History

Miletus, the great Ionian city on the Aegean coast of modern Turkey, founded more colonies than any other Greek city along the Black Sea shores — which the Greeks called the Euxine, a euphemism for a body of water they initially found forbidding. Histria, established around 657 BCE on what was then a natural harbour on the northwestern Black Sea coast, was among the earliest of these foundations. Its name derives from the Istros, the Greek name for the Danube, whose delta lay a short distance to the north.

Through the Archaic period the city prospered as a trading emporium: Greek pottery, wine, and oil were exchanged for grain, timber, fish, slaves, and furs from the Getae and other peoples of the lower Danube plains. The city struck its own silver coins from the 5th century BCE — the earliest coins minted on Romanian territory — and maintained commercial relations with the Aegean world. Inscriptions record treaties with local dynasts and the city’s civic institutions: a council, popular assembly, magistrates, and a college of priests.

Under Hellenistic rule following Alexander’s conquests, Histria came within the orbit of the Macedonian successor kingdoms before becoming tributary to Rome during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. In the Roman Imperial period it was a prosperous city of Moesia Inferior, adorned with a forum, basilica, baths, and temples. From the mid-3rd century CE, repeated raids by Gothic and Carpic groups disrupted urban life. The city recovered partially in the 4th century, constructing new defensive walls and a large Christian basilica, but the progressive advance of Danube Delta siltation eventually cut off the city’s maritime access entirely. The settlement was abandoned in the early 7th century, likely in connection with the Slav and Avar invasions of the Balkans.