An international conference on Paphlagonia and Pontus in antiquity and the early Byzantine period (7th c. BC-7th c. AD) will take place between May 31st and June 4th, 2008 at the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey. The conference is jointly organised by the Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Dokuz Eylül University, Izmir and The Centre for Classics and Archaeology, School of Historical Studies, University of Melbourne. This conference will be organised as a part of the Paphlagonia Project, a long-term archaeological field project in central Paphlagonia.

They invite papers from scholars and graduate students on any aspect of Paphlagonia and Pontus in the above period. The conference aims to bring together participants from throughout the world to discuss a range of issues concerning this North Anatolian landscape and encourage dialogue amongst and between Classical and Near Eastern archaeologists, ancient historians, classicists and all other disciplines from Classical, Near Eastern and Anatolian Studies.

Paphlagonia is an area of the central Black Sea coastal region of Turkey, situated between Bithynia and Pontus, and separated from Galatia by an eastern outlier of the Bithynian Olympus. It is a mountainous district with the Halys as its chief river; along its coast were a number of colonies, including Greek Sinope. It was a contact zone between the Greeks of the Black Sea region and the Iron Age population of Central Anatolia.

“Pontus” is a geographic term of with a variety of usages. In ancient times the Black Sea and its shores were referred to as the Pontos, but the name eventually became more specific to the area of northeast Anatolia in late classical times. The term did get a definite connotation of being a separate state after the establishment of the Kingdom of Pontus, founded beyond the Halys shortly after 302 B.C. The kingdom of Pontus was henceforth ruled by a succession of kings, mostly bearing the same name until 64 B.C. In our Conference Pontus refers the eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey where has a steep, rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges. Because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from the Anatolian interior proper.

The conference seeks papers on both the adaptation and change and the continuity of culture(s) over time and space, and on the construction of ethnic identities in the culturally diverse area of Paphlagonia and Pontus. Participants are encouraged to explore all kinds of evidence on the region and its relations with other areas (Galatia, Bithynia, Propontis, Thrace, Colchis/Georgia, Armenia, the rest of the Black Sea, etc.), including textual, archaeological, artistic, anthropological, numismatic and epigraphic, from Archaic to Early Byzantine times.

Two post-conference excursions are planned on June 3rd to both of the archaeological museums of Izmir and to the excavations at Agora and Old Smyrna as well as on June 4th to Miletus, motherland of numerous Greek poleis in the Black Sea.

Papers may be given in any Western European languages (English, German, French, Italian, Spanish) and in Turkish, although English is preferred for both oral and poster presentations.