Istrus
Istrus, later known as Histria, is an ancient Greek city located in the Dobrogea region of Romania, near the delta of the Danube River. Founded by Ionian settlers from Miletus around the seventh century BC, it was initially inhabited by the Getae, a Thracian tribe. The city thrived as a trade center, exporting goods like wine and oil throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Istrus faced multiple destructions due to invasions, notably by Scythians and later by Dacian and Macedonian forces. Under Roman rule, it became part of the province of Moesia and expanded its territory, with significant developments occurring during the reigns of emperors Hadrian and Constantine I. Archaeological excavations have uncovered a rich history, including temples, fortifications, and a cemetery with Greek and Getic burials. The city’s later role shifted from maritime trade to agricultural development and frontier control as its harbor gradually silted up. By the sixth century AD, Istrus experienced further decline due to invasions, leading to its eventual abandonment.
Subject Terms
Istrus
Istros, later Histria, Histropolis
A Greek city of the Dobrogea (Rumania), just south of the delta of the Danube (Ister, from which it takes its name), situated at the end of an island or peninsula—or a low hill on the coastal plain—in a gulf that later became the Sinoe sea-lagoon, and is now a landlocked lake.
Originally a settlement of the Getae—a Thracian tribal group akin to the Dacians who fished in the river mouths—Istrus was colonized during the seventh century BC (in 657 according to Eusebius, or perhaps a little later) by settlers from Miletus in Ionia (western Asia Minor). These colonists set up a dynasty of ruling-class families that retained power even after the adoption of a democratic constitution. Placing their defences in the hands of a citizen militia, augmented by mercenaries and the population of the hinterland (with whom a modus vivendi was established, revealed by a cluster of mud-brick native houses outside the walls), the people of Istrus began to trade extensively throughout the eastern Mediterranean world, as well as sending wine, oil and other Greek goods (contained in locally made pottery) far into the interior of Europe. The city was sacked shortly before 500, probably by Scythian marauders. From the fourth century onward, however, it issued plentiful silver coinage, displaying a sea-eagle seizing a dolphin, a design found also at Sinope (Sinop) on the Euxine (Black) Sea coast of Asia Minor. But Istrus suffered destruction again before the end of the century, probably at the hands of one of Alexander the Great's successors, Lysimachus, and was ravaged yet again by the Dacian king Burebistas (c 60–44).
Incorporated by Augustus into the new Roman province of Moesia (and then into Lower Moesia from the time of Domitian, cAD 85/86), the city greatly expanded its territorial possessions during the first and second centuries AD. New fortifications were constructed under Hadrian (117–38), and there is epigraphic evidence for large estates penetrating deep into the hinterland. In about the middle of the third century Istrus suffered a devastating Gothic irruption, but was rebuilt and received new walls from Probus (276–82). Becoming, in the later empire, part of the new province of Scythia, it was provided with new walls once again, in the time of Constantine I the Great (306–37). Although they now enclosed a smaller perimeter, the place continued to fulfil an important role, not so much, any longer, in maritime activity—owing to the gradual silting up of its harbor—but in frontier control, and in the region's agricultural development. The fortifications were reconstructed by Anastasius I (493–518), but an Avar invasion of 595 caused the abandonment of the extramural settlement, and prompted the creation of a multiple ditch system of landward defences. A generation later Slav pressure deprived the city of its commerce altogether.
Excavations have borne witness to several stages of construction. Discoveries beside the lagoon, going down to depths of between ten and thirteen feet, have revealed a remarkable collection of early sacred buildings, including an archaic temple of Aphrodite (rebuilt in the Hellenistic epoch), a fifth-century BC sanctuary of Zeus Polieus, and fragments of a third-century shrine dedicated to a Thracian divinity whom the Greeks called the `Great God.’ Parts of a Hellenistic rampart can also be seen, and traces of the various successive Roman defences; the well-preserved walls of Probus hastily incorporated a varied collection of architectural materials, including columns and inscribed stones.
The final epoch of Istrus, extending between the fourth and sixth centuries AD, is represented by three separate zones: an official quarter including pagan basilicas and subsequent Christian buildings, a business district comprising shops and industrial works, and a residential area containing large and luxurious houses, one of which contains a private chapel and may have been the residence of a bishop. To the west of the city lies a huge cemetery, going back to very early dates; it includes Greek burials of many periods and the tombs of Getic chieftains, whose remains are surrounded by relics of both animal and human sacrifice. A corpus of Istrian inscriptions has lately been published.