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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Cult and funerary practices in Olbia and its Chora

subject

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This chapter discusses the cultural identity of urban and rural communities inhabiting Olbia Pontike and its rural territory in the northern Black Sea region. Cult and funerary practices are analysed in order to detect the expression of a group’s self-definition during different phases of Greek settlement in that area. The traditional approach according to which clear ethnic markers can be found in archaeological material is rejected in favour of a more balanced approach that takes into consideration the flexibility of culture and the creation of collective identities. As demonstrated in this study, the differences between urban and rural zones are possible to discern through the popularity of Orphic-Dionysiac cults, the spread of mortuary practices in both the town and countryside and the attachment to old traditions that were visible, especially during the Roman period. These discernible trends are examined in relation to political, economic and demographic changes in the region over an extended period of time.