Exploring the Point: History and Heritage
When someone talks about him today Point and the Greeks who were forced to leave there a century ago, it almost always refers to two specific historical periods:
1) The founding period of the Greek cities on the southern coast of the Black Sea, during antiquity.
2) The modern period and more specifically, events that took place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This limitation, although it can be justified if we take into account the importance of the first two decades of the 20th century for the Greek population of the Pontus, leads to the creation of a parenthesis of centuries in the history of this people. Nevertheless, evidence of this period survives today. For example, many clubs have medieval-related names Point, such as "The Komnenoi" in Rodochori Naoussa or "St. Theodoros Gavras" in Edessa.
The last major change regarding Pontus and the Pontic dialect (or rather Roman) took place in the 15th century, when Turkish terms were adopted that survive to this day. The names with which children are baptized are, most of the time, links in a chain, unique to each family. This is another characteristic that has its roots in the Middle Ages. Finally, the mentality of the people who are descendants of the Pontians of the Middle Ages, shows several common elements.
The work of Finley, one of the first modern European historians to study the history of the Trebizond Empire, addresses this very historical gap mentioned above. The Scottish historian had the good fortune to tour, albeit limitedly, the region and see with his own eyes much of what he wrote in book. Both in the main text and in the cross-references, the reader can find references to wall paintings, descriptions of the structure of the city of Trebizond, data on the composition of the population and most importantly, references to the character of the people. Unfortunately, several or perhaps even many of the buildings mentioned do not exist today, either because they were left to the mercy of time, like the palaces, or because they were destroyed after an official decision, like the church of Ag. Grigoriou who blew himself up.
The descriptions in book about the Pontus Finley's works therefore provide the reader with the ability to overcome this problem by allowing him to imagine what Trebizond looked like at that time.
In summary, Finley begins with a brief overview of the city of Trebizond and the surrounding area from ancient times, through the Roman era and ending in the 13th century AD. It chronicles the events of the foundation, having as its main source the summary work of Panaretos and Falmeraier, perhaps the first modern European scholar to publish a work on the empire of Trebizond.
Finlay then moves on to the history of the empire. It refers to the actions of each ruler and comments on the passions and sins of the imperial house of the Great Komnenos. He describes battles, buildings, diplomatic missions, assassinations and intrigues, taking the reader, with the data at his disposal, as smoothly as possible into the reality of medieval Trebizond. Finally, he devotes several pages where he comments on the rise of the Ottomans and how something other than weapons accelerated it. He concludes with the final moments of the empire, giving his view of the surrender of the city to Muhammad and describing the end of the last dynasty of Roman emperors.
The final pages are Finlay's account of the empire, where he speaks of both the state and its inhabitants. In conclusion it is one book which despite his age and whatς some failings that accompany it as a result, it is a work of importance, providing a wealth of information about the medieval Point, illuminating this era.
The translator of the book writes "Trebizond - The Last Empire of Medieval Hellenism", Antonis Kelesidis.