The Greeks and Romans in the Black Sea presents the Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities, dedicated to the 90th birthday of Prof. Sir John Boardman, President of the Congress since its inception. It was held in Constanta in September 2017 with the same theme as the first of these congresses, which took place just down the coast in Varna 20 years earlier ('the Greeks and Romans in the Black Sea and the importance of the Pontic region for the Graeco-Roman world between the 7th century BC and 5th century AD'), celebrating the work of successive congresses in bringing together scholars and scholarship from Eastern and Western Europe and the extensive progress of 'Black Sea Studies' in the intervening years. Overall, 85 papers were received for publication from authors in Western and Eastern Europe-there is also a full set of the abstracts submitted to the Congress in Appendix 2. As with previous congresses, the work is divided into sections, the largest of which, the fourth, is, following a pattern established with the first congress, devoted to New Excavations and Projects. The opening lectures and various papers in the first sections reflect (on) the '20 years on' in the title. The vast majority of contributions are in English, a handful each in French and German.

The book consists of 49 papers and two Appendices. The themes covered are: Greeks around the Hellespont, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Western, Northern and Eastern Black Sea, and Relations with the Mediterranean World; Romans around the Hellespont, the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Western, Northern and Eastern Black Sea, and Relations with the Mediterranean World; The Black Sea and Surrounding Regions in Late Antiquity and the Early Byzantine Period; and New Excavations and Projects. With a short introduction by John Boardman.

The themes of this volume are concerned with archaeological, historical, linguistic, anthropological, geographical and other investigations across the vast area (and different regions) through which the Argonauts travelled in seeking to return from Colchis: from the eastern shore of the Black Sea and the mouth of the Danube to the Adriatic. The contributions investigate an extended time period, from Greek colonisation to the end of Antiquity, and different cultural influences involving peoples and states, Greek cities, native peoples, Roman rule and events in Late Roman times. Each particular study contributes to the ground research, helping to create a complete picture of the theoretical level of cultural and political development and interaction of different cultures. The research and general conclusions concerning the social, ethnic, cultural and political development of the peoples who lived around the Black Sea shore and along the great Danube and Sava rivers can be reliable only if based on the detailed study of particular questions related to the extensive area stretching from the Black Sea to the Adriatic, and involving the many different peoples and epochs which lasted many hundreds of years.