Black Sea Ethnicities 319Sea were, in fact, uninhabited when the Greeks landed—the same can be said of the
Taman peninsula, if not of the whole Cimmerian Bosporus. Local tombs tell the same
story: in eight (again, most are situated deep inland), East Greek pottery or amphorae
have been found. This is echoed in the eastern Black Sea (Colchis), where the earliest
East Greek pottery has been discovered at seven local sites, most of them well inland
(Tsetskhladze 2012a: 346–8); and if we turn to the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey,
then the local settlements situated far up the Halys river offer us exactly the same pic-
ture (although some Greek pottery may have arrived overland from the west or south)
(Summerer 2007, 2008, 2009; Tsetskhladze 2012a: 349–50).
Assimilation, Blending, or Coexistence?
From the middle of the fifth century, when local kingdoms such as the Odrysian and
Colchian were established and (semi-)sedentary Scythia was formed, a very interest-
ing relationship between them and the Greek cities developed. We have seen that the
Odrysian and later Getic kingdoms were extracting taxes and tribute. This exchange
was not just monetary but cultural: luxurious prestige objects formed one part of it, the
services of skilled Greek craftsmen another, combining to create local elite culture and
identity. Evidence from Colchis is sparser than from the Getic and Thracian lands, but
study of settlements that can be identified as the residences of the local elite and of the
objects from their burials demonstrates the same development. What of the relation-
ship between the Greeks and Scythians? The evidence points to the same pattern. This is
clear from a late-fifth-century-BCletter from Kerkinitis in the Crimea: one Greek writes
to another asking him to discover how large will be the taxes due the Scythians (SEG
XXXVII 665). Luxurious objects in precious metal are well known from Scythian tombs
dating from the late fifth and, especially, fourth centuriesBC; they are executed in Greek
style (by Greek craftsmen), but adapted to Scythian tastes and requirements. Thus, the
situation in the western Black Sea is replicated: taxes and tribute need not merely be
monetary (Tsetskhladze 2010: 48–9). In this connection, Strabo provides illuminating
information when he writes about the northern Black Sea:
...although the Nomads are warriors rather than brigands, yet they go to war only for the
sake of tributes due them; for they turn over their land to any people who wish to till it, and
are satisfied if they receive in return for the land the tribute they have assessed, which is a
moderate one, assessed with a view, not to an abundance, but only to the daily necessities of
life; but if the tenants do not pay, the Nomads go to war with them (Strabo 7.4.6).What further parallels might there be between Scythians and Thracians? Did some part
of Scythian society dominate the rest and exact tribute? Such is surely the case with the
nomadic Scythians occupying the Crimean steppe extractingphorosfrom the agricultural
Scythians (Strabo 7.4.6;cf. Thuc. 2.97).
These taxes/tributes are obviously “protection money” of some sort. Evidence from
the Hellenistic period shows that they continued: locals demanding increased payment
from the Bosporan kingdom caused tensions between them to rise (Strabo 7.4.4);
while Olbia was constantly sending money and expensive gifts to the Scythian king