The Black Sea Basin is the crossroads for many nations and the economic interests of various medieval states. Byzantine expansion and domination in the Black Sea began in the 4th century. Its undisputed rule ends in the 12th century, when merchants from the Italian Republics achieved naval supremacy in the region.

The Taurica region (an ancient name for the Crimean Peninsula), among others, played an important role in these relationships due to its geopolitical situation. The reconstruction of economic processes on the Taurica coast in the 4th–11th centuries is representative of the general picture of the Black Sea region during that period. Research concerning seafaring and maritime trade deserves special attention, as their primary significance in the economic development of the majority of the aforementioned societies is clear. The research models and concepts of the commercial seafaring of the past, relying for the most part on written sources, have worked themselves out. New archaeological data can help to break the present deadlock of theoretical speculations. Recently obtained archaeological sources are bringing the historical investigation to a new, groundbreaking level.

In the middle ages mariners often sailed along ancient trade routes known from antiquity, the functioning of which depended upon the hydrological and climatological conditions of the sea.