Author’s publications on the Crimean period: Possible ancestors and neighbors of the Mariupol Greeks.
Since the question of the ethnogenesis and formation of the Crimean Christian community is a topic of debate not only among researchers but also among leaders of public opinion within the Mariupol Greek community, we have endeavored to present a broad view of Crimean history and the possible ancestors and neighbors of Crimean Christians who may have influenced their cultural characteristics. This bibliography section currently includes more than 500 authorial publications (monographs, articles, reports, theses, etc.) organized chronologically into five sections. Within each section, the bibliography is arranged alphabetically in Cyrillic. Unfortunately, most literature on the Crimean period is written in Russian. Foreign-language publications are found at the end of the section.
It is important to note that a significant amount of information is contained in historical and cultural collections, reference publications, and individual sources not reflected in this section of authorial publications. Therefore, we advise researchers to consult other sections of the bibliography. Additionally, after 2013, numerous studies and documents relevant to Crimean period research on the history of the Mariupol Greeks were published in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and in Russia. Both individual and collective works on this topic have been grouped into a separate section.
Most researchers deny a direct connection between the culture of Mariupol Greeks and that of ancient Crimean Greeks, although Mariupol Greeks themselves consider themselves their descendants. To create a more complete historical context and facilitate further research, we have included events from the ancient period of Crimean history in the first section, beginning in the 6th century BCE (based on archaeological data on the first Greek colonization of the peninsula) and ending in the 3rd century CE when most late-antique settlements in Crimea were destroyed by the Goths, followed by the Huns. However, any chronological framework is approximate, as the Taurians, Scythians, and others inhabited the peninsula long before the arrival of the Greek colonists, and large city-states like Chersonesus and Panticapaeum continued to exist after the invasion of nomadic tribes.
This bibliography block covers roughly 800-900 years. Notably, more works have been written on the ancient period of Crimean history than on the medieval era. To avoid becoming overwhelmed by the large volume of publications over the last 250+ years, we focused our selection on the following topics: general works on ancient history and settlements in Crimea (with emphasis on Chersonesus, Panticapaeum, and mountainous Crimea), trade relations with Greek cities in modern-day Turkey and Greece, the ethnic composition of the population (based on anthropological, archaeological, and written sources), relationships between “barbarians,” Greeks, and Romans, and overviews of the economy, traditional crafts, daily culture, art, notable figures, and local myths and beliefs. Archaeological research on ancient sites in Crimea has been conducted by specialists from many countries in Europe and America, so our bibliography will need substantial additions with foreign-language publications.
The Crimean medieval period is divided into several sections. The section “From the Goths to the Kipchaks: Byzantium and Christianity on the Peninsula” spans more than 900 years (from the Gothic invasions to the Tatar conquest of the Polovtsian Steppe in the early 13th century). Far fewer works have been published on the Crimean medieval period than on the ancient period, primarily due to the scarcity of sources and the Soviet-era prohibition on studying the Goths, Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Greeks, and the Crimean Khanate, related to World War II and the forced deportations of ethnic groups in 1944. Active research on these topics resumed only after Ukraine gained independence in the 1990s.
Since Greeks are an ethnoconfessional community, we prioritized works on the Christianization of the Crimean population, the construction of churches and monasteries, the establishment of dioceses and metropolitanates, and local saints. This section also includes summaries on Byzantine holdings in Crimea and their international relations, the ethnic composition of the population (including Alans, Goths, Greeks, Jews, Polovtsians/Kipchaks/Cumans, Seljuks, Khazars, and others), and discussions on locating historical Christian communities on Byzantine-themed sites in Crimea. Additionally, there are works on archaeological and anthropological research, contemporary travel accounts, and related topics.
The next medieval Crimean history section is dedicated to the Golden Horde period, from the establishment of the Crimean Ulus to the Ottoman conquest of Crimea in 1475. This relatively brief period (around 350 years) was eventful and closely tied to the histories of the Golden Horde, Venice, Genoa, and various Byzantine, Trebizond, and Ottoman empires. This bibliography focuses on the histories of Crimean cities and fortresses, such as Chersonesus, Mangup, Caffa (Theodosia), Bosporus/Kerch, Kalamita, and Sudak; the history of the Principality of Theodoro and its international relations; the ethnic composition of Crimean inhabitants; and Christian shrines and dioceses of the period.
The fourth section covers the late medieval and early modern periods in Crimea, from the late 15th century (when former Italian possessions, Crimean ports, and the Principality of Theodoro were incorporated into the Kefe Sanjak and later the Ottoman Empire, with other territories inhabited by Greeks joining the Crimean Khanate) until the resettlement of Crimean Christians to the Azov region in 1778 and the first annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire in 1783. During this time, researchers believe that the community later known as “Mariupol Greeks” fully formed in Crimea.
The final section addresses the history and culture of the Crimean Greeks’ neighbors – Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Karaites, Crimean Jews, and Roma/Çingene – who influenced the late formation of the community and its cultural features. It also covers events after 1783, as a small number of Crimean Greeks either remained in Crimea or returned from the Azov region. Most works focus on the material and spiritual culture of the Crimean Tatars, with some information on the Gagauz community, as there is ongoing debate about potential cultural ties or shared origins between Turkic-speaking Mariupol Greeks and Gagauz.
All publications listed were authored by both scholars and amateurs. Unfortunately, many are compilations and were produced during different historical periods, with various ideological perspectives – Russian (imperial, Russophile), Soviet (communist), Ukrainian, or Greek-centered. Some were published by researchers or politicians suspected or accused of collaboration, yet their works contain interesting factual material about the Greek community, which may be useful in political, sociocultural, and historiographical research. We urge researchers to approach these conclusions, evaluations, and commentaries critically, exercising scholarly ethics and objectivity.
We hope that contemporary researchers will send us their lists of publications so that we can significantly expand and refine the bibliography we have presented.
Margaryta Aradzhyoni