VIDEO, GREEKS OF ANATOLIA – PONTOS
Asia Minor was called, by the Greeks, “Anatolia” (literally “Place of the Rising Sun”, for those lands to the east of Greece) and was inhabited by Greeks of the Achaean/Mycenaean culture from the 20th c. BC. Over several centuries, numerous ancient Greek City States were established. The once magnificent, now ruined, cities that cluster along the Aegean, Mediterranean and the Black Sea coasts of Turkey are reminders of a civilization that produced the first Hellenic enlightenment, giving birth to Homer, Herodotus and the first philosophers of nature. . In Greek mythology the Black Sea region of Pontos is the region where Jason and the Argonauts sailed to find the Golden Fleece. The name derived from the Greeks who colonized the area: Εὔξεινος Pontos (“Hospitable Sea”). Even in Roman times, the Greek culture in the eastern part of the Black Sea retained its leading role in the economic and cultural life