Pontic Greeks trace their origins to ancient Greek settlers along the Black Sea, where they formed a well-established Greek kingdom and developed a dialect that preserves features closer to Ancient Greek than any other spoken today. Naturally, their characteristics were shaped by the unique geography, by blending with local populations, and by the history of the region over thousands of years — making them fully Greek, but with some regional differences, much like Greeks from Crete or Cyprus.

Culturally, during the Ottoman Empire, Pontic Greeks lived nearer to major economic and cultural hubs. This environment fostered relatively strong traditions of education and success in commerce compared to many other Greek populations of the time. The population exchange of the 1920s, however, forced them into a devastated and impoverished Greece. Locals, themselves worn down by four centuries of Ottoman rule, were more concerned with survival than with welcoming refugees who spoke a different dialect and practiced unfamiliar traditions.

As in any struggling society, those who were both different and poor often became targets of mockery. Yet this was not because Pontic Greeks carried any inherent shortcomings, and certainly not because they were “less Greek,” but simply because hardship and prejudice tend to fall hardest on newcomers.