate a society on the brink of extinction as a result of the severe threat to its historical and religious identity and yet still holding out because of the sense of unity of the community. This concept was aimed to remind the inhabitants of Prusa of proper and responsible behaviour.

Introduction

This book was conceived when the British Academy supported a conference in November 2001 in collaboration with the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of the Ukraine. However, the chapters presented in this book were conceived long before the meeting. In particular, whereas the meeting covered various topics, this book is solely concerned with the interactions of the city of Olbia with its immediate environs. Although the theme and geographical scope have been delimited, the chronological framework of the book remains expansive. It discusses the emergence of the city of Olbia up to its local situation under the early Roman empire. Although the relationship of Olbia with neighbouring communities was marked by controversies and issues, the book makes no attempt to expunge the differences in the interpretations, either between the chapters within the book or between these chapters and other accounts. In contrast, the more controversial matters are flagged within the book and are brought out more explicitly. Discussed in this text are: the progress of archaeology in Olbia, the Greek and non-Greek interactions of the lower Bug, the interpretation of Herodotus's account of Olbia and its environs, the religious dimension of contacts between Greeks and non-Greeks, the settlement of Trakhtemirov, the trade and exchanges between Olbia and its environs, and the struggles of Olbia for its existence amid intrusion of the Roman empire.

Contacts between Greeks and Non-Greeks on the Lower Bug in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries bc

The region of the lower Bug is a special place among the areas of Greek settlement on the north coast of the Black Sea. In the seventh century BC, this region expanded and was integrated into the sphere of Greek culture. The lower Bug of Olbia posited a significant mark in the history of the whole Pontic basin. This chapter does not present a review of the extensive literatures on Greek-native contacts on the north coast of the Black Sea, rather it discusses the issue of Greek-native relationships during the settlement period, specifically in the establishment of the Olbian state. It aims to refute Solovyov' observations and interpretations of the ancient Olbia and Greek civilization in this region wherein he contended that the dug-out dwellings and the potteries of the Olbian region were predominantly the result of native ingenuity. In this chapter, the text looks to evidence by focusing on only two kinds of material, namely dwelling-types and potteries. Such studies that were limited to such artefacts lead to a skewed, partial, and unsupported account which caused misleading accounts and depictions of the nature of Greek and Non-Greek relationships on the ancient lower Bug and on the period where contacts between Greek colonists and barbarians were dominant.

Criteria for the Presence of Barbarians in the Population of Early Olbia

Historians of the ancient states of the north coast of the Black Sea were often faced by the challenge on how to estimate the presence of barbarians in the populations of early communities. Although it is generally understood that there was indeed a presence of barbarians in the early Mediterranean communities, the problem is there is no systematic means to gain material remains that may shed light on the numbers and social-ethnic characteristics of such non-Greek components. Although attempts have been made to generalize the existence of barbarians through archaeological evidence, such methods have failed due to lack of firm methodology. This chapter examines cities wherein the barbarian cultural level cannot be clearly established. It focuses on the two aspects of the issue of barbarian presence in Olbia. It examines the artefacts and assemblages, and how much materials can attest the presence of such ethnicities in Olbia. This qualitative approach examines the presence of dug-out dwelling places, handmade potteries, burial practices, jewellery and prosopography. The second aspect uses a quantitative approach which examines the statistics and percentages of particular ethnicities in Olbia. In these considerations and examinations, no objective criteria that would establish the number of barbarians in Olbia have been established. Although specific cultural features may be connected with the barbarians, they are otherwise represented slightly and in a fragmented fashion which nullifies the argument that Olbia contained substantial barbarian social stratum.