Abonouteichos in 218 B.C.

Abonouteichos — Spring 218 BC · A Small Port on the Euxine Shore.

Abonouteichos — "Abonos’ Wall" — a small Ionian Greek harbour-town strung along the Paphlagonian shore of the Euxine Sea, set between Sinope to the east and Amastris to the west. A modest fishing and trading port, it lives off its boats, its little roadstead, and the coasting-traffic that creeps along this iron-bound northern coast. No great power and no walls of renown — only a Greek town of fishermen and small merchants on the edge of Paphlagonia.

On the long, harbourless coast of Paphlagonia, where the mountains come down hard to the Black Sea and good anchorages are few, Abonouteichos keeps its little roadstead between the great cities of the shore. Its name, men say, means "Abonos’ Wall," after some founder or some old breakwater against the northern swell. Here the fishing-boats put out after the tunny and the pelamys as they run down the coast in their seasons; here the small craft of the coasting-trade put in for shelter, water and a market. It is no rival to Sinope with her double harbour and her shipyards, nor to Amastris of the four united towns — only a plain Greek town of fisherfolk and traders, living quietly on the bounty of the sea.