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TANAIS (Ancient city) SKYTHIA
Now the Don, i.e. "water"; a great river, which rises
in the north of Sarmatia Europaea (about the centre of Russia), and flows to the
southeast till it comes near the Volga, when it turns to the southwest, and falls
into the northeast angle of the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azof). It was usually considered
the boundary between Europe and Asia.
This extract is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
An ancient city on the steep right bank of the Mertvyi Donets, a branch
of the Don delta, near the village of Nedvigovka. Founded in the 3d c. B.C. (Strab.
11.2.3), it replaced Elizavetovskoe as the chief commercial center in the lower
Don and the main intermediary between the Graeco-Roman world and the inhabitants
N of the Sea of Azov. Its mixed population is proved by the indigenous names found
in Greek inscriptions. The city was destroyed by the Bosporan king Polemon ca.
8 B.C., but it recovered and began to flourish in the late 1st c. A.D. Its destruction
ca. 240, perhaps by Goths, put an end to the city as a major economic and cultural
center but it revived in the late 4th c. and existed very modestly until it died
out sometime before the mid 5th c.
Two walls encircled the city: the inner one of stone enclosed an area
of ca. 5 ha; at a distance of 215 m from it was an earthen wall. Between these
two rings of fortification were the huts of the poor. Within the walls traces
of houses have been found, built of uncut stone bonded with mud and roofed with
clay tile. There is no evidence of a street plan. There are potters' kilns and
evidence of local glass production.
The necropolis outside the walls contained inhumation burials and
a few cremations. Grave gifts include many Greek objects.
M. L. Bernhard & Z. Sztetyllo, 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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