East Pontus Mountains

The East Pontus Mountains rise behind Trebizond as a steep wooded barrier between the Black Sea coast and the Anatolian interior. Their green slopes are cut by upland valleys and streams, and they channel movement toward passes above the narrow coastal plain. The mountains became a refuge for Christians during the persecutions of the third century. Communities there founded Vazelon Monastery in 270 and Sumela Monastery in 386; Sumela was later built into the side of a very steep mountain about fifty kilometres south of the city, overlooking forests below.

Below the range, Greek Trapezous (later Trabzon) was founded in 756 BC and grew with access to roads over the Zigana Pass toward the Armenian frontier and the upper Euphrates valley. Byzantine Trebizond became the seat of the theme of Chaldia, and its trade routes carried silk, Persian goods and other commodities toward the Black Sea. Alexios Komnenos formed the Empire of Trebizond after a Georgian expedition into Chaldia shortly before Constantinople was sacked in 1204. The empire was the longest surviving Byzantine successor state, but geographically it consisted of little more than a coastal strip reaching not far beyond the Pontic Mountains. Port taxes and trade between Persia and Europe supported the city until Ottoman rule began in 1461.