Constanța

Sister cities

• Turku
• Yokohama
• İzmir
• Rotterdam
• Alexandria
• Thessaloniki
• Makassar
• Trapani
• Brest
• Shanghai
• Perugia
• Odesa

History

Tomis was founded in the 6th century BC as a Greek colony as were nearby the colonies of Histria, Orgame, and Kallatis in the same era. The site had the advantage of a fine harbour, the Carasu valley offering an inland shortcut from the sea to the Danube, and fertile land nearby. The peninsula on which it was sited has high cliffs protecting Tomis from cold winds and from attack. Most of the ancient city is covered by the modern-day Constanța, making archaeology difficult. In the 5th century BC it was under the influence of the Delian League, passing in this period from oligarchy to democracy. The war for the emporion of Tomis took place in the middle of the 3rd century BC. In 29 BC the Romans captured the region from the Odrysian kingdom and annexed it as far as the Danube. It was a member, perhaps the capital, of the Hexapolis alliance of Greek cities with Histria, Callatis, Dionysupolis, Odessos and Mesambria. In AD 8, the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC–17 AD) was banished to Tomis by Emperor Augustus for the last eight years of his life. He lamented his Tomisian exile in his poems Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto. Tomis was "by his account a town located in a war-stricken cultural wasteland on the remotest margins of the empire". A number of inscriptions found in and around the city show that Constanța stands over the site of Tomis. Some of these finds are now preserved in the British Museum in London. The city was afterwards included in the Province of Moesia and, from the time of Diocletian, in Scythia Minor of which it was the capital. In 269 the city was attacked by the Goths who succeeded in destroying only suburbs outside the walls. The city lay at the seaward end of the Great Wall of Trajan. Tomis was later called Constantiana, possibly in honour of…

Geography

Constanța is the administrative center of the county with the same name and the largest city in the Southeastern development region of Romania. The city is located on the Black Sea coast, with a beach length of .

Most-observed species

• Yellow-legged Gull

  Larus michahellis J.F.Naumann, 1840 · Aves
  399
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  279
• Great Cormorant/European Shag

  Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  232
• Eared Grebe

  Podiceps nigricollis C.L.Brehm, 1831 · Aves
  227
• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  227
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  203
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  192
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  191

Most recent

• M 3.8 — 2015-07-15
  13 km ESE of Balgarevo, Bulgaria
• M 4.5 — 2012-12-03
  14 km SE of Shabla, Bulgaria
• M 5 — 2009-08-05
  16 km SE of Shabla, Bulgaria
• M 3.8 — 2006-08-24
  25 km SE of Shabla, Bulgaria
• M 3.6 — 2006-02-06
  4 km S of Gârliciu, Romania
• M 2.7 — 2005-01-24
  0 km E of Valea Nucarilor, Romania