Children's & YA
August 2023
Over two thousand years ago, on the shores of the Euxine Pontus (the Black Sea), between Borysthenes and Hypanis, the city of Pontic Olbia flourished and thrived. The people of the city and the settlements nearby were busy with placid affairs of peaceful times: they grew bread, produced handicrafts, caught fish and traded with each other.
None of them even imagined that there was a ruthless order, given somewhere in the metropolis, to conquer the entire Black Sea region and bind it under Macedonian rule. No one saw the army coming their way, and not just any army, but the most invincible one throughout the Oikumene. The Olbians faced a harsh choice: to fight or to surrender? Finally, the town chose resistance. But preparing peaceful land for war was no easy mission. Neither the residents of Olbia nor their neighbours were ready for the confrontation, especially for such a long and exhausting one.
We learn this story from an ordinary teenager, who happened to be a witness to the events and a participant in the resistance to the brutal invasion. It will transport us to the times of Macedonians, Hellenes and Scythians, to those ancient times that still beckon and inspire. And the possibility of finding traces of ancient Greek Olbia, which was swallowed by the sea and merciless time centuries ago, excites the imagination.
