250 CHAvDAR TzOCHEv
Besides the direct consequences for the demand for Thasian wine, the crises
in the north–northwest Pontus could have severed chains in the production and
trade of other commodities, especially cereals, which may have then affected the
wine trade. The idea that the importation of Thasian amphoras into the Black
Sea was related to the commerce in grain is more than just a banality based on
scarce written information (as stated in Garlan 1999a: 92).^18 It is hardly a coin-
cidence that the Bosporan Kingdom and present Dobrudja are both the areas
of the highest concentrations of Thasian amphora finds, and the main source of
cereals in the region. These are also the areas where rural territories were devas-
tated in the mid-third century BCE. When a number of major markets in these
areas ceased to supply a key commodity demanded by the Aegean, long-distance
shipments supplying Thasian amphoras could have become unprofitable (on the
balance of exports and imports, see Bresson, Chapter 2 in this volume).
Conditions outside the Black Sea also contributed to the decline. A change
in the routes of the large-scale trade in the Aegean is a likely reason for the
change in the provenance of the amphora imports in the Black Sea in the
long term. The amphora assemblages from the latter half of the third cen-
tury, besides the local Pontic jars, are composed mainly of southeast Aegean
amphoras – Rhodian, Cnidian, and Coan – while those from the north Aegean
are missing. This was a very gradual change, the first signs of which are visible
already in the late fourth century.^19 Thasos was situated on one of the princi-
pal routes between Central Greece and the Black Sea, which is also true for
a number of other north Aegean wine producing centres such as Acanthus,
Mende, and Peparethos, whose amphoras were quite popular in the Pontic
region during the Classical period. The traffic along the way to the straits pro-
vided a regular outlet for the production of these cities. Their disappearance
from the Black Sea markets is symptomatic of a decline in the North Aegean
trade route. The change could be related to the decline of Athens as commer-
cial hub and provider of credit for maritime ventures coupled with Rhodes
coming to prominence as a regional centre for the re-export trade.^20 When
Rhodian ports became a primary destination for merchants operating in the
Black Sea, the main route of this trade would have moved along the coasts of
Asia Minor, thus affecting the spectrum of amphora imports to the Black Sea.
None of these factors taken in isolation provides a perfect explanation for
the change in the Black Sea markets. The combined effect of all these factors
may have caused the change. In similar fashion, multiple factors may be respon-
sible for the subsequent decline of wine and amphora production on Thasos,
among which the loss of the Black Sea markets takes a central place. During
the latter half of the third century the production of containers decreased sig-
nificantly, which is seen not only in the reduced number of fabricants (stamp
types), but also archaeologically: while in the beginning of the third century all
of the seven explored amphora workshops were active, in the last quarter of the