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The Byzantine Fortifications of Amastris in Paphlagonia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

James Crow  and
Stephen Hill
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Extract

This article is chiefly concerned with the chronology of the Byzantine fortifications of Amastris, which are the subject of current research by the authors, but, in order to set the settlement at Amasra and its fortifications into their context in the Black Sea area, the present study must commence with a brief account of some aspects of the monuments and history of the city in the Hellenistic and Classical periods.

The present Turkish town of Amasra on the south coast of the Black Sea (Fig. 1; Pl. XXXVII a) occupies the site of the ancient city of Amastris which has a long history extending as least as far back as the period of Milesian colonisation in the Black Sea zone from the seventh century B.C. Like the more famous city of Sinope to the east, the settlement at Amasra stood on the isthmus of a peninsula projecting into the Black Sea. At Amasra the isthmus leads to the upstanding promontory rock, Zindan Kalesi (Dungeon Castle) on which part of the Byzantine fortification stands, and which protects the east harbour. The whole site is further protected by the closely adjacent island of Boz Tepe which encloses the northern side of the west harbour. The site was doubtless chosen for settlement because of its good natural harbours which, as will be seen, have been of central importance throughout the history of Amasra.

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 45 , December 1995 , pp. 251 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1995

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References

1 The authors are pleased to acknowledge the financial support of the British Academy, the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, and the Universities of Warwick and Newcastle upon Tyne. B. Williams has served as draughtsman at Amasra, and the coins in the Amasra museum were studied by S. Ireland. We would also like to express our personal thanks to Michael Carey. For an earlier preliminary account of the work at Amasra see Crow, J. and Hill, S., “Amasra, a Byzantine and Genoese Fortress on the Black Sea”, Fortress 2 (1990), 3–15Google Scholar.

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