Berezan Island (Modern-Day)

This is a short description of the real-world Berezan Island, where the covenant will be situated.

Much of the information and links given here is from Wikipedia, but additional information was also found in the book "Ancient Berezan: The Architecture, History and Culture of the First GreekColony in the Northern Black Sea" (by S.L. Solovyov).

Geography
Berezan island is situated just outside the estuary of the Diepner and Southern Bug rivers. This is on the north shore of the Black Sea, to the west of the Crimean Peninsula.

The island measures approximately 900 metres in length by 320 metres in width. It is separated from the mainland (to which it may have been connected long ago) by about a mile and a half of shallow water. The island is ringed with steep cliffs of porous limestone, with a reddish hue in some places, and narrow sandy beaches in places. The cliffs are about 21 meters high at their highest in the southern part of the island, but slope down to the northern part. There is a nice global picture of the island here.

The southern cliffs are climbable, as can be seen on this picture. The northern part is much more accessible, as can be seen here. In Antiquity, when the Greek settled it, the island may have been a peninsula, as the level of the Black Sea was unusually low at the time by 4 to 12 meters. Coastal erosion also played a role in this, as it is also very strong in this area. The sea is slowly but inexorably destroying the island.

History
Berezan was home to one of the earliest Greek colonies (possibly known as Borysthenes, after the Greek name of the Dnieper) in the northern Black Sea region. The island was first settled in the mid-7th century B.C. and was largely abandoned by the end of the 5th century B.C., when Olbia became the dominant colony in the region. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus visited it to gather information about the northern course of the eponymous river. The colony thrived on wheat trade with the Scythian hinterland: most cereals consumed in Ancient Greece were purchased from Scythians at Olbia and Borysthenes.

From the 4th to the 2nd century BC, population on the island was very small, and at some points during this period, the island may have been deserted. What population was present at this time most likely lived the life of an ordinary agricultural and fishing settlement, barely noticeable compared to the area around Olbia.

From the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, the island was also the religious centre of Achilles Pentarches (it was previously in Leuke). Achilles was venerated as the lord and master of the Pontic (Black) Sea, the protector of sailors and navigation. Sailors went out of their way to offer sacrifice.

In the Middle Ages, the island was of high military importance because it commanded the mouth of the Dnieper. During the period of Kievan Rus’ there was an important station on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. It was there that Varangians first came into contact with the Greeks.

The control of the estuary (known in East Slavic sources as Beloberezhye, or White Shores) was disputed between Kievan Rus and Byzantium during the multiple Rus'–Byzantine Wars. At last the Rus'–Byzantine Treaty of 944 stipulated that the Rus' could use the island in the summertime, without establishing winter camps in the estuary or oppressing the citizens of Chersonesos fishing off shore.

Ruins
Most of the archeological finds have been situated on the northern part of the island. It seems that the inhabitable area was mostly on the eastern side of the island, including the remains of a temple to Achilles. A necropolis was found on the western side of the island, also on the northern part. The settlers probably chose the northern part of the island because the best conditions for obtaining fresh water were there, as it is the lowest part of the island.