Nestled on the Black Sea coast, the city of Kerasous, known in ancient times as Kerasus, has a history that spans millennia. First mentioned in Xenophon’s Anabasis, Kerasous was a bustling port serving as a gateway to Koloneia and the heart of Asia Minor. It also gave its name to the word “cherry,” as the fruit began being exported from here to the Mediterranean during Roman times. Despite its significance, the city’s history under Byzantine rule and during the Empire of Trebizond, where it ranked as the second most important city and the western bastion of the Empire, remains only partly understood.

Ancient Origins.

Kerasous was founded around 180 BCE by Pharnaces I, King of Pontus, who sent Greek colonists from Kotyora (modern-day Ordu). Xenophon first mentions the city as “Kerasus” in his Anabasis.

Early and Middle Byzantine period until 1204.

In late antiquity, Kerasous became a Christian bishopric. Several of its bishops are recorded in the acts of church councils:

• Gregorius at the Council of Ephesus (431)
• Gratianus at the Council of Chalcedon (451)
• Theophylactus at the Third Council of Constantinople (680)
• Narses at the Trullan Council (692)
• Ioannes at the Second Council of Nicaea (787)
• Simeon at the Photian Council of Constantinople (879)

An episcopal seal records a Leo in the 9th century, and Michael was transferred from Kerasous to the see of Ancyra during the tenure of Patriarch Michael Cerularius (1049–1053).

Kerasous was initially a suffragan bishopric of Neokaisareia, first attested in 431. By 1079, it had become a metropolis with no suffragans. Its church maintained close ties with that of Alania.

While modest compared to other Byzantine urban centers, Kerasous served as both a religious and commercial hub. In the late 7th century, it became the seat of a kommerkiarios overseeing trade in Lazika, Kerasous, and Trebizond. By the 730s, it hosted the imperial kommerkia, solidifying its reputation as a significant commercial center.

It is possible that Kerasous housed a local scriptorium in the 11th century, which produced manuscripts such as the Kerasous Gospels. Scholars have noted that the illustrations in these works reflect Armenian influence. However, the exact location where these manuscripts were created remains a subject of debate.

The second city and stronhold of the Empire of Trebizond.

Before the fall of Constantinople in 1204, a Byzantine pretender from the Komnenian dynasty established a dissident state around Trebizond. After the Fourth Crusade, this state became the Empire of Trebizond, which dominated the Black Sea coast for over 250 years. This small empire outlasted the Byzantine Empire itself, falling to the Turks in 1461.

The Seljuk Turks entered the region in 1244, followed by incursions from the Mongols. In September 1301, Emperor Alexios II Megas Komnenos achieved a significant victory over the Turkmen leader Koustoganes near Kerasous. This triumph was considered a pivotal event, with contemporaries and later historians regarding it as instrumental in securing permanently the western flank of the Empire of Trebizond. Around this time, Alexios II either constructed or expanded a fortress overlooking the sea to strengthen the area’s defenses. However, in 1348, the Genoese launched a retaliatory raid on the city, ransacking and burning it, although the fortress itself may have remained intact.

Alexios III Megas Komnenos (1349–1390), one of the most prominent emperors of the Empire of Trebizond, solidified his rule by quelling internal opposition. In 1354, he defeated the mega doux Niketas Scholares, who opposed him, and captured Kerasous, thereby strengthening imperial authority in the region.

Ottoman pirates attacked it in 1368. The Emirate of Hacıemiroğlu briefly occupied the city from 1398 to 1400. Ottoman pirates attacked Kerasous in 1368, and the Emirate of Hacıemiroğlu briefly occupied the city between 1398 and 1400. In 1404, Ruy González de Clavijo, a Spanish envoy to the court of Timur, described Kerasous during his journey along the Black Sea coast: “It stands on the shore, with its houses built all up a height that overlooks the sea. A strong city wall encircled the whole of this height, enclosing within its limit many orchards and fine fruit trees.”

In 1461, Sultan Mehmed II incorporated the entire coast into the Ottoman Empire. Local traditions claim Kerasous resisted for months after the fall of Trebizond, and that the city surrendered only after securing terms that allowed Christian inhabitants to stay, keep their arms, and maintain a boat for Turkish use. The island of Giresun is said to have withheld the Ottoman rule for several more years.

Organisation and remains of the medieval times

The oldest parts of Kerasous are situated on a peninsula dominated by a Byzantine fortress constructed by Alexios II. This fortification, overlooking a small natural harbor, highlights the city’s strategic significance. Today, the ruined keep serves as the primary Byzantine landmark of the city.

Next to the metropolitan church—of which no details are known and no remains survive—at least two other monasteries existed in or near Kerasous. One monastery, dedicated to St. Epiphanios, was located within the city. It is known solely from a typikon (charter) issued in 998 by Patriarch of Constantinople Sisinios II (996–998) to the metropolitan of Alania, with a memorandum added to the document in 1024.

Another monastery, dedicated to St. George, stood outside the city beneath the Gedik Kaya summits. By the 19th century, it lay in ruins. A chapel’s remains at Gedik Kaya Kalesi are likely associated with this monastery.

In the 14th century, literary sources mention an hermitage on the “heights” of Kerasous, inhabited by a certain Gerasimos. In 1964, archaeologist Winfield identified a small cave church on the eastern slopes below the castle, which may correspond to this hermitage.

Additionally, excavations near the port uncovered a mosaic floor with Greek inscriptions. The lettering suggests it belonged to a church dating back to the 5th or 6th century.

Nearby, Giresun Island, known as Aretias in ancient times, enhances the region’s historical significance.

The Giresun island.

Located just 4.2 km east-northeast of Kerasous, the small island of Giresun spans only 250 by 200 meters.

According to Apollonius of Rhodes, this island was the site where the Argonauts encountered both the legendary Amazons and a menacing flock of birds.

Archaeological excavations on the island have uncovered the ruins of a church and a monastery, believed to be dedicated to the Eleousa or St. Phokas of Sinope, which date back to the 9th–11th centuries. Over 100 Christian graves were discovered, with the skeletons traced to the 9th–12th centuries. It is thought that the monastery was abandoned before 1644, a year when Cossack raiders reportedly used the island as a base for assaults on Kerasous.

A boundary wall encircles the island, and the remains of a rectangular tower, possibly constructed or renovated after 1362 under Emperor Alexios III Komnenos, are still visible. A newly found inscription has shed light on the significance of the island during the era of the Empire of Trebizond.

The Greeks of the island allegedly held out against the Ottomans for seven years after the fall of Trebizond in 1461.

Sources.

Anthony Bryer, David Winfield, The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos