7 Arhiepiscopiei Street, Ovidiu Square, Constanța
Brief History
As part of the colonization process that began in the 8th century BC, the Greeks founded colonies in the Black Sea basin, called at that time Πόντος Εὔξεινος (Póntos Eúxeinos), the Hospitaller, Welcoming Sea. Such colonies were also created on the western Pontic coast, in present-day Romanian Dobrogea.
The Greeks from Miletus first founded, in the 7th century BC, Histria, the oldest attested city on the territory of Romania. The Milesians also founded Tomis somewhat later, in the 6th century BC, which was initially an emporion, a small port of call, but which later, from the 3rd century BC, evolved into a flourishing city, polis.
In the Hellenistic era, Tomis began its economic development based on the exchange of goods and transactions with the native population. Gold and silver ornaments, fabrics, luxury ceramic vessels, wines, oils, tools, marble, etc. were imported from the Greek world. In exchange for these goods and products, the Greeks of Tomis purchased cattle, cereals, honey, fish, furs and animal skins. Gradually, Tomis became an important port city, part of the Confederation of Five West Pontic Greek Cities called Pentapolis.
Starting with the 1st century BC, the Istro-Pontic region entered the sphere of influence and control of Rome, but it officially became an integral part of the Empire only in the second half of the 1st century AD, being a territory belonging to the Roman province of Moesia and then to Moesia Inferior.
Under Roman rule, Tomis continued to develop steadily and came to be called “the most brilliant metropolis of the Left Pontus”. With the reforms of Emperor Diocletian, from the end of the 3rd century AD, the city became the capital of the newly created province of Scythia Minor. It experienced a period of maximum prosperity during the era of Constantine the Great (305-337) and his successors. In the immediately following period, the Roman-Byzantine period, Tomis experienced both destruction caused by migrating peoples and periods of restoration, such as the one in the 6th century AD, during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565).
Under the pressure of attacks by migrating peoples, urban life in Tomis, carried out in the patterns of late antiquity, ceased definitively during the 7th century AD.
The two-thousand-year existence of Tomis is proven today by numerous archaeological discoveries. Almost daily, within the perimeter of the old town and in the neighboring necropolises, located in the new town, vestiges from the Greek, Roman and Romano-Byzantine eras are revealed.
Starting with the 1st century BC, the Istro-Pontic region entered the sphere of influence and control of Rome, but it officially became an integral part of the Empire only in the second half of the 1st century AD, being a territory belonging to the Roman province of Moesia and then to Moesia Inferior.
Under Roman rule, Tomis continued to develop steadily and came to be called “the most brilliant metropolis of the Left Pontus”. With the reforms of Emperor Diocletian, from the end of the 3rd century AD, the city became the capital of the newly created province of Scythia Minor. It experienced a period of maximum prosperity during the era of Constantine the Great (305-337) and his successors. In the immediately following period, the Roman-Byzantine period, Tomis experienced both destruction caused by migrating peoples and periods of restoration, such as the one in the 6th century AD, during the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565).
Under the pressure of attacks by migrating peoples, urban life in Tomis, carried out in the patterns of late antiquity, ceased definitively during the 7th century AD.
The two-thousand-year existence of Tomis is proven today by numerous archaeological discoveries. Almost daily, within the perimeter of the old town and in the neighboring necropolises, located in the new town, vestiges from the Greek, Roman and Romano-Byzantine eras are revealed.
Researched and restored by specialists, these vestiges of the past come to complete
and enrich the true story of a very brilliant city... called Tomis!