Ancient Greek Colonies in Ukraine
—Jason
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The Ancient Greeks were famous for their adventuring spirit in colonizing. Most commonly, people learn about this in the context of southern Italy, Sicily, southern France, and Spain in their advance westward. The Greek Ionian city-states, located along the western and southern coast of modern Turkey, were instrumental in drawing the ancient Persians and Greeks into multiple wars. Another major center of Greek colonization was around the shores of the Black Sea, especially along its north: Ukraine and Crimea. These ancient Greek colonies continue to leave cultural and historical links that many in the West have rarely heard about.
The homeland of ancient Greeks consisted of mainland Greece, the islands of the Aegean Sea, and Crete. Greece itself is a very mountainous region that was not as agriculturally bountiful as places such as Egypt or Mesopotamia. The vast range of mountains made it incredibly difficult for one city to control its neighbors. The rough terrain ensured that city-states developed independently, sometimes opposing and, at other times allying, with one another. Despite their separation, the ancient Greeks shared a common culture, language, and religion which gave them a common identity despite their individual governments.
Because their available agricultural resources were limited, the Greeks would establish new colonies in the areas surrounding them. Once the population hit a certain point where the food supply at home was tight, a city-state would send its surplus citizens, some supplies, and weapons to be the first round of settlers further from home. In theory, though these colonies were self-sufficient, they were intrinsically tied to support their mother city-states. And, if there arose an issue that threatened a colony, it could send an appeal to its older sibling for aid in the form of money, mercenaries, or weapons.
This multi-generational colonial expansion was called Magna Grecia, or Greater Greece. The raw materials and finished goods each city-state gathered would be traded throughout not only the Greek world, but also the larger surrounding communities. Greek culture, language, and religion penetrated the regions where the colonists interacted, much of the ancient Roman pantheon for example was very loosely renamed grouping of Greek gods and goddesses. While the western and eastern Mediterranean Sea coastlines filled up with new cities, another area was also being heavily colonized: the Black Sea. The ancient Greeks were also influenced by the peoples they encountered: the mythology surrounding the Amazon warriors arrives with the colonization of Ukraine where the Scythian peoples lived. The Scythians were the ancient world’s most renowned horse culture and both men and women fought on the battlefield.
The Black Sea Basin proved to be an incredibly rich territory for the intrepid Greeks. Many older civilizations had existed in the ancient Near East that dominated the interior of the region, but the coastlines along northern Turkey and southern Ukraine, Crimea, and Bulgaria did not have major regional powers controlling them. Beginning in the seventh century BCE, Greek colonies were springing up all along the Black Sea. The incredibly fertile black soil of Ukraine and the abundance of large rivers watering the interior ensured much larger harvests than could be produced in mainland Greece. This agricultural production made the colonies in the Ukraine incredibly important in supporting the larger Greek world.
In addition to agricultural products, the colonies in Ukraine, Crimea, and northern Turkey provided another route by which trade goods from Central Asia and Far Asia could make it Greece and beyond. The Persian Empire controlled most of the land and sea trade routes making movement of luxury goods from China and India and Africa expensive. Vast trading fleets plied the Black Sea moving luxury and common goods throughout the area. Control of the Dardanelles, the waterway leading between the Mediterranean and Black Seas grew more important for the ancient Greeks.
The Persian-Greek Wars fought in the fifth century BCE ended in Greek victories. Their colonies along the Ionian Sea were granted independence from the Persian Empire. This ensured that Greek merchant ships could move materials and people between mainland Greece and their Ukrainian colonies freely. The invasion, and subsequent conquest, of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great in the fourth century cemented Greek hegemony in the Black Sea as well as the Middle East and Central Asia. Despite this successful military campaign, Alexander’s empire fell into civil war after his death. The Ukrainian Greek colonies endured until the first century BCE when they were eventually assimilated by the native cultures.
Today, many ancient Greek ruins can still be visited in various regions of Ukraine, and the larger Black Sea Basin. The sites chosen by the Greeks became the structure upon which later cultures and civilizations built. The modern Ukrainian city of Odessa was founded in the sixth century by colonists from the Greek city of Miletus. The Milesians had already founded two other successful colonies, Pontic Olbia and Panticapaeum (modern Kerch), in the region. Though many tourists when thinking of Greek sites center their trips to Athens or even Turkish ruins, there are extensive locations in southern Ukraine that boast amphitheaters, temples, and other wonderful surprises. These sites now come under threat yet again, in the face of an emerging war which could destroy the common heritage we all share.