The ancient Black Sea is opening up for international study – perhaps slowly, but very surely. This book is intended as a major stride forward in our appreciation of the cultural life of Greeks and their neighbours there, for it offers the first ever substantial study of ancient theatrical and performance culture around the whole Black Sea region, stretching in time from the early archaic age until the Roman world and – ultimately – the emergence of Byzantine Christianity. For in many ways these essays amount also to a study of religion, especially of Dionysus and Apollo, whose festivals and concerns provided so much of the context for ancient drama and performance. Meanwhile, we shall consider, too, the advantages to be gained by studying together the different plays which are closely associated with or located in the Black Sea region. These may seem a tight and tragic group (Prometheus Bound, Medea, Iphigenia among the Taurians) until we bring into our discussions also the many plays that have survived only as fragments or titles, as well as the many comedies which connect with the region – not to mention dramatists who themselves came from these parts.