Olbia, situated on the northern coast of the Black Sea at the mouth of the Hypanis river (now called the Bug) was founded by colonists from Miletus in the second half of the 7th century BC. It had great resources in fish and wheat, and was the terminal point of a trade-route that went up the Hypanis river into central Europe.
Its subsequent wealth and prosperity derived from the dependence of many cities in Greece on its exports of wheat and slaves. The wheat was produced from the 'Black Earth' region of south-west Russia, and Olbia also became a centre from which the Scythians acquired Greek goods.
The city was at its richest in the 6th and mid-5th centuries BC., but declined in the face of competition with Athens and attacks by marauding tribes from central Europe. The Dacian king Burebistas sacked the city in 60 BC, but it survived until the 3rd century AD when it was destroyed by the Alans.
