Greek and Roman town in Scythia Minor (Μικρά Σκυθία), situated at the present-day locality of “La Cetate”, 9 km east from Istria village, Constanţa County, Romania.

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Based on original sources and the results of recent historical research the life of Ioannis Varvakis (1743-1825) is illustrated and aspects of his biography, until recently unexplored are presented. An emphasis is given to his multifarious activity during his long sojourn at Astrakhan (1777-1815) and the social and political aspects of this charismatic person, who acted in historical times critical for Greece and Russia, is illuminated.

Greeks and Taurians got in close contact particularly after the establishment of the Greek colonies on their territory. The precise date concerning the emergence of Iphigeneia's legend remains obscure, but the written testimony refers to it already in the 6th century BC. There are many variants of that myth. Euripides was aware of them in the 5th century BC and the mingling of the different versions resulted in his famous work "Iphigenia in Tauris" that was a huge success among his...

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Ukrainian town, near the Romanian border. Its river port became pivotal for most of Southern Russia’s grain export volume during the first half of the 19th century. Since the start of the 19th century, Greek colonists had strong presence in Izmail, which became a base of operations for Filiki Etaireia (Society of Friends). The Greek community was officially founded in 1872, building a church and a primary school.

Prince Jason of Iolcus was sent by his uncle Pelias, and usurper of his father’s throne, on a mission to bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus from the faraway land of Colchis; this was the pelt of the sacred ram which on Zeus’ behest saved the lives of Phrixus and Helle. Jason, accompanied by fifty heroes that had gathered from all over Greece, sailed off in his ship, the Argo, from Iolcus, took the Fleece from Colchis and princess Medea and sailed to the delta of the Danube, in modern Romania;...

L’histoire légendaire des missions remonte aux temps apostoliques. Quelques sources hagiographiques ont trait à l’époque de Dioclétien et de Constantin I. Au VIe s., des missions étaient liées à la politique de l’Empire. A l’époque iconoclaste, des iconodoules exilés étaient missionnaires. L’activité de Constantin (Cyril) concerne également la région pontique. Une partie des Tartares criméens était convertie à l’époque Paléologue.

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Panait Istrati (1884-1935) was a significant writer during the inter-war era, whose oeuvre, in Romanian and French, gained popularity in many countries. He was born in Brăila, where his mother, a Romanian maid, lived and worked. As his natural father was probably a Greek smuggler from Kephalonia Panait Istrati lived in a mix greek-romanian mileu. He counted among his friends important Greek (Nikos Kazantzakis) and French (Romain Rolland) writers and intellectuals, who admired his expressive...

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