MARKETS, AMPHORA TRADE AND WINE INDUSTRY 249
The Loss of the Black Sea Markets and the End
of an Industry
Around the middle of the third century BCE, Thasian amphora imports in the
Black Sea dropped, and in the following decade came to a halt. This phenom-
enon is well known among specialists and noted in many publications (Lazarov
1980 : 183; Avram and Poenaru-Bordea 1988 : 28 and note 12; Avram 1996 : 50;
Debidour 1999a: 293; Garlan 1999b: 138; Monakhov 1999 : 530, 532), with-
out, however, being discussed in detail. Explanations suggested so far include
a decline in Thasian production and local problems for the cities in the area
(Avram 1996 : 50).
It is true that a trend toward reduction in the number of fabricants wasalready noticeable before the 250s, but their average number was still higher
than during the first three quarters of the previous century, when the Black Sea
was the most active market. As explained earlier in this chapter, a lower level
of production should be expected to raise the importance of long-distance
markets, and not the opposite. But the strongest argument against the idea that
decreasing production impeded the exports is the fact that the latter continued
elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. Thus, a decline in Thasian production
is a very unlikely reason for (but a likely consequence of) the loss of the Black
Sea markets.
There are number of conditions outside Thasos that could have caused thisphenomenon. The latter half of the third century brought political and eco-
nomic difficulties to many settlements in the area. Among the affected were
some of the major importers of Thasian amphoras, such as Olbia, Histria, and
the cities of the Cimmerian Bosporus, which suffered territorial raids and
destruction (Maslennikov 2003 : 1168–9; Saprykin 2006 : 276; Kryzhytskyy
and Krapivina 2003 : 518–19; Krapivina 2005 : 249; Gavrilyuk and Krapivina
2007 : 568; Avram 2003 : 314; 2006: 66), as well as Callatis, which had difficul-
ties recovering from the war with Byzantium (Memnon, fr. 21 [FGrHist, III,
B, 434, fr. 13]).^17 Economic decay, impoverishment of the local population and
a decline in sympotic culture may have lowered the demand for expensive
imported wines. However, a crisis is not evident everywhere in the Pontic area;
cities such as Mesambria, Odessos (Minchev 2003 : 226), and Tomis (Buzoianu
and Bărbulescu 2007 : 295, 297) on the west coast were flourishing during the
late Hellenistic period. In addition, no disruption of the amphora trade in the
Black Sea occurred, even in those cities that experienced difficulties. Whatever
the problem was, it appears to have affected Thasian imports in particular, and,
possibly, those of other northern Aegean producers, but not the demand for
imported wines in general. Taking this into account, a decline in the demand
for Thasian wine as a result of market competition from other more successful
wines is also possible.