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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Panticapaion is said to be the oldest Greek colony in the Straits of Kerch. It was founded by Milesians in the 6th century BC. Ancient written sources report the city's history up to Roman times. There is also plenty of archaeological evidence related to the political, social, economical, religious and cultural activities of the city, while it is reported that Panticapeans founded their own colony, Tanais. Despite the destructions Panticapaion suffered in the course of its history, it remained...

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A prominent family of the Diaspora, coming from Epirus – possibly of ‘Koutsouvlachoi’ origins. Members of the Pappoudof family settled in the largest ports of Southern Russia (Odessa, Taganrog, Rostov) but also in the most important ports of the western Mediterranean (Livorno, Marseilles) They were bound to other important families of the Diaspora (Rodokanakis, Sevastopoulos) by kinship and business. They also played a significant role in the grain trade, mainly that of Odessa. To a limited...

Ancient Greek city located at the waist of the Cimmerian Bosporus straits. Its remains have been discovered north of the modern city of Kerch in Ukraine. In recent years, the identification of these remains with the city of Porthmeion has been questioned, as it is believed that they belong to Parthenion. The settlement dates to the 6th-1st cent. BC.

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Doctor of Greek origin from Taganrog. He served as mayor of the city and as municipal doctor and contributed significantly to the town’s social and cultural life.

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Asiatic nomadic people that during the 9th century settled in the southern Russian and Ukrainian steppes, along the northern coast of the Black Sea, and during the 10th century occupied the region north of the Danube, becoming –within two centuries– one of the most important for the Byzantine foreign policy northern neighbours of the empire. During the 11th century their relations with the Byzantine empire were generally hostile and they constituted the empire’s most dangerous opponent in the...

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Pityous (Pitsunda, Bičvinta en géorgien), se situe dans l’embouchure du fleuve Bzyb. L’évêque Stratophilos était participé au concile de Nicée (325). Une groupe d’églises était bâti aux Ve-VIe s. Au Xe s. la ville, sous le nom de Sotirioupolis, était le centre d’archevêché du patriarchat constantinopolitain. Une grande église à coupole était sa cathédrale. Dans les années 40 du XIe s. Sotirioupolis et forteresse des Abasges Anacopia forment un thème byzantin. Entre la fin du XIVe s. et le...