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MIRMIKION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
Myrmecium (Murmekion, Strab. xi. p. 494; Pomp. Mela, ii. 1. § 3; Plin.
iv. 26; Anon. Peripl. p. 4; Steph. B.; Jornand. Get. 5), a Milesian colony on
the Cimmerian Bosporus, 20 stadia N. of Panticapaeum. (Strab. vii. p. 310.) Near
the town was a promontory of the same name. (Ptol. iii. 6. § 4; Leo Diac. ix.
6.) It is the modern Yenikale or Jenikale, where many ancient remains have been
found. (Clarke, Trav. vol. ii. pp. 98, 102; Dubois de Montpereux, Voyage au Caucase,
vol. v. p. 231.)
A Greek city on the N coast of the Black Sea, 5 km NE of Kerch. It
was founded by Ionian colonists in the mid 6th c. B.C. (Strab. 7.4.5; Plin. HN
4.86-87; Ptol. Geog. 6.1). In the 5th c. the city issued its own coins, and a
sanctuary temple of Demeter dates to the 5th-4th c.
In 480 B.C. it became part of the monarchy of Archeanaktides. In the
4th c. B.C. when the city was at the height of its prosperity, it acquired a rampart
and its houses were built of stone and brick (remains of monumental architecture,
paved streets, water pipes). Several great wine-making establishments flourished
in the 4th-3d c. B.C. Among the traces that have been uncovered are large cisterns,
and stamped amphorae from Rhodes, Sinope, Chidos, Chersonesus, and Thasos. Attic
wares predominate from the 4th B.C. on (red-figured bowls, West Slope, etc.),
the pottery of Rhodes, Alexandria, and Pergamon being the most plentiful in the
Hellenistic period. Terracottas were imported mainly from Myrina and Amissos;
here the figures of Demeter and Kybele and the great masks of Dionysos are most
frequently found. The coins are predominantly Bosporan. From the 3d c. B.C. on
the city declined, reviving only in the Early Roman period; it never regained
its former prosperity. Its final decline dates from the end of the 1st B.C., and
it was laid waste by the Huns in the 4th c. Among the most noteworthy finds are
a terracotta statuette of Kybele (0.58 m) and a marble Roman sarcophagus with
scenes from the legend of Achilles found near the city. The Hermitage Museum and
the Warsaw National Museum contain material from the site.
M. L. Bernhard & Z. S. Ztetyllo, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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