History of Trabzon: Empire of Trebizond, Byzantine Legacy and Black Sea City

Trabzon has one of the longest urban histories on the Black Sea coast and one of the most unusual political histories in the medieval world. The city of Trapezus was a significant Greek colony from the 7th century BCE; it became the last surviving fragment of the Byzantine world when the Empire of Trebizond persisted for 57 years after the fall of Constantinople; and its Byzantine heritage — the Hagia Sophia, the castle, Sumela Monastery — survives as the most substantial legacy of a lost empire.

Ancient Trapezus

The Greek colony of Trapezus was founded around 756 BCE by colonists from the city of Sinope on the southern Black Sea coast. The name (from the Greek for “table”) refers to the flat-topped hill above the harbour — visible in the Trabzon cityscape today.

Strategic position: Trapezus sat at the eastern end of the viable Pontic Greek colonial zone — the Black Sea coast east of Trabzon becomes increasingly difficult terrain, limiting Greek settlement. The city was a significant trading post connecting the Black Sea trade route with the Pontic interior.

Xenophon: The most famous ancient mention of Trapezus occurs in Xenophon’s Anabasis — the account of the retreat of the Ten Thousand (10,000 Greek mercenaries) through Persia and Anatolia in 401 BCE. When the Greek soldiers finally reached the Black Sea coast at Trapezus, they famously cried “Thalassa! Thalassa!” (The sea! The sea!) — signalling their return to Greek territory and survival. Trabzon marks this historical moment.

Kingdom of Pontus: From the 4th century BCE, the interior region became the Kingdom of Pontus, with Trapezus as a significant Black Sea port. The Pontic kings (the most famous being Mithridates VI Eupator, who resisted Roman expansion in three wars) used Trapezus as a naval base.

Roman period: Trapezus became part of the Roman province of Pontus et Bithynia. Under Hadrian, the harbour was rebuilt and a lighthouse erected — the first improvements to the harbour described in ancient sources.

Byzantine Trabzon

Byzantine administration: From the division of the Roman Empire, Trabzon (Trapezus in Greek) remained a significant Byzantine city — an important port on the route between Constantinople and the Caucasus, and a military base on the eastern frontier.

Komnenian dynasty: The Komnenos dynasty of Constantinople had a branch that governed the Trabzon area. When Constantinople fell to the Crusaders in 1204, this branch — Alexios and David Komnenos — established the Empire of Trebizond in the city.

The Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461)

The Empire of Trebizond was the longest-lived of the three Byzantine successor states that formed after the 1204 Latin conquest of Constantinople — surviving for 257 years until the Ottoman conquest.

Foundation: Alexios I Megas Komnenos established the empire in 1204, immediately after Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade. The Trabzon-based empire controlled the eastern Black Sea coast and maintained connections with the Caucasian kingdoms (Georgia in particular, whose Queen Tamara was a significant patron of the early empire).

The golden period: The 13th–14th centuries were the Empire of Trebizond’s most culturally productive period. The Hagia Sophia of Trabzon was built by Emperor Manuel I (1238–1263) — the finest surviving monument of the empire. Trade connections with Genoa, Venice, the Mongol Empire, and Persia made Trebizond one of the wealthiest commercial centres of the Black Sea world.

Marco Polo: The Silk Road connected Central Asia to Europe through Trabzon — Marco Polo departed for his eastern journey from Venice but the return route passed through Trabzon. The city was one of the key nodes of the late medieval Silk Road trade.

The Silk Road terminus: Trebizond was the western terminus of the Central Asian Silk Road route — goods from China, Persia, and Central Asia arrived at Trabzon and were shipped west by Genoese and Venetian merchants. The commercial significance of the city in the 13th–14th centuries exceeded its political weight.

Genoese and Venetian presence: Both Italian trading republics maintained commercial colonies in Trebizond. The competition between them and the city’s role in the Silk Road trade generated substantial wealth.

The Komnenos court: The Trebizond emperors maintained a Greek Byzantine court in the eastern tradition — Greek language, Orthodox Christianity, Byzantine court ceremony. They commissioned churches, supported monasteries (including Sumela), and maintained connections with other Orthodox powers.

Decline: The Black Death (1347–1353), the disruption of the Silk Road by Timurid expansion, and the progressive encirclement by Ottoman power in the 15th century weakened the empire. The final blow was Mehmed II’s conquest.

Ottoman Conquest (1461)

Sultan Mehmed II — who had conquered Constantinople in 1453 — turned to the Empire of Trebizond in 1461, the year he also eliminated the Despotate of Epirus. The last emperor, David Komnenos, surrendered the city without significant resistance, reportedly negotiating terms that were later violated. David and his family were executed in 1463.

Ottoman integration: Trabzon became an important provincial centre of the Ottoman Empire — a significant Black Sea port and the starting point for the trade routes to Persia (via Erzurum and Tabriz). The Silk Road function continued under Ottoman administration.

Şehzade Bayezid: Suleiman the Magnificent was born in Trabzon in 1494, when his father (later Sultan Selim I) was governor of the province. Trabzon’s role as a governor’s seat for young princes reflected its continued importance.

Modern Trabzon (19th–20th century)

Greek community: Ottoman Trabzon had a significant Greek Orthodox (Pontic Greek) population — descendants of the ancient Trapezus colonists who had maintained Greek language and culture through the Byzantine, Empire of Trebizond, and Ottoman periods. Pontians, as they called themselves, spoke a distinctive form of Greek (Pontic Greek) influenced by the long isolation from mainland Greece.

Population exchange (1923): The Lausanne Convention’s population exchange removed the Pontic Greek community from Trabzon and the surrounding region. The forced exchange was traumatic — families that had been in the region for millennia were removed in a matter of months. The Pontic Greek diaspora, primarily in Greece, maintains the memory of this community.

Ataturk’s connection: Ataturk visited Trabzon on multiple occasions — the Atatürk Villa (1903, built by a Greek merchant, used by Ataturk from 1924) is preserved as a museum.

Modern city: Post-1923 Trabzon developed as a regional centre for northeastern Turkey. Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi (Black Sea Technical University), founded in 1955, made the city a significant educational centre. The airport (opened 1957) connected Trabzon to Istanbul and improved commercial connections.

Historical timeline

Period	Event
c. 756 BCE	Greek colony of Trapezus founded
401 BCE	Xenophon’s Ten Thousand reach Trapezus: “Thalassa!“
64 BCE	Roman conquest; part of Pontus et Bithynia
1204 CE	Empire of Trebizond established after fall of Constantinople
1238–1263	Hagia Sophia of Trabzon built by Manuel I
13th–14th c.	Peak — Silk Road terminus; Genoese/Venetian trade
1461	Ottoman conquest; David Komnenos surrenders
1923	Population exchange; Pontic Greek community departs
1955	Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi founded

For the surviving Byzantine monuments, see things to do in Trabzon. For the shared Black Sea historical context, see history of Rize.