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Olbio Pontica was one of the four largest antique states of the Northern Black Sea region and played a huge role in its history.
It was founded by Greek immigrants from the city of Miletus (Asia Minor) in the second quarter of the 6th century B.C. on the high right bank of the Bug firth, near its connection to the Dnieper. It lasted about a thousand years - until the 70s of the 4th century AD.
Olbian state was a classical Greek polis. The city (polis) was cultural, political, trade and craft center with influence over its agricultural settlements.
Being a part of the Delian League Olbio was subjected to the siege of Alexander Macedonian troops led by commander Zopyrus, and became a part of the province of the Roman Empire.
Furthermore, Olbio had a great cultural influence over the surrounding barbarian world - Scythians, Sarmatians and Cherniahivs'ka culture.
Population of Olbio maintained contacts with Athens,Corinth, Rhodes, Pergamum, Alexandria and Asia Minor.
The city’s history intertwined with the events of the campaign of Alexander the Great at the end of the 4th century B.C. The city was said to house Macedonian thirty-thousand-people garrison, led by Alexander’s commander Zopyrus, who came to the region to conquer the Scythians.
Translated from the Greek "Olbio" means "Happy." This is the official name of the city, as certified by the decrees issued by the city, the inscriptions on the coins, as well as mentioned in various literature sources.
An emblem of Olbio is an eagle which holds a dolphin in its claws. That meant power over the sea.
Olbio’s nature reserve has its own museum, archaeological materials (over fifty thousand units), research library, exhibition of architecture and construction remnants of ancient era.
Visitors can see the the remains of the fortress walls, residential quarters, Roman citadel, the Western and Central temenos, and burial vaults.
The nature reserve also includes the island of Berezan - home to the oldest ancient Greek settlement in the Northern Black Sea.
Olbio is a unique monument of antiquity in Ukraine because it is the only one where no other traces of different historical periods were found. It allows to track and study in detail ancient history, culture, economy and politics which were transferred from Greece to distant areas of the Northern Pontus.