Pontic Greeks
Encyclopedia
The Pontians 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 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. Pontians were historically Christian Greeks who were persecuted, beginning in the 15th Century, by the Ottoman Empire. Their persecution prompted them to strengthen their relations with Greek traders by incorporating the Greek language in to their dialect and sharing traditions.
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 (according to Pontian Diaspora 2000):
Greece
over 2,000,000
Some of these figures may be based on estimates.
the Black Sea region is the region where Jason
and the Argonauts
sailed to find the Golden Fleece
.
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. 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.
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
.
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.
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.
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 Armeninas, Germans, and Estoninas 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).
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. 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.
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, 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).
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.
, Assyrians
and other Ottoman Greeks, the Greeks of Trebizond and the shortlived 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 faught 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 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 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:
Some of the settlements historically inhabited by Pontian Greeks include:
The culture of Pontus has been strongly influenced by the topography of its different regions. In commercial cities like Trebizond
, Samsun
da, 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.
via Koine
and Byzantine Greek with many archaisms and contains loanwords from Turkish and to a lesser extent, Persian and various Caucasian languages.
that operated from 1682/3 to 1921 and provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the region. The building of this institution still remains the most impressive Pontic Greek monument in the city.
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
.
, 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.
The most popular instrument in the Pontian musical collection is the kemenche or lyra
, which has origins in Byzantine times and it is related closely with the Byzantine lyra
and 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
.
and Greek dance styles. The dances called Horoi , singular Horos
, 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 , 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
, Serra
, Maheria or Pyrecheios
, Kotsari
and Omal
.
Mike Lazaridis
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. They consist of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
descendants and speak the Pontic dialect, a distinct form of the standard Greek language
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
which, due to the remoteness of Pontus, has had a process of linguistic evolution different from that of the rest of the Greek world. Pontians were historically Christian Greeks who were persecuted, beginning in the 15th Century, by the Ottoman Empire. Their persecution prompted them to strengthen their relations with Greek traders by incorporating the Greek language in to their dialect and sharing traditions.
Population
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
. 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 (according to Pontian Diaspora 2000):
Greece
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
over 2,000,000
-
- Concentration in MacedoniaMacedonia (Greece)Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
region. USAGreek AmericanGreek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
c. 200,000 GermanyGreeks in GermanyThe Greeks in Germany form a significant community with a population of 294,891 people according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, on December 31, 2007.-History:The first Greeks came during the time of the Roman Empire to Central Europe....
c. 100,000 RussiaGreeks in RussiaThe Greek presence in southern Russia is dated to the 6th century BC. Today there are about 188,000 people of Greek extraction living in the Russian Federation. Most live in the south and the Black Sea region with large concentrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg...
c. 98,000 UkraineGreeks in UkraineA Greek presence throughout the Black Sea area existed long before the beginnings of Kievan Rus. For most of their history in this area, the history of the Greeks in Russia and in Ukraine forms a single narrative, of which a division according to present-day boundaries would be an artificial...
c. 91,500 AustraliaGreek AustralianGreeks are the seventh-largest ethnic group in Australia, after those declaring their ancestry simply as "Australian". In the 2006 census, 365,147 persons declared having Greek ancestry, either alone or in conjunction with another ethnicity....
c. 56,000 Canada c. 20,000 CyprusGreek CypriotsGreek Cypriots are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community at 77% of the population. Greek Cypriots are mostly members of the Church of Cyprus, an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church within the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity...
c. 20,000 Czech Republic c. 12,000 between 1949 and 1974 (dwindling to less than 3,500 today) GeorgiaGreeks in GeorgiaThe Greek diaspora in Georgia is estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000 people down from about 100,000 in 1989. The community has dwindled due to the large wave of repatriation to Greece , as well as emigration to Russia...
c. 15,166 KazakhstanGreeks in KazakhstanThe Greeks of Kazakhstan are mainly the descendants of Pontic Greek who were deported there by Stalin, from southern Russia and the Caucasus region in 1949....
c. 12,703 UzbekistanGreeks in UzbekistanThere are approximately 9,000 ethnic Greeks in Uzbekistan. The community is made up of Greeks from Russia who were deported by force from that country to Uzbekistan in the 1940s, and political refugees from Greece. About 30,000 Greeks lived in the country before World War II and a further 11,000...
c. 9,500 ArmeniaGreeks in ArmeniaThe Greeks of Armenia are mainly descendants of the Pontic Greeks, who originally lived along the shores of the Black Sea. Seafaring Ionian Greeks settled around the southern shores of the Black Sea starting around 800 BC later expanding to coastal regions of modern Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and...
c. 2,000
- Concentration in Macedonia
Some of these figures may be based on estimates.
Antiquity
In Greek mythologyGreek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
the Black Sea region is the region where Jason
Jason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
and the Argonauts
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
sailed to find the Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece
In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...
.
The first recorded Greek colony, established on the northern shores of ancient Anatolia, was Sinop
Sinop, Turkey
Sinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...
, circa 800 BC. The settlers of Sinop were merchants from the Ionian Greek city state of Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
. 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
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
.
The region of Trapezus, later called Trebizond, now Trabzon
Trabzon
Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...
, was mentioned by Xenophon
Xenophon
Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
in his famous work Anabasis
Anabasis (Xenophon)
Anabasis is the most famous work, in seven books, of the Greek professional soldier and writer Xenophon. The journey it narrates is his best known accomplishment and "one of the great adventures in human history," as Will Durant expressed the common assessment.- The account :Xenophon accompanied...
, describing how he and other 10,000 Greek mercenaries
Ten Thousand (Greek)
The Ten Thousand were a group of mercenary units, mainly Greek, drawn up by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II...
fought their way to the Euxine Sea after the failure of the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger
Cyrus the Younger
Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis, was a Persian prince and general. The time of his birth is unknown, but he died in 401 B.C. The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of the Greeks is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of...
whom they fought for, against his older brother Artaxerxes II of Persia
Artaxerxes II of Persia
Artaxerxes II Mnemon was king of Persia from 404 BC until his death. He was a son of Darius II of Persia and Parysatis.-Reign:...
. Xenophon mentions that when at the sight of sea they shouted "Thalatta! Thalatta!
Thalatta! Thalatta!
Thálatta! Thálatta! was the shouting of joy when the roaming 10,000 Greeks saw Euxeinos Pontos from Mount Theches in Armenia, after participating in Cyrus the Younger's failed march against the Persian Empire in the year 401 BC. The mountain was only a five-day march away from the friendly...
" – "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. 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.
This region was organized circa 281 BC as a kingdom by Mithridates I of Pontus
Mithridates I of Pontus
Mithridates I Ctistes was the founder of the kingdom of Pontus in Anatolia....
, whose ancestry line dated back to Ariobarzanes I, a ruler of the Greek town of Cius
Cius
Cius or Kios , later renamed Prusias ad Mare after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis , in Bithynia , and had a long history, being mentioned by Aristotle, and Strabo. It was colonized by the Milesians and became a place of much commercial importance...
. The most prominent descendant of Mithridates I was Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
, who between 90 and 65 BC fought the Mithridatic Wars
Mithridatic Wars
There were three Mithridatic Wars between Rome and the Kingdom of Pontus in the 1st century BC. They are named for Mithridates VI who was King of Pontus at the time....
, three bitter wars against the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, 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
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
, Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and Propontis (in present day Ukraine and Turkey) before his downfall after the Third Mithridatic War
Third Mithridatic War
The Third Mithridatic War was the last and longest of three Mithridatic Wars fought between Mithridates VI of Pontus and his allies and the Roman Republic...
.
Vassal
A vassal or feudatory is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held...
state, now named Bosporan Kingdom
Bosporan Kingdom
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...
and based in Crimea, until the 4th century AD, when it succumbed to the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
. The rest of the Pontus became part of the Roman Empire, while the mountainous interior (Chaldia
Chaldia
Chaldia was a historical region located in the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor . Its name was derived from a people called the Chaldoi that inhabited the region in Antiquity. Chaldia was used throughout the Byzantine period and was established as a formal theme, known as the Theme of Chaldia , in...
) was fully incorporated into the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
during the 6th century.
Middle Ages
Komnenos
Komnenós or Comnenus was the name of a ruling family of the Eastern Roman Empire , who halted the political decline of the Empire from c.1081 to c.1185.-Origins:...
, which ruled the empire from 1082 to 1185, a time in which the empire resurged
Komnenian restoration
The Komnenian restoration is the term used by historians to describe the military, financial and territorial recovery of the Byzantine Empire under the Komnenian dynasty, from the accession of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081, to the death of Manuel I Komnenos in 1180. The Komnenian restoration is also...
to recover much of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.
In the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
in 1204, the Empire of Trebizond
Empire of Trebizond
The Empire of Trebizond, founded in April 1204, was one of three Byzantine successor states of the Byzantine Empire. However, the creation of the Empire of Trebizond was not directly related to the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, rather it had broken away from the Byzantine Empire...
was established by Alexios I of Trebizond
Alexios I of Trebizond
Alexios I Megas Komnenos or Alexius I Comnenus was Emperor of Trebizond from 1204 to 1222. He was the eldest son of Manuel Komnenos and of Rusudan, daughter of George III of Georgia. He was thus a grandson of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I. Andronikos was dethroned and killed in 1185...
, a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
, the patriarch of the Komnenos dynasty
Komnenos
Komnenós or Comnenus was the name of a ruling family of the Eastern Roman Empire , who halted the political decline of the Empire from c.1081 to c.1185.-Origins:...
. This empire lasted for more than 250 years until it eventually fell at the hands of Mehmed II
Mehmed II
Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1461.
During the Ottoman period a number of Pontian Greeks converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
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
On the eve of World War I, the Young Turk
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
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
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, fomenting the idea of an independent Pontic state. As the Bolsheviks came to power with the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
(7 November 1917), Russian forces withdrew from the region to take part in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
(1917–1923).
In 1917–1922, there existed an unrecognized by the name Republic of Pontus
Republic of Pontus
The Republic of Pontus was a proposed Pontian Greek state in the north-eastern part of modern Turkey from 1917 to 1922. The Republic of Pontus was never officially proclaimed, but a central government of an embryonic state existed, though not occupying all the claimed areas...
, led by Chrysanthus
Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens
Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens , born Charilaos Filippidis , was the Archbishop of Athens and all Greece between 1938 and 1941He was born in 1881 in Gratini, Thrace, then part of the Ottoman Empire...
, Metropolitan of Trebizond. In 1917 Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and the Entente
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente was the name given to the alliance among Britain, France and Russia after the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente in 1907....
powers considered the creation of a Hellenic
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
autonomous state in Pontus, most likely as part of a Ponto-Armenian Federation. In 1919 on the fringes of the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
Chrysanthos proposed the establishment of a fully independent Republic of Pontus, but neither Greece nor the other delegations supported it.
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
Armenian Genocide
The Armenian Genocide—also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime—refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I...
, 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, when the population exchange between Greece and Turkey
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
was agreed under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
. 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).
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
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
and Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
. Pontian Greeks inside the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
were predominantly settled in the regions bordering the Georgian SSR and Armenian SSR
Armenian SSR
The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic The Armenian Soviet...
. They also had notable presence in Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
ports like Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
and Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
. 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
Like ArmeniansArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, Assyrians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
and other Ottoman Greeks, the Greeks of Trebizond and the shortlived Russian Caucasus province of Kars (which in 1916 fell back under Ottoman control) suffered widespread massacre and what is now usually termed ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
at the beginning of the 20th century, first by the Young Turks
Young Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
and later by Kemalist forces. In both cases, the pretext was again that the Pontic Greeks and Armenians had collaborated or faught 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 through Turkey's mountainous terrain, forced labour in the infamous "Amele Taburu" in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and slaughter by the irregular bands of Topal Osman
Topal Osman
Topal Osman Agha was a Turkish militia leader of the late Ottoman and early Republican periods. He commanded the 42nd Giresun Volunteer Regiment and 47th Giresun Volunteer Regiment...
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
Population exchange between Greece and Turkey
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
defined by the Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
. In his book Black Sea, author Neal Ascherson
Neal Ascherson
Charles Neal Ascherson is a Scottish journalist and writer.- Background :He was born in Edinburgh and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history. He was described by the historian Eric Hobsbawm as "perhaps the most brilliant student I ever had...
writes:
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
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
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:
Settlements
- In CrimeaCrimeaCrimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
and the northern Azov Sea:
- Chersonesos, KerkinitidaEupatoriaYevpatoria or Eupatoria is a city in Crimea, Ukraine.-History:The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis , was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC...
, PanticapaeumPanticapaeumPanticapaeum , present-day Kerch: an important city and port in Taurica , situated on a hill Panticapaeum (Greek: Παντικάπαιον, Pantikápaion), present-day Kerch: an important city and port in Taurica (Tauric Chersonese), situated on a hill Panticapaeum (Greek: Παντικάπαιον, Pantikápaion),...
, SoughdaiaSudakSudak or Sudaq is a small historic town located in Crimea, Ukraine situated to the west of Feodosiya and to the east of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea...
, TanaisTanaisTanais is the ancient name for the River Don in Russia. Strabo regarded it as the boundary between Europe and Asia.In antiquity, Tanais was also the name of a city in the Don river delta that reaches into the northeasternmost part of the Sea of Azov, which the Greeks called Lake Maeotis...
, Theodosia.- On the Taman peninsulaTaman peninsulaThe Taman Peninsula is a peninsula in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia. It is bounded on the north by the Sea of Azov, on the west by the Strait of Kerch and on the south by the Black Sea. The peninsula has evolved over the past two millennia from a chain of islands into the peninsula it is...
, Krasnodar KraiKrasnodar Krai-External links:* **...
and the ColchianColchisIn ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...
coast:
- On the Taman peninsula
- BatisBatumiBatumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia. Sometimes considered Georgia's second capital, with a population of 121,806 , Batumi serves as an important port and a commercial center. It is situated in a subtropical zone, rich in...
, Dioscurias, Germonassa, GorgippaAnapaAnapa is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. It was originally a seaport for the Natkhuay tribe of the Adyghe people. Population: The town boasts a number of sanatoria and hotels...
, Heraclea PonticaHeraclea PonticaHeraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...
, Phanagoria, PhasisPotiPoti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also...
, PitsundaPitsundaPitsunda is a resort town in Gagra district of Abkhazia.The town was founded by the Greeks in the 5th century BC as a trade colony Pityus or Pitiunt. Excavations guided by Andria Apakidze unearthed remains of three 4th-century churches and a bath with superb mosaic floors...
, SebastopolisSukhumiSukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
.- In "PontusPontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
":
- In "Pontus
- Amasia (Amasya)Amasya- History :Its location in this steep valley makes the city a mountain stronghold, easy to defend, and thus Amasya has had a long and prominent history.-Antiquity:...
, Meletios, Aphene, Kerasounta (Giresun)GiresunGiresun is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon.-Etymology:...
, Kissa, Kromna, Amisos (Samsun)SamsunSamsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...
, SinopSinop, TurkeySinop is a city with a population of 36,734 on İnce Burun , by its Cape Sinop which is situated on the most northern edge of the Turkish side of Black Sea coast, in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, in modern-day northern Turkey, historically known as Sinope...
e, Themiscyra (Terme)TermeTerme is a district of Samsun Province of Turkey. The mayor is Ahmet Hamdi Yirmibeşoğlu ....
, Trapezounta (Trabzon), BafraBafraBafra is a district in the Samsun Province of Turkey.-History:As a settlement, Bafra dates back to the fifth millennium BC. Remnants in the İkiztepe area revealed signs of habitation during the chalcolithic period . These habitations apparently continued uninterrupted until 1700 BC...
, Argyroupolis (Gümüşhane)Gümüshane-Features:Gümüşhane has a rich historical background so there are many historical places, mosques, churches, castles. Ancient city of Satala in the modern village of Sadak was the most important military camp of the ancient Roman Empire in the east. This place was ruled by the Hittites, Assyrians,...
, Xeroiana (Şiran)SiranŞiran, also Karaca, is a town and district of Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is one of the points of passage between Eastern Anatolia and Black Sea regions of Turkey, in the sense that the western road departing from Erzincan towards the Zigana Pass has its last urban...
, Ofis (Of)Of, TurkeyOf is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located in the eastern part of Trabzon and is an important historical district of the province. The mayor is Oktay Saral .-Name:...
, Santa (Dumanlı)DumanliDumanlı is a mid-size town in the border of Trabzon and Gümüşhane in Pontos.It consist of seven villages:* Piştofandon: 400 houses, St. Kyriake, St. Panteleimon, St. Christophoros churches, a primary school and fountain of Christoforos. Etymology pishtof "gun" + anton toponomical suffix in Greek*...
, TonyaTonyaTonya is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The mayor is Ahmet Kurt .-External links:* *...
, Matsouka (Maçka)MaçkaMaçka is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The mayor is Ertuğrul Genç .-External links:* *...
, Galiana (Konaklar), Sourmena (Sürmene)SürmeneSürmene is a town and a district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. In ancient times it was also known as Hyssus or Hyssos and Issiporto. The mayor is Fikri Usta ....
, Imera (Olucak), Rizounta (Rize)RizeRize is the capital of Rize Province, in northeast Turkey, on the Black Sea coast.-Etymology:The name comes from Greek or Ριζαίον , meaning "mountain slopes". In modern times, its name in Greek was usually Ριζούντα . Its Latin forms are Rhizus and Rhizaeum...
, Mouzena, Kotoiora (Ordu)OrduOrdu 'army') is a port city on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, and the capital of Ordu Province. Estimated population c. 2010: 141,341.-Etymology:...
, Livera, PlatanaAkçaabatAkçaabat is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the east of the city of Trabzon. It covers an area of 385 km² and the elevation is 10 m. The town has an estimated population of 48,315...
, Kel KitKelkitKelkit is a town and district of Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. According to the 2010 census, population of the district is 39,547 of which 13,784 live in the town of Kelkit. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an elevation of .Kelkit is one of the cities of...
, NikopolisSebinkarahisarŞebinkarahisar is a town and a district of Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of eastern Turkey.-Name:The 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius writes that the Roman general Pompey captured the then ancient fortress and renamed it Colonia, in Greek Koloneia...
, Kakatsis, MerzifountaMerzifonMerzifon is a town and district in Amasya Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey. It covers an area of 970 km², and the population is 69,237 of which 52,947 live in the town of Merzifon, the remainder spread throughout the surrounding countryside...
, TokatTokatTokat is the capital city of Tokat Province of Turkey, at the mid Black Sea region of Anatolia. According to the 2009 census, the city of Tokat has a population of 129,879.-History:Tokat was established in the Hittite era....
, Oinoe (Ünye)ÜnyeÜnye is a large town and district of Ordu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 76 km west of the city of Ordu. In 2009 it had 74,806 inhabitants.-Geography:Ünye has a little port, in a bay on one of the flatter areas of the Black Sea coast...
, Neokaisareia (Niksar)NiksarNiksar is a city in Tokat Province, Turkey. It has been settled by many empires over the centuries, and it was once the capital city of the province.At 350 m...
, FatsaFatsaFatsa is a town and a large district of Ordu Province in the central Black Sea region of Turkey.-Etymology:The name Fatsa derives from Fanizan daughter of King Pharnaces II of Pontus and has since mutated through Fanise, Phadsane, Pytane, Facha and today's Fatsa. In the Ottoman Empire records the...
, Tripolis (Tirebolu)Tirebolu-Geography:Tirebolu itself is a small town of 14,303 people located on the hill named Ayana which rises from the Black Sea shore just to the west of the Harşit River estuary...
, Thermi (Terme)TermeTerme is a district of Samsun Province of Turkey. The mayor is Ahmet Hamdi Yirmibeşoğlu ....
, GümüşhacıköyGümüshaciköyGümüşhacıköy is located in the westernmost district of Amasya Province of Turkey, 20 km from the larger town of Merzifon. It covers an area of 653 km², and the population is 24,806 of which 14,525 live in the town of Gümüşhacıköy, with the remainder spread throughout the surrounding...
, KomanaKomanaKomana is a village in North-West District of Botswana. It is located close to the Okavango Delta and Lake Ngami. The population was 186 in 2001 census....
, HopaHopaHopa is a city and district of Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia.-Geography:...
, Athina (Pazar)PazarPazar is a town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 37 km east of the city of Rize.-Etymology:The town was formerly named Atina and was renamed Pazar 'market' in 1928.-Geography:...
, KoloneiaKoyulhisarKoyulhisar is a town and a district of Sivas Province of Turkey. The mayor is İlhan Eren .The ancient city of Nicopolis stood at this place....
, Gemoura (Yomra)YomraYomra is a town and district of Trabzon Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The mayor is İbrahim Sağıroğlu .Related Places:ZingilaVarvara, harmanlı köyüÇukurköy-External links:* *...
, AkdağmadeniAkdagmadeniAkdağmadeni is a town and district of Yozgat Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 61,373 of which 20,312 live in the town of Akdağmadeni.-External links:* * * * * * * * *...
.- Outside PontusPontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
:
- Outside Pontus
- Kars OblastKars OblastKars Oblast was one of Transcaucasian governorates of Russian Empire between 1878 and 1917. Its capital was in the city of Kars, presently in the Republic of Turkey. The governorate bordered with the Ottoman Empire, Batum Oblast, Tiflis Governorate, Erivan Governorate, and from 1883 to 1903 with...
, BalyaBalyaBalya is a town and district of Balıkesir Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The mayor is Dündar Cengiz . It is located on the ancient greek city Pericharaxis....
, Sevasteia (Sivas), ÇorumÇorumÇorum is a landlocked northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from Ankara and from Istanbul...
, BayburtBayburtBayburt is a city in northeast Turkey lying on the Çoruh River, and is the provincial capital of Turkey's Bayburt Province.Bayburt was once an important center on the ancient Silk Road and it was visited by Marco Polo and Turkish excursionist Evliya Celebi. Remains of its Byzantine castle still...
, AdapazarıAdapazariAdapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...
.- On the southwestern coast of Ukraine and the Eastern BalkansBalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
:
- On the southwestern coast of Ukraine and the Eastern Balkans
- MariupolMariupolMariupol , formerly known as Zhdanov , is a port city in southeastern Ukraine. It is located on the coast of the Azov Sea, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Mariupol is the largest city in Priazovye - a geographical region around Azov Sea, divided by Russia and Ukraine - and is also a popular sea...
, Antiphilos, ApolloniaSozopolSozopol is an ancient seaside town located 35 km south of Burgas on the southern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. Today it is one of the major seaside resorts in the country, known for the Apollonia art and film festival that is named after one of the town's ancient names.The busiest times of the year...
, Germonakris, MesembriaNesebarNesebar is an ancient town and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Nesebar Municipality...
, Nikonis, OdessosVarnaVarna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...
, OlbiaOlbiaOlbia is a town and comune of 56,231 inhabitants in northeastern Sardinia , in the Gallura sub-region. Called Olbia in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle Ages and Terranova Pausania before the 1940s, Olbia was again the official name of the town after the period of Fascism.-Geography:It is the...
, TiraTiraTira , "The Fort" is an Arab city in the Center District of Israel in Israel. At the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 22,600. It is part of the triangle....
.
Culture
Trabzon
Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...
, Samsun
Samsun
Samsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...
da, Kerasounda and Sinopi upper level education and arts flourished under the protection of a cosmopolitan middle class. In the inland cities such as Argyroupolis
Gümüshane
-Features:Gümüşhane has a rich historical background so there are many historical places, mosques, churches, castles. Ancient city of Satala in the modern village of Sadak was the most important military camp of the ancient Roman Empire in the east. This place was ruled by the Hittites, Assyrians,...
, 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
Pontic's linguistic lineage stems from Ionic GreekIonic Greek
Ionic Greek was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek .-History:Ionic dialect appears to have spread originally from the Greek mainland across the Aegean at the time of the Dorian invasions, around the 11th Century B.C.By the end of the Greek Dark Ages in the 5th Century...
via Koine
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
and Byzantine Greek with many archaisms and contains loanwords from Turkish and to a lesser extent, Persian and various Caucasian languages.
Education
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 TrapezousPhrontisterion of Trapezous
The Phrontisterion of Trapezous was a Greek educational institution that operated from 1682/3 to 1921 in Trabzon , in the Ottoman Empire, now Turkey. It provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the Pontus region, on the south coast of the Black Sea...
that operated from 1682/3 to 1921 and provided a major impetus for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the region. The building of this institution still remains the most impressive Pontic Greek monument in the city.
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
Hagia Sophia, Trabzon
The church of Hagia Sophia , now the Hagia Sophia Museum, is a former Chalcedonian church located in the city of Trabzon in the north-eastern part of Turkey. It dates back to the 13th century when Trabzon was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond. It is located near the seashore and 2 miles west...
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
Sumela Monastery
The Sümela Monastery , , i.e. monastery of the Panaghia at Melá mountain) is a Greek Orthodox monastery, standing at the foot of a steep cliff facing the Altındere valley, in the region of Maçka in Trabzon Province, modern Turkey...
.
Music
Pontian music retains elements of the musical traditions of Ancient GreeceMusic of Ancient Greece
The music of ancient Greece was almost universally present in society, from marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies, theatre, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks...
, Byzantium
Byzantine music
Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire composed to Greek texts as ceremonial, festival, or church music. Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the ancient Greek system...
, and the Caucasus (especially from the region of Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
). Possibly there is an underlying influence from the native peoples who lived in the area before the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
as well, but this is not clearly established.
Musical styles, like language patterns and other cultural traits, were influenced by the topography of Pontos
Pontós
Pontós is a municipality in the comarca of Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalonia, Spain....
. 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
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
. 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
Acritic songs
The Acritic songs are the heroic or epic poetry that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably in the 9th century. The songs celebrated the exploits of the Akrites, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire. The historical background was the almost...
, 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
Akrites
Akrites is a former municipality in Kastoria peripheral unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nestorio, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 1,109 . The seat of the municipality is in Dipotamia....
, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire.
Lyra
Lyra is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Its principal star, Vega — a corner of the Summer Triangle — is one of the brightest...
, which has origins in Byzantine times and it is related closely with the Byzantine lyra
Byzantine lyra
The Byzantine lyra or lira , was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping...
and other bowed musical instruments of the medieval West, like the Kit violin
Kit violin
The kit violin, dancing master's kit, or kit , is a stringed musical instrument. It is essentially a very small violin, designed to fit in a pocket — hence its other common name, the pochette...
and Rebec
Rebec
The rebecha is a bowed string musical instrument. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and 1-5 strings and is played on the arm or under the chin, like a violin.- Origins :The rebec dates back to the Middle Ages and was particularly popular in the 15th and 16th centuries...
. Also important are other instruments such as the Angion
Dankiyo
Dankiyo , is an ancient word from the text of Evliya Çelebi Dankiyo (from ancient Greek: angion (Τὸ ἀγγεῖον)), is an ancient word from the text of Evliya Çelebi Dankiyo (from ancient Greek: angion (Τὸ ἀγγεῖον)), is an ancient word from the text of Evliya Çelebi (17th century, Ottoman Era "The Laz's...
or Tulum
Tulum (bagpipe)
The tulum is a musical instrument, a form of bagpipe from Turkey. It is droneless with two parallel chanters, usually played by the Laz, Hamsheni people, and Pontic Greeks...
(a type of Bagpipe), the davul
Davul
The davul or tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. It has many names depending on the country and region.-Names:Some names of davuls include:*tupan *davul...
, a type of drum, the Shiliavrin
Aulos
An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos...
, and the Kaval or Ghaval (a flute-like pipe).
The zurna
Zurna
The zurna , is a multinational outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”...
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
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
), Outi and in the region of Kars, the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
.
Dance
Pontian dance retains aspects of PersianCulture of Iran
To best understand Iran, Afghanistan, their related societies and their people, one must first attempt to acquire an understanding of their culture. It is in the study of this area where the Persian identity optimally expresses itself...
and Greek dance styles. The dances called Horoi , singular Horos
Horos
Horos, khoros, choros means "dance" in Greek language. This word occurs in the names of numerous Greek dances, which may be literally translated as "dance of..." or "dance from..."...
, 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 , 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
TiK
TiK is an open source instant messaging client for the AOL Instant Messenger system, which uses AOL's TOC protocol. It is a GUI client which is written in the Tcl/Tk programming language...
, Serra
Serra (dance)
Serra, was a Pontic Greek dance named after the region of Pontos. It is a war-like dance for men, intended to produce a fervent state prior to battle....
, Maheria or Pyrecheios
Pyrecheios
The Pyrrhichios dance is described by Xenophon in his work the Anabasis. In that work he describes that at a festival was held in Trapezus to celebrate the arrival of his troops in the city...
, Kotsari
Kotsari
Kochari , is an old folk dance, danced today by Pontic Greeks, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Assyrians, Turks and Kurds.Kochari is closely related to the "Haleh" or "Yalli", a dance common to Azerbaijanis, Assyrians, and Kurds....
and Omal
Omal
The Omal was one of the first dances to be developed from the region of Pontos. It is a relaxed dance and is danced for long periods of time, usually preluding the tik dance. There are many different melodies for different songs; one of the most famous songs is "Serranda Mila Kokkina"...
.
In popular culture
- In the 1984 movie Voyage to CytheraVoyage to CytheraVoyage to Cythera is a 1984 Greek film directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos. It was entered into the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize and the award for Best Screenplay.-Cast:* Manos Katrakis as Spyros* Mairi Hronopoulou as Voula...
(Ταξίδι στα Κύθηρα), directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos, the protagonist is Pontian Greek ,who was deported to Soviet Union after the Greek civil warGreek Civil WarThe Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
and he returns to Greece after 32 years.
- In his 1998 movie From the Edge of the CityFrom the Edge of the CityFrom the Edge of the City is a 1998 Greek film directed by Constantinos Giannaris. It was Greece's official Best Foreign Language Film submission at the 72nd Academy Awards, but did not manage to receive a nomination....
(Από την άκρη της πόλης), the film director Constantinos Giannaris, describes the life of a young "Russian Pontian" from Kazakhstan in the Athens' prostitution underworld.
- In the 1999 movie Soil and Water (Χώμα και νερό), on of the characters, is a Pontian Greek from Georgia, who work as a woman's trafficker for one strip club.
- In the 2000 movie The Very Poor, Inc. (Πάμπτωχοι Α.Ε.), one of the characters is a Pontian Greek from Soviet Union with the name Thymios Hloridis who is a mathematician with a speciality in the Chaos theoryChaos theoryChaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
and he forced to sell illegal cigarCigarA cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
s in front of the stock-market.
- In the 2003 Turkish movie Waiting for the CloudsWaiting for the cloudsWaiting for the Clouds is a film from 2003, Turkey. The film was directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu.It is based on a novel by Georgios Andreadis titled Tamama. The film was produced by Setarh Farsi, Helge Albers and Behrooz Hashemian...
(Bulutlari Beklerken, Περιμένοντας τα σύννεφα), one Pontian Greek woman, who didn't leave ,as a child, with her brother to Greece after the first world warWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Population transferPopulation transferPopulation transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
, meet Thanasis a Pontian Greek man from 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 PontosPontos (2008 film)Pontos is a 2008 dramatic short film concerning the Greek genocide. The film's duration is a little over 10 minutes and was filmed entirely in Australia. Written, produced and directed by Peter Stefanidis, Pontos aims to capture a small part of the genocide from the perspective of its two central...
, written, produced and directed by Peter Stefanidis, 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
- DiogenesDiogenes of SinopeDiogenes the Cynic was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy. Also known as Diogenes of Sinope , he was born in Sinope , an Ionian colony on the Black Sea , in 412 or 404 BCE and died at Corinth in 323 BCE.Diogenes of Sinope was a controversial figure...
- Evagrius PonticusEvagrius PonticusEvagrius Ponticus , also called Evagrius the Solitary was a Christian monk and ascetic. One of the rising stars in the late fourth century church, he was well-known as a keen thinker, a polished speaker, and a gifted writer...
- Heraclides PonticusHeraclides PonticusHeraclides Ponticus , also known as Herakleides and Heraklides of Pontus, was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who lived and died at Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey. He is best remembered for proposing that the earth rotates on its axis, from west to east, once every 24 hours...
- StraboStraboStrabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...
- Mithridates the VI of Pontus
- Marcion of SinopeMarcion of SinopeMarcion of Sinope was a bishop in early Christianity. His theology, which rejected the deity described in the Jewish Scriptures as inferior or subjugated to the God proclaimed in the Christian gospel, was denounced by the Church Fathers and he was excommunicated...
- Aquila of SinopeAquila of SinopeAquila of Sinope was a 2nd Century CE native of Pontus in Anatolia known for producing an exceedingly literal translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek around 130 CE. He was a proselyte to Judaism and a disciple of Rabbi Akiba...
- Alexios I KomnenosAlexios I KomnenosAlexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
- Ecumenical Patriarch John VIII
- Ecumenical Patriarch Maximus VPatriarch Maximus V of ConstantinopleMaximus V Vaportzis was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1946 till 1948.He was born in Sinop. He was first educated, under the Metropolitan of Amaseia Germanos Karavaggelis's protection, at the Theological School of Halki. In 1918 he was ordained a Deacon.With this appointment he also...
- Michael PanaretosMichael PanaretosMichael Panaretos wrote a chronicle of the Trapezuntine empire of Alexios I Komnenos and his successors from 1204 to 1426. Panaretos was a protosebastos and protonotarios in the service of Alexios III Komnenos...
- George AmiroutzesGeorge AmiroutzesGeorge Amiroutzes was a Pontic Greek Renaissance scholar and philosopher.He was born in Trebizond, lived and taught in Italy and eventually died in Constantinople. He is considered as a controversial figure of the late Byzantine era...
- Gregory ChoniadesGregory ChoniadesGregory Choniades was a Byzantine Greek astronomer. He travelled to Persia where he learnt Persian mathematical and astronomical science which he introduced into Byzantium upon return from Persia and founded an astronomical academy at Trebizond...
- George of TrebizondGeorge of TrebizondGeorge of Trebizond was a Greek philosopher and scholar, one of the pioneers of the Renaissance.-Life:He was born on the island of Crete, and derived his surname Trapezuntius from the fact that his ancestors were from Trebizond.At what period he came to Italy is not certain; according to some...
- Basilios Bessarion
- Arkhip KuindzhiArkhip KuindzhiArkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi was a Russian landscape painter.Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in January 1841 in Mariupol , but he spent his youth in the city of Taganrog. He grew up in a poor family, and his father was a Greek shoemaker Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi...
- Alexander Ypsilantis
- Ioannis Passalidis
- Lefteris HapsiadisLefteris HapsiadisLefteris Hapsiadis is a distinguished contemporary Greek lyrics author, a poet and a writer of novels. In the last thirty years he has written various poems, three novels and also lyrics for 525 songs in the contemporary Greek rebetika, laïka and elafra genres...
- George Gurdjieff
- Euklidis KourtidisEuklidis KourtidisEfkleidis Kourtidis , was a Greek revolutionary leader of Pontos.Kourtidis was the head of Greek guerrilla forces based in the town of Santa , Pontus that resisted Turkish bands. During the Pontic Greek Genocide he rescued a large number of women and children from the advancing armies of Kemal...
- Dimitris PsathasDimitris PsathasDimitris Psathas was a famous modern Greek satirist and playwright. He was born in Trabzon of Pontos in 1907 and died in Athens in 1979.He went to Athens in 1923 and finished his studies whereby he devoted himself to both journalism and the theatre. In 1937, he published his first book Justice is...
- Dimitrios PartsalidisDimitrios PartsalidisDimitrios "Mitsos" Partsalidis was a Greek communist politician.- Biography :He was a Pontic Greek born in Trabzon, Trabzon Province...
- Pamphylia TanailidiPamphylia TanailidiPamphylia Tanailidi, often spelled as Panfilia Tanailidi was an Azerbaijani actress of Pontic Greek origin.-Life and career:...
- Odysseas DimitriadisOdysseas DimitriadisOdysseas Dimitriadis was a Greek and at the same time Soviet classical music conductor. During his 70 year career, Odysseas had conducted a number of the world's leading orchestras, as well as being a main conductor of Georgia, USSR state orchestra and the Bolshoy Theatre orchestra...
- Periklis HristoforidisPeriklis HristoforidisPeriklis Hristoforidis was a Turkish-born Greek film actor. He appeared in 122 films between 1929 and 1979.He was born in Trabzon, Turkey, and died in Thessaloniki, Greece.-Selected filmography:* Madame X...
- A.I. Bezzerides
- Viktor SarianidiViktor SarianidiViktor Ivanovich Sarianidi or Victor Sarigiannides is a well-known Soviet archaeologist of Pontic Greek descent. He discovered the remains of a Bronze Age culture in the Karakum Desert in 1976...
- Stelios KazantzidisStelios KazantzidisStylianos Kazantzidis was a prominent Greek singer. A leading singer of Greek popular music, or Laïkó, he collaborated with many of Greece's foremost composers.-Biography :...
- Sevastos KyminitisSevastos KyminitisSevastos Kiminitis or Sebastos Kyminites was a Pontic Greek scholar who was born in a village close to Τrebizond, Pontus in 1630. He was principal of the Patriarchal Academy in Constantinople in the years 1671-1682. He left Constantinople in 1682 and moved to Τrebizond where he founded a Greek...
- Takis LoukanidisTakis LoukanidisTakis Loukanidis is a retired Greek footballer.He was born in Paranesti, a village in the broader area of Drama in 1937, he played with AEK-Komotini and Doxa-Drama. He was claimed by all Greek football teams, by some Italian teams, by Fenerbahçe and also by some Cypriot teams. Finally, Antonis...
- Kostas NestoridisKostas NestoridisKostas Nestoridis , is a Greek former footballer. He debuted for the Greek National Football Team in 1951 and won 17 caps for his country, scoring 3 goals. Born in Athens of Pontian Greek heritage in 1930, his football career started at Panionios where he played until 1955...
- Fyodor YurchikhinFyodor YurchikhinFyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin , is a Russian cosmonaut and RSC Energia test-pilot who has flown on three spaceflights. His first spaceflight was a 10-day Space Shuttle mission STS-112. His second was a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station as a Flight Engineer for Expedition...
- Apostolos NikolaidisApostolos Nikolaidis (singer)Apostolos Nikolaidis was a Greek singer whose career spanned four decades. He was born in Drama, Greece and grew up in Thessaloniki...
- Mimis PapaioannouMimis PapaioannouDimitris "Mimis" Papaioannou was one of the star football players of AEK Athens FC. He was born in 1942 and began his career at Nea Genea in the town of Nea Nikomedia , Imathia Prefecture. He joined AEK in time for the 1963 season for the paltry sum of 140,000 drachmas...
- Antonis AntoniadisAntonis AntoniadisAntonis Antoniadis is one of the great goal scorers of Greek and European football in the post-war era, scoring about 187 goals in a career which spanned 22 years. He started his career playing for Xanthi before moving on to Panathinaikos...
- Nikos XanthopoulosNikos XanthopoulosNikos Xanthopoulos is a Greek actor, known for his roles in the sixties era Greek Drama Cinema. He was also a singer of Greek folk bouzouki, having released many albums and singles. He is known as "the child of the folk" mainly for his appeal in the lower working classes...
- Ivan SavvidiIvan SavvidiIvan Ignatyevich Savvidi, , is a Russian businessman and politician of Greek Pontian descent.- Professional biography :...
- Dimitris Melissanidis
- Vasilis N. TriantafillidisVasilis N. TriantafillidisVasilis N. Triantafillidis , also known by his artistic nickname Harry Klynn , is a Greek comedian.-External links:** by IMDB...
- Lefteris PantazisLefteris PantazisLefteris Pantazis who is often called by the nickname LEPA by the media and his fans, is a famous Greek singer. He was born Eleftherios Pagkozidis on 27 March 1955 to Pontic Greek parents in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in the USSR...
- Savvas KofidisSavvas KofidisSavvas Kofidis is a Greek football coach and former midfielder player.-Career:He started his career in Iraklis, debuting in 18 January 1981 when Iraklis was participating in the Beta Ethniki. In Iraklis's team he played seven seasons before heading to Olympiacos...
- Theodoros PapaloukasTheodoros PapaloukasTheódoros "Teó" Papaloukás is a Greek professional basketball player. He currently plays as a point guard for the Israeli League, Adriatic League and Euroleague club Maccabi Tel Aviv....
- Lazaros PapadopoulosLazaros PapadopoulosLazaros Papadopoulos , is a Greek professional basketball player. He is 7 ft 280 lbs. and he plays at the center position.-Personal:...
- Antonios NikopolidisAntonios NikopolidisAntonios Nikopolidis , is a former Greek football player, that played as goalkeeper. He's regarded as the best Greek goalkeeper of all time having been awarded the most caps in the national team and playing an integral part in the UEFA Euro 2004 triumph....
- Demis NikolaidisDemis NikolaidisThemistoklis "Demis" Nikolaidis was the forty second president of AEK Athens F.C., and is considered one of the finest footballers Greece has ever produced. In his early childhood and teenage years he lived in the city of Alexandroupoli, in the north-east part of Greece...
- Mike ZambidisMike Zambidis"Iron" Mike Zambidis is a professional Greek kickboxer and martial artist. He is a 15 time World Champion, and is the current W.I.P.U...
- Stan LonginidisStan LonginidisStan "The Man" Longinidis is a retired Australian Heavyweight kickboxer and 8 time Kickboxing World Champion. Born in Australia of Greek ethnicity, Longinidis is one of the few fighters to have won World titles in three different styles, International Rules Kickboxing, Full Contact and Muay Thai,...
- Michael KatsidisMichael KatsidisMichael Alan Katsidis is an Australian professional boxer of Greek descent. He is a former two-time WBO interim lightweight titleholder whose crowd-pleasing, all-action fighting style has often drawn comparisons with the late Arturo Gatti.-Amateur career:In an amateur career which began at the...
- Matthaios TsahouridisMatthaios TsahouridisMatthaios Tsahouridis is a Greek musician who plays a range of stringed musical instruments. He was born in Veria, Greece, and at the age of 9 made his mark as a perceptive performer and a sensitive interpreter of music. The Pontic lyra is the instrument which expresses his deep felt devotion and...
- Ioannis MelissanidisIoannis MelissanidisIoannis Melissanidis is a retired Greek artistic gymnast and the 1996 Olympic champion on the floor exercise...
- Dimitris DiamantidisDimitris DiamantidisDimitris Diamantidis is a Greek professional basketball player. Standing at 1.98 m , Diamantidis mainly plays at the point guard position, but he also has the ability to play as a shooting guard, as well as to assume the small forward position, being utilized as a point forward...
- Peter AndrikidisPeter AndrikidisPeter Andrikidis is an Australian television director and producer.Peter Andrikidis graduated from the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Film Direction in 1981 and was immediately recruited to Crawford Productions where he worked on The Flying Doctors.He moved to the ABC, where he...
- Alex DimitriadesAlex DimitriadesAlex Dimitriades is a Greek Australian film and television actor.-Early life:Dimitriades was born in Sydney, the son of first generation Greek immigrants and is the youngest of three siblings . He grew up in the suburb of Earlwood...
- Alexandros NikolaidisAlexandros NikolaidisAlexandros Nikolaidis is an Olympic taekwondo athlete from Greece. Initially the favorite, he eventually won the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics held in Athens after losing from his opponent and eventual gold medalist, Moon Dae-Sung of South Korea.On March 24, 2008 Alexandros Nikolaidis had the...
- Voula PatoulidouVoula PatoulidouParaskevi Patoulidou was born in Tripotamo . A prolific athlete, Patoulidou throughout her athletics career competed in the 100 metres, 100 metres hurdles and in the long jump events. Patoulidou became a Greek sporting legend in 1992, when she was the surprise winner of the Women's 100 m hurdles...
- Nikolaos SiranidisNikolaos SiranidisNikolaos Siranidis is a Greek diver who competed in the synchronised 3 metre springboard competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics. After a bizarre event where the Chinese, Russian and American teams failed, Siranidis won the gold medal together with Thomas Bimis...
- Achilleys Kaloeridis
- Dimitrios Kaloeridis
- Eleytheridis Haris
See also
- UrumsUrumsUrums, singular Urum is a broad historical term that was used by some Turkic-speaking peoples to define Greeks who lived in Muslim states, particularly in the Ottoman Empire and Crimea...
- HamshenisHamshenisThe Hemshin Peoples or Hemshinli are a diverse group of people who in the past history or present have been affiliated with the Hemşin district in the province of Rize, Turkey. They are called as Hemshinli , Hamshenis, Homshentsi meaning resident of Hemshin in the relevant language...
- Greek genocide
- Greek MuslimsGreek MuslimsGreek Muslims, also known as Greek-speaking Muslims, are Muslims of Greek ethnic origin, nowadays found mainly in Turkey, although migrations to Lebanon and Syria have been reported. Historically, Greek Orthodoxy has been associated with being Romios, i.e...
- Chepni
Mike Lazaridis
External links
- 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