The Ukrainian War and Classical Greece

 

Ukraine

I had not expected the Ukrainian War to affect my understanding of Classical Greece, or learning about Classical Greece to inform my thinking about a present-day war, but here we are.

One thing I did not understand about Classical Greece before beginning my work on failure of democracy was just how extensive Greek colonies were, stretching from the Black Sea to southern France.  In fact, the Greeks made the Black Sea a Greek lake.*  Maintaining access was vitally important because the Greeks imported much of their food from the Black Sea.  The Trojan War is believes by most modern historians to have been a war over access to the Black Sea circa 1200 B.C., and 800 years later the Greeks were still fighting over access.  

Classical Greek colonies

Such was my understanding, but the real significance did not really occur to me.  I associated the Black Sea with Turkey -- rugged and mountainous, certainly not prime farmland.  But now with the current war I understand.  Ukraine is an extraordinarily rich farmland and has a Black Sea coast.  The vital Black Sea trade that brought Greece so much of its food meant Ukraine!  And now, over 2000 years later, access to the Black Sea remains just as important as ever!

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*Indeed, to this day there are many Russian and Ukrainian cities along the Black Sea that end in -pol, which is not seen in Slavic cities anywhere else.  The ending -pol is short for polis and pays tribute to the area's Greek heritage.