Other Groups of Greeks in the Black Sea Region

This subsection in the “Bibliography” section was created to provide a broader understanding of the various groups of Greeks who once lived or still reside in Ukraine, as well as to facilitate comparative research on the history and culture of the Mariupol Greeks with other Greek groups that formed in the Black Sea region, at least since the early Middle Ages. In particular, this section presents publications that broadly highlight the history of Greek merchant communities in Ukraine, such as those in Lviv, Nizhyn, Odesa, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Yelisavethgrad (Kropyvnytskyi), Berdyansk, and others, as well as Greeks from Crimea and the Odesa region, whose modern communities were established at the end of the 18th and in the first half of the 20th century.

It is worth noting that, for example, Greek merchants from Nizhyn, with the shifting borders of the Russian Empire, moved their place of residence and trading activities – some settled in Odesa (where they built Nizhyn Street), while others moved to other port cities, possibly including Mariupol. Thus, the study of the migration and interactions between different Greek communities in Ukraine could be another interesting topic for scholarly research.

The bibliography also includes information about Greek communities that once existed in what is now Turkey and Bulgaria, as migrations of Pontic Greeks and Thracian Greeks to Ukraine were observed during the Middle Ages and in modern times. This is not only related to the Crimean period of the Mariupol Greeks. Specifically, in the early 19th century, Pontic Greeks founded the village of Anadol in Mariupol County, while Thracian Greeks founded the village of Bugas. Later, these settlers were assimilated by the local Mariupol Greek community, though some cultural traits from these villages can still be found today. Additionally, Pontic Greeks, at the end of the 18th and the first quarter of the 20th century, mass-migrated from the southern Black Sea coast (Sinop, Trebizond, Kars, etc.) to Southern Russia, Georgia, and Armenia. These settlers gradually integrated into Greek communities in Ukraine during the 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly in Crimea, Nadazov region, and large regional centers. They brought with them cultural traditions both from their ancestral homeland and the places where they had lived for the last 100 – 200 years.

All literature in this subsection – both authors’ works and collections – is listed in Cyrillic alphabetical order; publications in Latin or Greek alphabets are placed at the end of the list. It should be noted that some publications (especially those related to the Crimean Greek community of the 18th  –20 th  centuries) may be repeated in other subsections. Publications produced after 2013 in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or in the Russian Federation are listed in the corresponding subsection.

We should also note that the listed publications were created in different historical periods and from various ideological perspectives – Russian (imperial, “Russian world”), Soviet (communist), or Ukrainian- or Greek-centric. We encourage researchers to remain objective, adhere to scholarly ethics, and critically assess the conclusions, evaluations, and comments presented in the listed works.

The provided list is tentative and not exhaustive. We recommend referring to bibliographic guides, such as Ethnic History of the Greek Community in Ukraine (Kyiv, 2003), and to the bibliographies found in the publications listed here.

Margaryta Aradzhyoni