International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Grigori Simeonov
Universität Wien, Institut für Byzantinistik und Neogräzistik, Vienna, Austria; 
[e-mail]
Tracing the Impact of Environmental Changes and Political Transition 
on the Harbours at the Western Black Sea Coastline
Studying the history of the ancient settlements that lie on the Western Black Sea coastline one 
can trace the impact both environment and politics had on the role of harbours in different areas 
of human life. These factors could enhance or decrease the importance of a harbour and they often 
caused the change of settlement pattern in a certain region. This paper presents some remarks on 

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the impact of nature and politics on the towns in the area of the Danube Delta in Romania (Orgame 
and Histria) and the city of Anchialos (Bulgaria) from the 3
rd
to the 13
th
Century. 
All three of the settlements were founded by the Ancient Greeks and their harbours had played 
an important role in the economy of the Black Sea region for centuries. Histria and Orgame lied in 
the lagoons in the south of the Danube Delta and in this way both of them were naturally protected 
from the currents and the north and northeast wind that blows from the sea. However, the sediments 
from the Danube River and the activity of the winds caused the building of a barrier that impeded 
the transport in the region and eventually cut the connection of Histria and Orgame to the main 
sea routes. Another reason for the decay of urban life in the northern parts of Dobrudja during the 
transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages was the Great Migration of Peoples. The 
Roman Empire was able to recover from the assaults of the Goths in the 3
rd
and 4
th
century, some of 
which had maritime character and affected the settlements at the Western Black Sea coastline. The 
collapse of imperial defences in the northern regions of the Balkans was a result of the Avar and Slav 
invasion in the late 6
th
and the early 7
th
century and the foundation of the Bulgarian state in 680. Since 
the new border between Byzantium and its new neighbours followed the slopes of the Stara planina 
mountain the Empire needed such harbours that could play the role of trade and logistic centres in 
its relations with Bulgaria. It was the cities of Mesembria and Anchialos in Thrace that had fulfilled 
this function for centuries but it seems that a natural disaster–may be an earthquake–caused the 
relocation of Anchialos from its older place to the very end of the peninsula in the 12
th
or 13
th
century. 
May be it is this disaster that lead to the formation of the Lake of Pomorie where some of the scholars 
search the remains of the ancient harbour. Another possible location of the harbour of Anchialos (or 
may be one of them) is the bay in the south of the modern town.