From Axeinos to Euxeinos. Pontic Waters as a Resource in the Context of the 'Great Greek Colonisation'

During the 'Great Greek Colonisation', many Ion ians left their hometowns for new destinations. There they founded apoikiai : homes away from home. Bodies of water played a central role in this phenomenon. This paper does not so much elabo rate on the role of the sea as a connector of Ionian poleis to their various apoikiai , but instead focus es on some of the many roles that waters played within one of the target-regions of early Ionian 'colonisation'. It examines how waters in the Black Sea regions were employed as re sources, and asks how they may in some cases have worked as pull-factors, serving to attract newcomers. The first focus of this paper is on the estuaries of large streams. These provided favourable conditions for agriculture as well as pasture and served as connectors to the hinterland. The paper further discusses some speci fi cs of both the currents and the wider ecosystem of the Black Sea, which pro vided extraordinary opportunities for the coast al fishing of large marine fish, especially in the Southern Black Sea and the Thracian Bosporus. A close examination of archaeological and literary sources reveals that in the archaic period, bod ies of water provided a variety of re sources that were bene fi cial for sustaining a settlement at the Black Sea coast, while there is no evidence for a surplus-production of fi sh products hinting to re fl ux-oriented systems. It is thus suggested that speci fi c areas were perceived favourable locations for the foundation of apoikiai and that these were not necessarily established to compensate for a lack of res ources in the respective metropoleis as sometimes suggested.