The Greek Colonies in Ukraine

By about 1000 BC Greece had become overpopulated. That caused many brave and adventurous people to emigrate and establish colonies along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. In the late 7^th and early 6^th centuries BC, they founded several colonies on the northern shore of the Black Sea.

The richest of the Greek cities on the Ukrainian coast was Olvia,⁶ situated at the mouth of the Buh River. Famous Greek historian Herodotus visited this city in the 5^th century BC. Other important centers were Chersonesos (near present-day Sevastopol), Tira (at the mouth of the Dniester, present-day Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky), Theodosia (retains the same name), Kerkinitidus (present-day Yevpatoria), and Panticapeum (present-day Kerch). The most powerful of them was Panticapeum that submitted over 20 other Greek city-states around the Azov Sea and became known as the kingdom of Bosporus.

The Greek cities had the most advanced culture of the time. They could boast of high level of education, arts, architecture, and science. They had stadiums, theatres and libraries. Most of them were democratic republics where all males had wide political rights. Women could not take part in political life (they could not elect or be elected to official positions) since the Greeks believed that women could not think logically.

Greek colonies on the Black sea became the bread basket of Greece. Beside bread they exported fur, honey, wax, salt, timber, and slaves (usually bought from Scythians) to Greece and Asia Minor. Their import consisted of vine, oil, fabric, ceramic, various luxuries.

In the middle of the 1^st century BC the Black Sea coast became part of the Roman Empire. Roman garrisons stayed in the Greek coastal cities until the middle of the 3^rd century AD when Rome had to withdraw its troops from Crimea to protect Italy from the barbarians.⁷ Left without Roman protection the Greek cities were destroyed by barbarians (Goths, Huns, and others). Only Chersonesos and Pantica­peum remained under the rule of East Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire). In the 6^th century the Byzantines built two strong fortresses: Aluston (present-day Alushta) and Gorzuvit (present-day Gurzuf) on the Crimean coast

The Greco-Roman civilization on Ukrainian lands lasted over 1000 years and it had positive impact on the economy, social structure and cultural level of various inhabitants of our country.

The Tauri

In the Crimean Mountains and near them lived the tribes of Tauri.⁸ Their major occupations were cattle-breeding, fishing, piracy, and farming. The Tauri were proud people and waged numerous wars against Scythians, Sarmatians, and Greeks. The Tauri were also known for their cruelty. They sacrificed sailors captured in pirate raids to their gods. According to Herodotus, the manner of their sacrifice was to beat the head with a club and remove the head; then they either buried the body or threw it off a cliff, and lastly nailed the head to a cross. Prisoners of war likewise had their heads removed, and the head was then put onto a tall pole and placed at their house “in order that the whole house may be under their protection”.

Scholars believe that such names of the Crimean peninsula as Tavrida, Tavrika, and Tavria are derived from the name of these people.

New Barbaric Waves

The Gothic period in Ukraine lasted from AD 200 to AD 370. The Goths created the so-called State of Hermanric (named after their chief) in southern Ukraine and adopted Christianity from the Roman Empire. The Goths were defeated by the Huns around AD 370. Hermanric, shocked by the defeat, committed suicide.

The Huns came from Central Asia. They were a mixture of various Turkic-speaking people with large Mongol elements. The Huns held the territory constituting present-day Ukraine and most of present-day Moldova until their defeat in Western Europe in the mid-5^th century. After AD 453 when their leader Attila died (apparently of a stroke during sexual intercourse with his new young wife) the Huns union disintegrated.

The next nomadic wave to break into southern Ukraine consisted again of an Asiatic, Mongol- and Turkic-speaking, and relatively primitive people, the Avars. Their invasion dated AD 558 and their state lasted about a century in Ukraine.⁹ At the height of their power, the Avars ruled the entire area from Eastern Ukraine to the Danubian plain (in present-day Hungary), where they had their capital and where they remained after they had lost control over Ukraine. Avar armies waged long wars against Germans and Byzantines.

After the Avars other nomadic tribes from Asia – Magyars and Bulgarians – came to southern Ukraine (the steppe area). With time they moved to central and southern Europe and founded such states there as Hungary and Bulgaria.

In the 7^th century AD a new force emerged on the lower Volga: the Turkic-speaking Khazar state. The Khazars accepted Judaism, cont­rolled large territories and took tribute from the Polianians and some other East Slavic tribes. Although Khazars were a semi-nomadic people, they promoted the building of towns such as their capital of Itil and others. Their state was notable for international commerce and tolerance. Pagans, Moslems, Christians, and Jews mingled in Khazaria, where all enjoyed considerable freedom and autonomy to live under their own laws. They fought bitter wars against the Arabs and served as a barrier against the spread of Islam into Europe.

In the second half of the 9^th century warlike nomadic tribes of Turkic origin, called Pechenegs, came to southern Ukraine and pushed out the Magyars. The Pechenegs had been the major threat of the East Slavs until the mid-11^th century when they were replaced by another nomadic tribal union – the Polovtsians. The Polovtsians remained the main enemy of the East Slavs until the mid-13^th century when they were destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars.