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Information about the place (27)

Greek & Roman Geography (ed. William Smith)

Hermonassa

ERMONASSA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Hermonassa (Hermonassa Dionys. 552; Scymn. Fr. 152; Pomp. Mela, i. 19. § 5; Ptol. v. 9; Steph. B. s. v.), a place lying between Sindica and Phanagoria, which Rennell (Compar. Geog. vol. ii. p 331) fixes at the opening of the lake into which the Kuban river flows.

Cimmericum

KIMERIKON (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Cimmericum (Kimmerikon, Scymn. Frag. xci; Anon. Peripl. 5), a town of the Cimmerian Bosporus situated near the mountain of the same name (Kimmerion, Strab. vii. p. 309: Aghirmisch Daghi, or Opouk) rising in the E. portion of the S. coast of the peninsula of Kertsch. (Koler, Meme. de l'Acad. de St. Petersburg, vol. ix. p. 649.)

Myrmecium

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.)

Nymphaea

NYMFEON (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Nymphaea, Nymphaeum. (Numphaia, Scylax, p. 29; Numphaion, Strab. vii. p. 309; Appian, B. Mithr. 108; Ptol. iii. 6. § 3; Anon. Peripl. p. 5; Plin. iv. 26; Craterus, ap. Harpocrat. s. v.; Nymphae, Geog. Rav. v. 2), a Milesian colony of the Tauric Chersonese, with a good harbour. (Strab. l. c.) The ruins of this town are to be found on the S. point of the gulf now called the Lake of Tchourbache. (Dubois de Montperreux, Voyage Autour du Caucase, vol. v. pp. 246--251; Marigny Taitbout, Portulan de la Mer Noire, p. 74.) Pallas (Reise in d. Sudl. Statthalt. Russland's, vol. ii. p. 341) fixes it between the Paulofka Battery and Kamyschburnu.

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Panticapaeum

PANTICAPAION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Panticapaeum (Pantikapaion, Pantikapaion, Scylax, Strab. et alii; Pantikapaia, Ptol. iii. 6. § 4: Eth. Pantikapaieus, Pantikapiates, Steph. B. s. v. for the latter we should probably read Pantikapaites, as Pantikapaitai occurs on coins Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 3;, also Pantikapeus, as if from a form Pantikape,, Steph. B.; Panticapenses, Plin. vi. 7: Kertch), an important Greek city, situated in the Tauric Chersonesus on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, and not far from the entrance to the Lacus Maeotis. (Strab. vii. p. 309; Appian, Mithr. 107.) Scylax says (p. 30, Huds.) that Panticapaeum was 30 stadia from the Maeotis, which is too short a distance;. but Arrian (Peripl. § 29, p. 20, Huds.) more correctly makes the distance 60 stadia from Panticapaeum to the mouth of the Tanais, the Maeotis being regarded by this writer as a continuation of the Tanais, and the Bosporus as the mouth of the latter. According to Steph. B. (s. v.) Panticapaeum derived its name from a. river Panticapes; but this is a mistake of the learned Byzantine, who appears to have recollected the river of. this name mentioned by Herodotus, and therefore connected it with the city Panticapaeum, which, however, does not stand upon any river. Amimianus also erroneously places it on the Hypanis (xxii. 8. § 26). According to a tradition preserved by Stephanus (s. v.) it was founded by a son. of Aeetes, who received the district as a present from the Scythian king Agaetes; but we know from history that it was a Milesian colony, and apparently one of the earliest on this coast. (Strab. vii. p. 309; Plin. iv. 12. s. 26.) Ammianus (l. c.) calls it the mother of all the Milesian towns on the Bosporus; but. the date of its foundation cannot be determined. Bockh (Inscr. vol. ii. p. 91) places it about Ol. 59. 4 (B.C. 541), and it must certainly have been. earlier than O1. 75.1 (B.C. 480), which is the date assigned to it by Niebuhr. (Kleine Schrift. vol. i. p. 373.) The Greeks connected the name Panticapaeum with the god Pan, whose figure, or that of a Satyr, frequently appears on the coins of the city; but this name, as well as that of the river Panticapes, probably belonged to the Scythian language, and was, as in similar cases, adopted by the Greeks with an Hellenic termination.
  Panticapaeum was the capital of the kings of Bosporus (Strab. xi. p. 495; Diod. xx. 24), of whom a brief account is given elsewhere. [Vol. I. p. 422.] Accordingly Panticapaeum was frequently called Bosporus, though the latter name was also given to the whole kingdom. Hence, when Demosthenes says that Theudosia was reckoned by many as good a harbour as Bosporus, he evidently means by the latter the capital and not the kingdom (in Lept. p. 467); and accordingly Pliny expressly says (iv. 12. s. 24) that Panticapaeum was called Bosporus by some. Eutropius (vii. 9) erroneously makes Panticapaeuni and Bosporus two different cities. Under the Byzantines Bosporus became the ordinary name of the city (Procop. de Aedif. iii. 7, B. Pers. i. 12. B. Goth. iv. 5); and among the inhabitants of the Crimea Kertch is still called Bospor. The old name, however, continued in use for a long time; for in the Italian charts of the middle ages we find the town called Pandico or Pondico, as well as Bospro or Vospro.
  The walls of the city were repaired by Justinian. (Procop. de Aedif. iii. 7.)
  The site of Panticapaeum is well described by Strabo. Panticapaeum, he says, is a hill, 20 stadia in circumference, covered with buildings on every side: towards the east it has a harbour and docks for 30 ships ; it has also a citadel (vii. p. 390). The hill is now called the Arm-chair of Mithridates. The modern town of Kertch stands at the foot of the hill, a great part of it upon alluvial soil, the site of which was probably covered by the sea in ancient times Hence the bay on the northern side of the city appears to have advanced originally much further into the land; and there was probably at one time a second port on the southern side, of which there now remains only a small lake, separated from the sea by a bar of sand. Foundations of ancient buildings and heaps of brick and pottery are still scattered over the hill of Mithridates; but the most remarkable ancient remains are the numerous tumuli round Kertch, in which many valuable works of art have been discovered, and of which a full account is given in the works mentioned below. The most extraordinary of these tumuli are those of the kings situated at the mountain called Altun-Obo, or the golden mountain, by the Tartars. One of the tumuli is in the form of a cone, 100 feet high and 450 feet in diameter, and cased on its exterior with large blocks of stone, cubes of 3 or 4 feet, placed without cement or mortar. This remarkable monument has been at all times the subject of mysterious legends, but the entrance to it was not discovered till 1832. This entrance led to a gallery, constructed of layers of worked stone without cement, 60 feet long and 10 feet high, at the end of which was a vaulted chamber, 35 feet high and 20 feet in diameter, the floor of which was 10 feet below the floor of the entrance. This chamber, however, was empty, though on the ground was a large square stone, on which a sarcophagus might have rested. This tumulus stands at a spot where two branches of a long rampart meet, which extends N. to the Sea. of Azof, and SE. to the Bosporus just above Nymphaeum. It was probably the ancient boundary of the territory of Panticapaeum and of the kingdom of the Bosporus, before the conquest of Nymphaeum and Theudosia. Within the rampart, 150 paces to the E., there is another monument of the same kind, but unfinished. It consists of a circular esplanade, 500 paces round and 166 in diameter, with an exterior covering of Cyclopean masonry, built of worked stones, 3 feet long and high, of which there are only five layers. But the greatest discovery has been at the hill, called by the Tartars Kul-Obo, or the hill of cinders, which is situated outside of the ancient rampart, and 4 miles from Kertch. Here is a tumulus 165 feet in diameter; and as some soldiers were carrying away from it in 1830 the stones with which it was covered, they accidentally opened a passage into the interior. A vestibule, 6 feet square, led into a tomb 15 feet long and 14 broad, which contained bones of a king and queen, golden and silver vases, and other ornaments. Below this tomb was another, still richer; and from the two no less than 120 pounds' weight of gold ornaments are said to have been extracted. From the forms of the letters found here, as well as from other circumstances, it is supposed that the tomb was erected not later than the fourth century B.C. (Dubois, Voyage autour du Caucase, vol. v. p. 113, seq.; Seymour, Russia on the Black Sea, &c. p. 255, seq.; Neumann, Die Hellenes in Skythenlande, vol. i. p. 478, seq.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Taurica Chersonesus

TAVRIS (Peninsula) SKYTHIA
  Taurica Chersonesus (e Taurike Chersonesos, Ptol. iii. Arg. 2, &c.), a peninsula stretching into the Pontus Euxinus from Sarmatia, or the country of the nomad Scythians, with which it is connected by a narrow isthmus, anciently called Taphrus, or Taphrae, now the isthmus of Perecop. The peninsula also bore the name of Chersonesus Scythica, and was sometimes styled simply Taurica. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 26; Scylax, i. p. 29, Huds.) It is now called the Crimea, from the once famous city of Eski.-Krim; but since its incorporation with the Russian empire, the name of Taurica has also been again applied to it.
  The isthmus which connects the peninsula with Sarmatia is so slender, being in some parts scarcely 40 stadia or 5 miles across (Strab. vii. p. 308; Clarke, Trav. ii. p. 314, 4th ed. 1816), as to. make it probable that in a very remote period Taurica was an island. (Plin. l. c.; cf. Pallas, Voyages, &c., ii. p. 2, Fr. Transl. 4to.) The ancients compared it with the Peloponnesus, both as to size and. shape (Strab. vii. p. 310; cf. Herod. iv. 99); and this comparison is sufficiently happy, except that Taurica throws out another smaller peninsula on its E. side, the Bosporan peninsula, or peninsula of Kertsch, which helps to form the S. boundary or coast, of the Palus Maeotis. The Chersonese is about 200 miles across in a direct line from Cape Tarchan, its extreme W. point, to the Straits of Kertsch, and 125 miles from N. to S., from Perecop to Cape Kikineis. It contains an area of about 10,050 square miles. Nearly three-fourths of Taurica consist of flat plains little elevated above the sea; the remainder towards the S. is mounotainous. The NW. portion of the low coutry, or that which would lie to the W. of a line drawn from the isthmus to the mouth of the river Alma, consists of a sandy soil interspersed with salt lakes, an evidence that it was at one time covered by the sea (Pallas, Ib. p. 605, &c.); but the E. and S. part has a fertile mould. The mountain chain (Taurici Montes) begins to rise towards the centre of the peninsula, gently at first on the N., but increasing in height as the chain approaches the sea, into which it sinks steeply and abruptly. Hence the coast at this part presents huge cliffs and precipices, and the sea is so deep that the lead often finds no bottom at the distance of a mile or two from the shore. From these mountains, which extend from Symbolon, or Balaclava, on the W., to Theodosia, or Caffa, on the E., many bold promontories are projected into the sea, enclosing between them deep and warm valleys open to the S., and sheltered from the N. wind, where the olive and vine flourish, the apricot and almond ripen, and the laurel creeps among the dark and frowning cliffs, The most remarkable mountains of this chain are that anciently called the Cimmerium at the N. extremity, and the Trapezus at the S. (Strab. vii. p. 309.) The former, which is said to have derived its name from the Cimmerians, once dominant in the Bosporus, is now called Aghirmisch-Daghi. It lies nearly in the centre of the peninsula, to the NW. of the ancient Theodosia, and near the town of Eski-Krim, or Old Crim. Some writers, however, identify Cimmerium with Mount Opouk, on the S. coast of the peninsula of Kertsch. (Kohler, Mem. de l'Acad. de St. Petersb. 1824, p. 649, seq.; Dubois de Montperreux, Voyages, &c. v. p. 253, seq.) But Trapezus is by far the highest mountain of Taurica. Kohl estimates its height at 5000 German feet (Reisen in Sudrussland, i. p. 204); other authorities make it rather less, or 4740 feet. (Neumann, Die Hellenen im Scythenlande, p. 448.) According to Mr. Seymour, it is 5125 English feet high. (Russia on the Black Sea, p. 146.) Its form justifies its ancient name, and is said to resemble that of the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope (Kohl, Ib.). A good idea of it may be obtained from the vignette in Pallas (ii. p. 196). As it stands somewhat isolated from the rest of the chain, it presents a very striking and remarkable object, especially from the sea. At present it is called Tchlatyr-Dagh, or the Tent Mountain. The other mountains seldom exceed 1200 feet. Their geological structure presents many striking deviations from the usual arrangement, especially in the absence of granite. These anomalies are fully described by Pallas in his second volume of travels. That part of Taurica which lay to the E. of them was called the Rugged, or Rocky, Chersonesus (trekee, Herod. l. c.) It is in these mountains that the rivers which water the peninsula have their sources, none of which, however, are considerable. They flow principally from the northern side, from which they descend in picturesque cascades. Only two are mentioned by the ancients, the Thapsis and the Istrianus. At present the most fertile districts of Taurica are the calcareous valleys among the mountains, which, though often covered with only a thin layer of mould, produce excellent wheat. The nature of the country, however, does not now correspond with the descriptions of the ancients. Strabo (l. c.) praises its fertility in producing corn, especially in that part which lies between Panticapaeum (Kertsch) and Theodosia (Caffa), which at present is a desolate and monotonous steppe. But this may probably be accounted for by the physical and political revolutions which the country has undergone. Taurica yielded a large tribute of wheat to Mithridates Eupator, King of Bosporus. That sovereign took much interest in promoting the cultivation of the country, especially by the planting of trees; but all his care to rear the lanrel and the myrtle in the neighbourhood of Panticapaeum is said to have been vain, though other trees grew there which required a mild temperature. (plin. xvi. s. 59.) Wine was produced in abundance, as at the present day, and the custom mentioned by Strabo (p. 307), of covering the vines with earth during the winter, is still observed, though Pallas considers it unnecessary (Voyages, &c. ii. p. 444.)
  The interest connected with the ancient history of the Tauric Chersonese is chiefly derived from the maritime settlements of the Greeks, and our attention is thus principally directed to the coasts. Its coasts, like those of the Euxine in general, were early visited by the Milesians, who planted some flourishing colonies upon it. Besides these we find a Dorian colony established near the site of the present Sebastopol; and, if we may believe Aeschines (contra Ctesiph. p. 141, sq.), the Athenians once possessed the town of Nymphaeon on the Cimmerian Bosporus, which, according to him, was betrayed to the Bosporan kings by Gylon, the maternal grandfather of Demosthenes (Cf. Crateros in Harpocration, s. v. Numphaion.) The interior of the peninsula was but little known to the ancients, and we shall therefore best explain their connection with it by taking a survey of the coasts.
   We shall begin on the NW. side, after the bay of Carcina or Tamyraca, which has been already described. From this bay the peninsula stretches to its most westerly point, Cape Tarchan, which presents some high land; but to the S. of Tarchan the coast sinks to a dead level as far as the river Alma, to the S. of which it again begins to rise in high cliffs. All the W. coast, however, presents no place of note in ancient history till we come to its extreme southern point, where a bald plateau of hills runs in a westerly direction into the sea. On the E. this tract is divided from the rest of the peninsula by a deep and broad valley, into which it falls by steep declivities. The harbour of Sebastopol (or Roads of Aktiar) on the N., which bites into the land for about 4 miles in SE. direction, and that of Balaclava on the S. coast of the peninsula, which runs up towards the N., form an isthmus having a breadth, according to Strabo (p. 308), of 40 stadia, or 5 miles. This measurement is confirmed by Clarke (Trav. ii. p. 219), who, however, seems only to have been guided by his eye; for in reality it is rather more, or about 6 miles. The S. coast of the little peninsula formed by this isthmus presents several promontories and small bays, with cliffs of from 500 to 700 feet in height.
   So barren a spot presented no attractions to the Milesians, the chief colonisers of the Euxine; but a more hardy race of emigrants, from the Dorian city of Heracleia in Pontus, found a new home upon it, and founded there the town of Chersonesus (Strab. l. c.). We learn from Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26) that it was at first called Megarice, apparently from the circumstance that Megara was the mother city of the Pontic Heracleots. From these settlers the little peninsula we have just described obtained the name of the Chersonesus Heracleotica or Heracleotic Chersonese, sometimes also called the small Chersonesus (e mikra, Strab, l. c.), by way of distinction from the great, or Tauric, peninsula.
   The original city of Chersonesus seems to have been founded at the westernmost point of the peninsula, close to the present Cape Fanary. The date and occasion of its foundation are not ascertained; but Neumann conjectures that it may have been built about the middle of the fifth century B.C. (Die Hellenen, &c. p. 383). Considerable remains of the ancient city were visible so late as the end of the last century (Clarke, Trav. ii. pp. 292, seq.; Pallas, ii. pp. 70, seq); but every trace of them had vanished when Murawiew Apostol visited the spot (Reise durch Taurien, p. 62). They were destroyed by a certain Lieut. Kruse, who used the stones for building and converted the ground into a vineyard (Dubois de Montperreux, Voyages, &c. vi. p. 133). The ancient Chersonesus, however, had fallen into decay: before the time of Strabo; but the new town was flourishing and appears from the ruins to have been seated on the W. side of what is now the Quarantine Harbour of Sebastopol (Neumann, p. 392). The place was much damaged towards the end of the fourteenth century by Olgierd, sovereign of Lithuania, since which time it has been gradually falling into ruins (Karamsin, Russ. Gesch. v. 13. Germ. tr.). The Turks carried away many of its sculptures and columns to adorn Constantinople. Nevertheless, the town, although almost entirely deserted, remained for three centuries in so perfect a state that a plan might have been drawn of it at the time when it came into the possession of the Russians; but its ruin was soon completed by its new masters, who blew up the walls and destroyed the graves and temples. (Clarke, ii. p. 207.) Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26) gives the circumference of its walls at 5 miles; but their outline could still be traced in 1820, and according to Dubois de Montperreux (vi. 138), was only about a quarter of that size. It is probable that Pliny may have confounded the town walls with the wall or rampart which extended across the isthmus, which, as we have already seen, Strabo describes as being 40 stadia, or 5 miles, broad. The same writer speaks of it in another place (p. 312) as being fortified with a wall. This wall ran from Ctenus, at the E. extremity of the harbour of Sebastopol to Symbolon (Balaclava) on the S. coast, and appears to have been made by the Bosporan kings as a defence against the Scythians. An account of its remaining vestiges is given by Clarke (ii. p. 285, seq.; cf. Seymour, p. 149.). The whole enclosure was anciently covered with gardens and villas, and the foundations of houses and of the boundary walls of fields and gardens may still be traced, as well as many remains of the town on the promontory between Quarantine Bay and Streletska Bay. Vestiges of the principal street show it to have been 20 feet broad. The town wall on the land side was near 2 miles long, built of limestone, and 5 or 6 feet thick, with 3 towers (Seymour, p. 150). Many antiquities and coins have been found in the ruins of Chersonesus. In the neighbourhood are graves of the most simple kind, hewn in the rock. They are easy of access, and present in this respect a remarkable contrast to those at Panticapaeum; but, from this cause, nothing but bones have been found in them, whilst those at Panticapaeum have yielded valuable antiquities. According to Clarke (ii. 201, 210), the town of Eupatorium stood close to Chersonesus, though others have identified it with Inkerman. About the latter place, the ancient Ctenus, the rock is pierced all over with the subterranean dwellings of the ancient Tauri. On the top are the ruins of the castle built by Diophantes, general of Mithridates, to defend the Chersonese against the Tauro-Scythians. These caverns or crypts are now rapidly falling in. (Seymour, p. 140.) Similar caves are found in other parts of the peninsula.
   The Heracleotic Chersonese was noted as the seat of the savage worship of Diana Tauropolis. The natives, or Tauri, themselves had a worship of a similar kind; but whether it was indigenous among them, or whether they borrowed it from the Dorian Heracleots who settled here, cannot be ascertained. The account of the Tauri themselves, that their virgin goddess was Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, would seem to lead to the latter conclusion; though it is well known that the nations of pagan antiquity readily adopted one another's deities when any similarity was observable in their rights and attributes; and from the account of Herodotus (iv. 103) it might perhaps be inferred that this horrible worship existed among the Tauri before the arrival of the Greeks. Artemis was a peculiarly Dorian deity, and was worshipped in several parts of Greece with human sacrifices. There was a tradition that the town of Chersonesus was founded by Artemis herself. The Heracleot Chersonites erected a famous temple on a headland which took the name of Parthenium from it. Strabo however merely calls the Parthenium the temple of the virgin, a certain daemon (p. 308), and does not mention Artemis. Opinions vary as to which is the real promontory of Parthenium. Many seek it at cape Fanary or Chersonese, which seems too near the town of Chersonesus, as Strabo places the temple at the distance of 100 stadia from the town, though Fanary answers to his description in other respects. Clarke and Pallas identify it with the Aia Barun or Sacred Promontory (Clarke, ii. p. 286, and note), between Cape Fiolente and Balaclava, which, besides its name, has also a ruin to recommend it; though the latter claim to notice is shared by C. Fiolente. Dubois de Montperreux (vi. p. 194, sq.) thinks that the temple may have stood on the spot now occupied by the monastery of St. George; whilst Neumann, again places it on the headland a little to the NW. Of C. Fiolente. It will be seen that these opinions rest on little more than conjecture. On the coins of the Heracleotic Chersonese the image of Artemis occurs by far the most frequently. She sometimes appears with Apollo, sometimes with Hercules, the patron hero of the mother city, but more generally alone, and always as the goddess of the chase, never as Selene (Von Kohne, in the Memoirs of the Archaeolog. and Numism. Society of St. Petersburg, vol. ii. ap. Neumann, p. 420). On other coins a fish is frequently seen; and one has a plough on the obverse, and an ear of corn between two fishes on the reverse (Ib.). The bays of the Heracleotic peninsula abound with fish, which formed a great part of the riches of the country.
  Of the history of the Heracleotic Chersonesus we know but little, but it may perhaps be inferred from the Inscription of Agasicles that its constitution was republican. It was important enough to take a part in political affairs as an independent city, at least as late as about the middle of the 2nd century B.C., when, like its mother city, Heracleia, it was a party to the alliance against Pharnaces I., king of Pontus, and Mithridates, satrap of Armenia. (Polyb. Frg. lib. xxvi. c. 6, vol. iv. p. 345, sqq., ed. Sweigh.) Soon afterwards, however, we find it struggling with the Taurians and their allies the Sarmatians for existence (Polyaen. Strat. viii. c. 56), and it was ultimately compelled to place itself under the protection of Mithridates the Great. Subsequently, however, it regained its independence, through the Romans, and under the name of Cherson or Chorson flourished till a late period of the middle ages, and even overturned the Bosporan kingdom. (Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. c. 53.)
  Leaving the Heracleotic Chersonese, we will now proceed to describe the remainder of the coast of the Tauric peninsula, which may be soon despatched, as an account of its different cities is given in separate articles. From the haven of Symbolon (Balaclava) to Theodosia (Caffa) the coast is correctly described by Strabo as craggy, mountainous, and stormy, and marked with many headlands (p. 309). The distance, however, which he assigns to this tract of 1000 stadia, or 125 miles, is rather too small. In both the Periplus of the Euxine the distance given is 1320 stadia, but this must include all the indentures of the coast. The most remarkable promontory in. this part was the Criu-metopon, or Ram's Head, which has been variously identified. Some writers have taken it for the promontory of Laspi, which is in reality the most southern point of the peninsula. Some again have identified it with Ai Petri, and a still greater number with the Aju-dagh. But the account given by Arrian and the Anonymous agrees better with Cape Aithodor. These writers say that the Criu-metopon lay 220 stadia to the W. of Lampas. (Arrian, Peripl. p. 20; Anon. Peripl. p. 6.) Now Lampas is undoubtedly the present Bijuk Lampat, the distance between which and Cape Aithodor agrees very accurately with the preceding measurement. Scymnus indeed (ii. 320, Gail) states the distance at only 120 stadia; but this is evidently an error, as it is too short by half even for Aju-dagh. Cape Aithodor is not much N. of Lapsi, and from its position might easily have been taken by the Greeks for the southernmost point of the peninsula. (See Neumann, 451, sq.)
  From the traces of Greek names, ruins, remains of marble columns, &c., it may be inferred that the whole of this tract was once in the hands of the Greeks. But these relics probably belong to the Byzantine times, since the older geographers mention only four places on this part of the coast, namely, Charax, Lagyra, Lampas, and Athenaeon.
  To the E. of Theodosia the coast of the Euxine trends into a large bay, which, approaching the Palus Maeotis on the N., forms an isthmus about 12 miles broad, to the E. of which, as far as the Cimmerian Bosporus, extends the Bosporan peninsula, or that of Kertsch, which swells out to double the breadth of the isthmus. The western half of this peninsula is flat; but the eastern portion rises into hills, which surround the bay in which Panticapaeum was situated. It possessed several flourishing maritime towns, as Cazeka and Cimmericum on the S. coast; Nymphaeon Panticapaeum, the Bosporan capital, on the Cimmerian Bosporus; with some others of less note, as Myrmecium, Porthmion, and Hermisium. There were also probably towns in the interior; but we know the name of only one, namely, Iluratum. (Ptol. iii. 6. § 6.) Beyond the Bosporan straits we have little to guide us but the accounts of Ptolemy. From those straits, the N. coast of the peninsula, which is high and chalky, proceeded in a westerly direction to the modern Arabat. Somewhere on this tract lay the Greek colony of Heracleion.
  On the E. side of the Tauric peninsula, the Tongue of Arabat, a narrow slip of land scarcely raised above the level of the sea, 52 miles long and about half a mile broad, runs along the whole coast, dividing the Maeotis from the Sapra limne, or Putrid Sea. But though Strabo knew that the latter formed the western portion of the Maeotis (p. 208), he nowhere mentions the Tongue of Arabat. The Putrid Sea seems to be the Lacus Buges of Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26); but his description is not very intelligible. According to the accounts of recent travellers the Putrid Sea, now called the Shivashe, does not appear to deserve its name, as it has neither an unpleasant smell nor are its shores unhealthy (Seymour, p. 33); yet in the times of Clarke and Pallas it seems to have possessed both these offensive qualities. (Clarke, Tray. vol. ii. p. 314, note.)
  The chief feature in the history of the Chersonesus Taurica, is that of the kingdom of the Bosporus. After the extinction of that dynasty, towards the end of the 4th century of our era, the peninsula fell into the hands of the Huns, of which race remnants still existed between Panticapaeum and Cherson in the 6th century. (Procop. Goth. iv. 5.) It was subsequently overrun by the Goths and other nations who followed the great stream of emigration. Justinian reunited the kingdom of the Bosporus to the Greek Empire; and the Byzantine emperors, till the fall of Constantinople, always regarded the Tauric peninsula as part of their dominions. But the Tatars had made themselves the actual masters of it before the middle of the 13th century. Under these possessors, the Genoese, who settled on the coasts towards the end of the same century, played the same part as the Greeks did when the country was possessed by the Tauri, and planted several flourishing colonies. (Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande; Georgii, Alte Geographie, vol. ii; Clarke's Travels, vol. ii.; Danby Seymour, Russia on the Black Sea; Forbiger, Handb. der alt. Geogr. vol. iii.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Theodosia

THEODOSIA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Theodosia (Theodosia, Ptol. iii. 6. § 3), a flourishing colony of the Milesians, on the coast of the Chersonesus Taurica, in European Sarmatia, with a harbour capable of containing 100 ships. (Strab. vii. 309; Arrian, Per. P. Eux. p. 20.) In the dialect of the natives, it was called Ardabda (Ardabda, Anon. Per. P. Eux. p. 5), which is said to have signified, in the dialect of the Taurians, seven gods (Pallas, i. p. 416), and at a later period Kapha (Kapha, Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. c. 53); whilst by the Geogr. Rav. (iv. 3, v. 11) we find it named Theodosiopolis. It enjoyed an extensive commerce, particularly in corn (Dem. adv. Lept. p. 255), but appears to have been ruined before the age of Arrian, in the beginning of the second century. (Arrian, l. c.) Yet it continues to be mentioned by later writers (Polyaen. v. 23; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. § 36; Oros. i. 2; Steph. B. s. v. &c.) Yet we should not, perhaps, allow these writers much authority; at all events the very name of the Milesian colony appears to have vanished in the time of the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, under whom the site on which it stood was already called Kaffon (de Adm. Imp. c. 43; cf. Neumann, Die Hellenen im Skythenlande, p. 469.) Clarke imagined that he had discovered its ruins at Stara Crim, where there are still some magnificent remains of a Greek city (Tray. ii. p. 154, sq.; cf. p. 150 and note); but the more general, and perhaps better founded opinion is, that it stood, near its namesake, the modern Caffa or Theodosia. (Cf. Raoul-Rochette, Ant. du Bosp. Cimm. p. 30; Dubois, v. p. 280.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Parthenium

PARTHENION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
A promontory in the Chersonesus Taurica, on which stood a temple of the Tauric Artemis, from whom it derived its name. It was in this temple that human sacrifices were offered to the goddess.

Links

Tauris

TAVRIS (Peninsula) SKYTHIA
  Peninsula in northern Black Sea (today's Crimea), part of Scythia.
  Tauris is the region where, according to legends, Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, was led by Artemis who had saved her at the last minute from death in Aulis, after her father had ordered her sacrificed to propitiate the goddess and bring wind on the area where the Greek fleet was waiting to sail toward Troy. There, Iphigenia became priestess of Artemis at the court of king Thoas and had to sacrifice foreigners landing on the shore until one day, she recognized in two foreigners her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades, sent there by the oracle of Delphi to bring back the statue of Artemis. Iphigenia then helped them steal the statue and fled with them.

Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.


Perseus Project index

Theodosia

THEODOSIA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
Total results on 18/7/2001: 44

Present location

Geroevka

NYMFEON (Ancient city) TAVRIS

Feodosiia

THEODOSIA (Ancient city) TAVRIS

The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites

Charax

CHARAX (Ancient city) TAVRIS
Charax. Scythian fortress (later, Roman) of the 3d c. B.C. on the Ai-Todor promontory near ancient Chersonesus, not far from modern Yalta. A fortress of the Tauri tribe, it was ringed with thick cyclopean walls of hewn stone. The fort was seized by the Romans in the 1st c. A.D. and made into a military camp. It then acquired a second ring of walls and the area was increased to 1.5 ha.
  Houses with walls of stone and brick have been uncovered, and water pipes and mosaic-floored basins (design of cuttlefish) have been found; also, there are ruins of Roman baths (25 x 15 m) and a necropolis of the 3d-4th c. Pottery and other articles are of local manufacture. The Simferopol Museum contains material from this 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.


Chersonesos

CHERSONISSOS (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  A city on the W coast of the Crimea ca. 3 km W of modern Sebastopol. It is mentioned in the ancient sources (Strab. 7.4.2-7; Plin. HN 4.85; Polyb. 25.2.12; Pompon. 2.1.3; Ptol. Geog. 3.6.2 etc.). Founded in 421 B.C. by colonists from Herakleia Pontica, perhaps on the site of an earlier Greek settlement, it rapidly became the major city of SW Crimea and the chief center in this area for international trade. In the 3d c. B.C. Kerkinitis and Kalos Limen came under its control. In the 2d c. B.C. under attack from the Scythian king Palak, it was supported by Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus. Although the Scythians were conquered, Chersonesos lost its independence and became one of the cities of the Bosporan kingdom.
  The city covered an area of 38 ha and its defensive system is one of the major architectural monuments of the N Black Sea region. Stone walls (3.5 km long and up to 3.8 m thick), with crenellated towers and gates, were first constructed in the 4th-3d c. and rebuilt in the Hellenistic and Roman times and later. The city was laid out according to the Miletian plan with straight streets crossing at right angles. Traces of houses from the 3d-2d c. follow the same plan as those in other cities in the region. A corridor led to an inner courtyard onto which rooms opened; each house had a well or cistern and the basins were often paved with mosaics. Other architectural remains include a mint of the 4th c. B.C., several wine-making establishments, several large pottery workshops, numerous cisterns for the salting of fish; large baths of the Roman era, Christian basilicas of the 5th-7th c.; an odeum (?); a theater of the late 3d-early 2d c. B.C., which was still in use in the 4th c. Outside the walls in the Hercules peninsula excavations have uncovered the ruins of numerous fortified farinsteads, some for grape growing and others for grain.
  Among the many Greek inscriptions found are the oath of the inhabitants of the city (3d c. B.C.) and the decree of Diophanes (end of the 2d c. B.C.). A fine head of an ephebus in the manner of Skopas has been discovered; also many locally made terracottas, including a torso of a statue of Herakles. The Roman period is represented by funerary monuments, with portraits, and sarcophagi ornamented with scenes of Eros, griffins, and other figures of local legend. The Cherson Museum contains material from this 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.


Hermonassa

ERMONASSA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Ionian colony near Taman on the S shore of the Gulf of Taman. It is mentioned in the ancient sources (Eust. ad Dion, 1. 549; Strab. 11.2.10; Plin. HN 6.18). Founded in the mid 6th c. B.C., it reached its zenith in the 4th-3d c. B.C. Many ancient buildings and streets have been uncovered, including a large dwelling of the 4th c. B.C. with an interior peristyle courtyard; remains of archaic structures; grain pits; and a hearth. There are also remains of buildings of the 1st-4th c. A.D., some along a paved street, and evidence of extensive replanning and construction in the 2d c. A.D.
  The necropolis, which dates from the 6th-5th c. B.C., contains tumulus tombs. There is a fine marble sarcophagus from the beginning of the 3d c. B.C.; the lid is shaped like a pitched roof and has acroteria. The sides of the sarcophagus are decorated with a frieze of rosettes. The Hermitage and Kiev Museums 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.


Gorgippia

GORGIPPIA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  A city on the Taman peninsula mentioned by Strabo (11.2.10). It dates to the 6th c. B.C. The Greeks set up an emporium on the site, which was inhabited by the Sindi (Ps.-Scymn. Periplus 72), and named it in honor of a member of the Spartocid dynasty. In the 3d c. A.D. it was destroyed by the Goths but it made a brief recovery before its final decline in the 4th c.
  With an area of 20 ha, the city was almost equal in importance to Phanagoria, whose prosperity like Gorgippia's derived from the wheat trade. The city's most prosperous period was the 3d c. B.C. Excavations have revealed remains of dwellings, two wine-making establishments, a potter's kiln, a main street. Greek inscriptions prove that the city aristocracy was Hellenized to a considerable extent: the names of the native victors of the agones, held in honor of Hermes, are Greek, as is shown in the list from the 3d c. B.C.
  The necropolis, which dates from the 4th c. B.C., consists of simple tombs and a series of kurgans lining the roads to the city. The burial chambers were roofed with a false cupola of stone. Archaeological finds include Attic red-figure and black-glazed ware, Bosporan ware decorated with watercolor, and hand-thrown vessels produced locally. Particularly noteworthy are the portrait of an inhabitant and some funerary reliefs of local origin. The Hermitage Museum contains 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.


Kalos Limen

KALOS LIMIN (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Greek city and port near Chernomorskoe along the NW Crimean coast. It was founded in the late 4th-early 3d c. B.C. by Chersonesus. A fortress against the Scythians, it was built well into enemy territory. It was captured by the Scythians ca. mid 2d c. B.C. and occupied by them until the early centuries of our era.
  Excavations have revealed remains of fortifications, made of beaten earth, and ruins of stone dwellings dating from the 1st c. B.C. to the 2d c. A.D. The finds include pottery and other articles of local make, non-Greek in influence

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.


Kerkinitis

KERKINITIS (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  An ancient Greek colony along the NW Crimean coast. It was founded in the late 6th-early 5th c. B.C., perhaps by Heraklea Pontica, on the site of a pre-Greek settlement. Kerkinitis came under the control of Chersonesus in the late 4th c. and enjoyed a period of prosperity. As a center for the surrounding agricultural area, it provided Chersonesus with grain and had trade relations with the Scythians of the interior. It also issued its own coins from the mid 4th to the 2d c. B.C. The Scythians captured it in the mid 2d c. and occupied it until the early centuries A.D. (Hecateus, Fr. 153; Herod. 4.55, 4.99).
  At its height, the settlement covered an area of 8 ha. By the late 4th c., stone defensive walls and towers encircled the site. The walls were partially rebuilt and strengthened in the 3d c. The earliest dwelling, a two-room house with stone walls, a beaten clay floor, and an adobe hearth, dates to the late 6th-early 5th c. B.C. Other remains uncovered in limited excavations include a stone house of the 4th-3d c. with a cellar, a house of the late 3d-early 2d c. with stone walls and floors, a large stone-paved drain cutting N-S across the site and leading to a stone-lined reservoir, and a round stone structure of the. 4th-3d c., 6.2 m in diameter, whose purpose is not clear. The necropolis, located NW of the site, had burials of the late 6th-2d c. B.C. including some rich graves of the 4th-3d c. It is now completely destroyed.

T. S. Noonan, 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.


Kimmerikon

KIMERIKON (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Greek city 50 km S of Kerch, founded in the 6th c. B.C. by Greek colonists from Miletos (Hekataios 1.164; Strab. 11.2.5).
  The city is situated on the SW slope of Mt. Opuk along the coast of the Black Sea, where there was a Cimmerian settlement before the arrival of the Greeks. Traces of houses, rectangular in plan, have been found dating from the 6th-5th c. B.C. Ionian ware and amphorae from Chios were found inside them, together with local hand-thrown wares. In the 4th c. B.C. the city was ringed with fortifications and became an important fortress in the defense system of the Bosporan kingdom against the Scythians. The city walls are 2.5 m thick, those of the acropolis, 3.5 m. The city reached its height in the 1st-2d c. A.D. when the walls were enlarged and the houses built of stone. Toward the end of the 3d c. A.D. the city was destroyed by fire. The Kerch Museum contains material from the site.

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.


Kitalon

KITALON (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  A Greek city on the N coast of the Black Sea 40 km SW of Kerch near Zavetnoe. It probably dates to the 4th-5th c. B.C. (Ps. Skyl., 10.68; Plin. HN 4.86).
  In the 4th-3d c. the city was surrounded by walls 2.5 m thick and these were reinforced in the Roman period by a second circle of ramparts. The city was a fort of major importance against the Scythian nomadic tribes. On the outskirts is a kurgan necropolis belonging to the Hellenized Scythians who inhabited the city. Another necropolis from the Roman period (2d-3d c.) contains tombs decorated with frescos representing warriors, teams of horses, and ships. Particularly noteworthy are a sundial of the 2d c. A.D. with a relief of a bull's head in the center (Kerch Museum); from the 3d c. A.D. an offering table of stone with a Greek inscription colitaining a reference to a temple; and several other Greek funerary inscriptions with non-Greek names. The Hermitage and Kerch museums contain material from the site.

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.


Mirmekion

MIRMIKION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  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.


Nymphaion

NYMFEON (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Ancient Greek city 17 km S of Kerch along the shore of the Kerch Strait near the modern village of Geroevka. It was founded by Ionian colonists in the first half of the 6th c. B.C. on the site of an earlier native (Scythian?) settlement. Owing to its good port, Nymphaion emerged as an important commercial center, especially for the grain trade. It was probably incorporated into the Bosporan state in the early 5th c. but ca. 444 B.C. became the main Athenian base in the E Crimea. With the decline of Athens in the late 5th c. it was again included in the Bosporan state. The city issued its own coins for a short period around this time. Following an apparent decline in the Hellenistic era, it recovered in the early centuries A.D. It was destroyed in the mid 3d c. by the Goths. (Aesch. In Ctes. 171; Steph. Byz.; Ps. Skyl. 68; Strab. 7.4.4; Ptol. 3.6.2; Plin. HN, 4.86; Anon. Perpl. Ponti Euxini, 76 [50]).
  The site, located on a small hill, covered an area of some 9 ha but part of the ancient port and adjoining city are now under water. The architectural remains date primarily from the late archaic, Classical and Early Roman eras and include numerous residential, commercial, and public buildings along with the accompanying paved courtyards and streets. Recent excavations, however, have revealed several Hellenistic structures including a unique large building of the 3d c. B.C. made of rose marl. Large sections of the city were replanned and rebuilt during the 1st c. A.D. Many buildings were destroyed in the 2d c., after which time only a relatively few new buildings were erected.
  The most interesting architectural monuments from the city are probably the sanctuaries of Demeter, Aphrodite, and the Kabeiri, the latter two located in the upper city (acropolis). The remains of the Sanctuary of Demeter are found in the lower terrace along the seashore and consist of parts of the perimeter and sanctuary walls as well as the foundations of the main altar. The original sanctuary, built in the mid 6th c. B.C., was a small quadrangular room of adobe brick walls on a stone foundation. It was subsequently destroyed and rebuilt on several occasions during the city's history. The Sanctuary of Aphrodite had several rooms. First constructed in the late 6th c. B.C., it was destroyed in the 4th c. The walls of the Sanctuary of the Kabeiri, built in the 6th c. B.C., still remain. Many terracotta statuettes, apparently used in votive offerings, were found in and around the sanctuaries.
  Other notable architectural monuments include two winemaking establishments of the 4th c. B.C., the earliest thus far discovered in the N Black Sea, and the city's defensive walls, which date from the Classical era. Remains of potters' kilns date to the 6th c. B.C.
  The kurgan necropolis contained rich burials of the 5th c. and first half of the 4th c. B.C. Among the graves were stone tombs with horse burials.

T. S. Noonan, 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.


Pantikapaion

PANTICAPAION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Chief city and port of the Kimmerian Bosporus, founded by Greek colonists from Miletos in the late 7th-early 6th c. on the site of an earlier settlement, Panti Kapa, on Mt. Mithridates (Strab. 7.4.4; Plin. HN 4.87). The city became the capital of the Spartocids in the 5th-4th c. Its economic decline in the 4th-3d c. was the result of the Sarmatian conquest of the steppes and the growing competition of Egyptian grain. In 63 B.C. the city was partly destroyed by an earthquake. Raids by the Goths and the Huns furthered its decline, and it was incorporated into the Byzantine state under Justin I in the early 6th c.
  On Mt. Mithridates the earliest traces of houses can be seen. Dating to the end of the 7th c. and beginning of the 6th c. B.C., they are almost square in plan and consist of just one room. In the 6th c. B.C. the houses were enlarged to two rooms and nearby were built larger houses. These had several fairly luxurious rooms and painted stucco walls. From the end of the 5th c. B.C. date the remains of the walls that surrounded the city and traces of a sacred building on top of Mt. Mithridates, probably an Ionian peripteral temple (ca. 20 x 40 m), as well as a few fragments of the architrave and some column bases. A marble altar fragment has also been found. In the 4th c. the city covered an area of 100 ha with larger houses. In the 3d-2d c. B.C. a new type of house appeared having a peristyle courtyard; the walls of the rooms were decorated with reliefs of painted stucco or terracotta friezes, also in relief. The city was greatly influenced by indigenous cultures in the early centuries A.D., in which period several complexes were put up containing cisterns for wine production, as well as a considerable number of potters' kilns. Traces of religious architecture include a fragment of the Doric architrave containing the votive inscription of the temple that was dedicated to the cult of the Bosporan king Aspurgos, A.D. 23.
  The funerary architecture is monumental: a succession of kurgans 4th c. B.C.-2d c. A.D.--the Golden Kurgan, Royal Kurgan, Kul Oba and Melek Cesme--show the complete evolution of this type of tumulus tomb (see below). The Demeter kurgan, which dates from the 1st c. A.D., is much smaller than these and has a well-preserved fresco. In the center of the cupola is a medallion containing the head of Demeter. A frieze on the walls represents Pluto, Demeter, the nymph Calypso, and Hermes. The frescos in still later tombs show mainly battle scenes, gradually giving way to more schematic, geometric designs. The rich grave gifts in the tombs indicate the wealth of the city and its inhabitants.
  During the first centuries of the city's existence, imported Greek articles predominated: pottery, terracottas, and metal objects, probably from workshops in Rhodes, Corinth, Samos, and Athens. Local production, imitated from the models, was carried on at the same time. Athens manufactured a special type of bowl for the city, known as Kerch ware. Local potters imitated the Hellenistic bowls known as the Gnathia style as well as relief wares--Megarian bowls. The city minted silver coins from the mid 6th c. B.C. and from the 1st c. B.C. gold and bronze coins. The Hermitage and Kerch Museums contain material from the site.

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.


Parthenion

PARTHENION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Greek settlement in the Bosporan kingdom, 5 km E of Mirmekion on the N shore of the Black Sea and dating to the 5th c. B.C. (Strab. 7.4.2; 11.2). From the 5th c. B.C. to the 1st-2d c. A.D. the settlement covered an area of 150 by 84.5 sq. m. Pottery and terracottas (busts of Kore) are from Bosporan workshops of the 4th-3d c. Stamped amphorae from Rhodes and Sinope dating to the 3d-2d c. have been found. The Hermitage Museum contains material from the site.

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.


Porthmeion

PORTHMEION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  An ancient Greek settlement NE of Pantikapaion along the W coast of the Kerch Strait near the village of Zhukovka (Anon., Periplus Ponti Euxini, 69, 76). Founded in the late 6th c. B.C., it was extensively rebuilt about the middle of the 3d c. B.C. on a grid pattern and was encircled with a powerful defensive wall, possibly in response to the threat posed to the Bosporus by the Scythian state established in the Crimea. The life of the city ended in the first half of the 1st c. B.C., most likely during the turbulent reign of Mithridates Eupator.
  The city, whose remains today cover an area of 0.65 ha, has been studied since 1950 but only intermittently. Much of the original settlement was apparently destroyed during rebuilding, but remains of dwellings from the late archaic and Classical eras have been discovered. During the Hellenistic period, large one-block buildings seem to have been constructed which were then subdivided into a series of separate homes with common external walls bordering on the adjoining streets. At one point along the defensive wall, a city gate flanked by towers was uncovered. A paved street led from the gate into the city. Situated at the crossing from the European to the Asiatic side of the Kerch Strait, the city had a lively trade evidenced by numerous finds of various types of imported Greek pottery and by coins of Pantikapaion.

T. S. Noonan, 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.


Theodosia

THEODOSIA (Ancient city) TAVRIS
  Greek city occupying the Karantinnaia Hill area of the modern town of Theodosia (Feodosiia). It was founded by Miletian colonists in the second half of the 6th c. B.C., possibly on the site of a pre-Greek settlement. Theodosia emerged as a commercial rival of Pantikapaion in the E Crimea and, by the late 5th c. B.C., began to issue its own coins. In the first half of the 4th c. B.C., it was conquered by the Spartocid ruler Leucon I and incorporated into the Bosporan state. The city experienced its heyday as an international trading center in the 4th-3d c. B.C. when it exported to Greece huge quantities of Bosporan grain obtained from the enslaved natives of the surrounding areas. The harbor, at this time capable of accommodating up to 100 ships, rivaled that at Pantikapaion. The city probably suffered from the conflicts between the Bosporan state and the Crimean Scythians in the 2d c. B.C., and later in the century it was seized by rebellious slaves. After the forces of Mithridates Eupator ended the rebellion, Theodosia came under his rule but subsequently joined the revolt against him. The city was in part apparently destroyed ca. 2d c. A.D. but by the 3d c. had recovered. It survived the collapse of the Bosporan state in the 4th c. and became one of the early mediaeval Byzantine towns of the Crimea.
  Although Theodosia is mentioned by many ancient sources (Strab. 7.4; Demos. Lacrit. 31-34; Lept. 33; Ulp. Schol. a Demos. Lept. 33; Arr. 30; Anon., Peripl. Ponti Euxini 77 (51), 78 (52); App. Hist. Rom. 12. 108) and was one of the major centers of the N Black Sea in ancient times, the only excavations at the site have been exploratory. These have been impeded by a thick mediaeval stratum as well as by modern buildings and construction projects. Most of the earlier finds from Theodosia were obtained by chance during the pre-1914 construction of a new harbor.
  A necropolis containing burial mounds with many cremation graves of the 5th-4th c. B.C. was excavated in the mid 19th c.

T. S. Noonan, 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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