Pontic Olbia (, ) or simply Olbia is an archaeological site of an ancient Greek city on the shore of the Southern Bug estuary (Hypanis or Ὕπανις,) in Ukraine, near the village of Parutyne. The archaeological site is protected as the National Historic and Archaeological Preserve. The preserve is a research and science institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In 1938–1993 it was part of the NASU Institute of Archaeology as a department. The Hellenic city was founded in the 7th century BC by colonists from Miletus. Its harbour was one of the main emporia on the Black Sea for the export of cereals, fish, and slaves to Greece, and for the import of Attic goods to Scythia. Layout The site of the Greek colony covers the area of fifty hectares and its fortifications form an isosceles triangle about a mile long and half a mile wide. The region was also the site of several villages (modern Victorovka and Dneprovskoe) which may have been settled by Greeks. As for the town itself, the lower town (now largely submerged by the Bug river) was occupied chiefly by the dockyards and the houses of artisans. The upper town was a main residential quarter, composed of square blocks and centered on the agora. The town was ringed by a defensive stone wall with towers. The upper town was also the site of the first settlement on the site in the archaic period. There is evidence that the town itself was laid out over a grid plan from the 6th century – one of the first after the town of Smyrna. By the later period of settlement, the city also included an acropolis and, from the 6th century BCE, a religious sanctuary. In the early 5th century, a temple to Apollo Delphinios was also built on the site. History Archaic and Classical periods The Greek colony was highly important commercially and endured for a millennium. The first evidence of Greek settlement at the site comes from Berezan Island where pottery has been found dating from the late 7th century. The name in Greek means "happy" or "rich". It is possible that it had been the site of an earlier native settlement and may even have been a peninsula rather than an island in antiquity. It is now thought that the town of Berezan survived until the 5th century BCE when it