Who are the Pontic Greeks. Pontic Greeks in the family of peoples of the Caucasus

Anton Popov's book

Anton Pavlovich Popov - ethnographer, applicant for the Caucasus Department of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. N. N. Miklukho-Maclay, executive director of the Center. A.P. Popov in the period from 1992 to 2000 has been studying a number of ethnic groups from the historical region of Pontus (Greeks, Armenians, Himshils, Turks and Laz), field research is being carried out in the Krasnodar Territory, Transcaucasia and Turkey.

Pontic Greeks, self-name: Romeos (ρομέος), Romans. The ideologists of the national movement of the Pontic Greeks use “pontios” (πόντιος), “Pontic” as an ethnonym differentiating from the Greeks of mainland Greece, while at the same time, under the influence of pan-Hellenism, the ethnonyms Hellenes, Hellenes, Hellenic-Pontic are introduced into circulation. The Turkish name for the Pontic Greeks is urum, horum, rum; Georgian - Berdzeni; Russian - Greeks.

The ancestors of the Pontic Greeks came from the southeastern coast of the Black Sea - Pontus (the coastal strip from Sinop to Batumi, inland along the ridge of the Pontic Mountains and the Janik Mountains). In Russian ethnographic literature and in some publications of the ideologists of the Pontic movement, an extended interpretation of the ethnonym "Pontic Greeks" (the entire Greek population of the circum-Pontic zone) is used in relation to Greek groups, immigrants from the central regions of Eastern Anatolia (Erzrum, Pasena) and Cappadocia. Settlers from these regions settled in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, in the Balkans almost simultaneously and together with the Greeks of Pontus. These groups shared the fate of transnational migrants together, but retained a clear understanding of the ethno-cultural characteristics that distinguish them. The most significant, but not the only difference between the intra-Anatolian groups of Greeks is their language - dialects of the Eastern Anatolian dialect of the Turkish language. Therefore, their Turkish ethnonym "Urums" is often used to designate these groups. The Pontics call the Turkic-speaking Greeks "Tsalkali" or Tsalkalidis" (τσαλκαλιδεις) after the Tsalka region in Georgia, the center of the Urums in Transcaucasia. It should be noted that there were also Turkic-speaking groups among the Pontic Greeks proper (Greeks from the vicinity of Bafra, Samsun, etc.). The self-name of the Turkic-speaking Pontic Greeks in the Pontic dialect of the Turkish language sounds like “rum” (singular) and “rumlar” (plural). Turkic-speaking Pontians have a clear ethnic identity like the Greeks of Pontus and identify themselves with the common Pontic cultural heritage. Further in the article, the ethnonym "Urums" is used only in relation to the Turkic-speaking descendants of the Greeks from inner Anatolia.

According to the 1989 census, the number of Pontic Greeks is not singled out separately from the total number of the Greek population of the Russian Federation. Pontic Greeks make up the majority in the Greek diaspora in Russia.

Pontic Greeks live in Russia, Armenia, Georgia (including Abkhazia), Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Greece, Turkey, USA, Germany, Canada.

In the North Caucasus, the Pontic Greeks settled in the countryside, forming a number of ethno-arial groups: 1) the Sochi group - p. high, s. Golitsyno, p. Forest, p. Lipniki, pos. Krasnaya Polyana, s. Vishnevka (living together with Russians); 2) Tuapse group (mostly Turkic-speaking groups of Pontics settled - Bafroli) - with. Gunaiskoye, x. Greek, p. Makopse, p. Kalinovka, x. Goyth (lived together with the Hamshen Armenians), pos. Mesajay (together with Russian and Hamshen Armenians) (not preserved); 3) Gelendzhik group - with. Aderbievka, pos. Kabardinka, p. Praskoveevka (they live mixed with Russians); 4) Anapa group - pos. Vityazevo (the Greek population predominates, Russians and Germans also live); 5) Crimean group - x. Novokrymsk (Greek), c. Novo-Ukrainian, p. Merchanskoe (they live mixed with Russians); 6) Abinsk-Severskaya group - x. Karssky (not preserved), several small farms in the mountainous zone (not preserved), live in st. Severskaya, st. Azov, st. Novo-Dmitrievskaya, st. Kaluga, st. Fortress, Art. Smolenskaya, st. Grigorievskaya, pos. Kholmsky, pos. Ilsk, the city of Abinsk, together with the Russians; 7) the hot-klyuchevskaya group - p. Phanagoria and others (not preserved); 8) Apsheron group - art. Kurinskaya (they live mixed with Russians), x. Kura-Tsetse (the Greek population has not survived), h. Papazov (not preserved), h. Akritasov (not preserved); 9) Maikop-Belorechenskaya group - a number of small farms (not preserved); 10) Stavropol-Pyatigorsk group - p. Hasaut-Greek, p. Greek, p. Bekeshevka, s. Suvorovka, s. Nagut (they live mixed with Russians). (see also table Appendix 2)
Pontic Greeks live in large cities of the Russian Federation: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Sochi, Stavropol, Pyatigorsk, Vladikavkaz.
Also, Pontic Greeks live in Georgia, in the Dmanisi region - with. Sakiri (Koshkatola), p. Mountain (Mis Madan, Jaraer), p. Sarkineti (Demir-bulakh and Petrovansk, urums), p. Velispiri (Keyvan-Bulgason, Urums), p. Mamulisopeli (Urums), p. Ambralo (Urums); in the Tetritskaro region - the villages of Bolshaya and Malaya Iraga, with. Ivanovka, s. Jigrasheni, p. Alekseevka (together with the Urums and Russian sectarians), p. Tsintskaro (Urums), p. Ugudeti (Urums), p. Abeliani (Urums); in the Tsalka region - with. Humbat, s. Tarson, p. Santa, p. Neon-Kharaba and villages with a predominant Urum population - Khadyk, Guniyakala, Tak-Kilisa, Yedi-Kilisa, Tsintskaro, Dzhinis, Avranlo, Khando, Beshtashen, Bayburt, Bashkov, Livad, Karakom, Olyank; in the Borjomi region - with. Tsikhisjvari; in the Marneuli district - Opreti (Urums); in the Akhaltsik region - Mikel-Tsminda (including urums); in Abkhazia, mainly in the Sukhum region - the villages of Georgievskoye, Olginskoye, Aleksandrovskoye, Mikhailovskoye, Andreevskoye, Tsebelda, Azanta, Dmitrievskoye, Ekaterinenskoye, Konstantinovskoye, Trunshi, Aprum, Pavlovskoye, Marinskoye, Anukhva, Petrovskoye; in Adjara - the villages of Akhalsheni, Dagva, Akkua, Kvirika.
A few groups of Pontic Greeks live in Armenia, everywhere mixed with Armenians: in the Zangezur region - with. Mikhailovka, s. Qatar; in the Alaverdi region - the villages of Shomler, Sisimyadyan, the city of Alaverdi; in the Stepanavan region - with. Koges, p. Yagdan, Stepanovan; and in Azerbaijan (the village of Mekhmene in the gorge of the Terter River (Nagorno-Karabakh), 35 families (as of 1995).
In Ukraine: in the former Crimean region, Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, mainly in rural areas.

Administrative and state formations

On the territory of the Russian Federation in the period from 1930 to 1938. there was a Greek national region, which included the following village councils: Krasnozelensky and Merchansky from the Abinsk district of the Kuban district, Grechesky, Gorishny (until 1932), Keslerovsky (until 1932), Krymsky, Neberdzhaevsky, Nizhnebakansky, Prokhladnensky, Sheptalsky from the Crimean region Black Sea region. Until 1934, administrative bodies were located in Art. Crimean - outside the national region, from 1934 to 1938. - in Art. Neberdzhaevskaya. In 1935, the territory of the Crimean region was completely included in the Greek region. As part of the policy of collectivization, national collective farms are being created in the region. In February 1938, the Grechesky district was abolished, and the Krymsky district of the Krasnodar Territory was formed on its territory.
Today, the Pontic Greeks do not have administrative-territorial autonomy either in Russia or in other states.

Story

On the territory of Pontus in the VIII century. BC e. the Ionian Greeks from Melet formed trading and agrarian colonies (the city of Sinope, later its colonies: Trebizond, Kotiora, Amis, etc.). From the 4th century BC e. Pontus is part of the Hellenistic Pontic kingdom (303 (301) - 64 BC), which reached its peak at the end of the 2nd century. BC e. under Emperor Mithridates VI Eupator. During three wars with the Roman Republic (89 - 84, 83 - 81, 74 - 64 BC), the Pontic kingdom lost its independence, and its territory became part of the Roman state (the province of Bithynia and Pontus); from 476 of the Eastern Roman Empire (Chaldia province).
At the end of the 1st century BC e. Pontus broke away from the Roman Empire and from 40 BC. e. was part of an independent state - the kingdom of Polemon I, but in 64 AD. e. was again conquered by the Roman legions.
At the end of the XI - the first half of the XII century. in the Byzantine province of Chaldia, there was a semi-independent feudal principality of the Gavre Taronite dynasty.
The Greek-speaking population of the empire adopted the ethnonym "Roma" as a self-name, which replaced the earlier one - "Ellen".
In the Middle Ages, the territory of Pontus becomes the center of the Empire of Trebizond (1204 - 1461); with the support of the Georgian queen Tamara, the dynasty of the Great Komnenos comes to power (Alexei Komnenos (1204 - 1222) - the grandson of the Byzantine emperor Andronicus I Komnenos - proclaimed himself emperor). In administrative terms, the Empire of Trebizond was divided into three parts (bands): Trebizond, Matsuka, Gimora.
From the thirteenth century Turkmen tribes begin to settle in the southern part of the Trebizond Empire. From the fourteenth century the western territories of Pontus (Janik, Haldia) are part of the Turkmen emirates of Tajedinogulari and Emirogullari; eastern - in the state of Akkoylu. Already during this period, as a result of active interethnic processes, the Turkization of the population of Pontus took place: in a number of regions (Toniya, Machka), Turkmens settled, who switched to the Greek language or became bilingual. centuries of Turkic weapons, the Turkic style of riding, the Turkic name of Constantinople - Eskomboli (Istanbul).5 Catherine, the daughter of Emperor John IV Komnenos, enters into a dynastic marriage with the Akkoylu Turkmen Khan Uzun Hassan.
In 1461, the Ottoman Turks conquered the Empire of Trebizond (the last Emperor of Trebizond, David (1458-1461)), the territory of Pontus became part of the Ottoman Empire, forming the Trabzon Eyalet (from the beginning of the 19th century, the Trabzon Vilayet). From the end of the fifteenth century The process of Islamization of the Pontic Greeks began.
Since the beginning of the XIX century. national and religious contradictions in the Ottoman Empire are aggravated, the politicians of the Pontic Greeks during this period were under the influence of the Phanariots of Constantinople, who advocated a compromise with the Turkish authorities and the creation of a Greek-Ottoman state, which went against the radical program of the "Great Idea", which was guided by national liberation movement of the population of mainland Greece.
In 1878, in accordance with the articles of the Berlin Treaty (07/13/1878), the Pontic Greek Christians were equalized in rights with the Muslim population of the empire. After the Young Turk Revolution (1908-1909), Pontic Greeks were drafted into the Turkish army.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century. separatist sentiments are growing among the Pontic Greeks: the political leaders of eastern Pontus advocated the creation of a Greek-Turkish confederation (Chryssanths, Metropolitan of Trebizond), and the idea of ​​forming an independent Pontic Greek Republic was popular among the population of western Pontus. During the years of World War I (1914-1918), the Pontic Greeks were considered by the Ottoman government as an unreliable population. In 1916, the eviction of the Greek Christian population of Eastern Anatolia (along with Armenians and Assyrians) began inland (initially mainly from western Pontus), accompanied by massacres and robberies of settlers. These events were imprinted in the historical memory of the Pontians as the genocide of the Greeks by the Ottoman government. Since 1916, partisan detachments of Pontic Greeks have been created, which set as their goal the separation of Pontus and the creation of an independent Greek state.
After the evacuation of the Turkish troops from the territory of Pontus (04/16/1916) in the Trabzon vilayet, power passed into the hands of the Greek committee, a "provisional government" was created (1916 - 1918), which pursued a policy of creating a Greek-Muslim state. During this period, the political organizations of the Pontic Greeks were actively operating, setting the goal of creating the Pontic Republic: September 1917 - "The Central National Committee of the Pontics" (South of Russia); November 1918 - "Society of Pontians" in Istanbul; 1919 - "Central Union of Pontic Greeks"; 1921 - "Central Council of Pontus"; "Greek Transcaucasian National Council", etc.. Congresses of Pontic Greeks are convened: "National Assembly" of the Greeks of Transcaucasia in Tiflis (05/05/1917); congress of Greeks in Taganrog (29.06. - 10.07.1917); "I-th All-Pontic Congress" in Marseille (02/04/1918); "General Conference", which resulted in the creation of the "National Council of Pontus" (02 - 01/15/1919). Armed formations of the Pontic Greeks are being created: 3 Greek regiments as part of the Russian army in Trabzon (1916); "Caucasian Greek Division" (1917), which was located in Kars and Maglis; "Greek military corps" in Transcaucasia (from 1918 to 1921).
In 1918, after the occupation of Pontus by Turkish troops, there was a mass exodus of Pontic Greeks. Refugees are sent to Russia, Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, Kars region), Greece. In 1920, the politicians of the Pontic Greeks approached the Armenian government on the issue of the statehood of Pontus (according to the Treaty of Sevres (10.08.1920), the territory of Pontus - the eastern part of the Trabzon vilayet - was to pass to the Armenian Republic). January 10 - 16, 1920 between the "provisional government" of the Pontic Greeks and the Armenian government at a conference in 105 Year Place of settlement Number Place of settlement Resettlement of families in Georgia in the Ottoman Empire 1813 Tsintskaro 19 neighborhood of Pasen 1814 Tsintskaro 76 - 1822-23 Tsintskaro 100 Gyumushkhane 1825 Demir-Bulak 15 Erzerum 1825-27 Bulgason-Keyvan - Antarli, Okha 1829-40 Ambarlo - Erzurum, Okha 1830 Beshtashen 85 Gyumushkhane 1830 Baskoy (Upper Akhalsheni) 34 Baskoy (near Erzurum) 1830 Koteliya (Reha) - Koteliya (near Artvin) 1830 Mamula Sopeli 16 - 1830 Avranlo (Theses) 49 - 1830 Barmaksyz (Erzani) - Erzrum 1830 Dzhinis - 1830 Sanamer (Kokhta) - 1830 Kyaryak (Lower Akhalsheni) - (Armenian Greeks) 1830 Shipyak 1 Monk's family 1830 Gunia-Kala ( Chanchkabezha) - 1830-40 Gumbat (Kahadum) - 1830-40 Olyank (Ayazmadar) - An agreement was reached on the creation of the Pontic-Armenian confederation in Yerevan. The military intervention of the Turkish army in the Transcaucasus, and the entry of Armenia into the USSR (1921) did not allow the implementation of the agreement reached. During the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), partisan formations of the Pontic Greeks continued to operate on the territory of Pontus.

Migration processes

The Pontic Greeks are a transnational group - an ethnic group that, throughout its history, has repeatedly changed its territory of residence, making long migrations in which most of the representatives of the group were involved.
Ionian Greeks in the 8th century BC e., who built the colony cities of Sinop, Trebizond, Amis, Kotiory, were migrants from Miletus, on the Malaysian coast of the Aegean Sea. Although the connection of modern Pontics with their Ionian ancestors is more mythological than genetic, the spirit of wandering has accompanied them throughout history. During the XVIII - XX centuries. the Pontics moved with varying degrees of intensity within the boundaries of the Circumpontic zone. That such movements probably never stopped is evidenced by the presence in the XIII-XV centuries. Greeks from Trebizond in Italian trading posts in the northeastern Black Sea region. Indirect evidence in favor of early ethno-cultural contacts between Pontus and the Northwestern Caucasus are the groups of Circassian Greeks and Armenians who lived among the Adyghes until the 18th century. However, until the beginning of the XX century. Greek settlers maintained family, economic and political ties with their homeland, where the vast majority of their fellow tribesmen lived.
With the aggravation of the religious and national pressure of the Ottoman government on the Pontic Greeks and the increase in influence in the Pontic-Caucasian region of Russia, at the beginning of the 19th century, the process of resettlement of the Pontic Greeks within the Russian Empire began.
In 1763, the Georgian king Erekle II invited the Greek miners from Gumyushkhane (Turkey); 800 families of Pontic Greeks moved to the territory of the current Alaverdi region of Armenia, forming the villages of Lalver Alver (now the city of Alaverdi, the Republic of Armenia), Shomler, Sisimyadyan (Alaverdi region of the Republic of Armenia).
In 1810 - 1840, after the Greek national liberation revolution in mainland Greece (1821 - 1829) and the Russian-Turkish war (1828 - 1829), a new wave of Pontic Greek migrants from Gumushane and Urums from the Erzurum vilayet (Paseny, Akhtalia , Okkhi, Artvina) settles in Eastern Georgia, mainly in Tsalka and the current Dmanisi region (see table)

From 1856 to 1866, after the Crimean War, 6,000 Pontic Greeks moved to the North Caucasus: to the Kuban region (the villages of Merchanskoye and Vityazevo, Khasaut-Grecheskoye), to the Black Sea district (to the Kabardinsk fort (now the village of Kabardinka, Gelendzhik district, Krasnodar territories)), to the Stavropol province (villages of Nagutskoye, Sultanskoye, Greek); as well as in Transcaucasia: to the Tsalka region (Georgia), to the Alexandropol province 2,500 people (Valavani estimate) (now the Republic of Armenia).
The resettlement acquires the character of a mass exodus in 1878-84. after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878: up to 17 thousand Pontic Greeks moved to the Terek region, Stavropol province, Georgia (in the Batumi and Sukhumi regions), Azerbaijan (Baku), migrants settled 72 villages in the Kars region; most of the settlers lived as Turkish subjects, without a residence permit in Russia (see table):

In 1916 - 1921. refugees from Pontus, and since 1919 from the Kars region, occupied by Turkish troops, settled in Transcaucasia (Adzharia, Abkhazia) and in the North Caucasus; about 150 thousand (Agdzidis estimate) received Greek citizenship. In 1918, after the defeat of Turkey in World War I, 100,000 people returned to Pontus (Agdzidis' estimate).
Under the Treaty of Lausanne (01/30/1923), according to the article on the exchange of population between Turkey and Greece, the departure of Pontic Greeks from Pontus to Greece begins, the settlers are placed in the places of Muslims who left for Turkey (Western Thrace, Central Macedonia). The Pontic Greeks consider the forced exodus from the territory of Pontus as a national catastrophe. Part of the crypto-Christian Greeks remained in Pontus, probably dissolved among the Pontic Turks and Greek-speaking Muslims. Muhajirs from the Balkan countries (Greece, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania) were settled in place of the resettled Pontics.
In the USSR, during the years of Stalinist repressions, Pontic Greeks were subjected to mass eviction to Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan) and Siberia. In 1932, 300 Pontians (estimated, Agdzidis), who had Greek citizenship, were deported from the area of ​​the city of Sochi to camps. In 1937 - 1938. there was a mass deportation of Pontic Greeks from the North Caucasus and Ukraine to the eastern regions of the country. 1,402 people who had Greek citizenship were deported in 1942 from the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region to Siberia, Northern Kazakhstan and the Far East. In 1944, 8,300 people were deported. as "stateless foreigners" to Central Asia. In 1946 - 1949. the last group of Pontic Greeks from the Krasnodar Territory was deported to Kazakhstan (Dzhambul district of the Alma-Ata region, Pavladar region, etc.). In 1949, the Pontians of Transcaucasia (Abkhazia, Adzharia, Western Georgia), mostly Greek subjects, were deported. Up to 35 - 37 thousand people were deported from the Krasnodar Territory. (Estimate Agzidis) from Georgia (including Abkhazia) about 100 thousand people. (estimation of Agzidis). In the Caucasus, the Greek population of Armenia, the Tsalka, Tetritskaro, Dmanis regions of Georgia, the Stavropol Territory of the RSFSR was not subjected to mass eviction.
In 1956, after the XX Congress of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in Central Asia, in places of exile of Pontic Greeks, some restrictions were lifted: Pontic citizens who had Soviet citizens Erzurum 300 1800 By land Amasya 300 1800 By sea, through the ports of Gerasun (Kerasund) 200 1200 Samsun (Amis) and Gerasun Gyumushkhane (Argyrupol) 300 1800 By land Neokesari 400 2400 By sea, through the port of Gerasun Sivas (Sivastia) 650 3900 By land (Orthodox and Syro-Chaldeans) Trabzon (Trebizond) 700 4200 By sea (immigrants from the surrounding villages , to a lesser extent from the city) Origin Number Number of migration paths of migrant families people Total 2850 17100 107 people could return to the Black Sea region (to Abkhazia and the Krasnodar Territory). The Greeks exiled to Kazakhstan in the 1960s and 1970s moved to permanent residence in the Stavropol Territory, in the areas of settlement of Pontic Greeks, which contributed to the constant growth of the Greek population of the region (in 1959 - 13.4 thousand Greeks, in 1979 - 21, 9 thousand and in 1989 - 28.5 thousand).
During the period of eviction, the territory of residence of the Pontic Greeks was occupied by neighboring groups (Russians, Armenians, Abkhazians, Georgians, Mingrelians). In exile, due to severe climatic conditions and the strict internal regime of the settlements, the Pontic Greeks suffered significant casualties, the exact number of deported and dead has not been established.
The reaction to political and economic instability and national oppression during the years of Stalinist repressions was the emigration of Pontic Greeks from the territory of the USSR abroad, mainly to Greece.
In 1913 - 1914. from the Transcaucasus, mainly from the Kars region (from the villages of Peperek (Beberek), Toroskov (Toreskev), Kulbert of the Ardagan district and the villages of Chiplakhli (Tsplakhli), Mechetli of the Sarikamysh district), as well as from the Tiflis province (from the Tsalk villages of Khando and Miglisi) to Northern Greece (Macedonia) 3,757 Pontians resettled in the counties of Yenittsa, Zilyakhova, Kilkis, Mayadag (Phanos), Veria, Kastoria, Sidirokastro, Serre, Nigrita, Langadas and Jumaya (see Annex 3).
In 1918, after the anti-Bolshevik intervention of the Greek troops in Odessa, several thousand Pontic Greeks (mostly urban population) left Russia. Part of the Pontics, refugees from Pontus and the Kars region, who had Greek citizenship, in 1921-1923. left Transcaucasia for Greece (initially they were placed in the settlements of Harman-Kioi and Kalamaria). By 1928, 47,091 Greeks from the Caucasus and 11,435 from other regions of the USSR arrived in Greece. several families of Pontic Greeks left the North Caucasus. 100 families (Agdzidis' estimate) moved to Greece from Central Asia in 1957, after the regime of special settlements was softened. A significant number of Pontic emigrants, mainly from the republics of Central Asia, settled in 1965 in Attica, in the regions of Dzidzifya, Egaleo, Lagurio, Elefsina, Asirokyrgos, and others, as well as in Xanfi and Komotini. The number of repatriates has increased significantly since 1988, most of them are settled in special settlements in northern Greece (according to the government program for the improvement of immigrants). Recently, there has been a trend of re-emigration of Pontic Greeks to Russia, the adoption of dual citizenship.
Since the late 1980s due to the deteriorating economic and political situation in the region, a mass exodus of Greeks from Transcaucasia begins: Greeks almost completely left the Stepanavan and Alaverdi regions of Armenia, migrants rushed to Greece (Thessaloniki) and to Russia (Krasnodar Territory). Since 1991, Pontic Greeks have been leaving Georgia: in Russia, the places of resettlement of Georgian Greeks are the areas of traditional residence of Pontics in the Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, the Republics of Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia. So, many residents of two Greek villages in the Dmanisi region - Gora and Sakira - settled on the x. Novoukrainsky Krymsky district; Urum families from the Tsalka and Tetritskaro regions, as well as Pontic Greeks from Abkhazia and Adjara, can be found in the village. Vityazevo, Anapa district, pos. Kabardinka, p. Aderbievka, Gelendzhik region, pos. Kholmsky, Abinsky district and in other rural settlements of the Krasnodar Territory, the cities of Krasnodar, Abinsk, Gelendzhik, Sochi. Suvorovskaya, Urozhainy settlement, Telman settlement, Bykogorka settlement, Ul'yanovka settlement, etc.). Sparta, in Adygea - on x. Gaverdovsky, Maykop District (natives of the villages of Olyank and Yedi-Kilisa, Tsalka District).14 During the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict (1992-1994), the Greek population of Abkhazia almost completely left the republic, leaving for the northern regions of Greece.
Forced evictions from Pontus and the Caucasus at different periods of history and the state policy of national integration intensified the processes of assimilation and urbanization of the culture of the Pontic Greeks in Greece and the USSR.

Language situation

The Pontic Greeks speak the Pontic dialect of the modern Greek language of the Greek branch of the Indo-European language family, some of the Pontic Greeks are Turkic-speaking (Bafrali) or used mainly Turkish in everyday life before moving from Pontus (Samsunians, etc.). The Pontic dialect is very different from the modern Greek language of the population of mainland Greece, which gives a number of researchers a reason to consider it as a separate language (Romeika, Pontiac) or a group of related languages ​​(Trapezund, Cappadocian, Central Transcaucasian). The Pontic dialect is divided into dialects, the main of which are: Trebizond, Kerasund, Kotior (Ordu), Uni, Samsun, Sinop, etc. Among the Pontic Greeks, there is a widespread opinion about the archaism of the Pontic dialect.
The linguistic features of the Pontic dialect are the presence of phonetic and morphological forms that are not characteristic of the literary Modern Greek language. So in the phonological system of the dialect, the vowel [g] stands out; a characteristic feature of Pontic vocalism is the reflection of the ancient Greek h as [e]; Pontic phonetics is characterized by the presence of noisy fricatives with a second back focus and affricates , and their allophones and .15 The morphological system of the Pontic dialect is characterized by progressive analyticism (violation of agreement between a noun and an adjective in the category of gender), which is a common feature for the languages ​​of the Balkan linguistic union, but in Pontic, this tendency was strengthened as a result of interference - the morphological structure of the Pontic Greek dialect was influenced by Laz and then Turkish. Probably, the formation of fused forms of nouns with possessive pronouns or verbs with personal pronouns, where short pronouns are attached to verbs and nouns agglutatively, which is typical for the Turkish language, should probably be explained by linguistic interference.

The Pontic Greeks in the mass have always been bilingual, in Turkey, along with Greek, the Turkish language was used (it is native for some of the Pontic Greeks, as well as for the Urums from Central Anatolia), separate groups of Pontics probably switched to Turkish in the 15th - 17th centuries. or preserved the Greek speech in the form of a Greco-Turkic bilingual. After moving to Russia, Russian became the second language for the Pontic Greeks, Turkish continued to be used in everyday life as the language of the older generation for a long time, and the folklore tradition in Turkish was preserved (chastushki, songs, fairy tales).

In 1830, on Tsalka in the village. The Kyaryak are resettled from Turkey (probably from the vicinity of Erzurum) by Greeks who spoke Armenian or were bilingual - Armenian-Turkish. In 1897, 986 Armenian-speaking Greeks lived in the village of Kyaryak (Kerek), who are called “Greek-Armenians” in the sources (Erikson 1898).17 Now the Greek population of the village is mostly Turkic-speaking, like most of the Tsalka Urums.

The situation of bilingualism among the Pontic Greeks may indicate the heterogeneity of the Christian population of Pontus (Christian Turks, Armenian-speaking groups converted to Orthodoxy), as well as the processes of language drift among ethnic groups that lived for a long time in the neighborhood (Greeks, Turkmens, Turks, Armenians), and cultural renaissance of the Pontic Greeks of the 19th - early 20th centuries, accompanied by the spread of the Greek language in the region. So in the 1890s, the area of ​​distribution of Greek-speaking settlements in Pontus was even larger than in the XIV century, perhaps some of the descendants of the Greek-speaking Muslims of Pontus are Turkmens who switched to a “prestigious” language.

In the 1920s and 1930s, an attempt was made in the USSR to turn the Pontic dialect into the literary language of the Pontic Greeks. Newspapers (“Communist”, “Communist on the fields of Sochi”, etc.) and other literature were published on it. In 1932, Kostas Topharas published "The Grammar of the Pontic Language" at the Kommunist Publishing House (Rostov-on-Don). The literary form of the Pontic dialect was based on the Trabzon dialect.

In the XIII - XV centuries. The written language of the Empire of Trebizond was Byzantine Koine (following the Attic tradition), which differentiated from the spoken language - the Pontic form of medieval Koine (developed under the influence of the Ionian tradition).

In the Ottoman Empire, the Pontic Greeks used as a literary language Kafarevusa (since the 19th century) with writing based on the Greek alphabet. In Russia, in 1926, at the All-Union Conference of Representatives of the Greek Intelligentsia (05/10/1926), a decision was made to switch to demotic and reform the Greek alphabet (replacing an alphabet of 24 letters with an alphabet of 20 letters). In parallel, the practice of printing in the Pontic dialect, using phonetic orthography, based on the Greek alphabet, continued. From 1926 to 1935, there was a discussion between the initiators of the transition to Demotic, “as the only national language of the Greeks” (the printed organ is the Krasny Tabaknik newspaper (Sukhumi)), and supporters of the existence of several Greek languages ​​based on local dialects (the newspaper “ Communist" (Rostov-on-Don)).

In 1936, a congress of Greek teachers in Sukhumi and with. Mikhailovka decided to preserve a single Greek language - Demotic.
On the territory of the North Caucasus in the post-war period, the process of linguistic assimilation of the Pontic Greeks was going on with particular intensity, which led to the almost universal displacement of the Pontic dialect by the Russian language. Now the socio-political organizations of the Pontic Greeks in the Russian Federation use the Russian language in their official documentation and publishing activities.

In Transcaucasia, the Pontic dialect has been preserved to a greater extent; the linguistic situation here is characterized by bilingualism (Greek-Russian-Georgian or Greek-Turkish-Russian in Georgia; Greek-Armenian-Russian in Armenia).

Pontic repatriates in Greece settled in areas with a predominantly non-Pontic population and in the second generation switched to the modern Greek (Hellenic) language in its literary form.

In the electronic version of the UNESCO Red Book of Threatened Languages, Pontic, along with other Greek “languages” (Tsakonian, Italiot, Yevanik), is classified as seriously threatened, i.e., languages ​​spoken mainly by older people.

Education

In the Ottoman Empire, education in Greek in Pontus began to develop in the middle of the 19th century, after the reforms of the Tanzimat period, which gave impetus to the emancipation of the ethno-confessional minorities of the empire. The Pontic Greeks, like other Greek communities of Anatolia, kept in touch with the Kingdom of Greece, from where teachers, textbooks, educational programs came from. In 1878, in the Trabzon vilayet, there were 50 elementary schools (pro-gymnasiums), in which there were 39 Greek students for every thousand of the total population of Pontus, and 6 secondary schools (gymnasiums) - 4 out of a thousand were gymnasium students. In the diocese of Trabzon at the end of the 19th century, each church parish had its own school - 95 in total, 18% of all Greek men and 6% of all Greek women in this region studied in them.

In the Russian Empire, Greek (kafarevusa) was taught as a foreign language in the schools of the districts where large groups of Pontic Greeks lived; schools were opened on a voluntary basis with teaching in Greek, the teaching staff was formed from graduates of the Trebizond Preparatory School. In 1917, at the Greek congresses in Tiflis (05/05/1917) and Taganrog (06/29 - 07/10/1917), the question of the nationalization and reorganization of Greek schools was raised: a system of compulsory seven-year education was established (the first two years teaching was Demotic, then Kafarevus), textbooks were supplied from Greece. By 1919, there were 148 schools in the Caucasus (see table).

The table does not separately show small farms.

Since 1926, teaching was carried out only in dimotic, the production of textbooks began in the printing houses of Rostov-on-Don, Mariupol, Kyiv. In the 1920s, Greek lyceums were opened in Transcaucasia and the North Caucasus, on the basis of which Greek pedagogical colleges were created in the 1930s (in Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, Sukhumi). By the mid-1920s, 60 Greek schools were operating in the RSFSR, and 140 in Georgia (data for 1938).

Since 1937, publishing activities in Greek began to curtail, Greek schools were closed.

Teaching in Greek resumed during the years of the "thaw". Between 1958 and 1964 in Georgia, in areas where there was no mass expulsion of Pontic Greeks, several Greek schools were opened. In 1958 in Georgia, T. Kaukhchishvili prepared and published the Greek Primer, based on the primer used in Greek schools until 1926.

At present, with the assistance of public organizations of the Greeks of Russia, Greek elementary and Sunday schools, Greek language courses are operating, departments of the Modern Greek language are being opened at universities.

Ethnicity, ethnodifferentiating factors

The Pontic Greeks living in the Caucasus consider the Greek language and Orthodoxy as their main ethno-differentiating features. In everyday life, they distinguish themselves among the Orthodox population of the region - Russians and Georgians - as the most zealous Christians, on the grounds that both the ancient Georgian kingdoms and Kievan Rus were baptized from Byzantium. In the North Caucasus, confessional affiliation determines the attitude of the Pontic Greeks towards the Russians as the closest people.

regional identity. In Pontus, the Greeks lived in close proximity to the Laz, territorial proximity, state and confessional community (in the Roman and Trebizond empires) and, possibly, a common cultural substrate contributed to the cultural leveling of the peoples of the region (Greeks, Laz, Hamshen Armenians, Turks and others). Assimilation processes took place, the mixing of the population - all this led to failures in the ethnic identification of the peoples of the region. Thus, the 17th-century Ottoman author Evliya Chelebi, who visited Trabzon in 1641, calls the inhabitants of this city “Lazis”;23 the Russian linguist N. Ya. Laz by Greeks who switched to the Laz language, which, in their opinion, is evidenced by their “distorted” pronunciation.

The ethnonym “Lazi” in modern Turkey is regional, it is used by the inhabitants of the interior of the country in relation to the population of the Black Sea coast (Kardeniz) from Hopa to Zonguldag, regardless of their ethnicity. and often multiple identities. For example, Greek-speaking Muslims in Trabzon (Turkey) consider themselves simultaneously "Greeks" (rmlar) - by language, "Lazis" (lazlar) - regional affiliation, "Turks" (türkler) - national identity.

In Greece, the descendants of the Pontic Greeks who moved to the Balkans under the Lausanne Treaty of 192326 are called “Lazis”. But in Abkhazia and the North Caucasus, the Pontic Greeks do not identify themselves with the Laz and do not use this ethnonym to designate their regional affiliation.

The idea of ​​the Pontic region as a historical, cultural and national homeland is cultivated in the Pontic communities in Greece and in the "Greek national societies" in the CIS (see Ethnopolitical organizations). The symbols of Pontic culture are the traditional costume (see Clothes), the Pontic kyamyandzhe / lyre (kämänce, lhron), folklore - especially circular dances - coron (omal, kots, trugona, sera, lazikon (from the ethnonym "Laz", even common in those areas where the Greeks do not have a "Lazi" identity)), which are performed during festivals of Pontic culture and holidays (see Calendar rituals). It is interesting that these same elements of “traditional” culture symbolize the regional culture of the population of the Black Sea coast in Turkey (Karadeniz kültür): in the Turkish general education schools of Pontus, in the lessons of regional culture, children dressed in Pontic costume learn to dance to the accompaniment of nement kamyanchi, circular dances, which are called the Greek word "horon".

Intraethnic differentiation. Pontic Greeks living in the Caucasus retain the idea of ​​dividing the Greek population of Pontus into local groups, the name of which is associated with the administrative division of the Trabzon vilayet during the Ottoman period: Trabzonians - trampzonlideiV (Trabzon sanjak), Samsunians - samsolideiV (Samsun / Janik sanjak), Sandets - santeteiV (rural district of Santa, Trabzon sanjak), Bafrians - bafrali (kaza Bafra, sanjak Samsun), Ordui - ordouludeiV (kaza Ordu, sanjak Trabzon), matsuktsy - matsoukateiV, matzkalideiV, mackali (nakhi Machka (Matsuka) / Jivizlik, kaza Trabzon ), Surmenians - sourmenudeiV, sourmenenleideiV (kaza Surmene, sanjak of Trabzon).

At the beginning of the 20th century, such a division could be more differentiated (according to individual villages), in the Krasnodar Territory they still remember the name of such small groups, although they no longer identify themselves with them: Kromtsy - krometaV, kromli (Krom village, Trabzon sanjak; perhaps crypto-Christians), Samoruks - samouraktaV (Samaruksa village, Sanjak Trabzon), Apeshtsy - apeslideiV (Apesh village, location in Pontus is not known; this is how some residents of the village of Merchanskoe (Krasnodar Territory, RF) identify themselves).

A similar division into local groups is preserved among the Greek-speaking Muslims of Pontus: matzkalideiV (inhabitants of the Ilche ​​Macka) tzaikaralideiV (inhabitants and immigrants from the Ilche ​​Chaikara), tonialideiV (Ilche ​​Tonia) oflideiV (Ilche ​​Of) sourmenenleideiV (Ilche ​​Syurmene).

Pontic migrants from the Transcaucasus and their descendants in the North Caucasus are differentiated from the local Greek population and are named after the place from which they left, at the same time they can retain their own identity with one or another local group: the Kars - karsloueiV (descendants of immigrants from the Kars region, 1919 BC), Batumi (migrants from the outskirts of Batumi, early 1990s), Dmanisi Greeks (from the Dmannis region of Georgia), Abkhazian Greeks (from Abkhazia).

Among the Pontic Greeks, there is an idea that marriage is preferable within a local group, but due to the dispersed and mixed residence of the Greeks in the Caucasus, this is not observed in real practice. Also, mixed marriages of the Pontics with representatives of other Christian peoples of the region - Russians, Georgians, Armenians - are very often concluded. Marriages with Muslims are considered undesirable.

Anthroponymy. Descendants of settlers from Pontus at the end of the 18th - the middle of the 19th centuries. have Russified surnames ending in -ov, rarely in -in (Atmachev, Dmitriev, Andreev, Shakhbazov, Lefterov, Kuzmin, etc.), which is explained by the desire of the Russian administration to unify (bring into line with Russian) the anthroponymy of the settlers upon their entry into Russian citizenship. During this period in the Ottoman Empire, the Greek population of Pontus did not have their own surnames, instead of which family nicknames were used - often derived from the name of the father of the head of the family or his profession, for example Lefter-ogly (Lefterov, in the Russified version), Hadji-Kuzma (Kuzmin) Demirchi -ogly (Demerchiev). Russified surnames were more common in the Transcaucasus (Eastern Georgia, Armenia), less in the North Caucasus (the villages of Vityazevo, Kabardinka, Merchanskoe, Khasaut-Greek, etc.) and Abkhazia, the surnames of relatively late settlers prevail here (late XIX - early XX centuries) with "Greek" endings in -di (s), pulo (s), less often "Turkish" in li, -oglu (u) and -chi (-ji): Andriadi, Ivanidi, Papandopulo, Azzvezdopoulo, Sernashli.

Under the influence of the “Pontic revival”, the Greeks have their own surnames with “Greek endings”, often these are tracing papers from former Turkish nicknames (for example, according to family tradition, the surname Khtenidi is a translation into Greek of the Turkish nickname Tarakchioglu, cf. tarak (tur.) = ctena ( Greek) “comb”)27 or Greekized Turkish surnames (for example, Dimerdzhidi, Borzanjidi, etc.).

Changes in ethnic identity in the process of "Hellenization" of the Pontic Greeks are reflected in the attitude of the Pontic to their surnames, which retain the former Turkish surnames and Russified endings. Such surnames can be perceived as "foreign" and even ethnically unacceptable. For example, in 1999, the Pontic Greeks of the village of Yagdan (Republic of Armenia) regarded their surnames with an “old” stem and a Russified ending in -ov: Amirov, Islamov, Sarimakhmudov, Arabov, Gargaladzhev, Turajev, Karkhanadzhev as “Turkish” and even “Muslim ". Perhaps, the quasi-Turkic roots at the base of the surname and the ending in -ov are associated among the predominant Armenian population with Azerbaijani ones. Thus, the value of preserving such surnames in the conditions of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict (since 1988) and with the growing influence of pan-Hellenistic ideology was in doubt. There was a substitution of the textual reality of anthroponymy for a symbolic one, and with a "negative" meaning. Under such conditions, it became possible and acceptable to change the surname, for example, to a derivative from the name of the father with a “Hellenic” ending: Sergeidis, etc.

Religious situation

Pontic Greeks in the Russian Federation are confessionally Orthodox Christians.
Christianity began to spread on the territory of Pontus from the 3rd century. Already in the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284 - 305 AD), the administrative and church organizations of the Pontic diocese were subordinate to the center in Caesarea Cappadocia.

In 321, Emperor Constantine (306-337 AD) granted the Church the full right of a legal entity, Christianity began to be perceived as the state religion. In 451 the churches in the Diocese of Pontus came under the influence of the Archbishop of Constantinople. By the time of the reign of Justinian I (527 - 565), there was a Pontic diocese, then Chaldean (after the theme of Chaldia).

In the Byzantine and Trebizond period, the territory of Pontus became a major Christian center, churches were built and monasteries were opened (St. Eugene of Trebizond, St. Sophia of Trebizond, the monasteries of St. John in Imera and Vazeloy, etc.). The metropolitans of Trebizond are fighting for independence, but only seeking the right to be ordained in Trebizond, in the presence of a priest from Constantinople.

After the territory of Pontus became part of the Ottoman Empire (XV century), the Pontic Greeks experienced the process of Islamization, which had the character of both a forced (Muslims were not taxed - “kharaj”), and a voluntary conversion to Islam (the ideologists of the Turkophile current in Byzantium: Kritovul, Luca Notar), for example, in the 17th century. the population of Ofa, together with the local lord Alexander, converted to Islam. Christian churches are closed and mosques begin to operate in them, as Elviya Celebi (XVII century) noted mosques in Trabzon that were formerly churches (the mosque of the Middle Fortress, the Hagia Sophia mosque, the mosque of Erdugdo-bey, etc.). During this period, the Trabzon eyalet became a major Muslim center: one of the shrines of Muslims is located in Trabzon - the tomb of the mother of Selimkhan I; Ofom had a reputation as the largest theological school in the empire; Of and Tonya remain centers of compact residence of Greek-speaking Muslims to this day.

Periods of religious tolerance gave way to persecution of Christians. Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (1451 - 1481) granted privileges to Patriarch Gennady Scholariy; in 1812, religious fanatics killed Patriarch Gregory V and destroyed 16 Christian churches; late 19th century - Christians received equal rights with the Muslim population of the empire (confirmed by the Berlin Treaty (1878)); in 1923, Islamic fundamentalists demanded the closure of the patriarchate in Constantinople.

In the Ottoman Empire, since the 18th century, a significant part of the neophytes - Pontic Greeks, having formally converted to Islam, continued to combine the features of Islam and Christianity in their cult practice (non-strict observance of Muslim food prohibitions, refusal of circumcision or simulation of this rite after the death of a person, the use of both Muslim and Christian names, the construction of underground churches dedicated to Christian martyr saints, such as St. Theodore, the refusal of burial in a Muslim cemetery, the funeral of the deceased by a Christian priest and the reading of a prayer by an imam or burial without the participation of an imam). Religious syncretism was regarded by the official clergy and believers as secret Christianity (crypto-Christianity). The communities of Greek crypto-Christians (krifi - from the Greek krifh "secret", Kromli - after the name of the village of Krom, one of the centers of crypto-Christians, stariots - after the name of the village of Stavri, possibly from the Greek stauroV "cross") were persecuted by the Ottoman administration, under the law on the death penalty for converting from Islam to other religions (abolished in 1856). The centers of crypto-Christians were in the mountainous zone the rural districts of Krom (sanjak Gumeshkhane), Santa, Machka (sanjak Trabzon), on the coast of the village in the vicinity of the kasaba Surmene (sanjak Trabzon), the vicinity of the city of Gerasun (sanjak Trabzon). In 1910, the Ministry of the Interior of the Ottoman Empire issued an order from the local administration of the Trabzon Vilayet, according to which the Krifis were recognized as Orthodox Christians. At the beginning of the XX century. the majority of crypto-Christians officially converted to Orthodoxy. In 1900, the male population of Greek Christians was 200 thousand people, Greek-speaking Muslims - 100 thousand; by 1914 there were 43,000 crypto-Christians (Agdzidis estimate). On the unstable ethno-confessional identity of the Pontic Greeks in the second half of the 19th century. evidenced by the presence of marginal groups among the Pontians who moved within the Russian Empire. According to the materials of the First general census of the Russian Empire in 1897, Greek-speaking Armenian Gregorians, 191 souls, lived in the Kuban region. Pontic Greeks, who in the late XIX - early XX centuries. lived in the Russian Empire, were parishioners of the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. In the early years of the resettlement, the diocesan affiliation of the Pontics was uncertain, which was caused by the lack of proper documents from the Greek priests who left the Ottoman Empire. 31 In 1917, the Central Council of Pontus obtained from the Holy Synod church autonomy for the parishes of the Pontic Greeks of Kars and Akhtalia, which lasted until the complete expulsion of the Greeks from these areas in 1919. Now the Pontic Greeks living in Georgia are considered parishioners of the Autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, in In the Greek parishes of the Sukhum-Abkhaz diocese, before the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, divine services were partly conducted in Greek. Religious organizations of Greece stepped up their missionary activities in Abkhazia after the conflict, the New Athos Monastery, the Church of the Apostle Simon Canonite, came under their care. On the territory of the Russian Federation, Pontic Greeks visit the churches of the parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The everyday religion of the Pontic Greeks is characterized by the veneration of Orthodox saints (St. George, St. Elijah, St. Pantelemon, St. Barbara, St. Nicholas, the Mother of God). When conducting ceremonies dedicated to saints or other church holidays (Assumption of the Virgin), the Pontics practice ritual sacrifice rejected by Orthodoxy - “gurpan” (kurban), rams, bulls, roosters are sacrificed.

Culture Features

Economic and cultural type

At the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, the Pontic Greeks living in the countryside had an agricultural and pastoral economy, with a predominance of agriculture over cattle breeding.

Plowed agriculture, using a plow of the “karasoban” type common in the Pontic region, in mountainous areas, the land was worked with a special type of spade “lechter”, with a forked tip and a curved wooden handle. The territory of Pontus, like Western Georgia, is included in the area where corn prevails over other cereals, displacing the grain of other cereals. In Pontus and Western Georgia, the name of corn is a cognate word with the ethnonym "Laz", among the Pontic Greeks - "lazud(i)" (lazoudh). Nevertheless, in the highlands, as well as in the Caucasus, the Pontic Greeks sowed wheat, rye, and barley. In Pontus, the Greeks cultivated hazelnuts, which were supplied to the markets of the Ottoman Empire and imported. At present, the hazelnut, along with tea, is the dominant agricultural crop in the Turkish Pontus. Cattle breeding; from the end of April to the beginning of November, the cattle was on the summer pastures "yayla" in the highlands, the rest of the time they were kept in stalls at the house. The Pontic Greeks bred small cattle, cattle - cows of a local undersized breed, which was used for milk, meat and as draft power, the number of horses in the economy of the Pontics was not significant. In the Soviet Union, the Pontians were involved in the administrative-planned collective farm system, individual agriculture was carried out only on the scale of a personal plot. Of course, the mass expulsion of Pontic Greeks during the years of Stalinist repressions had a negative impact on the preservation of ways of doing business. The economic structure traditional for Pontus is supported by the Greeks only in certain regions of Transcaucasia (Tsalka, Tetritskaro, Dmanis regions of Georgia, Abkhazia). As a substratum in the economy of the Pontic Greeks, occupations traditional for all groups of the Pontic region are preserved: hunting, forest gathering, beekeeping (Xenophon, in the 4th century BC, mentions the specific properties of Pontic - “Colchian” honey). Some groups of Pontic Greeks in Adzharia, Abkhazia and the North Caucasus were engaged in fishing (in Pontus, sea fishing was mainly carried out by the Laz and Turks of the coast, to a lesser extent by the Greeks) and hunting for dolphins. In modern Turkish Pontus, dolphin fishing is considered an occupation inherited by the Turks from the former "Romanian" (Greek) population, ancient lamps that used dolphin fat are also called Greek. Specific occupations: Tobacco growing was a commercial branch of agriculture in Pontus, mainly among Christians - Greeks and Hamshen Armenians, they were the first to cultivate tobacco in the Caucasus, where some varieties of tobacco were brought from Anatolia, in particular "trebizond". During the Soviet period, tobacco-growing collective farms were created in places densely populated by Pontic Greeks in the Caucasus (in Abkhazia, Adzharia, Krasnodar Territory). In the Krasnodar Territory, in the Greek national region, collective farms grew more than half of all tobacco in the region. Outside the region, tobacco growing was also concentrated in the hands of the Pontics. For example, after moving to St. Severskaya Greeks from the surrounding farms, they were gathered into the Kokinas Kapnas tobacco-growing collective farm. earnings in Russia, Transcaucasia, the hinterland of Anatolia. Until now, in the Caucasus, Pontic Greeks continue to be considered good masons, construction teams of Greek-speaking Muslims and Pontic Turks continue to travel to work in Europe and the Middle East. Until the middle of the 19th century, copper and silver mining was carried out in the Gumuskhane region, which was the prerogative of the Greeks living there. Christian miners enjoyed benefits from the Ottoman government, which were abolished after the closure of the mines. Settlers from the mining districts of Pontus (Sherianna) began to develop copper and silver deposits in the Transcaucasus, in the historical region of Lori, where, by order of the Georgian king Erekle II, they formed the Alaverdi copper smelters. It is known that in the Middle Ages in the Empire of Trebizond there was a developed navigation, which served the trade, military and fishing branches of the empire.34 But from the 18th century. in general, navigation in the Black Sea basin is in decline - sea vessels disappear from the Abkhazians, Circassians-Shapsugs, Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks cease to make sea voyages. The inhabitants of Pontus (Greeks and, especially, Lazians) were engaged in maritime navigation in the region for the longest time. In Turkey, the idea is still preserved that the "Lazes" are born sailors. The Pontic Greeks probably ceased to be actively engaged in maritime navigation on the Black Sea in the middle of the 19th century. In the 1850s, 300 families of Greek sailors from Trabzon moved to Abkhazia; their ancestors were engaged in navigation, they explain the beginning of the development of settlements from the upland part with a panic fear of the sea. At present, the economic and professional production activities of the Pontic Greeks do not have specific differences from the activities of the surrounding non-ethnic population.

Food

The modern food complex of the Pontic Greeks is no different from the food system of the peoples among whom they live. Now the Pontic cuisine, like other "traditional" cuisines, has been supplanted by the universalized food of the post-industrial society, where the diet is based on public food products: pasta and sausages, meat, fish, canned fruits and vegetables and semi-finished products. The idea of ​​their own “national” Pontic Greek cuisine is vague and often identical to the idea of ​​“Caucasian cuisine” and is partly realized in the dishes and components of semiotically significant meals (festive, ritual). Grain-milk subclass of nutrition. The predominance of cereals over root crops, dairy (sour-milk) over meat (currently, the share of meat products in the diet is increasing), meat of domestic animals (beef, pork, lamb, poultry meat) over the meat of wild animals. Grain and legume dishes: kutya (kokia, kanona, kolva (Samsun Greeks)) - ritual, boiled wheat grains with sugar and nuts; porridge made from roasted young corn grains, crushed into grits (cashlia); wheat flour soup (ntrhma); barley flour soup (cereV); cornmeal soup (sourban). Yeast wheat bread (sonida, tzoriak) is baked in a “Russian” type oven (fournin), now mostly bought. Festive pastries - a pie (pita) made from dough sweetened with honey or with a sweet filling; puff pastry (shron) with sweet or savory (katyk with garlic) filling. Bread is an indispensable component of any meal, consumed with most dishes. In a number of regions of the Caucasus, under the influence of the local food tradition, corn flour and groats are replacing wheat flour and groats of other cereals. For example, in Abkhazia, along with bread, they cook hominy from corn grits, the use of corn flour as a dressing for soups by the Pontics in the North Caucasus. Dairy dishes: a drink made from sour cow's milk (arian); butter (ailad) - produced at home using a rocket-shaped barrel-type churn-xilang; curd-katyk (hliston); salted cottage cheese (tzortan); soup made from dried salted cottage cheese-chortan dissolved in water with beans and cornmeal (sirban tzortan); sheep's milk cheese (pirin). Meat dishes: shish kebab - meat (pork, lamb, beef) fried on a spit usually marks a festive meal (now meat of a sacrificial animal can be used for barbecue), mostly men take part in cooking, boiled meat (basturma) is also festive (for example at a wedding) or a ritual dish (earlier, the meat of an animal slaughtered during the “gurpan” was only boiled); fried meat (gavurma) “canned” in fat for long-term storage; dolma (koftadeV) - minced meat mixed with rice, cooked in grape or cabbage leaves; pilaf (pilav); wheat porridge with chopped chicken meat (keskek (Samsun Greeks)) - festive, prepared for Christmas, New Year, Epiphany; borscht in meat broth (fain); scrambled eggs (foustoron) are also a wedding dish in the bride's house. Fish dishes: river and sea fish fried and boiled; A distinctive feature of Greek Pontic cuisine is the use of fish of the type "hamsa" both fried and baked as a filling in a pie (camsolauasoma). Dishes from vegetables, fruits and herbal spices: cabbage stew (skiralacana); sauerkraut (lacana); eggplant sauce (kartoflin); boiled beans (fasolh) - a funeral dish in Transcaucasia, in Abkhazia it is served with hominy. Preserves (glhkon) made from wild and garden fruits and berries. Garlic (skordou), onion (kromhd), pepper (piper), bay leaf (malitsa), parsley (garomsalh), sorrel (stonhtaV) are used as spices in Pontic cuisine. Dishes from wild crops: nettle soup (kinteiata), wild onion (socane), dogwood compotes (kranh), dried wild pear (aphdie) and forest apple (agromhla). Walnuts (korhdia) and hazelnuts (leftokarh) are widely used as additives in various dishes. In the North Caucasus, probably under the influence of the Russians, the Pontic Greeks began to eat mushrooms (koukoubakh, pamiata). Drinks: red grape wine (krashn), grape or other home-made fruit vodka (rakhn) - alcoholic drinks often mark a festive and ritual meal (at a wedding and funeral), drinking strong drinks is an indispensable element of the wedding ritual and funeral meal; compotes from fresh and dried fruits; tea and decoctions of herbs (sage, thyme, coltsfoot, mint); black ground coffee beans (kaba), coffee grounds used by women for divination. Oppositions: "male" (fried, meat, alcohol) / "female" (not labeled); “festive” (meat, fried, sweet, multi-component (pilaf, dolma, keshkek, etc.), alcohol, general feast) / “everyday” (not labeled, mainly plant foods); “ritual” (lean, meat, boiled (cf. the meat of a sacrificial animal), food prohibitions and prescriptions (cf. the ban on the consumption of meat in general or pork at a wake among some Pontic groups, the replacement of meat dishes with boiled beans, the obligatory start of a memorial meal or Christmas Eve from kutya), the collective nature of the meal) / “ordinary” (not marked); "lean" (fish, flour) / "fast" (meat, dairy, sweet, alcohol). Food preferences in a stereotyped form perform an ethno-differentiating function: drinking coffee is regarded as a predominantly Caucasian trait, and sometimes as a difference between the Pontic Greeks as "Caucasians" from the surrounding Russian population, for example, as self-irony - "a stingy Greek gave the guest coffee to drink, fed him thick". 36 One of the Pontic nicknames for the Jews is “maize” (lazouzant), possibly due to the use of cornmeal by the Jews to make matzah (unleavened bread). Eating anchovy by the Trabzon Greeks is considered their distinctive feature; among other Pontic groups, the Trabzonians are called "hamsichi", i.e. anchovy catchers. Bafra Greeks (bafroli) have a reputation for gourd lovers (kolonghq, kolongide (Greek-speaking Muslims of Pontus)). It is symptomatic that one of the names of the Pontic crypto-Christians "kromli", "krometas" is etymologized by modern Caucasian Pontics as a derivative of kromhd (Greek) - onion.

clothing

The so-called "traditional clothing" among the majority of rural groups of Pontic Greeks fell out of use already in the 90s of the XIX century - at the beginning of the XX century, in the urban environment - even earlier. The "traditional" set of clothes of the Pontic Greeks is typical for the West Caucasian region. As men's clothing, the so-called. "Laz costume", which was widely distributed in the region in the second half of the 19th century, when it became common for all ethnic groups of Pontus and beyond along the eastern coast of the Black Sea to Abkhazia. The term "Laz" in the name of the men's costume complex has a regional meaning (cf. "Laz" in Turkey, the entire population of the Black Sea coast from Hopa to Zonguldak, regardless of ethnicity), and perhaps only partly ethnic, as an indication of the Laz as the core of autochthonous culture Pontus. Distinctive elements of the men's costume complex are a narrow short cloth jacket - elek (gelek), narrow wide-leg trousers with a wide step - zipka (zipka, cf. zipkaV - "men's suit"); cherokhi were used as shoes, which could be worn with leggings or tight stocking boots; headdress - cap (paslouk); peripheral elements - a bandolier, a long “Laz” or “Surmen” knife (sourmene macer (Pont. Greek), sürmene buzak (tur.)), pistol, rifle. The Laz costume was not functionally universal and was worn by young people and middle-aged men, mainly as festive clothes.37 During World War I, a partisan in a zipkas, belted with a bandolier, with a pistol, dagger and rifle became a symbol of the Greek Pontic national liberation movement. Ironically, the Fedayeen of the Hamshen Armenians and the militias of the Turkish Pontic detachments of Kemal Ataturk had the same appearance. All elements of the women's costume of the Pontic Greeks are also present in a similar costume complex of Armenians living in Pontus (confessional differences bring specificity to the clothes of women of Muslim groups in the region). Both the male and female costume, probably polyvariable and heterogeneous, in terms of the origin of its constituent elements, during its existence in Pontus, under the influence of the “Pontic revival” movement, and especially after resettlement to the Caucasus and the Balkans, began to be considered as an integral and homogeneous costume complex. Its descriptions as a standardized "national costume" can often be found in the literature published by the Pontic National Societies: Egkuklopaideia tou Pontiakou Ellhnismou. Qessalonikh, MALLIAPHS PAIDEIA. 1988. T. 1-6; About PontoV. Istoria, Laografia kai PolitismoV. Qessalonikh, MALLIAPHS PAIDEIA. 1991. T. 1-2. and others. Folklore groups that work with 117 of these societies sew stage costumes, exactly following published descriptions. The following is one of the modern reconstructions of the Pontic women's costume:38 Underwear: to kamis (white linen or other plant material shirt); to brakin, antzofor or lwmman (underpants made of linen or cotton fabric, white, legs tied at the bottom). Outerwear: to salbar, sarbal (wide trousers, long to the ankles, worn on top of the vrakin, sewn from woolen, cotton, flannel and silk fabric, at the bottom of the legs there are two cutouts - podwnara, which are tied with braid); h zoupouna enterh or dntdri (a long robe-like dress with high slits on the sides, without sleeves or slit sleeves, with a wide collar, sewn from brightly colored cotton, silk fabric, older women wear a zupuna on a wadded lining); to spaler, klnkeluk (tour.), sirtnoc (arm.) (bib, worn under a zupuna, tied on the back with two laces - ta spalodema); to zwnar (belt shawl, sewn from both homemade woolen and imported cotton (etzemsalin or atzam-salin), woolen (lacwr zonar) and silk (trapoloz or tarapoloz) fabrics, worn with a folded corner, tied up at the waist); h fota (an apron with vertical or horizontal stripes, worn over a zupuna, tied with a narrow belt - ta klemia); to pastampal (cloth apron, usually light cherry in color); h koknetsa (back apron made of dark brown homespun wool, tied in front); to kokntes (short waist-length jacket made of cloth or velvet, lined, worn on top of the zupuna, worn unbuttoned); to kontogoun (kokntes lined with wolf fur, worn by young women); h tsoca (short waist-length jacket made of local black cloth, unlined); h saltamarka (short cloth jacket with red lining, zupunas are worn on top); h gouna, makroguonon (short, below the waist, coat made of black or coffee-colored cloth); h ntelme, ddlmd (tur.) (a long coat made of cloth, unlined, worn by older women, without fastening); h limpante, libdddd (tur.) (a winter coat made of cotton, flannel or cashmere, worn unbuttoned). Headwear: h tapla (a low oval fez covered with blue fabric, embroidered with black thread, decorated with gold or silver coins - to tepelik, tapallk (tur. ) worn only by girls); to letzek, lezek (tur.) (a quadrangular cotton head scarf); to terlik, tärlik’ (tur.) (colorful veil with sewn coins); to poulloun, pourloun (a wedding veil made of thin fabric of red or green color, the bride dresses for a wedding); to sal (winter woolen headscarf, worn by older women). After moving to the Caucasus, the Pontic Greeks began to wear clothes of the all-Caucasian pattern (long-brimmed chokha, Circassian coat, "Caucasian shirt", etc.), which was later replaced by urbanized factory clothes. Longer than the rest of the "traditional" elements, shoes - cherokhi - were preserved, and in the women's costume complex - a striped apron, which is a kind of symbol of the region. Striped fabrics produced in the Empire of Trebizond were valued as early as the 13th century.39 In the process of forming the national Pontic identity, clothing begins to perform an ethnic-identifying function, while the symbolism of some of its components undergoes fluctuations in the amplitude of the opposition “own – alien”. Thus, the Christian Greeks in Pontus were more integrated into the field of European civilization, they began to wear urban European dress, considering the clothes of the rural population (Laz costume, zipuna) to be Turkish, while the Crypto-Christians continued to wear “traditional” clothes.40 In the North Caucasus, such elements costumes such as women's trousers, a hood, a men's fez, which were widespread among all groups of Pontus, begin to be assessed as unequivocally "Turkish", "Muslim" and are forced into the marginal sphere of clothing use - ritual dressing during the calendar holidays of the winter cycle (see Calendar holidays). At the same time, throughout the 20th century, the process of reconstruction of the Pontic national clothes from the regional costume complex of the 19th century was going on.

dwelling

There are several types of residential buildings in Pontus, the Pontic Greeks were characterized by two of them: (1) “Lazi house” (distinguished as a subtype of the Balkan-Anatolian house of the southern European type): square or rectangular in plan with 4 pitched roofs, 1.5- 2-storey (1st floor - utility rooms, 2nd - residential), frame-pillar structure, brick or stone walls, masonry is divided into squares by slats (fabric construction, outside the slatted frame is not plastered, and the masonry is plastered and whitewashed ). 41 The interiors of the house are decorated with wood carvings. Inside the house there is a fireplace for heating, the kitchen is taken out into the yard. Another type (2) of rural Pontic dwellings are houses in the highland zone, this should also include seasonal dwellings on summer pastures: all the characteristics of a “Lazi house” are inherent, but usually one-story, with an earthen floor, the walls are made of wild stone, unplastered. Necessarily among the outbuildings in the yard there is a barn on piles for storing corn (cseranter). After moving to the Caucasus, the Pontic Greeks build houses the same as the local population.

Rites of the life cycle

Birthing rites
Cultural prescriptions related to pregnancy: a pregnant woman should not be present at the funeral, if the prohibition is violated, the child can be born feet first (symmetry of the life cycle in the mythological consciousness: "birth" / "death", cf. carrying the deceased out of the house feet first); the expectant mother must not swear, otherwise the child will be born rude and capricious; if future parents work for a holiday, then the child will be born a cripple. A midwife (h mamh) used to take delivery in the house of the woman in labor. During difficult childbirth, the midwife prayed to the Mother of God and St. George. The newborn was bathed in warm salted water or swaddled in a salty sheet, explaining this by the “hardening” of the baby or the special healing effect of salt, which prevents skin irritation during sweating. In the North Caucasus, among the Russian population, the comic nickname of the Pontic Greeks "salted Greek", associated with this rite, is widespread. In the Caucasus-Pontic region, bathing a newborn in salt water is common mainly among Armenians, and probably performs an ethno-differentiating function among the Christian groups of the region: Monophysite Armenians / Orthodox (Georgians, Greeks). In Transcaucasia, the Pontic Greeks do not use salt in maternity rituals, and associate the ritual of bathing a newborn in salt water with the Armenian tradition (cf. “salted Armenian” among the Pontic Greeks in the village of Yagdan, Stepanavan region, Armenia). The existence of the ritual of bathing a baby in salt water among the North Caucasian Pontic groups testifies to the mutual influence of the cultures of Christian groups in Pontus during the Ottoman period (cf. Armenian-speaking Greeks in the village of Kyaryak, Greek-speaking Armenian-Gregorians in the Kuban region), and its conservation indicates the absence of tradition in the North Caucasus opposition of Armenian-Gregorian and Orthodox Christianity among the dominant Russian Orthodox population. A newborn is baptized on the 40th day after birth (numerical code: "thurs", ten times the number "4", cf. "40 days" in the funeral rites). If the baby died before baptism, he was buried outside the cemetery fence. Godparents invite a man and a woman, not a husband and wife (in Armenia, godparents can be husband and wife, probably under the influence of the Armenian tradition, when only a man baptizes, and his wife is considered a “godmother”) and not relatives of a newborn, they also perform the functions of koumparos 'and koumparts'y at the godson's wedding (option: the godfathers of a newborn are "godfathers" at the wedding of his parents, the godfather's son becomes a koumbaros). The mother takes communion on the 40th day, before that she should not enter the church, should not leave the house at night. For the first months, the child sleeps in a kounun cradle, to which they tie amulets against the evil eye (a “matozinicon” bracelet made of black and white stones (the same bracelet is worn on children’s hands), coal wrapped in a handkerchief, chicken droppings). If the child does not begin to walk for a long time, they take him out to the crossroads and put his feet on the meat of a freshly slaughtered animal; according to another option, 7 loaves are baked, distributed to children who play with a “sick” baby. Pontic Greeks believe that the child "recovers" - begins to walk, because St. George cuts the invisible fetters that bind the baby's legs (cf. among the Greek-speaking Muslims, Hamsi-Kei, the child's father cuts the rope that binds the big toes). 119 Wedding rituals The traditional wedding ceremony of the Pontic Greeks is field-variable, the semiotic filling of its elements depends on the traditions of the ethnic groups that make up the majority of the population of the regions where the Pontics live. Pre-wedding stage. Matchmaking (Logon, son yalojeme): matchmakers (simpeqerh) - distant relatives of the groom go "to take the word (logon)" to the house of the bride's parents. In a metaphorical form, those who came explain the purpose of their arrival: “Our hunter shot and wounded a dove, it flew into your house” or “our chicken is sitting in your house”; sometimes the matchmakers and the girl's parents arrange a bargain for the "chick". Zoomorphic code: female - female bird (dove, chicken), heifer, wounded game; male hunter, "buyer". The consent of the bride's side is given only during the third visit of the matchmakers, they are treated and agreed on the day of the betrothal. Betrothal (Soumadh (trabz.), simadh (sams.)): arranged in the house of the bride's parents, where the groom, his parents, godparents, and other relatives go. The groom's side brings vodka, fried chicken (given to the bride's side), a tray of homemade bambinets (tulle-wrapped nuts and sweets). Option: the bride's side prepares the chicken; during the engagement, the toastmaster in a joking manner offers to buy the groom's party chicken; the bride's relatives change clothes, during the bargain they hold on to the rope, the end of which is tied to the toastmaster. Zoomorphic code: ritual metaphor "chicken - bride". The bride is in a separate room, her father takes her to the groom (option: the groom is offered to “guess” the bride among 7 girls who are taken out of the room, the “real bride” has a ring on her hand - a gift from the matchmakers). The bride and groom exchange trays with soumadiatkei bambanettes (on the groom's tray, the sumavyats are wrapped in blue tulle, on the bride's - in white or pink). After the exchange, bambanettes are distributed to all those present (option: the guests snatch them out, competing to see who gets the most). They exchange rings: the groom's parents put the ring on the bride's hand and vice versa - the bride's parents - on the groom's hand. Communication code: the parents of the bride and groom act as their deputies in the ritual. At the engagement, they agreed on the day of the wedding. The groom buys the bride's dress or a piece of fabric for it. A few days before the wedding, the dress is taken to the bride's house by the groom's mother or kumbaros or his friends. Sometimes a cut for a wedding dress is placed on a tray with which the groom's party comes to be engaged. For those who bring a dress, they arrange a feast, for a dress they give a gift or money. On the same day, the bridesmaids or her sister go to the groom's house with clothes for the groom and his father - usually a shirt and socks. The girls are given gifts and treats. In the wedding rituals of the Muslim Greeks of Pontus, there is a similar ceremony: two days before the wedding, a kirva brings a wedding dress from the groom to the bride's house, which he buys in the city. The bride's parents cordially receive the envoy and arrange a feast in his honor. Bathing of the groom / bride (Loushmata): on the eve of the wedding on Friday, her girlfriends gathered at the bride's house (option: at the bride's aunt) and imitated the bride's bathing. A feast was arranged for the girls. The groom with his friends went to the kumbaros, who "shaved" him, for which he received a rooster as a gift (zoomorphic code: metaphor "rooster - groom", cf. ritual metaphor "hen - bride"). Option: the groom with the kumbaros go to the uncle, where the groom is shaved by the "hairdresser" (one of the groom's friends or neighbors), who demands payment for his work. In modern wedding rites, "bathing the bride" is not practiced, and bathing/shaving the groom is usually performed on the wedding day before the wedding train leaves for the bride's house. For Greek-speaking Muslims, the bride and groom bathe at their parents' home on the morning of their wedding day. The bride paints her palms and fingers with henna after the bath. After the bath, the groom is shaved by the hairdresser, who is paid by the kirva or friends. Sometimes the groom is shaved not by the barber, but by the kirva himself, for the money that he collects in the bride's house when he takes the dress there. The actual wedding (Caran, Gamon). Patria is a virilocal wedding ceremony with elements of uxoriolocality, i.e. the main marriage-sanctioning rituals take place on the territory of the groom or his parents (father): but they arrange a separate wedding feast for the bride's relatives in her parents' house on the eve of the girl's removal, the young woman returns after the wedding for a few days to her parents' house. The wedding lasts 4 days (from Saturday to Tuesday). Saturday - wedding in the bride's house, gifting the bride. For Greek-speaking Muslims, the day before the wedding, preparations take place in the house of the bride and the groom, but they do not arrange feasts and dances. Sunday - the wedding train to the bride's house, the bridegroom kumbaros, azaps (friends of the groom), musicians (kyamyanzhist, tambourine or drummer and zurnachi) follow the bride. The groom's party carries vodka on a tray, fried chicken decorated with red ribbons or a "red cap" (option: they carry a live chicken, hurt her to scream), the bride's wedding dress (veil) (option: the dress is brought on Sunday morning by the groom's relatives ). The boundary of the loci of the bride and groom is marked: the kumbaros breaks the chicken meat in front of the gate of the bride's yard, pays for the entrance to the yard and the bride's house (treats vodka) (option: the groom quietly climbs over the fence and makes his way into the house). The bride is dressed by her relative (option: invited woman), friends sing sad songs (option: the groom is present when dressing). If the bride is not getting married for the first time, then the dress is pink. A towel is tied on the right hand of the kumbaros and the musicians, wax flowers are pinned on the left chest of the bride and groom. Azaps in the yard of the bride's parents kill several chickens, take the meat with them (option: the groom's friends quietly steal several chickens from the bride's parents on Saturday evening, kill and defiantly put them in front of the bride's house). In the wedding ceremony of the Greek Muslims of Pontus, on the evening before the wedding, the groom's friends steal a plate from the bride's house, which they return after the wedding. In the bride's house, only the groom and his friends sit at the table, the bride's side is standing. The bride's sister puts a dish of fried chicken in front of them, only the groom and his friends eat it: they break the meat with their hands, the bride's sister is given money. The brother puts on the bride's veil, breaks the wedding cake-churek over her head into 2-4 parts, gives one part to the groom's side. He also hands over the bride to the kumbaros or groom. Kumbaros pays the bride's brother and mother, the woman who dresses her. They go to get married in the church, the bride and groom go together (option: get married after the wedding). In church, the bride and groom stand with their right feet on a handkerchief spread on the floor. Now an obligatory element of a wedding is the registration of marriage in the registry office, a church wedding may not be arranged at all. After the registry office / church, they go to the groom's house: from the bride's side comes her brother, a kumbar woman (“godmother” - she baptizes the first-born together with a kumbaros), girlfriends. Ahead of the wedding train is one of the groom's friends with a lit candle, the groom's mother gives him gifts, gives him a fried chicken (an archaic version: azap rides a horse into the groom's house). The road is blocked by a rope for young people, kumbaros treats them with vodka to let them through. Kumbartz redeems a place for the bride, a child sits in her place, he is given money. At the table, the kumbaros sits next to the groom, the kumbartsa sits with the bride, the bride sits to the left of the groom. Parents and other relatives of the bride come to the groom's house later, Azaps and musicians are sent for them. They are seated at a separate table or at the far end of the table from the young. The bride's relatives are treated to fried chicken (option: 7 fried chickens are left for the bride's relatives, they ask for one chicken per hour). At midnight, a circle dance (Qemiazme, Arcoloman (samsun.)) 7 couples (option: 7 circles) dance, the groom, bride, kumbaros, kumbartsa are sure to dance. Then comes the gifting of the young. The first night in the groom's house, the bride sleeps in a separate room with a Kumbarian. Monday: The bride's dowry is brought. At night, the bride and groom sleep together. Bed ceremony: in the morning, the groom's relative checks the sheet. Tuesday: friends and relatives of the young arrange comic disguise. post-wedding phase. Return of the Young (OpiV). 7 days after the wedding, the bride returns to her parents' house. A week later, the groom comes for her, a feast is arranged. Option: 8 days after the wedding, the bride's parents bring 8 pies to the groom's house, and 15 days after the wedding, the bride returns to her parents' house for 2-3 days. Among the Pontic Greeks, until the middle of the 20th century, there were marginal forms of marriage - 121 marriages by kidnapping, and archaic elements of ritual avoidance by the daughter-in-law of her husband's older relatives - a young daughter-in-law for several years (up to 15 years) was not supposed to talk with her father-in-law and her husband's older brothers. Funeral rites Preparatory stage The body of the deceased is washed not by relatives, but by invited people, they are paid with gifts and from the things of the deceased, scarves, soap. They can also “dress” the deceased: clean linen, a new dress / suit. In Pontus, some groups of Greeks buried the body without clothes, like the Muslims, wrapping it in a shroud. Buttons are not fastened on clothes, knots are not tied (on a headscarf, tie and belt), shoes are not worn - they are placed nearby in a coffin (option: they must be buried in shoes). The head of the deceased is necessarily covered with a scarf, they don’t put a hat in the coffin - they give it to someone. The dressed body is covered from above with a white cloth or tulle, which is called a shroud-sabantou. Option: a sheet with a cutout for the head in the middle is “dressed” on the body, this sheet is also called a “shroud”, and then clothes are pulled over it, on top of the clothes the body can be covered with another shroud. Here, a ritual inversion is possible in the opposition “top - bottom”: the layers of the “clothes” of the deceased change places, the upper one - the shroud - turns out to be below, and the lower “clothing” proper is at the top, which is possibly due to the stability of the more archaic variant - the naked body was wrapped in a shroud. Such an inversion could have arisen in a situation of changing the confession “Islam/crypto-Christianity-Christianity”. The burial of the deceased is buried on the 3rd (in Abkhazia and Georgia - on the 7th) day after death. All this time, the body has been in the house, in a separate room, next to it, relatives and friends are on duty, changing day and night. There is a ban on funerals on Monday and Friday. The coffin should not be carried by the relatives of the deceased. Before being taken out of the house, the coffin is raised three times, turned clockwise, and knocked on the door. In the funeral procession, a sweet kutya consecrated in the church is carried ahead. In the cemetery, a cross is placed on the grave at the feet of the deceased (in some groups in the head, for example in Abkhazia), and an inverted bucket without a bottom can be installed at the feet (Abkhazia, Krasnodar Territory: Merchanskoye village, Novokrymsky farm, etc.) for a candle that should burn up to 40 days. But it is possible that an inverted leaky bucket can also have deeper semantics - the entrance / exit from the grave / “the other world” (cf. the mediative function of the bucket in economic activity: for raising water from a well, as an impromptu chimney pipe on the roof of a house, here it is a bucket without a bottom). Such an interpretation of the bucket is indirectly confirmed by the archaic forms of tombstones in the Pontic cemeteries (late 19th - early 20th century) in the form of a temple with a door in a niche for a candle: cf. bucket - "entrance to the grave" = door - "entrance to the temple-tombstone". The very possibility of getting out of the grave is developed in Pontic demonology: the dead werewolf, hortlak (cortlak) is known to all the peoples of the region, among the Hamshen Armenians and Pontic Greeks it is a dead Muslim who comes to life at night. A feature of the funeral rites of the Greek-speaking Muslims of Pontus is, along with the Muslim specificity of the rite and the absence of village-wide cemeteries, each family buries their loved ones on their own land in the immediate vicinity of the house. Mourning Relatives of the deceased wear clothes in which black (dark blue) prevails, older women do not take off mourning even after the end of the mandatory period (from 1 to 5 years). Men do not shave 40 days after the death of a relative. Mourning in clothes is especially strictly observed in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Abkhazia). Memorial days: 3rd, 9th, 40th, half a year, anniversary - a memorial meal is usually arranged (see Food). On the 40th day, the most severe mourning ends: meat (pork) can be served on the table, they no longer light a lamp in the room where the deceased lay (a candle on the grave), burn a piece of the shroud, pour out the remnants of the water that washed the deceased.

Calendar rites

The Pontic Greeks use the official Gregorian and church Julian calendars, there is a popular name for the months (almost forgotten):

1 January KalantarV — Zdymän-ayi Kalantar 2 February Kountouroun Kyzyk Csck Kyzyk 3 March Mart — » March 4 April April (Ampril) — » April 5 May Kalomhna Mais Mais Mais 6 June Kerasoun Kiraz-ayi Kiraz-ayi Keras 7 July CortoqertV Orah( -ayi) Ot-ayi Orak 8 August AgeriteV (?) Austos Meriamana-ayi Austos 9 September Stabrhta Stavrit Haz-ayi Istabrht 10 October Trhgomhna — Avara Pizim ayi 11 November — ? Koz-ayi Izim ayi 12 December — ? Kara klє Karakuє Russian Greek Turkish Turkish Greek-speaking Pontic* Pontic (Urums) Muslims (Bafrali, Ponta*** Samsuns)**

*Based on the materials of the expedition in 1999 in the village. Yagdan (Stepanovskiy region, Armenia); ** based on materials by V. Kolesov (Kolesov 1997, 103); *** based on the materials of the 1997 expedition to Pontus (village of Hamsi-key, silt of Trabzon, Turkey). Pontic Greeks distinguish three seasons: winter - cimongon, giє (Samsun, Bafrali); summer - anexi (literally warm), yaz (samsuts, bafrali); autumn - moqopor (tV), güz (Bafrali), küz (Samsun people), spring is denoted by the phrase "warmth comes" - ersei anexi, erqen anex (Greek-speaking Muslims) (cf. yazbaєl among the Urums), among the Bafra and Samsun Greeks spring as a separate the season is not distinguished in the language. Calendar holidays: Winter cycle New Year (Neo cronoV). Costumes: “bear” masks (arkoV) (inverted fur coat, stick in hands, at the request of the audience imitates the behavior of people of different professions), “goats” (aigid) (mask with horns, lead on a leash), “brides” (dressed in women’s dress is a man, walks with a broom and sweeps the yard) acts in tandem with the "groom" (may be a woman dressed in a man's dress), "Turk" (an old headdress acts as a sign - a hood, which is perceived as Turkish), "horses" (2 people covered with one veil), etc.; caroling; fortune-telling for the groom (at midnight); in the morning a young guy or a black dog should enter the house first; they bake a festive churek in which a coin is baked, the one who gets a piece of churek with a coin will be happy in the coming year; the godchildren go to congratulate the godfather, they bring a cake, vodka, a shirt, socks, sweets. Christmas (Cristou). They observe fasting for 40 days, caroling (they sing in the modern Greek - dimotika language, the texts of carols become widespread probably at the end of the 19th century), disguise. The Pontic Greeks living in Armenia call Christmas with the word Lampth, i.e. literally - Easter, they explain that they celebrate in December (in Armenia, Christmas is celebrated on December 25). Bafra Greeks call Christmas Kuzuk par’yam, which is translated from Turkish as “little Easter”, the word paryam also means fasting (cf. Arabic bayram is a Muslim holiday). Old New Year (Kalanta, CouspwdeV). Caroling, caroling (see New Year); theatrical performance of mummers: "old" and "young Khuspodes" fight for the "bride", "young Khuspodes" wins (at the Bafrali, "Arap" and "Khadchaman" fight for the bride). Men walk on the money collected during caroling all night, in the morning they go to the well (source), where the festivities and shooting continue. Women bring wheat seeds, pies, nuts to the well in the morning. Baptism (FwtoV). They carol, conduct a procession: the priest goes from the church to the 123rd day, the pasture of cattle was timed to summer pastures, where he stayed until the autumn feast of the saint. During the autumn holiday, carpets are hung and spread in the houses, and on the spring holiday they are removed. In Pontus, among Greek-speaking Muslims, the ritual tradition of the Christian holiday merges with the Muslim holiday of Hidyriles. Summer-autumn cycle Ascension [Thursday, 40th day after Easter]. The girls arrange a fortune-telling game “ficäk” (things are taken out of the jug, the owners of which will find out their fate from the song being performed at that moment). Trinity. Prayers for rain (now of an occasional nature) are timed to coincide with this holiday, sometimes for the sun (perhaps an inversion in the semantics of the text of the ritual): they make a Kushkuver doll from old clothes (Kuєkuvera (Samsun people), Kouskoudera (Trabzon people), Kouskoukouran (village of Yagdan, Stepanavan region, Armenia; Sakire village, Dmanisi region, Georgia)), girls and women carry it around the village and sing a song asking for rain (sun), then the doll is drowned in the river. Similar rituals are known among other peoples in Pontus: among the Hamshen Armenians, the doll is called “Kushkurig”, among the Hemshils - “kashuk” - lit. "a spoon". The name of the doll is Kushkuv(d)era, Kushkukuran is possibly etymologized from koukoux (Greek), kuku (tur.) - “cuckoo”.42 To make it rain, they put on old clothes (a fur coat with fur outside), pour water over it, you need to kill a snake or a toad (compare the motive of the Indo-E. of the main myth about the snake - the thief of water, the motive of snake fighting). Day of the prophet Elijah (Agi Hlia, AgioV HliaV). Make a sacrifice; in the mythological ideas of the Pontics, the prophet Elijah is associated with the sun, perhaps by the consonance of the name of the saint with Pontus. Greek the word "hlioV" - "sun". St. Day Panteleimon (Agi Panteleimon). The saint is revered as a healer; on this day they gather in churches dedicated to St. Panteleimon, in prayers they ask him for the recovery of the sick. Assumption of the Virgin (Panagia, Meryamana - urums of Tsalka). They gather in a church dedicated to the Mother of God; across the sea or the river and throws a silver cross into the water, young men dive after it, whoever gets the cross is given money and treats. In the Pontic region, participation in the cosmogonic rituals of the Christmas-Epiphany cycle of a disguised “bear” as one of the participants in a sacred marriage is specific for the Pontic Greeks. Spring Cycle Palm Sunday (to Bagio) [Sunday a week before Easter]. Children go from house to house, asking for apples (village of Sakire, Dmanisi district, Georgia). Easter (Lamprh, Byuk par'yam - at the Bafrali). They observe a forty-day fast; on Friday before Easter, work is allowed only until lunch; sing an Easter song (in modern Greek-Dimotic language). St. Day George (Aer, Ai-Yor, Ayios Iorgos, Ayios Georgios). Visit churches dedicated to this saint; make a sacrifice-gurpan (sacrificial animal - a ram, a bull, a rooster). Sacrifice is not approved by the Orthodox Church, but continues to exist in folk Christianity in the Pontic-Caucasian region among Georgians, Udins, Armenians, etc. There are widespread ideas about St. George as the patron of women in childbirth, shepherds and travelers. In the folklore of St. George has ambivalent semantics, he is described as "young" and "old", "black" and "white". For the mythology of St. George, the central motif is snake fighting, in the legendary folklore the antagonist of St. George is the serpent of Izhdah (Azhdag). Izhdaha is a character in fairy tales among the Pontic Greeks, Lazians, Turks, and to a lesser extent the Hemshils, and is almost unknown to the Hamshen Armenians. The image of Izhdah is of Persian origin, and is widespread in the folklore of the Turkic peoples of the Central Asian-Middle Eastern area. The important role assigned to Izhdah in the folklore of the Pontic Greeks (his connection with one of the central Christian saints - George) may indicate the intensity of Greco-Turkic contacts in the past. Spring and autumn days of St. George are the border of the seasonal and economic calendar: in Pontus and Transcaucasia, for the spring holiday, they visit the so-called. holy places that legends associate with the Mother of God (as a rule, these are springs whose water is considered healing). In Ponte, the Sumela rock monastery was dedicated to the Mother of God; water from springs flows along the walls carved into the rock, which give healing properties. An obligatory element of this Christian holiday among the Pontics is considered a gurpan sacrifice (a young ram or a rooster is sacrificed), they often make a vow - they promise to make a sacrifice on this day to commemorate the recovery of a seriously ill person or getting rid of mortal danger (for example, in a car accident). In the Krasnodar Territory, the place of celebration of the Assumption of the Mother of God is the source "Holy Pen" in Grushevaya Balka near the station. Neberdzhaevskaya of the Crimean region, Pontic Greeks from all regions of the region come here, arrange mass celebrations, feasts, and dances. According to the Pontic legend, this spring appeared at the site of the deliverance of the Virgin of St. George from the Serpent<Иждахи>(cf. the plot of the main myth of Indo-E. mythology).43 Greek-speaking Muslims Hamsikey (Ilche ​​Machka, il Trabzon, Turkey) in August celebrate Meriyam-ana (cf. Tsalkintsy urums) - the day of St. Meriyam - the mother of the prophet Isa. Residents of villages in the vicinity of Machka on the day of Meriyam-ana gather for a picnic near Sumela. Earlier on this day, candles were lit near the walls of the monastery. Now, in August, near the Sumela Monastery, festivals of the "Roman" culture are held, that is, the days of the culture of the indigenous population of the Ilche ​​Macka. Day of the Exaltation of the Cross (Stauron, lit. "cross"). On the morning of this day, it is considered a good omen if a guy or a black dog enters the house first (cf. similar signs in New Year's rituals). The Pontic Greeks may identify this holiday with the Day of John the Baptist. On this day, it is forbidden to eat black grapes and watermelon (the red juice of the berries symbolizes the blood of John the Baptist, the watermelon symbolizes his severed head). Days of Saints Barbara, Savva and Nicholas. These days they do not work, they arrange a feast at home. Now, under the influence of the ideology of pan-Hellenism, the Pontic Greeks living in the CIS countries celebrate the national holidays of the Republic of Greece as pan-Greek - Independence Day of Greece; Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus; "Ohy" - the day when the Greek government rejected the ultimatum of surrender put forward by the Italian command): meetings, performances by amateur theaters, collective feasts are held in Pontic national-cultural societies.

Ethnopolitical organizations

On the territory of the Russian Federation, in places of compact residence of Pontic Greeks, there are “Greek national societies”, the coordinating center of which is the “Association of Greek Societies of Russia”. Foreign ethnopolitical organizations of Pontic Greeks: "Panhellenic Federation of Pontic Societies" (operating since 1973), the leadership is located in Thessaloniki (Greece); "Federation of Pontic Societies of Southern Greece" (since 1986) - in Athens (Greece); "Federation of Pontic Societies of Northern Greece" - in Thessaloniki (Greece); "Federation of Pontic Societies of the USA and Canada"; "Federation of Pontic Societies of Germany"; "Federation of Pontic Societies of Australia". Pontic Greeks make up the majority in the organizations belonging to the "Federation of Greek Societies" of Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan ("Filia"), Armenia. Since 1988, representatives of Greek societies in the USSR / CIS have been participating in the activities of the World Congress of Pontic Greeks. The goal of Greek public organizations in the Russian Federation is the creation and operation of the "cultural autonomy" of the Greeks of Russia, their practical activities are reduced to cultural and educational work: the opening of Greek language courses at societies, the preparation and holding of celebrations (national holidays, festivals of national culture), participation in student and schoolchildren exchange programs, publishing and scientific activities (in 1994, the Center for Pontic Studies was established in Pyatigorsk); and also promote the repatriation of Greeks - the issuance of exit visas to Greece. 125

Russia and Greece are states that do not have a common border, but at the same time are spiritually and historically close to each other. Orthodoxy, the continuity of the "Third Rome" of Moscow from the "Second Rome" of Constantinople have become the most important spiritual bond that unites our peoples. Today, when to say "NO!" To the European Union, it is Moscow and the Eurasian Economic Union that are considered by them as the main Center of attention and integration. Modern Hellenes pin their hopes on Russia in the return of Constantinople/Istanbul and the establishment of an Orthodox cross over the Hagia Sophia. And not in vain. For us, the Greeks remain not only a fraternal people, but also part of the multinational family of peoples of the Russian nation.

Pontic Greeks (or Pontians) are an ethnic group of Greeks originating from the historical region of Pontus; in Russia, the largest diaspora has developed in the south of Crimea, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and the North-West of the Caucasus. Emphasizing their historical succession to the Byzantine Empire, they use the self-name "Romans". Most of the Pontics speak the Pontic dialect of the Modern Greek language, some are Turkic-speaking (Bafrali) or use the Turkish language. At the end of the XIX century. in the village Kyaryak was inhabited by "Greek-Armenians" - Pontic Greeks who spoke Armenian. Today, for many Pontic Greeks in Russia, Russian has become their mother tongue.

The mass acceptance of Russian citizenship by the Pontic Greeks occurred in a fairly recent historical period, the end of the 18th century. - the beginning of the XX century. The first wave of Greek emigration began after the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. At that time, the Russian Empire acted as a protector of the Christian peoples, and the Greeks expected to restore statehood thanks to it. The second wave of resettlement occurred from 1801 to 1856. In 1810, a "Committee for the resettlement of Christians from Turkey to the Caucasus" was created in Tiflis. About 100 thousand Pontians crossed the Russian border and settled in Georgia. As noted by the illustrious General A.P. Yermolov "The Greeks have found refuge with us from villains and murders." The third wave begins in 1862 on the basis of the law on the resettlement of Turkish Christians in the Russian Empire. In 1878, after the annexation of the Kars region, 75 thousand Pontic Greeks became its inhabitants, many of whom moved to the Kuban and Terek. So, among the first villages in the Pyatigorsk district, where the Greek settlers arranged their homes, were Nagut, Krymgirey, Sultan. By 1883, 130 Greeks lived in the Terek region, mainly in the city of Vladikavkaz. The fourth wave of resettlement began in 1915, when the government of the Ottoman Empire began the genocide of the Greek population of Asia Minor.

Among the main ethnoterritorial groups of Pontic Greeks in the Northwestern Caucasus, the following groups should be distinguished:

1) Sochi (Vysokoye village, Golitsyno village, Lesnoye village, Lipniki village, Krasnaya Polyana village, Vishnevka village);

2) Tuapse (village Gunaiskoe, village Grechesky, village Makopse, village Kalinovka, village Goyth, village Mesajai);

3) Crimean (h. Novokrymsk (Greek), h. Novo-Ukrainian, village Merchanskoe);

4) Abinsk-Severskaya (Karssky village, Severskaya station, Azovskaya station, Novo-Dmitrievskaya station, Kaluga station, Krepostnaya station, Smolenskaya station, Grigorievskaya station, Kholmsky village, Ilsky village, Abinsk);

5) hot-klyuchevskaya (village of Fanagoriyskoye);

6) Apsheron (st. Kurinskaya, h. Kura-Tsetse, h. Papazov, h. Akritasov);

8) Stavropol-Pyatigorsk (village Khasaut-Grecheskoe, village Grechesky, village Bekeshevka, village Suvorovka, village Nagut).

History demonstrates a clear example of the entry of historical Pontus into the Russian Empire, when, during the First World War, Russian troops occupied Trebizond, and the Greek Metropolitan Chrysanthos became the head of the region. It is noteworthy that after the February Revolution in Pontus there were three regiments formed by the Greeks of the Caucasus (1). In 1917, the Pontians organized two congresses in Tiflis and Taganrog. Based on the results of their work, the task of financially supporting the “capital of Pontic Hellenism” Trebizond was set, which, as it seemed then, after the war, together with Pontus, was to become part of the Russian Empire. During this period, the Pontic Greeks received 6 episcopal sees in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church. The idea of ​​Pontus and Greece becoming part of Russia existed until the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, when Turkey received the Kars region and Russian troops left Trebizond. Nowadays, Trabzon is a sister city of Sochi and, in the event of further development of existing trade and economic ties, it can form a joint “triangle of economic efficiency” or become part of the Black Sea Ecopolis headed by Greater Sochi.

Deprived of the opportunity to create their own state, the Pontic Greeks, thanks to the position of the Soviet authorities, received a national region with a center in Art. Crimean. Since 1932, the district had the status of republican significance. But the period of its existence was short, only 9 years. During this period, pedagogical technical schools were opened that trained teachers for Greek schools, textbooks and literature were published in Greek (2). In 1938, the Greek national region was abolished, and the Crimean region of the Krasnodar Territory was created in its place.

In the process of integrating the Pontic Greeks into the family of Russian peoples, the theory of Ya.F. Fallmerayer that the modern inhabitants of Greece are of Slavic origin, while the Pontic Greeks living in the Caucasus are descendants of the ancient Hellenes. Such an approach, although refuted by scientists, nevertheless contributes to the understanding of the inextricable kinship of our peoples and states. At the same time, on the basis of fingerprint characteristics analyzed by Yu. Tambovtsev, it is proved that the Greeks are not closely related to the peoples of the Caucasus, but their closest relatives are the Iranians of the Caspian Sea (3).

Living in the conditions of the North-Western Caucasus, the Pontic (trans-Kuban) Greeks did not assimilate with other Caucasian peoples, with the exception of fellow Armenians. The duration of cohabitation, the commonality of trade and economic interests were supplemented by a significant factor of the Orthodox faith, which prevailed over ethnicity, especially when surrounded by Muslim tribes of the Circassians. At the same time, from the point of view of traditions, the Pontic Greeks adopted elements of domestic life, national clothes, institutions of hospitality, atalism, kunachestvo and blood feud from the Circassians (4). Up until the beginning of the 20th century. the Greeks, especially women, had two names, while the Adyghe name was common. Such aspects make it possible to single out the Mountain Greeks separately from the general array of Pontics, as a sub-ethnos with strongly pronounced Adyghe features (5), some of whose representatives use the Adyghe language as a colloquial language.

Today, the Pontic Greeks are united through the Federal National-Cultural Autonomy of the Greeks of Russia. It is headed by a well-known philanthropist and Rostov businessman Ivan Ignatievich Savvidi. He also leads the society of the Greeks of Russia and the CIS countries. Among the priority areas of work of the FNKA of the Greeks of Russia, it is worth noting the holding of ethno-cultural events, the organization of pilgrimage programs for, student youth exchange programs and others. In addition, we single out a number of Greek national associations in the Russian Caucasus: the Regional National-Cultural Autonomy of the Greeks of the Stavropol Territory, the Regional National-Cultural Autonomy of the Greeks of the Krasnodar Territory, the Gelendzhik city "National-Cultural Autonomy of the Greeks", the local national-cultural autonomy of the Greeks of Belorechensk, local national and cultural autonomy of the Greeks of Timashevsk, local national and cultural autonomy of the Greeks of the Yenisei urban settlement, local national and cultural autonomy of the Greeks of the Municipal Formation of the Abinsky District, local national and cultural autonomy of the Greeks of the Municipal Formation of the Krymsky District, etc.

After the return of Crimea to Russia, Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of April 21, 2014 No. 268 “On measures for the rehabilitation of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Italian, Crimean Tatar and German peoples and state support for their revival and development” was adopted. In accordance with the provisions of the document, the Pontic Greeks received significant financial support in the framework of preserving their original culture and, at the same time, the opportunity to contribute to the development of the multinational culture of the Russian nation.

In our opinion, the process of developing Russian-Greek relations, as well as ensuring the integration of the Pontic Greeks into the Russian civil nation, would be more effective if the Russian Federation recognized the genocide of the Pontic Greeks by the Turkish authorities in 1916-1922. Today it is recognized by Armenia, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden, New South Wales (Australia), New York (USA). Moscow's principled position on this issue will ensure it not only support from the Pontic Greeks of the Caucasus, but also from Greece as a potential member of the Eurasian Economic Union.

Anton Bredikhin, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Researcher at IMEMO RAS named after A.I. EAT. Primakov

Notes

(2) Kokaeva A.V. The history of the appearance of the Greeks on the territory of the Central part of the North Caucasus (North Ossetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria) // Bulletin of the North Ossetian State University. K.L. Khetagurov. Social Sciences, 2009. No. 3. P. 25-37.

(3) Tambovtsev Yu., Tambovtseva L., Tambovtseva A. How close are the Greeks to other peoples in their fingerprint characteristics?// / ΣΧΟΛΗ. 2013. No. 7. 2. P. 354-372

(4) Adzinova Z.Yu. Ethno-cultural aspects of the mutual influence of the peoples of the North-Western Caucasus in the XIX century.// Bulletin of the Maikop State Technological University, 2014. No. 4. P.

(5) Kolesov V.I. Transformation of the identity of the Mountain Greeks of the North-Western Caucasus (XIX-XX centuries) / / Cultural life of the South of Russia, 2009. No. 2 (31). pp. 52-54

The material was prepared within the framework of the project of the Scientific Society of Caucasian Studies, "Ethno-cultural identity in the context of integration processes in the post-Soviet space",the implementation of which uses state support funds allocated as a grant in accordance with the order of the President of the Russian Federation No. 79-rp dated 04/01/2015 and on the basis of a competition held by the All-Russian public organization "Union of Pensioners of Russia"

Pontic Greek - a representative of the Greek ethnic group, belonging to which people, long before the onset of the New Era, mastered the Black Sea coast (in Greek - Pontus). Initially, their compact settlement was on the northern coast of Turkey, and only then they settled along the entire Black Sea coast.

Pontic Greeks - who are they?

Pont - the historical name of the area in Geographically, it extends from the border of Azerbaijan with Turkey, crosses the entire Turkish coast and ends at the line of the cities of Nikopol - Akdagma-Deni. How did the Greek settlers end up so far from the sunny islands of their homeland?

The ancient Greeks proved to be excellent merchants and colonizers. Their home country was distinguished by poor soil and mountainous terrain. This created acceptable conditions for animal husbandry, but the farmers had a hard time - the meager mountainous soils brought small crops, which were barely enough to feed their own families. As zealous owners, the Greeks did not develop deliberately unprofitable agriculture, but they discovered the prospects for sea wealth and trade routes.

trade routes

The Pontic Greek is a sailor and merchant. He was a welcome guest on all shores of the ecumene. The Greeks actively invested in the development of their own fleet, laid new routes for trade with distant tribes. It was in the places of storage of goods that small settlements of seafarers and merchants arose, who on the spot were engaged in trade with the native peoples and resold exotic goods at exorbitant prices in the cities of Greece and the Middle East.

First cities

The oldest known settlement of the Pontic Greeks was discovered on the coast of Asia Minor, in the city of Miletus. A few decades later, in the VIII-IX centuries BC. e. magnificent Sinop arose, which is now the pearl of the Turkish Black Sea coast. Then, like mushrooms after the rain, the cities of Amissos, Kotior, Kerasund and many others sprang up. It was not in vain that the ancient Herodotus said that the Pontic Greeks settled around the Black Sea, like frogs along the edges of a puddle. This metaphor accurately reflects the goals and methods of Greek settlement.

Despite the rather intrusive colonization, no major skirmishes with local tribes occurred. The Pontic Greek knew how to talk to the warlike natives not with the help of force, but with the help of hard cash. Such a policy negated the claims of the leaders of the local peoples - if anyone was indignant, the settlers preferred to pay off rather than fight. The Pontic Greeks established an excellent exchange of goods - they brought raw materials and grain crops to their homeland, and sent olive oil, wine, pottery and handicrafts, and jewelry to distant cities.

Religion and lore of Pontus

How did an ordinary representative of the ancient people, the Pontic Greek, justify his residence away from his homeland? The religion of these settlers basically copied the beliefs of their distant home country. They worshiped all the supreme gods of Olympus, but they also had their favorites.

Until now, on the coast of Asia Minor there are remains of the temples of Poseidon and Hermes - the patrons of the sea and trade. The Pontic Greeks also had their own traditions. For example, many of them preferred to explain their origin with the myths of Jason and the Argonauts. Perhaps the golden fleece itself in this famous legend symbolized the wealth of the Black Sea region, moreover (fleece) is one of the main items of trade.

Culture and art

The Pontic Greek zealously preserved his identity and proclaimed himself a Hellene, a representative of civilization, as opposed to the barbarians - the surrounding tribes, who at that time were at the stage of decomposition of the tribal system. The population of the colonies retained its identity and gave the world unique people who became famous in various fields of activity. Philosopher Diogenes, politicians Diphilus, Heracleides, Stravon. Already in the first millennium, the names of Vissarion and others appeared in theology, and the New Age introduced such names as Karatzasov, Ipsilantov, Muruzisov and others.

In the context of historical eras

During the period of Alexander the Great, Greek influence spread to the south of Turkey - the era of Hellenization began. During the reign of the Mithridates, this influence was still very strong - their language flourished in Asia Minor, monuments of architecture and art were created.

During the Pontic period, the Greek becomes a Christian. Thanks to the apostles Paul and Peter, the Eastern representatives of this people were among the first to create early Christian communities and recognize Jesus Christ as their Savior. Communities grew into monasteries, where supporters of the new faith found refuge.

Greeks or Romans?

During Byzantine times, the Pontic Greeks created their own province. At the behest of Justinian, Trebizond (Trabzon) became its capital. It was then that the second self-name of the Pontic Greeks appeared - Romans, which means "subjects of Rome" - this is how Byzantium was sometimes called in the East.

Relations "metropolis-province" connected Pontus and Constantinople until 1204, when the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire fell under the onslaught of the Franks. After that, the Nicaean state appears on the map, which later enters the empire of Trebizond. During its two hundred years of existence, this empire was constantly at war with the surrounding tribes of non-Christian faith. The Turks, who in 1461 conquered and plundered Trebizond, attacked the state of the Romans especially persistently.

Muslim dominion

The capture of Trebizond meant the decline of Christianity and the beginning of the spread of Islam in the ancient land of the Pontic Greeks. Massacre, violence, pogroms and violent Islamization under pain of deprivation of life - this is what Turkish rule brought to the Greeks. The survivors left the cities, pastures and churches and retreated high into the mountains, fearing religious persecution. But in the future, the Turkish authorities made some concessions and allowed the Greeks to develop certain types of production - metallurgy and ceramics, for example.

For many centuries, the Pontic Hellenes remained one of the most isolated peoples of the Turkish Empire. They practically did not intersect with other Christians, although they lived next to the Armenians and Kurds. Modest production, handicrafts and meager harvests collected from mountainous, infertile lands did not attract the attention of greedy military leaders and supreme Turkish officials. Perhaps that is why the Greeks managed to preserve their language and culture, expand their area of ​​residence in the regions of the Caucasus and Crimea and join the world community as an autonomous culture.

This state of affairs continued until 1922, when the Greeks were expelled from the lands that they had considered native for many years.

Exile

For many years, the Turkish authorities do not recognize the genocide and persecution of Armenians. But few people know that at the beginning of the 20th century, other peoples of Turkey, including the Pontic Greeks, were also persecuted. ethnicity was the cause of the complete eradication of the Greeks from their native lands and their forcible expulsion from the territory of Turkey. More than 350 thousand people were burned in churches and temples, the survivors fled, leaving behind all their property. May 19 became a mournful day for this people. As a result, the Pontic Greeks settled in the territories of other states. They were forced to leave their homeland.

The Pontic Greeks in Russia settled on the territory of the Kuban and the North Caucasus. Most of them speak Russian, but they have preserved some of the ancient traditions of their people. But most of the Pontic Greeks returned to their native shores of Greece.

So, 2.5 millennia after the first settlers left the rocky shores of Greece, they had to return to their native lands. Their odyssey ended with the return to their homeland. Let's wish them happiness.

• USA USA: 200 thousand people
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• Kazakhstan Kazakhstan: 12 703 people
• Uzbekistan Uzbekistan: 9.5 thousand people
• Armenia Armenia: 4 thousand people
• Syria Syria: 1 thousand people

Pontians(Pontic Greeks; Greek. πόντιοι, ποντιακός ελληνισμός, έλληνες του πόντου, ρωμαίοι; tour. Pontus rumları) - ethnic group of Greeks, descendants of the natives of Pontom in the north -east of Malaya Asia (modern Turkey).

They live in Ukraine, Georgia (the vast majority have already left the country), Armenia, Russia (in the North Caucasus), Kazakhstan, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus. Self-name - Romans (as the Byzantines called themselves - "Greek Romans"); now adopted the form "pontios" (Pontic), given to them by the Greeks of the metropolis. They spoke the Pontic language, which has now practically disappeared. during the 20th century, they mostly switched to Russian or modern Greek.

Greek settlement of the Black Sea coast

The first hints of Greek presence in the Black Sea region can be traced back to Greek mythology. This is the area where Jason and the Argonauts sailed in search of the Golden Fleece. The myth was recorded by Apollonius of Rhodes in his work, Argonautica. Modern historians date the Argo expedition to around 1200 BC. e., based on the description given by Apollonius.

The first attested Greek colony was Sinop, founded on the northern coasts of ancient Anatolia around 800 BC. e. The settlers of Sinop were traders from the Ionian Greek city-state of Miletus. After the colonization of the shores of the Black Sea, until then known to the Greek world as Pontos Axeinos (Inhospitable Sea), the name was changed to Pontos Euxeinos (Hospitable Sea). Along the entire Black Sea coastline in today's states of Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine and Romania, the number of Greek colonies grew. The region of Trapezus, later called Trebizond, now Trabzon, was mentioned by Xenophon in his famous Anabasis, where he and 10,000 other Greek mercenaries are described arriving at the coast of Pontus and landing there. Xenophon mentions that when at the sight of the sea they called out "Thalassa! Thalassa!" ("Sea! Sea!"), the natives understood them. A whole range of trade flourished among the various Greek colonies, but also with the native tribes who inhabited Pontus inland Soon Trebizond assumed a leading role among other colonies, and the area nearby became the heart of Greek culture and civilization of the Pontes.

This area was collected into a kingdom in 281 BC. e. Mithridates I of Pontus, whose lineage goes back to the time of Ariobarzanes I, ruler of the Greek city of Kios. The most prominent descendant of Mithridates I was Mithridates VI of Pontus, who between 90 and 65 BC. e. fought the Mithridatic Wars - three bitter wars against the Roman Republic before ultimately being defeated. Mithridates VI expanded his kingdom to Bithynia, Crimea and Propothos before its fall after the Third Mithridatic War.

However, the kingdom still survived as a state vassal to Rome, now called the Bosporan Kingdom and located in the Crimea until the 4th century AD, when these territories were captured by the Huns. The rest of Pontus became part of the Roman Empire, while the mountainous area (Chaldia) was fully incorporated into the Byzantine Empire during the 6th century. Pontus was the birthplace of the Komnenos dynasty, which ruled the empire from 1082 to 1185 - a time in which the empire was reborn from the ashes, having conquered most of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.

see also

• Genocide of the Pontic Greeks
• Deportation of Pontic Greeks
• Greeks in Egypt
• Urums
• Rumei

Links

• Pontic Greeks. Who are they? Gelendzhik Society of Greeks (Site gelengreek.ru)
• Pontic genocide (site pravmir.ru)
• GREEK MARTYROLOGY
• Michel Bruneau (ed.), Grecs pontiques: Diaspora, identité, territoires, Center National de la Recherche Scientifique (Cnrs) Éditions, Paris, 1998
• Nikos Doukas, The Pontian muslims at the target of Turkey
• About Pontic Culture of Anatolia
• The official website of the Pontian Federation of Greece
• Web site of everything Pontian
• World Wide Pontian Forum
• Pontian Federation of Australia
• Pontian Association in Stuttgart, Germany
• Pontian Association in South Russia
• Pontian website catalog
• Pontian Association in Frankfurt, Germany / Verein der Griechen aus Pontos in Frankfurt
• Pontian International site
• Internet Radio Akrites tou Pontou
• Pontian folk music
• Tsiambasin, traditional Pontic song
• Trebizond Greek: A language without a tongue
• All about Pontic culture
• Website with map showing colonization of the Black Sea by Greek
• The Incredible Odyssey of the Black Sea Greeks
• Greek Penetration of the Black Sea
• Kuznetsov I. V. Pontica Caucasica Ethnica. Center for Pontic-Caucasian Studies. Krasnodar, 1995
• http://genocide-greeks.ru/ Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus

Pontians, Pontians in Russia

The Hellenes are people who honor and preserve the traditions of ancient Hellas. This is the state that gave rise to Greece and is inextricably linked with the ancient, medieval and modern culture of the country of olives. Hellenes are the ancient Greeks. The Hellenes are their descendants. In other words, the native Greeks. They are proud of their centuries-old history and pay tribute to it, try to preserve customs and traditions and generously share with tourists information about priceless architectural and literary monuments, philosophers - inhabitants of ancient Hellas. Greek legends and fairy tales are widely and everywhere studied. They are known throughout the world under the name "Myths of Ancient Greece".

Who are the Pontic Greeks? These are representatives of the South-East of the Black Sea coast. They are also called "Romeans" or "Romeos". Previously, these places near the Black Sea were called the town of Pont. Now representatives of Georgia, Armenia and other countries live here. Pontus stretched from Sinop to Batumi exactly along the Black Sea coast.

Indigenous and newcomers

Today it is no longer possible to distinguish for certain which of the Greeks is Hellenic and which is a true Pontic. All Greeks consider themselves Hellenes. They are proud of their roots. At the same time, it is believed that modern Greeks are not used to working on their own lands. They hire Bulgarians, Pakistanis, Albanians and even Arabs for this.

The Hellenes themselves sit in noisy companies in suburban cafeterias, have noisy conversations, not thinking about the fact that there is practically no industry in the country, and the state prospers due to agricultural production.

There are few Greek farmers, and they are used to working, breeding animals, growing vineyards and olive groves. They live in the countryside, they are not used to complaining about life, going to bars and talking about hard life with their neighbors. They come to the cities only to sell subsistence goods and buy something necessary for the house or children.

Every now and then on the roads and even federal highways you can see rattlets loaded with fruits and vegetables, rapidly rushing in the directions of cities and large settlements. It is better to stay away from such cars, locals recommend. "Agrotis" - this is how agricultural workers are called, often make unprecedented maneuvers on the roads, which leads to unforeseen consequences. Such are the Hellenes, the island and urban Greeks chuckle.

The indigenous population is already accustomed to gathering in the evening with a tavern or cafe and indulging in wines. The farmer's evening goes about the same if all the housework is already behind. At the same time, it is customary to remember both friends and enemies at the table. Are the Hellenes scolding the Pontics? Hardly!

Women gather to have coffee with their neighbors during the day, and the Pontians work every now and then. Such jokes go among representatives of different classes of the Greeks. In fact, women discuss more "important" news and events than their significant other. Hellenic ladies have cooking on their lips, the ability to properly and efficiently manage the household. In the end - what to cook for dinner for your beloved family?

By the way, there are already quite a few families in Greece, the husband or wife in which are native Greeks, and the other halves are from among the visitors or Pontics. These categories of the population have already become very similar over the long centuries that they lived in one country and built a single state.

Young people leave the villages for the cities. They do not want to work on the land, sweat, extract the fruits of their own labors at the cost of health. The Greeks are looking for easier, cleaner and more profitable jobs. By the way, some indigenous young people have to study at universities for up to 10 years in a row or even more. Why? They pay a stipend, and the laws do not forbid indigenous people to study almost all their lives.

As for immigrants, it is quite difficult for them to get an education in this country. It is important not only to know the language well, but also to know history, culture, and adhere to basic traditions. In this case, the easiest way to success with the Pontics or visitors is marriage with a native Greek.

Young Greeks from the indigenous are happy to be employed in the public sector, go into politics. From this, they not only have stable incomes, but also high status and connections. Earnings and a decent pension are guaranteed. At the same time, all social norms are observed: vacation, insurance, including medical. In addition, not only for the worker, but also for his entire family, no matter how large it is. Civil servants also receive a lot of benefits, not to list them all. At the same time, their work responsibilities are far from burdensome, and it is practically impossible to dismiss such a workaholic according to the law.

The Hellenes consider their offspring children almost up to the age of 30. Even if the son or daughter lives separately, as a rule, once or even twice a week, the “mother” visits, bringing food in huge quantities, preparing, like a wedding for Malanin. Overage children receive all the joys of life in the form of hot and cold snacks from their mothers, full care and service. This lasts even if the person is already married or married. They “take care” of their children until about 40-45 years old. By the way, it is believed that it is from such care and love that goes from the cradle to maturity that the Hellenic Greeks are so sensitive and kind with everyone around them. There is not a drop of malice or envy in them. They are inspired, calm, wise, patient, courteous, and don't even lock their doors in the countryside.

True Hellenes or Hellenes are brought up in orthodox traditions, i.e. in purely ancient, indigenous, true, real, primordial. Children from the cradle attend religious festivities, go to church. Some Christian holidays, by the way, are additional days off for the Greeks. If a baby is baptized or a couple is married, such events are noisy, crowded. Everyone gathers, even the most distant relatives of the family. These events in the life of the native Greeks are considered significant and most important. This is especially true of the Hellenes.

Government offices, banks and even shops in most parts of Greece are closed by 14:00. After that, all employees and representatives of other professions who happen to work until noon go home to rest. However, it is customary for the Greeks to have dinner no earlier than 21:00. The streets are noisy until late at night. The Greeks do not go to bed before midnight, despite the fact that in the early morning they will have to get up for work.

Shops and pharmacies open in the evening only three times a week. But large chain supermarkets work almost around the clock. As for the countryside, you can’t even buy bread in the shops during the weekend. But this is not a problem for the Hellenes. They spend the weekend in bars and taverns, or stock up on groceries and meet with numerous relatives, throwing sumptuous feasts with festivities.

The Greeks invite the lady of the heart to the restaurant at least 2 times a week. This is considered exemplary behavior when courting a woman. By the way, whole families with children go to taverns. At the same time, the Greeks eat such a huge amount of food that tourists and visitors never dreamed of. At a time - almost a week's norm of food. Children frolic and rush between the tables with noise and screams, and if they are tired, they sleep right there, on sofas or even chairs.

The Hellenes have many ancient national holidays, which are celebrated noisily and gathering crowded companies. This is the "Day of Ohi" - a commemoration of Mussolini's ultimatum rejected by the Greeks. Parades and carnivals are also stormy, timed to coincide with Christmas and New Year festivities, Easter traditions, as well as on the eve of Lent.

It is believed that on such days Dionysius himself, the god of winemaking and the patron of libations, comes to the Greeks to enjoy their wonderful drinks, leading carnival processions.

Ethnographers are no longer in shock

Studying the ancient Greek traditions and this ethnic group itself, historians and archaeologists have come to the conclusion that at present not only native Greeks - Hellenes, but also people from Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and even Russia live in the country of olives. Many of them consider themselves indigenous, despite the fact that they are truly Pontic.

The settlers' traditions are a little similar to the Hellenic ones. They are used to living the way their ancestors did, inhabiting the Caucasus, Crimea, and the Balkan Peninsula. They are just migrants, in the traditional sense. Despite the fact that they try to observe the traditions of the Hellenes, their passion for their own national holidays and language distinguish them. It is modified, even though it is very similar to Greek. Many Armenian, Georgian and even Russian words have been added to the language.

The Pontians retained the features of their people. That says it all, the researchers say. By the way, the Pontic Greeks do not identify themselves with the Hellenes, their culture and heritage. However, the number of Pontians now cannot be called. During the 1989 census, statisticians collected general data on the inhabitants of the country, without separating the natives and migrants who stayed in Greece for the rest of their lives. Most of all among the Pontians - immigrants from Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union. The second largest among the Pontians are the Turks. Even fewer representatives of Canada, Germany, America. By the way, not all Pontic Greeks now live in the country of olives. Many, considering themselves Greeks, moved to other states and countries of the world.