Argamum information

Argamum (Orgame in ancient Greek) was originally an ancient Greek city located on the coast of the Black Sea on the present Cape Dolosman in Romania near Jurilovca, on the coastal lagoon that in ancient times was the open sea. It was founded by Greek colonists from Asia Minor together with other nearby cities (Histria, Tomis, and Kallatis).^[1][2]

Orgame is the oldest city mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 550-476 BC)^[3] and excavations at the site show the earliest Greek presence on the western shore of the Black Sea.^[4] It was probably founded in the 7th century BC^[5] and chosen for its good defensive strategic position on cliffs, with easy access to the Danube Delta, rich in fish, and to the interior for trade.

Orgame was destroyed by fire in the same period as Histria (520-490 BC) probably during the Scythian campaign of Darius I or due to an earthquake.

In 71 BC the Romans under Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus,^[6] the proconsul of Macedonia, occupied the city and the rest of Dobrogea, but did not leave garrisons afterwards.^[7]

In 29 BC Orgame came under Roman domination when Marcus Licinius Crassus, proconsul of Macedonia, annexed the whole of Dobrogea after his military campaign against the Bastarnae who had crossed the Danube and threatened Roman allies in Thrace.^[8] This was part of Augustus's strategy after establishing himself as sole ruler of the Roman state, of advancing the empire's south-eastern European border to the Danube to increase strategic depth between the border and Italy and also to provide a major fluvial supply route between the Roman armies in the region.^[9] It became a Roman city in the province of Moesia, later Scythia Minor.

In the 7th century, the entry of the Bulgars into the Byzantine Empire and the closure of the Gulf of Argamum which became the Iancina river (today Razim) caused the city to be abandoned and fall into ruins.