A Brief Introduction to Poisson Sigma-Models

The theory of Poisson-$\sigma$-models employs the mathematical notion of Poisson manifolds to formulate and analyze a large class of topological and almost topological two dimensional field theories. As special examples this class of field theories includes pure Yang-Mills and gravity theories, and, to some extent, the G/G gauged WZW-model. The aim of this contribution is to give a pedagogical introduction, explaining many aspects of the general theory by illustrative examples.