Pontian

Pontian refers to anything related to Pontus, a historical region on the southern shore of the Black Sea, corresponding roughly to parts of present-day northeastern Turkey. The term is most commonly used to describe Pontians, the Greek-speaking inhabitants of Pontus, who form the Pontic Greek community. The Pontic Greek language is a branch of Modern Greek, distinct in its phonology, vocabulary, and grammar from Standard Modern Greek, with its own subdialects and a long literary and oral tradition maintained by communities in Greece and the diaspora.

Historically, Pontus was part of the Hellenic world in antiquity and later under Roman and Byzantine rule. Under Ottoman rule, Pontus included diverse communities, including Pontic Greeks, Turkish-speaking Muslims, and others. In the 20th century, political conflicts and the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey led to large-scale movements of Pontian Greeks from Asia Minor to Greece. In diaspora communities—especially in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and Australia—Pontian culture has persisted through music, dance, cuisine, and religious life, while many Pontians also retain Greek national and regional identities.

Today, Pontian identity is most often associated with Pontic Greeks, but the term can also appear in broader historical or ethnographic contexts referring to the Pontus region and its heritage. Within Turkey, the Pontus region is home to diverse populations, including Turkish-speaking Muslims, and those communities are not typically identified as Pontians in the same sense, reflecting the region’s complex history.