black sea

developed system, composed from two themes
(Cherson and Lykostomion), and an allied people
(Hungarians), inserted between Bulgaria and the
latent dangerous steppe region. It is very likely
that the last operation in which the fleet of
Lykostomion was involved was the transshipment
of the Hungarians in Bulgaria during the war of
894-896. The failure of the campaign led also to
the end of the ephemeral Danubian theme.
Mesembria was also lost. 39 After the war of 917,
Anchialos entered again under Bulgarian domination,
together with the harbors of Mesembria,
Develtos, Sozopolis and Agathopolis. The Byzantine
domination in the western Pontic space was
seriously damaged. The peace treaty of 927 has
reconfirmed for Bulgaria the possession of
Develtos, Sozopolis, Agathopolis, Anchialos and
Mesembria (it seems that the latter remained free
for the Byzantine navy). 40
In the first half of the 10 th century, the Byzantine
Empire broke the alliance with the Khazars,
no more useful, because their power declined.
When the Pechenegs evolved toward a potential
supremacy in the North-Pontic steppes, it was
necessary to stop this trend by supporting their
rivals, the Rus’. It is true that they were potential
enemies of the Byzantine Empire, but they were
not able to launch offensives toward the Black Sea
if they were hold back by the Pechenegs who
controlled the Dnieper cataracts. By this reason,
it was imperative to keep the hostility between
Russians and Pechenegs.
A persecution of the Christians launched by
the Khazars was the alleged reason for a Byzantine
maneuver, which was intended to oppose two
potential enemies, the Khazars and the Rus’, in
Kerch Strait area. At the request of Romanos I
Lekapenos (920-944), knyaz Oleg started a war
against Tmutorokan, around 940. The city was
captured, but the commander of Kerch, a certain
Pesah, was able to start his own campaign against
Cherson. After the conquest of this city, he
continued the war against the Rus’, defeating them
and requesting them to attack Constantinople. The
invasion took place in June 11 th , 941, under the
common command of Oleg and Igor. A fleet
composed of 1000 small boats sieged the capital
and destroyed the suburbs like in 860, but it was
finally defeated with the intensive use of the
“Greek Fire”. 41 The Byzantine intrigue failed this
time, but the idea of using the Rus’ as an instrument
in the north Pontic policy was resumed after few
years. The Rus’ launched in 943 another attack
against the Khazarian fortresses Sudak and
Tmutorokan. This fact gave to the Russians the
opportunity to settle their control over one side of
the Kerch Strait. Next, the Russians planned a
new inroad in the Byzantine Empire, in alliance
with the Pechenegs, but the invasion did not take
place, because the Byzantines payed knyaz Igor to
stop the war. Igor was thus convinced to close a
treaty with the Byzantine Empire, in 944 or 945.
He obliged himself to defend the isthmus of Crimea
against the “Black Bulgarians” settled north of the
Azov Sea and against the Pechenegs, and to do not
occupy the Dnieper mouth. In the same time, the
treaty allowed to the “Black Bulgarians” to attack
the Khazarian territories in Crimea, because this
matched the Byzantine interests. 42
The Russian attack of 941 made necessary the
improvement of the fighting capability of the navy.
The emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, its former
commander, acted in this direction. 43 It was
supposed that in these circumstances was restored
the port of call from Tomis, recorded in the sources
with the new name Constantia (De Administrando
Imperio, c. 9). The Byzantine ports of calls had in
the same time commercial and military functions. 44
It was already emphasized the increase of the
amount of Byzantine coins at Constanţa in this
period, that could reflect the revival of the port of
call (another one was perhaps at Mangalia). 45
Taking into account the peaceful Bulgarian-
Byzantine relations reestablished after 927, the
settlement of some Byzantine ports of call in
Dobrudja would be not excluded, but we think that
the few archaeological and numismatic remains
can not surely support this hypothesis. From De
Administrando Imperio, c. 9 results that, around
953, Bulgaria mastered Dobrudja up to the Danube’s
mouths, and that Constantia belonged to Bulgaria.
The Russians who navigated along the coast
reached Selinas (the Sulina channel) and from that
point they entered in Bulgaria, a land that included
the next branch of the Danube (Sfântu Gheorghe)
and Constantia.
For the time being, the Rus’ remained an useful
ally for the Byzantines, if they were able to contain
the Pechenegs and to fight against Bulgaria. The
Russian hegemony in Crimea was perceived by
the Byzantine Empire as a way to surround
Bulgaria, which became again an enemy when tzar
26 ����� Review of Military History �����