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The Poem of the Black Sea Project
There once was a sea that had
Beaches of wheat and islands of bread.
Everything by it was fully sublime,
Not only the Porte, but also its wine.
Circasian beauties, Moldavian pines,
Ukrainian wheat, Anatolian mines
We had them all for us and to sell,
We were just short of qualified personnel.
Odessa, Batumi, Galati, Istanbul
Had their markets so cheap and so full
That tempted you Greeks to come with your fleet
To carry the timber, the wool or the wheat.
Should we be grateful or should we be mad?
I do not speak for the rest, but I am glad.
Constantine Ardeleanu,
Second Black Sea Conference,
Constantza, May/June 2014
There once was a sea that had
Beaches of wheat and islands of bread.
Everything by it was fully sublime,
Not only the Porte, but also its wine.
Circasian beauties, Moldavian pines,
Ukrainian wheat, Anatolian mines
We had them all for us and to sell,
We were just short of qualified personnel.
Odessa, Batumi, Galati, Istanbul
Had their markets so cheap and so full
That tempted you Greeks to come with your fleet
To carry the timber, the wool or the wheat.
Should we be grateful or should we be mad?
I do not speak for the rest, but I am glad.
Constantine Ardeleanu,
Second Black Sea Conference,
Constantza, May/June 2014
Latest News
- Call for Papers - 7th International Conference of the Mediterranean Maritime History Network (Zadar, 25-29 May 2026)
- The loss of Professor Iryna Ponomaryova, 1958-2024
Iryna Ponomaryova was a great lady. A woman full of life, radiant, smiling and always well meaning; she had made her neighbors in Rethymno happy with her little yard full of colourful flowers. Iryna was an educated and productive scholar, a beautiful and dynamic woman, a very friendly and good colleague. She will be greatly missed.
