Environment and human habitation have become principal topics of research with the growing
interest in the Black Sea region in antiquity. This book highlights their interaction around
all the coasts of the region from different perspectives and disciplines. Here archaeological
excavation and survey combine with studies of classical texts cults medicine and more to
explore ancient experiences of the region. Accordingly the region is examined from external
viewpoints centred in the Mediterranean (Herodotus the Hippocratics ancient geographers and
poets) and through local lenses particularly supplied by archaeology. While familiar
disconnects emerge there is also a striking coherence in the results of these different
pathways into the study of local environments which embrace not only Graeco-Roman settlement
but also a broader range of agricultural and pastoralist activities across a huge landscape
which stretches as far afield as ancient Hungary. Throughout there are methodological
implications for research elsewhere in the ancient world. This book shows people in landscapes
across a huge expanse in local reality and in external conceptions complete with their own
agency ideas and lifestyles.
