Ancient Greek civilization developed from the collection of independant city-states vastly gaining power on the Macendonian peninsula just to the south of Tîrgu. The semi-independant trade cities that allied or grew from allying with the developing Greek culture cemented a growing unity and identity with the peoples in towns and cities around the Black Sea.

The site of Tîrgu had developed from a simple hill fortlet in the Stone Age to a wealthy trade town between the fertile Dnieper River Basin and the main part of Ancient Greece. Initially allied solely with Athens, Tîrgu profited from the major trade route that Athens had secured. The trade road, called the Athenian Trade Route, passed directly through the Tîrgu area (Figure 1).

The Temple of Kupridios (Aphrodite) (rebuilt in Roman times), was built in latter part of Ancient Greek civilisation. This strata of history at Tîrgu has realised some significant finds, such as the famed Frieze of Kupris and the Metope of the Nagomachy.

The land at the northern end of the Black Sea marked for the Greeks an edge of the known world. Later, Alexander the Great, who spent part of his youth at Tîrgu doing faux military exercises in the valley below, extended the edge of the Greek map. After Roman rule the famous Greek cartographer, Dionysius, travelling through the Tîrgu region, penned a number of versions of his world map here in 124 BCE. These world maps showed three new continents: Adumbrata, Antipodes and Anthichthones as well as the island of Atlantis.

The Ancient Greek culture that lived this area was as advanced as Athens herself and played a key role in world history.