International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Dominik Heher
Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany; 
[e-mail]
The Maritime Infrastructure of Byzantine Dalmatia and Albania
The current research project „Ports and landing places along the Balkan coasts of the Byzantine 
Empire. Monuments and technology, economy and communication”, funded by the DFG and run 
by the Roman Germanic Central Museum Mainz (duration: 2013–2018), tries to establish a map 
of all anchorages testified by written or archaeological evidence along the shores of the Adriatic, 
the Ionian, the Aegean and the Black Sea between the 4
th
and the 12
th
centuries. The collection 
of data comprises geographical, nautical, archaeological and historical features for each site. The 
information gained shall be put together in order to obtain further results regarding ways of 

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communication, trade volume and motivations for choosing certain locations as harbours while 
dismissing others. One of the main questions is that of continuity or discontinuity of antique centres 
in the Middle Ages. For this reason also environmental changes have to be considered. Basically the 
aim is to depict an accurate and realistic image of ports of different dimensions on the background 
of environmental conditions, edificial structures and the documentation of the trading volume. 
The weighting of these categories of local and over-regional significance and the distribution of the 
representatives of different types of ports will allow us to develop further the concept of separate, but 
overlapping “shipping-zones” and to better understand the interaction of ports with the hinterland.
The transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages in Dalmatia and Albania shows 
basically the same features as most parts of the Roman world: the abandonment and depopulation 
of once productive areas, the loss of territories to foreign people, the ruralization and fortification of 
urban centres are by no means unique for the Adriatic. However, here we can see how this transition 
evolved in an almost exclusively sea-orientated part of the Roman/Byzantine oikumene that was 
soon reduced to more or less isolated outposts on peninsulas and off-shore islands. Circulation 
of people and goods decreased considerably in the course of the 6
th
century, but still, the Adriatic 
periphery remained part of the supply network of the Byzantine world. At first sight, the maritime 
infrastructure conveys an image of relative continuity: many important harbours of Roman antiquity 
(Durres, Zadar) kept their role in the Early Middle Ages while others (Salona, Epitaurum) were 
replaced by others nearby (Split, Dubrovnik). The shift of settlements, however, was in most cases 
not necessitated by deterioration of their harbour conditions but usually due to hostile pressure 
(even if local foundation myths unduly exaggerate the drama of the flight).
A closer look, however, makes more drastic changes of infrastructures obvious. Harbour towns 
of secondary importance sometimes cease to exist after having suffered demolition by invaders 
or economic downfall without being substituted by a nearby settlement. Even more telling is the 
disappearance of the rich networks of small-scale landing places connected to the once large number 
of flourishing villae and production sites. However, due to their often favourable location from a 
nautical point of view, many of them were revived in the Early Middle Ages and used as fortresses, 
settlements or monasteries. Yet, contrary to Roman times, there is a remarkable renunciation of 
veritable harbour architecture (quays, moles, warehouses) already from the 5
th
century onwards.