ANOTHER GREECE AMONG TRANSDNISTRIA, UCRAINE,CRIMEA AND RUSSIA

From Jason to Angelopulos

Из Иасона до Ангелопулоса

Da Giasone a Angelopulos

De Jason à Angelopoulos

Von Jason bis zu Angelopulos

Greeks had always been present on the Northern sea shore of the Black sea. Somebody hints thay they may be originary from that area. However, since the “real” origin of the Greek people has not been explained up to now, also this fact has not been cleared.

It is a matter of fact that, in historical times, they owned a series of colonies from the Dniestr up to Georgia. These cities went on a long time under Roman and Byzantine leadership. Here the Myths of Jason and the Argonauts, of Hyphigenia in Tauris and of the Amazones were born.  In Olbia, the “Golden Orphic Leaves” were found, which enshrine the teachings of this ancient Greek-Eastern religion.

Later on, these Greek cities  were occupied by several states (Sarmatians,Romans, Huns, Goths).
A few centuries after the Hunnic invasion, the Bosporan cities seem to have enjoyed a revival, under Byzantine Empire (and Bulgarian) protection. Phanagoria was the capital of Old Great Bulgaria. From time to time Byzantine officers built fortresses and exercised authority at Bosporus, which constituted an archbishopric.

During the Russian Civil War, there have been several movements of Greeks up and down Ucraine, Russia and the Soviet Union. The Greek filmmaker Angelopulos is particularly interested to the story of this ethnic group, to which it has devoted several films.

 Still in recent periods there have been Greek colonies in Donetzk and Odessa.