Harbours of the Aegean in Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period: Thessaly, Maritime Connectivity, and the Eastern Mediterranean Seascape

Alkiviadis Ginalis provides a comprehensive archaeological study of harbours and maritime connectivity in the Aegean from Late Antiquity through the medieval Byzantine period. Rather than concentrating only on major port cities, he develops a framework for understanding local and regional coastal installations and the hierarchies that linked them into wider maritime systems.

The coast of Thessaly gives that question a varied landscape: the Pagasetic Gulf, the Pelion peninsula, the Pineios river delta and the Northern Sporades each present different conditions for harbour building and seafaring. Ginalis combines land and underwater surveys with aerial images, old photographs and maps to identify the structures and connections that sustained coastal communities. He also asks whether Byzantine harbour design continued older practices or developed in new directions.