accounts the Athenians and Lacedaemonians were generally rivals for its
alliance and friendship. Besides the necessary article of grain and
abundance of rich and valuable fruit, the Byzantines derived great wealth
from their fisheries: these were carried on with great spirit, enterprize,
and success. A surprising quantity of fish was caught in the harbour
itself, in autumn, when they left the Euxine for the Archipelago; and in
the spring, on their return to Pontus. A great many people were employed
both in this fishery, and in the curing of the fish: great sums were
derived from this source, as well as from the sale of salt provisions; for
the quality of which, Byzantium was in greater renown than even
Panticapeum. The only disadvantage under which the Byzantines laboured, to
counterbalance the excellence of their harbour, the fertility of their
soil, the productiveness of their fisheries, and the extent of their
commerce, arose from the frequent excursions of the Thracians, who
inhabited the neighbouring villages.

There were many other Grecian colonies on the Bosphorus and the adjacent
seas. Panticapeum, built by the Milesians, according to Strabo, the capital
of the European Bosphorus, with which, as has been already mentioned, the
Athenians carried on a considerable trade. Theodosia, also mentioned
before, was likewise formed and colonized by the Milesians: its port could
contain 100 ships. Tanais, on the Cimmerian Bosphorus; Olbia and
Borysthenes, both situated near the mouth of the river from which the
latter took its name; Panagorea and Hermonassa on the Bosphorus, and
several others. Besides these colonies in this part of the world, the
Greeks founded others, for the express purposes of commerce; as Syracuse,
in Sicily; Marseilles, in Gaul, the mother of several colonies established
on the neighbouring coasts, and, as we shall afterwards notice, a place of
very considerable wealth, consequence, and strength, derived entirely from
commerce, as well as the seat of the arts and sciences; Cyrene, an opulent