Are the Pontians Greeks?
The best ones that could answer your question is the ancient Greek historians Xenophon, Herodotus and some others.
Our ancestors (the Ionians) left their motherland to establish colonies in the Black Sea region and other areas. For this reason the Greeks and Greece are called Yunanistan (the land of the Ionians, - the land of the Greeks) and Yunan ('Ionas - Greek).
The Pontic Greek dialect is found in the first Greek settlers, the Ionians of Miletus in the early 8th century BC.
The Pontic Greeks of the area there had contacts with the Kingdom of Colchis (ancient Georgia).
That is why there were myths about the golden fleece and on the back of the golden fleece Frixos arrived in Colchis.
Then Jason and the Argonauts went to Colchis to get the golden fleece.
Also the feats of Hercules, where the ninth feat was to detach the belt of Queen Hippolytus (Queen of the Amazons)
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The world-famous ancient Greek Historian Xenophon, in his work (book) Kyros Anavasis in 401 BC, he mentions:
The Myrians who "stayed" in the area of Trabzon, accepted for 30 days the traditional hospitality of the Greeks of Pontus. They danced the armed Pyrrhic dance, organized sports competitions in honor of the Greek Twelve Gods.
Xenophon at the end characterizes Trabzon (as a metropolitan city in the region of Pontus) as a Greek city, large and prosperous.
(The Myrians were a body of mercenaries under the orders of Cyrus. Xenophon served in this body, who recorded the course of his comrades in battle at Kounaxa and their return to Greece.)
According to Herodotus and Xenophon, the Greek cities in the Pontus region were never enslaved by the Persians. Typically only during the period of the Achimenid dynasty, Greek cities were subject to tax.
Pontus during the reign of Mithridates, especially of Mithridates VI of Eupator, Pontus gained a very great reputation. The Greek language was established as the official language of the Kingdom and the main language of communication for many other ethnicities, the Greek twelve gods assimilated some Persian and other ethnicities.
And of course there would be mixes of ethnicities.
The most famous Pontian Greek is Strabo, he was a Greek geographer, philosopher and historian.
Strabo was born into a wealthy family in 63 or 64 BC. in Amaseia of Pontus, in the same place where he died, at the age of about 86 years (shortly after 23 AD).
(It was Strabo who said that Macedonia is Greece!)
( Statue of Strabo in Amasya)
The philosopher Diogenes the Cynic, the most famous representative of the Cynic school in antiquity, came from Sinope.
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Another small example is, apart from the dialect, the most ancient Greek war dance is Pyrrhic. It is saved only by the Pontians and a branch of it is saved by the Cretans.
(Pontians dance Pyrrhic)
(Cretans dance a branch of Pyrrhic)
Some myths about its creation are:
1) During the reign of Saturn, before the Battle of Titans and while Zeus was still an infant, the Kurites danced the pyrrhic around him making a loud noise with their weapons and shields so that the child-killing Saturn could not hear his crying.
2) In the siege of Troy, Achilles, before burning the dead Patroclus, danced Pyrrhic on the platform of firewood before delivering Patroclus to the funeral fire (fire - Pyrrhic)
Historical accounts identify Thalitas as the creator of pyrrhic. He himself came from Crete, and introduced him to the Spartans.
Pyrrhic was danced from the Pontus to Cyprus and Crete, while the Spartans considered it a kind of war training and learned it from young children. Homer and Xenophon are mentioned in Pyrrhic.
The Greeks of Pontus, although completely cut off from their motherland and under the yoke of the Ottomans, never lost their language, their traditions and above all their identity.
For almost 3,000 years away from mother Greece, we are not just Greeks, we are 30 times more Greeks.
