Callatis

Origins

Callatis was founded by colonists from Heraclea Pontica on the western Black Sea coast, probably in the late 6th century BCE, though some sources place the foundation later. Its fertile hinterland in southern Dobruja made it a natural centre for grain exports, and it grew alongside the Milesian colonies of Histria, Tomis and Odessos.

Rule and society

Callatis kept the Doric dialect and institutions of its mother city, with cults of Apollo, Dionysus and Heracles. It traded grain, wine and craft goods with the Getae of the interior and struck its own coinage. In 313 BCE it led the Pontic cities in revolt against Lysimachus, withstanding a long siege that ended around 309 BCE.

Decline and legacy

In the 1st century BCE Callatis concluded a formal treaty with Rome, a rare surviving text of its kind. After the campaign of Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus in 72-71 BCE it lay within the Roman sphere and later in the province of Moesia. The site is the modern Romanian town of Mangalia.