1. Location
Pityous was an ancient Greek colony in the region of modern Abkhazia, a secessionist province of Georgia. During the Ottoman period it belonged to the vilayet of Trabzon. The city’s modern name is Pitsunda and it is located east of the promontory bearing the same name. Its site is very close to the estuary of the river Chypesta, on the coast, at a distance of approximately 25km from Gagra.
It was one of the most isolated and remote Greek cities, in an area were the Caucasus dives abruptly into the sea, featuring very high altitudes (c. 2,900m). According to ancient accounts the city was located at a distance of 350 or 360 stadia north of Dioscurias.1 Its actual distance was in fact far greater.
2. Establishment - History
The foundation of the city, on the basis of the archaeological material, is dated to the 5th cent. BC. Its metropolis was undoubtedly one of the Greek colonies in the Black Sea, although there is a tradition which refers to Pityous as a Milesian settlement. According to Artemidorus it was a large and prosperous city.2 By the time of Pliny the Elder (79 AD), it had been destroyed by the Eniochi, a local Sarmatian tribe.3 During the Imperial period it belonged to the province of Pontus Polemoniacus.
With the completion of the Roman conquest of the region in the late 1st cent. AD the city’s strategic location became even more important. The settlement was quickly rebuilt and was transformed into a proper fortress (Legio XV was stationed there)4 and an important bastion against the nomadic barbarian tribes of the region who put pressure on the Hellenized cultures of the coastal cities.5 Arrian’s testimony for the existence of a fort, already in the time of Hadrian, is very significant.6 It was mentioned as an important fort and harbour protected by mighty walls.
Due to its nodal role in the defence of the Roman Empire, Pityous experienced many dramatic moments during the period of the Gothic raids in Asia Minor and the region of the Black Sea. These events are known through the narrative of the Athenian historian Herennius Dexippus, as recorded by the Byzantine scholar Zosimus.7 During the reign of Emperor Gallienus (253) the Goths raided Asia Minor. Their allies, the Borani, launched an attack in the area of the eastern Black Sea from their homeland in the Sea of Azov. They forced the Roman commander of Bosporus to grant them a fleet and proceeded to lay siege to the fortress of Pityous. Under the leadership of the able commander Successianus, the city’s garrison resisted valiantly and pushed back the invaders. However the Borani returned the following year (254) and besieged the city again. Taking advantage of the fact that Successianus had been sent by the emperor on a mission in Syria, they easily captured Pityous. Facing no resistance they marched to Trebizond, which they besieged and captured, pillaging the city and slaughtering its inhabitants.
The city gained importance in Late Antiquity. It became a bishopric; in fact its bishop Stratophilus was among those who participated in the Council of Nicaea (325). Pityous remained a fortified settlement, for in Justinian’s Novellae it is said that it must be considered a fortress rather than a city (535).8 When condemned to exile and arrested by the imperial army, John Chrysostom was to be banished to Pityous, but passed away while travelling there (407).9 During the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395) the city was protected by Legio arx prima Felix Theodosiana.
Pityous prospered in the 5th and 6th centuries. Excavations conducted by Andria Apakidze have brought to light churches with mosaic floors. An important Christian monument of the Early Christian period is also mentioned, a rectangular martyrion containing a sarcophagus, as well as a series of graves found inside a small church featuring a semicircular apse.10 In the 6th cent. Pitsunda was a religious and cultural centre of the Kingdom of the Lazi. Since 541 it was also the seat of an archdiocese. During the Medieval period it belonged to the Kingdom of Georgia, bearing the name Bichvinta. An important cathedral of the 10th cent. preserving traces of 13th and 16th cent. frescoes survives until today. The Genovese installed a trading outpost there in the 13th cent., called Pezonda.