Introduction

The emergence of the polis system in Greece coincided with the beginning of an extraordinary emigration of Greeks from the Aegean homeland. This emigration began about the middle of the eighth century and continued for over two centuries. When it ended around 500, the Greek world extended from eastern Spain in the west to Colchis in the east. The primary causes of this remarkable expansion were twofold: the search for sources of metal to satisfy the Greeks’ growing need and the hope of acquiring the land required to live the life of a citizen in the new poleis, as opportunities for land at home dwindled.

The Black Sea was the last major area colonized by the Greeks. Attracted first by the rich fishing and agricultural potential of the Hellespont and the Pontos and then by its remoteness, which offered refuge from Lydian and Persian pressure, various Ionian and Aeolian states founded colonies in the area. The most active of these was Miletos, credited by the ancient sources with seventy colonies, though the actual number was probably much smaller. Among Miletos’ numerous colonies were such important cities as Kyzikos (675) near the entrance of the Hellespont, Sinope (c. 631) on the north coast of Anatolia, Olbia (c. 550) at the mouth of the Bug River in southwestern Ukraine, and Pantikapaion (c. 600) in the Crimea. Megara also colonized in this area, occupying the important sites of Byzantion and Chalkedon on both sides of the Bosporos as well as founding the city of Herakleia Pontike (560) in northwest Anatolia near one of the reputed entrances to Hades.

Because they had no rivals in this area, the Greeks were able to establish new colonies throughout the Archaic and Classical periods until the Black Sea was almost entirely ringed by prosperous Greek cities equipped with fine public buildings and temples and linked by steadily growing ties of trade. The Black Sea seemed to be on the verge of becoming a Greek lake like the Aegean. Instead, the fifth century opened with unprecedented threats to the survival of the Greek cities of the region that resulted in fundamental changes in their organization and relations to each other and the world around them. Reconstruction of the history of these developments is difficult, not least because of the lack of sources that plagues the historian of Greek colonies everywhere.