Black Sea: Hub of Peoples and Cultures (8th Century BC–5th/6th Century AD)

Gocha Tsetskhladze (PhD Moscow, DPhil Oxford) was a classical archaeologist who specialised in ancient Greek colonisation and the archaeology of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, Caucasia, Anatolia, and Central and Eastern Europe in the 1st millennium BC. He was the author of more than 250 books, edited volumes, chapters, articles, etc.; founder and series editor of the publication series Colloquia Pontica, now Colloquia Antiqua; and founder and editor-in-chief of the journal Ancient West and East. He organised many international conferences, congresses, etc., notably the International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities which he established in 1995. He died suddenly on 11 September 2022, aged 59.James Hargrave has a PhD in Economic History from the University of Durham and a Diploma in Archive Administration from the University of Wales (Aberystwyth). He specialised for 25 years in cataloguing large collections of papers accumulated by dukes, prime ministers, businesses, etc., but his historical interests stretch from antiquity to railway finance and equipment, Central and Eastern Europe, and the British Empire-Commonwealth, including comparisons between colonisations and empires ancient and modern. The diversity of his work is such that he has appeared as three unconnected people in the same library catalogue. As the archive world moved away from serious scholarship towards unreflective technophilia, he moved into editing (encouraged by the editing meted out to one of his own catalogues, and freed from the daily grind by an inheritance). He has collaborated with one or both of the other co-editors many times. He has been involved in the Black Sea Congress since 1997.Manolis Manoledakis is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki. He has also taught at the University of Ioannina, the Democritus University of Thrace and the Hellenic Open University. He has participated in various research programmes and is the director of the International Hellenic University’s excavation in Neo Rysio, Thessaloniki. His research work concentrates on the archaeology and ancient history of the Black Sea as well as central Macedonia, ancient topography and geography, ancient Greek religion and cults, Greek mythology in its historical context, and ancient Greek painting and vase-painting.

• Editors’ PrefaceMessage from the President of the Congress, Prof. Sir John BoardmanAppreciation of Gocha Tsetskhladze – James HargraveAbout Gocha – Manolis ManoledakisLaunch of the Festschrift, 26 September 2022 – John Boardman(†), James Hargrave and Alexandru AvramList of Illustrations Session 1 Scythians, Taurians, Sarmatians, Dacians, Thracians, Colchians, the Local Populations of the Southern Black Sea, etc.The Getae and Scythians at Callatis and in its territory, 4th–2nd centuries BC – Nicolaie AlexandruThe Sarmatian Cultural Phenomenon between Migration and ‘Network Analysis’: From M.I. Rostovtzeff to recent historical debates – Victor CojocaruMultiple Aiai in Colchis. On the creation and proliferation of mythical landscapesin the eastern Black Sea region – Altay Coşkun‘Bird-bowls’ as an Indication for the Foundation Date of Some of the Earliest Greek Settlements in the Black Sea Region and the Early Trade in This Region – Jan G. de BoerThe Bithynians and the Greek Poleis of the Asian Propontis in the Archaic and Classical Ages – Ferdinando FerraioliRock Sanctuary at Komatinski Skali in the Region of Brestovo Village, South-Western Bulgaria – Anton Genov, Dimitriya Spasova and Anastas IfandievPhrygians in the Black Sea? – Manolis ManoledakisRock Arches in Thracian Megalithic Sanctuaries on the Southern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria – Vasil MarkovWhy the Sea of Azov Was Called a ‘lake’ in Antiquity. The Problem of Estuary Lakes in the Pontus Euxinus – Аlexander V. PodossinovThe Sumela Monastery Near Trabzon, an Important Pre-Christian Cult Site – Alexandar PortalskyGold Clothing Decoration of the Sarmatians in the North Pontic Area – Evgenia Velychko Session 2 Relations of Greece, Rome and Anatolia with the Local Peoples of the Black Sea: Cultural, Political, CommercialRetracing Connections Through Artefacts: a Bone Plaque with an Image of a Naked Woman from Ancient Armazi – Eka AvalianiThe Presence of Tauric Chersonesus on the Western Coast of the Pontus Euxinus – Livia Buzoianu and Irina SodoleanuArchaeological Materials from the Early Byzantine Period in Pichvnari, South-west Georgia – Tamaz DarchidzeLiteracy in Roman Iberia, South Caucasus – Irina Demetradze-RenzGreek Colonisation of Colchis (Western Georgia): The Failure of an Hellenic Experiment – Tedo Dundua and Natia PhiphiaInitiatives édilitaires à Tyras aux premier–troisième siècles ap. J.-C. La perspective épigraphique – Ana HoncuWere Thracian and Pontic Slaves Traded in the East Mediterranean in the Archaic Period? – Liviu Mihail IancuAn Alternative Route of the Silk Road Through Svaneti (West Georgia) to the Black Sea in the 6th Century AD – Besik Lortkipanidze, Nikoloz Murgulia, Davit Lomitashvili, Ian Colvin and Paul EverillPostponing the End of the Lower Danube Limes – Andrei OpaiţSome Remarks on the Financing of Agonistic Festivals in Tauric Chersonesus – Oksana A. RuchynskaThracophobia? Greek Representations of Ancient Thracians: a Modern Misjudgment – Aliénor Rufin SolasCoins and Trade in the Local Environment of the South-Western Istro-Pontic Territory. Some Remarks Regarding the Archaeology and Numismatics of the Hellenistic Period – Gabriel Mircea TalmațchiAspects of Monetary Circulation in the Province of Scythia in the 6th–7th Centuries AD. A Case Study: Tropaeum Traiani – Gabriel Mircea Talmațchi and Gabriel CustureaTyche-Fortuna. The Image of a City-State between Europa and Asia – Viktorya Vasilyan Session 3 Macedonia and the Black SeaFrom Athens to North Greece and the Black Sea: Red-figure Vases of the Group of the Vienna Lekanis – Nikos AkamatisMapping river gods. Highlighting the importance of rivers as gods, as seen through their representations in art during the Roman period in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace – Georgia AristodemouMacedonians and Scythians: a remarkable interaction through alliances and conflicts mirrored by the archaeological evidence – Francesca FarielloMacedonia and Scythians in the second half of the 4th century BC – Luigi GalloComparative research into the andrones from the Hellenistic houses of Macedonia and the Greek colonies of the northern Black Sea – Peli Plika Session 4 New Excavations and ProjectsSettlement pattern and exchange networks at the border of the territory of Apollonia Pontica: the fortified settlement of Malkoto Kale – Teodora Bogdanova, Alexandre Baralis, Maguelone Bastide, Dimitar Nedev, Nicolas Morand and Tsvetana PopovaDevelopment of the city plan of ancient Sinope: infrastructure as ideology – Owen DoonanTravelling in the Ionian and Dorian colonies of ‘Thracia Pontica’. Results of the implementation of an innovative museological project – Maria Girtzi and Athanasia BountidouEarly Roman amphorae from Tropaeum Traiani (Constanța, Romania) – Bianca-Elena Grigoraș and Adriana PanaiteThe sacred sea spaces of Byzantium and the mythology about its origins – Vanya Lozanova-StanchevaThe temple(s) of Apollo in Sinope. A preliminary study – Eleni MentesidouThe Early Roman burials from Histria – Liana OțaAn important bothros from Oluz Höyük: the oldest Zoroastrian ritual finds in Anatolia – Mona SabaStrabo’s ‘Ancient Chersonesus’: new discoveries (phrourion, acropolis, temple of the acropolis) – Angelina Zedgenidze Session 5 VariaCases of ‘premature colonisation’ in Greek history of the 8th–5th centuries BC – M.A. Kolesnikov Appendix 1: Programme. Seventh International Congress on Black Sea AntiquitiesAppendix 2: Summaries of Papers. Seventh International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities