Odessos was established as an apoikia on the western coast of the Pontos Axeinos (the Black Sea). The founders of the polis arrived from Miletus as a result of the ancient Hellenic migratory activity. The town has been known under the same name from the second quarter of the 6th c. BC to the first quarter of the AD 7th c. The newly arriving settlers adopted the name they found, which had existed since before their establishment in this place.