Greek and Roman Ports

Greek traders reach the coast about 700 BCE. They open a shore market at Skala. The market becomes a colony, then a province, then a Byzantine port.

The Greek colony [edit]

A Greek city founds a colony on the deep bay about 610 BCE. The colony is called Phaskalon. It sits on the site of modern Zaligrad.

Phaskalon has three parts. A walled town sits on the point. A farming strip runs behind it. A landing beach runs below the wall.

The colony sells copper, salt, fish, and timber. It buys olive oil, wine, and pottery. The colony also sells people. Slavery is normal in this era.

The Macedonian and Roman years [edit]

A Macedonian army takes the coastal towns about 335 BCE. The towns keep their councils but pay a tax.

Rome makes the coast a province in 46 CE. The province is called Litoralis Pontica ("the coastal province"). Rome builds a road from the Danube to the Bosphorus. Local people call it the Copper Road.

Rome brings three things that last.

1. The road and the mile stone. Distances are still counted from the old stone at Zaligrad.
2. The town council. A council of 12 leading households runs the port.
3. The written sea rule. A ship must declare its cargo at the pier. A port must provide a pilot.

The sea law [edit]

The port councils write the first full sea code in 1187. The code is called the Sea Statutes. See Slavic and Byzantine Era for the text.

Language [edit]

Greek gives the coast its sea words. Moravskan Language keeps many of them.

What remains in 1976 [edit]

The town wall is a state monument. The Copper Road is a farm track. The old stone sits in the Zaligrad museum yard.

The 1976 visitor sees three layers in one place. A Greek wall stands below a Roman road. A concrete office block stands above both.