Greeks in Russia Totally Explained

Everything about Greeks In Russia totally explained

The Greek presence in southern Russia is dated to the 6th century BC. Today there are about 128,000 people of Greek extraction living in the Russian Federation. Most live in the south and the Black Sea region (100,000) with large concentrations in Moscow (25,000) and St. Petersburg (3,000). About 70% are Greek-speakers from the Black Sea coast, 29% are Turkish-speaking Greeks from Tsalka in Georgia and 1% are Greek-speakers from Mariupol in Ukraine. According to the 2006 official census there are 100,000 Russian citizens of Greek extraction living in Russia. However, the leaders of the Greek community in Russia claim that their true numbers exceed this figure two-fold.

Ancient

Greeks have lived in the Black Sea region of Russia and the CIS since before the foundation of the first Russian state. The Greek name of Crimea was Tauris and in mythology it was the home of the tribes who took Iphigenia prisoner in Euripides' play Iphigenia in Tauris. Trade relations with the Scythians led to the foundation of the first outposts between 750 and 500 BC during the Old Greek Diaspora. In the Eastern part of the Crimea the Bosporan kingdom was founded with Panticapaeum (modern Kerch) as its capital. The Greeks had to fight off Scythian and Sarmatian (Alan) raiders who prevented them from progressing inland but retained the shores which became the wheat basket of the ancient Greek world.

Medieval

Black Sea trade became more important for Constantinople as Egypt and Syria were lost to Islam in the 7th c. Greek missionaries were sent among the steppe people, like the Alans and Khazars. Most notable were Saints Cyril and Methodius of Thessalonica, who later became known as the apostles of the Slavs. Many Greeks remained in Crimea after the Bosporan kingdom fell to the Huns and the Goths, and Chersonesos became part of the Byzantine Empire. In 965 AD there were 16,000 Crimean Greeks in the joint Byzantine and Kievan Rus army which invaded Bulgaria. Orthodox monasteries continued to function, with strong links with the monasteries on Mount Athos in northern Greece.
Today most Greeks in the former USSR speak Russian, with a significant number speaking their traditional Pontian Greek language. Pontian is a Greek dialect that derives from the ancient Ionic Greek dialect and resembles ancient Greek more than the modern "demotic" Greek language. Until recently, the ban on teaching Greek in Soviet schools meant that Pontian was spoken only in a domestic context. Consequently, many Greeks, especially those of the younger generation, speak Russian as their first language. Linguistically, Greeks are far from being unified. In the Ukraine alone, there are at least five documented Greek linguistic groups, which are broadly categorized as the Mariupol dialect. Other Greeks in the Crimea speak Tatar, and in regions such as Tsalka in Georgia there are numerous Turkophone Greeks. Greeks were permitted to teach their own language again during Perestroika, and a number of schools are now teaching Greek. Because of their strongly philhellenic sentiments and ambitions to live in Greece, this is normally modern, "demotic" Greek rather than Pontian.Further Information

Get more info on 'Greeks In Russia'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://greeks_in_russia.totallyexplained.com">Greeks in Russia Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.