The city was founded at a time when many nomadic tribes were beginning to settle in the areas north of the Black Sea.

[5] The Greeks settled in this area because of the plentiful fishing and the opportunity to trade with these barbarian settlers.

[citation needed] Nikōnion was abandoned permanently in the middle of the third century AD when the area was invaded by the Goths during the Great Migrations.

[4] According to the findings of excavations in the area, it appears that in the 5th-4th centuries BC, the money in Nikōnion mostly consisted of Histrian coins.

[7] It is also possible that Nikōnion itself minted coins, because some of the coins discovered during excavation are unique in appearance and bear the name of the Scythian king Scyles, who had established a protectorate over Nikōnion and other settlements in the area and may have been buried in the city.