Fossey, J.M. & Smith, P.J. (Ed.) Antiquitates Proponticae, Circumponticae et Caucasicae II 1997 Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Archaeology and History of the Black Sea (McGill University, November 1994). Contributors: R. Doneva, J.M. Fossey, G. Gauvin, D. Kacharava, L. Kamperídis, S.A. Krebs, V. Licheli, J. Morin, G. Tsetskhladze, K. Tuite. MUMCAH 19 (1997), 190 p. + pocket map. 21x29 cm. - 66.00 EURO, ISBN: 9050634788

Contributors: D. Baronowski, A. Foley, J.M. Fossey, G. Gauvin, R. Greenfield, J. Morin, P.J. Smith.

The late Hellenistic period, spanning the 2nd and early 1st centuries BC, was a time of great tumult and violence thanks to nearly incessant warfare. At the same time, the period saw the greatest expansion of Hellenistic Greek culture, including ceramics. Papers in this volume explore problems of ceramic chronology (often based on evidence dependent on the violent nature of the period), survey trends in both production and consumption of Hellenistic ceramics particularly in Asia Minor and the Pontic region, and assess the impact of Hellenistic ceramic culture across much of the eastern Mediterranean and into the Black Sea.

Contributions to this volume, covering all shores of the Black Sea, draw on a mix of archaeological evidence, epigraphy and written sources to explore the activities and characteristics of those that inhabited or colonised the Black Sea area, as well as those that visited, acted in, or influenced the region, from the archaic to Roman periods.

This volume, written by staff of the State Hermitage, one of the world's finest museums, publishes Graeco-Roman antiquities kept there. Much of the material has been unearthed during the museum's field projects in Berezan, Myrmekion and Nymphaeum. Many items are published here for the first time. In addition, there are new studies and reinterpretations of well-known material. The book also contains reviews and notes on new publications on the Black Sea from Eastern and Western Europe and North America. The volume provides a good account of the manifold activities in which the staff of the Department of the History and Culture of the Ancient World, and of the Hermitage in general, are engaged. The book is very richly illustrated, with nearly 150 photographs, line drawings, maps etc.

The Herakleian peninsula or the Minor Khersonesos of Strabon is a plain territory in the South Western Crimea which served as the hinterland of the Greek city of Khersonesos Taurike. In ancient times this territory, divided up into plots and cultivated, constituted the agrarian base of the city-state. The ruins of farms had attracted the attention of scholars as early as the 18th and 19th centuries. Systematic archaeological excavations began in 1876. As a result a large amount of material was found revealing a complex political and agrarian network. An archaeological mission was set up in 1974; it was constituted by archaeologists from the Moscow State University and other Institutes. The expedition started working on the agrarian territory of Khersonesos Taurike and its main task was to draught a complete plan of the divisions of the Herakleian Peninsula as well as to find out the actual number of country estates contained within the area.