Panticapaeum: From Antiquity to the Present of a Mighty Polis. The ancient city of Panticapaeum - a dive into the past

Kerch is an eternal city with life that has been incessant since ancient times. Back at the end of the 7th century BC. NS. in the east of the Crimean peninsula, the Milesian colonists settled, who founded the ancient Panticapaeum. Kerch traces its history from that day.

Not every settlement can boast of access to the sea, and in Kerch there are two of them - to the Sea of ​​Azov (Motida) and the Black Sea (Pont Euxinsky). The place, unique in its geographical position, attracted different peoples here. Panticapaeum remembers raids, wars, changes of rulers, the rise and fall of empires.

History of Panticapaeum - Kerch

Historians find the first memories of him in the ancient Greek myths about the legendary Argonauts: the son of the king of Colchis Ayeta was the first settler of these places and the founder of the settlement with the same name of the local river Panticapa. The name of the tsar's son remains a secret, but the oikist, the founder of the settlement, who arrived from Miletus, was probably called Archeanakt.

The wise Greeks chose this place for a reason. Trade routes crossed here, the land was rich in clay and iron ore, natural building stone was used for dwellings, sea fish for food, the climate was suitable for growing cereals, vegetables and fruits. All this was the key to a successful life in this part of the Black Sea region.

The relations of the colonists with the neighboring tribes developed in different ways. With agricultural Meots and Sindians it is better than with warlike nomadic Taurus and Scythians. In fact, being the invaders and enslavers of the local population, in order to resist the raids of warring tribes themselves, the Greeks located villages close to each other, gradually uniting and strengthening them, so the city of Panticapaeum arose in the Crimea. Subsequently, it became the capital of the Bosporus Kingdom, uniting such Crimean Greek settlements as:

• Nymph;
• Tiritaka;
• Mirmeky;
• Cimmeric;
• Porphmia;
• Kitay and others.

The location of most of them has been established, excavations are being carried out, and now these ancient settlements are quite popular tourist sites.

But, we continue to remember history. As in their historical homeland, the Greeks erected the upper part of the city, the acropolis, on Mount Mithridates. Its stone fortification system was superior in power to the Athenian one. The place of honor in the acropolis was occupied by the temple to Apollo, nearby were the temples of Aphrodite and Dionysus.

In the lower part of Panticapaeum, residential quarters, agora, and a city port were located. The necropolis, the city of the dead, was located in the vicinity of the city. Earthen mounds on the burial pits of the Panticapaean burials - mounds, have survived to this day in a plundered state, unique finds shedding light on the life of ancient peoples are kept in museums around the world and in private collections.

Under the residential buildings of modern Kerch, in the depths of Mount Mitradat, there are the remains of a necropolis - this is a complex system of crypts, united by the manholes of "black" archaeologists. Excavations began at the beginning of the 19th century, as a result of research it turned out that the area of ​​the necropolis is over 15 hectares, hundreds of crypts date back to the III-V century AD. NS. It is assumed that the necropolis contains more than 3.5 thousand chambers. You can get an idea of ​​such a burial chamber by visiting a small museum at the foot of the Mithridates staircase. It is called "The Crypt of Demeter".

Connoisseurs of the history of the Crimea, when they mention Panticapaeum, a picture appears with the image of a part of the colonnade. These are the remains of Pritania, a Greek deliberative body, reconstructed in the 70s. Once upon a time, honorary citizens gathered here, foreign guests of the city were invited here. From the "house of authorities" from which the powerful kingdom was ruled on the Bosporus, there are fragments that keep centuries-old palace secrets.

Panticapaeum and Mount Mithridates are inextricably linked in the history of the city. From the top of Mithridates, on the left, you can see a path going down, leading to the remains of the ancient city. A bit of imagination can be imagined at the site of incessant excavations of the outlines of the fortifications of the acropolis, residential buildings, buildings, city buildings located on the terraces of the steep slopes of Mithridates. The height of public buildings reached 10 m, which proves the high level of urban planning during the heyday of Panticapaeum. The photo shows that basically only the foundations remained from them.

Walking through the ancient city, you can find clay shards of kitchen utensils from different eras. The temple, dedicated to the mighty Apollo, can hardly be seen from the preserved foundation. Finds of the ancient city: coins, ceramics, weapons, precious jewelry - are in the Kerch Museum. The antique Panticapaeum ceased to exist in the 5th century, leaving many mysteries and amazing works of art.

How to get to Panticapaeum

In Kerch, there are monuments from different eras. Panticapaeum is located right in the cultural center of the city. The top of the legendary Mount Mithridates is connected to the center by the Mithridates staircase, a work in the classicism style of the Italian architect A. Digby. You will overcome 436 steps, and you will have an extraordinary view of the modern Kerch, the Kerch Bay, the new Kerch Bridge and the ancient Panticapaeum. At the top of Mount Mithridates, an eternal flame burns in memory of the heroic defenders of the city during the Great Patriotic War. According to legend, the Pontic king Mithridates admired Panticapaeum and the Black Sea from here. Standing in this place, you feel the change of eras and different generations.

How to get to Panticapaeum from the Kerch bus station:

Shuttle buses: No. 23, No. 5, No. 3. Go to the stop. them. Lenin, about 3 min.
Then walk 700 meters along the street. Admiralteisky passage, st. Teatralnaya, then turn left along the street. 51st Army. Your gaze will open a view of the obelisk and the Great Mithridatskaya Staircase.

Panticapaeum in Kerch is worse preserved than in Sevastopol, but its ruins make it possible to understand how majestic this structure was, to touch the living history of an amazing place called Crimea.

As a result of excavations, an ancient Greek settlement was discovered Panticapaeum... It is from here that the history of modern Kerch begins. It was from this place that the settlement of the nearest lands began.

Visiting Kerch, one cannot pass by this unique historical monument. Moreover, access to it is open all the time. And everyone can plunge into the atmosphere of the past millennia, feel, on the one hand, a real archaeologist, and on the other, a resident of these ancient walls.

Personally, this place made a very strange impression on me, completely different from modern Kerch, but I will talk about this later. In the meantime, let's take a look at the historical moments of the Panticapaeum settlement.

History of Panticapaeum

The city was founded in the middle 6th century BC NS... According to some sources, its name has Thracian or Iranian roots, and means "fish route", according to others - it is named after the Panticapa river.

What they managed to unearth is only a small particle of the former greatness of Panticapaeum. In fact, it was once a huge city and represented the capital of the Bosporus kingdom, which spread on both sides of the Kerch Strait. It is thanks to its favorable location at the intersection of the main trade routes between the Mediterranean, China, Europe and Central Asia that it achieved its unprecedented prosperity.

Historical sketch

Not just the top, but the entire mountain and its surroundings keep the remains of ancient buildings. It is worth noting that the richest residents of the city settled on the mountain, temples were also erected here, for example, a temple Apollo, patron saint of Panticapaeum. And now we can observe the remains of the walls of former luxurious palaces and structures.

At the top of the mountain was the Spartokid palace with a large paved courtyard with columns in the center. To the left of the entrance to the palace is the temple of Aphrodite and Dionysus (the foundation has been preserved). On the slope, the Doric columns of the building of the city dweller rise. At the very top was the citadel. The city was surrounded on all sides by reliable walls. Panticapaeum had a convenient harbor and a shipyard.

Building plan on Mount Mithridates

Throughout its history, Panticapaeum has been experiencing years of prosperity and then complete decline. It goes through many internal wars, invaders' attacks, earthquakes, passes from one nationality to another. Its names change - Vospro, Cherkio, Korchev. But life never stops here. And now the city of Kerch invites guests to get acquainted with its ancient history and stroll along the already modern streets of the modern Russian port city.

Panticapaeum and modern Kerch

Diving into the past

As a result of such a walk, I ended up in the middle of the remains of ancient walls. And you know, the sensations here are unique, absolutely different from those within Kerch. It is as if you are plunging into the depths of ancient history, and you feel that you also took part in this story. This is a bit of a mystical experience, like a memory that has cut through the centuries. As if you were the one who built these walls and lived here as an ancient Greek (or Greek). The feeling that this is a native place.

There is a different energy, a different atmosphere, a different space. Kerch itself is opposite to Panticapaeum. If in a modern city there is a certain commonness, routine and dullness, then everything here seems to be permeated with light, lightness, life. A small life, boiling in a small town, and around fields, steppes, the sea ...

The second time I visited Panticapaeum, and the second time I had a similar vision. Despite the crumbs that remain from the city, the energy of the place recreates the integrity of that era somewhere in the depths of the soul.

The feeling of solitude and tranquility does not leave the consciousness during the entire stay here. The power of grounding is also very noticeable - that you are not somewhere in thoughts or dreams, but here on Earth, you are one with the Earth, and you are firmly on your feet.

Thread on the bar between the columns

Walking through the ancient ruins, you can find clay shards left over from ancient dishes and even real bones. Whether they belonged to that era or just the dogs brought them here will remain a mystery to us.

Bone found in the excavation

Hare Pipus also touched the history of Kerch

Panticapaeum

Among the cities of the Bosporan state, the first place belonged to its capital - Panticapaeum. The research of Panticapaeum has been going on for almost a century and a half, but they are still far from complete: this first-class archaeological site is so grand and complex, which includes a multi-layered settlement, a vast dirt and mound necropolis and powerful garbage dumps. Panticapaeum1 was located on the site of present-day Kerch. At the time when the city reached its largest size, its area was more than 100 hectares. At this time, it occupied the top and slopes of Mount Mithridates to their foot in the south, in the east it reached the sea, and in the north it stretched quite far, almost to the mouth of the Melek-Chesma river.

The oldest settlement is a trading post and a city in the early days of its existence in the 6th-5th centuries. BC NS. - occupied a much smaller space, mainly along the eastern slope of the mountain and adjacent places. In the future, the boundaries of the city were repeatedly expanded, mainly in the western and, probably, in the northern directions. BC NS. these included the western slopes of the summit called the "First Chair of Mithridates." In the III century. BC NS. the city occupied part of the saddle between the peaks "First" and "Second chair of Mithridates". Finally, in the II century. BC NS. a peak with the northern and partly southern slopes of the Second Chair of Mithridates entered the city limits. Basically, the city remained within these boundaries until its destruction in the last decades of the 4th century, after which for a long time the settlement was limited to a small area near the very coast of the sea.

We know comparatively little about the urban remains of Panticapaeum of the pre-Spartokid period (i.e., before 438 BC). Roofed tiled or more often stone houses, apparently, were rather modest. At the top of the mountain back in the VI century. BC NS. a rather large temple of the Ionian order was built of limestone, probably dedicated to Apollo; insignificant fragments have come down to us from this temple. In the same century, the city was apparently surrounded by a defensive wall.

The period of the early Spartokids (end of the 5th-4th centuries BC) was a time of great prosperity for Panticapaeum. The city has grown in size and has achieved significant improvement. A characteristic feature of the Panticapaeum layout stands out clearly at this time. It was already noted above that, unlike other large northern Pontic cities, the plan of which was based on a grid of straight streets intersecting at right angles, Panticapaeum had a terrace layout closely related to the terrain. The mountain occupied by the city was surrounded by terraces supported by retaining walls. Probably, the grandiose traces of the outcrops of the continental cliffs, which turned the latter into the foundations of the walls and towers of the acropolis of Panticapaeum, date from the same time. In the temples and public places of the Bosporus capital, monumental statues were erected. These are, probably, the temple statue of Dionysus, found at the foot of the southern slope of Mithridates mountain, and the grandiose portrait statue of one of the Spartokids, probably the son of Leukon - Apollonius2. Little is known about dwelling houses of the period under consideration; apparently, they have become more extensive and comfortable.

In the continuing to grow Panticapaeum of the III-II centuries. BC NS. known for extensive, wealthy residential buildings, as well as public buildings. Excavations, especially at the end of the 19th century, introduced us to the rich decoration of these structures3. To it belong the additional columns topped with polychrome capitals, which by their nature occupy an intermediate position between the Ionian and Corinthian ones. The walls of such buildings were covered with plaster and decorated with painting and painting.

Stormy events in the history of the Bosporus at the end of the 2nd and first half of the 1st century. BC NS. and the great earthquake of 63 BC. NS. caused severe destruction of Panticapaeum. During the restoration work of the 1st century. BC NS. and I century. n. NS. it was necessary not only to rebuild the houses anew, but also to build the retaining walls of the terraces. A characteristic feature of some buildings of this time is the use of predatory masonry: the builders took the stone for new buildings from the ruins of destroyed buildings of different times.

This newly restored city includes a short, but very informative description of Strabo4: “Panticapaeum is a hill, inhabited on all sides, with a circumference of 20 stadia5; on the east side of it there is a harbor and docks for about 30 ships, there is also an acropolis. "

The composition of the population of the newly restored Panticapaeum has changed: a significant number of representatives of local tribes penetrated into it, to one degree or another who adopted the Hellenic culture.

Panticapaeum of the first centuries of our era was significantly different from the Bosporan capital of the time of the Spartokids. In it, the different character of individual parts of the city is more pronounced. The Acropolis, apparently, remains the ceremonial part of the capital. On it, at least in the 1st and 2nd centuries. n. e., new terraces were built, supported by powerful retaining walls. For the embankments of these terraces, sometimes grandiose earthworks were carried out. The buildings that stood on the acropolis were decorated with claddings of white marble tiles, as well as variegated and colored stone. In other parts of the city, in addition to the remains of residential buildings, there were: in the coastal region, fish and salting tanks, and further from the sea to the west - pottery kilns, agricultural structures - the ruins of wineries, starting from the 2nd century. n. NS. and especially later - pits for storing grain, indicating the appearance of large grain farms on the territory of Panticapaeum. This phenomenon, testifying to the Russification of the city, was closely associated with the gradual transition to a natural economy and the beginning of the collapse of slave-owning relations.

Residential buildings of the period under review indicate significant property differentiation. On the western outskirts of the city, apparently, there were the pitiful houses of the poor, the walls of which were carelessly built of torn stone; these buildings were so imperfect that the beds of the foundations were far from always horizontal: on the mountain slopes they were often inclined, following the relief of the area.

On the southern slope of Mount Mithridates, part of the city of the 3rd century was excavated. n. NS. - "three-road" intersection formed by a street and a lane. The narrow (about 3 m) street ran almost horizontally, encircling the mountain; straight up from it a narrow (about 1½ m) alley rose steeply, apparently passing into a staircase. The intersection was framed by three houses with rather solidly erected stone walls. Remains of more monumental dwellings, built on terraces supported by retaining walls, were discovered (1956-1958) on the eastern side of the northern slope of Mount Mithridates. The richer character of this region is evidenced by the baths of the 3rd-4th centuries found there. n. NS.

The panticapaeum of the period under review was surrounded by a powerful defensive wall, the remains of which were found on the western slope of the Second Chair. The collapse of large blocks of rubble stone and the remains of the pavement of the "strategic" street, which ran along the inner side of the wall, have been preserved; its purpose was to ensure the movement of the armed forces defending the city, the supply of the necessary ammunition, as well as building materials for repairing the wall in case of damage to it by enemy siege vehicles.

All of this information listed above was obtained as a result of the excavations of Panticapaeum, which were carried out mainly in the 40s and 50s of the current century. As already noted, Panticapaeum is a very complex archaeological site, the number of layers in which reaches nineteen. Its location on slopes, sometimes very steep, a system of terraced planning with layers of layers at different levels, frequent landslides, not to mention strong dugout at different times, which is largely caused by the very intense life of the Bosporan capital - all this creates great difficulties for exploration of the city.

Artifacts from the Panticapaean settlement, extremely abundant and diverse, illuminate the most diverse aspects of ancient culture: containers for transport and storage of agricultural products, kitchen, dining and toilet utensils, tools, weapons, jewelry, coins, weight weights, lamps, inscriptions on marble and stone, sculptures, various types of architectural details, etc.

The necropolis6 of Panticapaeum has been studied quite thoroughly by researchers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, although, unfortunately, the reports, especially about old excavations, did not always indicate the exact location of the graves; in addition, it often happened that the inventories of a whole group of tombs were mixed together. The predominant type of burial in Panticapaeum was corpse placement; corpse burning was used at all times, but much less often. Somewhat more often than in other periods, cremations were encountered, but by no means prevailed; in the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC e., as well as in turbulent times - I century. BC NS. The dominant type of grave has always been a simple earthen pit, sometimes with ledges and overlapped with wooden planks or stone slabs. In addition to overlapping, sometimes the walls and floor of the tomb were lined with stone slabs, and thus the deceased was buried in a stone box. Compared to simple pit tombs, pit graves with stone, tiled or other mortgages were used much less frequently.

The necropolis of Panticapaeum of the pre-Spartokid period apparently occupied a relatively small area along the northern, western and southern slopes of the Second Chair of Mithridates. Usually these are simple earthen graves with slab or plank mortgages; the walls of the tombs were sometimes lined with adobe bricks. Their inventory is rather poor, gold objects are very rare, pottery predominates, including painted vases: Ionian (among them Samos), Corinthian, Attic black-figured and rarely red-figured strict style. Weapons - spearheads and arrows, less often swords - are found relatively often (up to 12% of burials).

The heyday of Panticapaeum in the early Spartokid period (end of the 5th-4th centuries BC) clearly affected its necropolis. The earthen necropolis, which occupied a vast area, stretched about 3 km to the west from the Second Chair of Mithridates, reaching the Golden Barrow. To the north of Mount Mithridates, the graves stretched no less than 2 km and even more to the northeast. Farther from the city were numerous burial mounds, located in different directions. So, to the north of the city the Melek-Chesmensky mound towered, to the northeast - Tsarsky, to the west - Kul-Obsky; a few kilometers south and southwest of Panticapaeum, there was a chain of mounds located along the Yuz-Oba ridge.

The sharp difference between the two main types of tombs - simple soil and burial crypts - vividly testifies to the significantly increased socio-economic differentiation of the population of the Bosporan capital.

Ordinary burials of the period under consideration most often represented simple ground pits, sometimes covered with slabs, wooden boards or tiles. There are also slab tombs (stone boxes). Their inventory is about the same as in the earlier Panticapaean soil graves, but somewhat richer than in the latter. Various painted and black-glazed vases predominate, including lekiths, alabastras and other vessels for olive oil, which athletes used to rub the body before wrestling. Shears are also often found - iron or bronze scrapers. Sponges for washing were also associated with the everyday life of the Greeks engaged in physical culture, which were also often placed in graves. All these findings indicate the significant role of the Palestine in the life of ordinary citizenship of Panticapaeum in the early Spartokid time, and, therefore, the purely Hellenic character of the latter's culture at this time. Unlike tombs of earlier times, weapons - swords, daggers, arrowheads - were much less common in the graves of the period under consideration (about 6% of the total number of burials). In Spartokid times, the dead were sometimes buried in simple pit tombs, erecting a two-slope structure over the corpse made of roofing tiles, like a house of cards. Wooden and especially stone sarcophagi were used less often; they are found only in rich burials.

In addition to ground burials, burials under mounds are also found in the Panticapaean burial ground. Kurgan burials have been known since the beginning of the 5th century. BC NS.; these burial mounds are relatively small, their height was hardly more than 3 m. Burials under mounds in monumental stone crypts in the 4th-3rd centuries are much more common. BC e., as well as in the I-II centuries. n. NS. The mounds containing these burials are quite significant in size: they are usually several meters high; burial mounds with a height of more than 10 m are often found. For crypts of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC NS. the use of stepped floors is characteristic.

Such crypts were carefully constructed from beautifully hewn stone blocks, laid out dry. The slabs were sometimes connected with metal clips. The crypts consisted of a covered passage - a dromos and one or two burial chambers with stepped ceilings.

Crypts with horizontal ceilings are less common, and around the beginning of the 3rd century. BC NS. burial chambers appear, covered with semicircular vaults.

Burials in the described crypts are usually characterized by corpses. The body of the deceased was placed in a large, often richly decorated sarcophagus, and together with it, a plentiful and expensive inventory was placed in the grave. A wreath of golden leaves was usually worn on the head of the deceased; other jewelry was also placed in the graves - gold rings with carved stones, and in women's burials, in addition, gold earrings, necklaces, bronze mirrors. A significant number of pottery is found: red-figured peliks of a special "Bosporan" type, as well as Ariballic lecythians, black-slip ribbed vessels with overlaid painting and alabaster alabaster. Placed in crypts and sharp-bottomed amphorae. Coins and weapons (helmets, greaves, arrowheads, swords) are relatively rare in these graves.

For rich burials in the Panticapaean necropolis, in addition to burial crypts, starting from the 4th century. BC NS. often used burial chambers dug in solid mainland clay or carved into the rock. Such tombs in the old literature are often incorrectly called catacombs. A deep hole was dug, from which a small corridor led to a burial room, rectangular or trapezoidal, usually with a slightly vaulted ceiling. Sometimes there was a second room behind the first room, into which a corridor led.

In the subsequent period of the late Spartokids (III-II centuries BC), the burial stone crypts were replaced by the underground rooms just described, carved in rock or mainland clay. At the same time, at this time, there are rich burials in monumental slab tombs under barrow mounds. Crypts with stepped ceilings do not disappear either, although they are used much less often than before; an example of such a tomb is the Kerch crypt of 1956, dating back to the 2nd century. BC e. 7.

These burials contain various luxury items: gold wreaths, gold rings with stones, earrings, necklaces, silver vessels of various shapes, coins and various pottery made by Mediterranean craftsmen; vases of the late red-figure style, black-glazed dishes, in particular ribbed with overlaid painting, Ariballic lekiths with net painting, alabaster, painted wine jugs - laginas, Megarian bowls. Even more plentiful are the products of local panticapaean work: yellow-clay or gray-clay peliks, decorated with rather fragile watercolor painting, probably specially prepared for funeral rites. The plots of the paintings of these peliks are often close to the drawings on the red-figure Bosporan peliks. There are also terracotta figurines in the graves, in men's burials they were often sheared, in women's burials - bronze mirrors.

The inventory of ordinary tombs of this time is much poorer, but in type does not differ in any noticeable way from the rich. Usually these are black-glazed dishes, Megarian bowls, terracotta figurines, bronze earrings, legnite beads, and sometimes small gold plaques.

Panticapaeum necropolis of the period of turbulent events at the end of the 2nd - first half of the 1st century. BC NS. relatively little known. Apparently, this was the time when cremation of the dead began to be used somewhat more often than in the previous period. To bury the burnt ashes, clay urns were used, usually with four handles, often decorated with paintings. On these vessels, the names, and sometimes patronymics, probably of the deceased, were often written in red or black paint.

A very large number of graves of the Panticapaean necropolis belong to the period of the Sarmatization of the Bosporus. The Panticapaeum burial ground of this time stretched out over a very vast area, somewhat larger than during the heyday of the city in the 4th century. BC NS. The number of tombs of the 1st century BC is especially large. n. NS.; This allows us to conclude that the population of the Bosporan capital in the named century increased significantly in comparison with the previous time. In the period under review, simple pit and slab tombs prevailed, which were built not only in the flat steppe adjacent to the city, but often also entered the mounds of the mounds of the same time. In the I-II centuries. n. NS. monumental crypts were built, often entering the mounds of old burial mounds. These crypts consisted of a dromos and one or two or more chambers located one after the other, covered with semicircular vaults; however, the most popular were underground burial chambers, sometimes decorated with paintings, but more often without any decorations on the walls or ceilings; starting from the II century. n. NS. they were often supplied with beds for the dead in the form of more or less wide niches carved along two or three walls. In the II-III centuries. n. NS. not only the crypts of the first centuries of our era were constantly used for repeated burials, but also of a much earlier time (up to the 4th century BC inclusive). At the time under consideration, cremation of the dead almost disappeared, corpses began to dominate, richly decorated wooden sarcophagi and especially simple coffins were used.

Ordinary burials of the 1st century n. NS. testify to the significant prosperity of the population of Panticapaeum of this time, not inferior in this respect to the ordinary graves of the time of the Spartokids. In the II century. n. NS. inventory becomes much poorer, and in the III-IV centuries. n. NS. very poor burials predominate. As for the rich burials in crypts or burial rooms, which contained a very abundant, expensive inventory, there are very few of them throughout the 1st-4th centuries. n. NS.

The male burials of the period under consideration do not have a palestric character characteristic of the burials of the pre-Sarmatian period. At the same time, weapons are constantly encountered in them: swords and daggers. These swords are of the Sarmatian type, pointed, with a long double-edged strip and with a wooden or bone handle crowned with a pommel of semi-precious stone or colored glass.

A tiara of gold leaves was often worn on the head of the deceased, and the body was covered with a canopy decorated with thin gold plaques. On the hands there are gold rings with carved stones. A large number of dishes were placed in the graves - earthenware (bottles, red-lacquered cups), glass (balsamarium), bronze and even silver, as well as clay lamps and terracotta figurines.

Richer than others are women's graves with gold and silver earrings, decorated with precious stones, necklaces, bracelets and rings. There are large numbers of beads made of amber, carnelian and other stones, legnite and Egyptian paste, as well as pendants and pierced beads. Finally, it should be noted the jars of cosmetics, work drawers and wicker baskets with nuts and fruits. In children's graves, among other objects, terracotta figurines, carts, astragalus are not uncommon.

As already noted, more or less Hellenized Sarmatians penetrated into the population of Panticapaeum in the first centuries of our era. Their presence in the Bosporan capital leads to the fact that in the single graves of the Panticapaean necropolis in the 1st century. The burial inventory includes buckles with T-shaped marks. It is possible that these signs go back to the marks that the Sarmatians used when brewing8 livestock, and at the same time it is quite possible to see in them the rudimentary form of the Sarmatian writing9. The role of Sarmatian elements is more clearly expressed in the Panticapaean graves of the 2nd century. n. NS. This was reflected not only in the grave goods - buckles, chalk beads, plaques, geometric in shape, but also in the funeral rite, namely in the presence of horse bones with harnesses found in some rich graves, starting from the 2nd century. n. NS. The features of the Sarmatization of the Panticapaean tombs in the III-IV centuries are significantly enhanced. n. NS. Burial structures of this time and the general nature of the funeral rite change little in comparison with the II century. NS. Weapons (swords, daggers, spearheads, as well as iron helmets and ringed armor), horse harness and horse bones are still found in male burials. But now a special polychrome style, which we talked about above, is being widely used for decorating ceremonial weapons and various jewelry.

For rich graves of the last decades of the 3rd and 4th centuries. n. NS. the widespread use of burial rooms is characteristic. Some of them, judging by the graffiti on the walls, were Christian burials.

The gravestones of the Panticapaean necropolis are stone, usually limestone, much less often marble slabs with inscriptions, and often with relief images. The oldest tombstones known to us date back to the 5th century. BC NS. On early gravestones, inscriptions with the names of the deceased are common; short epitaphs are less common. Such slabs were crowned with a high acroteria with floral ornamentation or a pediment, which in general terms reproduced the outlines of the upper part of the facade of the church with a sloping gable roof. The material for early gravestones was often marble, it is possible that some of these monuments were not made in Panticapaeum, but were brought from overseas.

In the last centuries BC, and especially in the first centuries of our era, in the Panticapaeum necropolis, gravestones decorated with reliefs of local work, which we talked about in the section on art, became widespread.

The garbage dumps of Panticapaeum have been investigated considerably less than the city and the necropolis. The most significant of them are located outside the city, west of the Second Chair of Mithridates. They were dug up mainly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. archaeologists, whose attention was directed only to the study of ancient graves, one way or another associated with these dumps, namely tombs that were dug in the ground long before the landfill was arranged at this place, or such graves that were dug in a layer at a later time landfills. Because of this, the dumps themselves, the thickness of which in these places sometimes exceeded 10 m, remained, in fact, almost unexplored. We only know that they included strata of both the Spartokid time and the Sarmatization period of the Bosporus. This paucity of information is all the more annoying because the contents of the relatively small mounds from landfills discovered within the city during excavations of recent decades are distinguished by a large saturation of fragments of various objects, often well preserved. At the same time, strata often make it possible to date finds more reliably than is possible for ordinary urban layers.

Notes (edit)

1. V.D. Blavatsky. Materials on the history of Panticapaeum. City plan. - MIA, No. 19, 1951, p. 9 et seq .; Sat. Panticapaeum. - MIA, No. 56, 1957.

2. B.V. Farmakovsky. Bosporus Spartokids in Atensky Rіzbyarstvі, 1927 (ott.).

3. M.I. Rostovtsev. Antique decorative painting in the south of Russia. SPb., 1913 - 1914, p. 113 et seq., Tab. XXXVII et seq.

4. Strab., Vii, 4, 4.

5. 20 stages is about 3.7 km.

6. M.I. Rostovtsev. Scythia and Bosporus. L., 1925, p. 159 et seq., Pp. 176 et seq .; G.A. Tsvetaeva. The ground necropolis of Panticapaeum, its history, ethnic and social composition. - MIA, No. 19, 1951, p. 63 ff.

7. V.D. Blavatsky. Excavations of Panticapaeum in 1954-1958 - CA, 1960, No. 2, p. 185 et seq.

8.E.I. Solomonik. On the branding of cattle in the Northern Black Sea region. - Sat. "History and archeology of ancient Crimea". Kiev, 1957, p. 210 ff.

9. V.V. Shkorpil. A note on the relief on the monument with the inscription Eupaterius. - IAK, no. 37.1910, p. 23.

V.D. Blavatsky

Photos of beautiful places in Crimea

Someone travels to Greece or Italy to look at what remains of ancient cities. We will go to Crimea and look at Panticapaeum in Kerch. The ancient city, which has recently been fighting for the status of the most ancient city on the territory of the Russian Federation, attracts tourists.

Capital of the Cimmerian Bosphorus

On near the Panticapaeum river, in the 7th century BC, immigrants from the ancient Greek city of Miletus settled. It is they who are considered the founders of the Panticapaeum settlement, which means "fish way". In the 480s BC. the cities of the two peninsulas - Taman and Kerch - unite with the formation of the Bosporus kingdom with the ruler Archeanact. The settlement becomes the polis and the capital of this kingdom. The dynasty of the Spartakid rulers replaced the previous one in 438 BC, it was under them that Panticapaeum became a great city of the ancient world.

What was he like

It was a large policy, with an area of ​​up to one hundred hectares. The city, located, according to the ideas of the ancients, on the border of Europe and Asia, in the strait between two seas, played the role of an important commercial point. The nobility lived on Mount Mithridates in the acropolis - the central city, and from the sea a view of magnificent palaces and terraces opened up. In the 6th century BC. NS. completed the construction of the Temple of Apollo, which was recognized as the patron saint of the city. On the east side there was a harbor and docks capable of accommodating up to 30 ships. The city was surrounded by a defensive wall up to 10 meters high. And outside these walls were the Panticapaean dwelling houses and shopping areas. Here they traded in grain, fish and wine. The city minted gold, silver and copper coins, which became the only monetary unit of the Bosporus kingdom. They depicted a griffin (a mystical creature with the body of a cat and the head of a bird), the god of wine Pan or ears of wheat. These coins are the pride of domestic museums and private collections, and some are sold at international auctions for fabulous money.

Mithridates VI in the history of Panticapaeum

Mount Mithridates, where the Greeks founded the polis, is named after the greatest commander and one of the rulers of the Bosporus kingdom (107-63 BC). Mithridates VI Eupator was fluent in all the languages ​​that then existed. He was so fabulously rich that he executed his subjects by pouring molten gold into their mouths. Growing up in a dynasty that was once close to Alexander the Great, from childhood fought for life with brothers and sisters, he was a man of steel will that made even Great Rome fear him. During his life, he survived three wars, and died on this mountain, betrayed by his son Farnak (63 BC). The marble chair, recently discovered by archaeologists, according to legend, was the favorite place of this triumphant.

Borders, heyday and decline of the Bosporus

To the east, the kingdom occupied territories up to the Caucasus Mountains. The western border was the territory of modern Feodosia. The northernmost outpost of Tanais was located at the mouth of the Don River. The boundaries of the Bosporus kingdom were constantly changing either upward or becoming the boundaries of the polis itself. In addition to the Greeks, the Scythians, Sindians, Sarmatians and Dandarii settled here. The Bosporan kingdom existed in history for 900 years, and Panticapaeum experienced periods of prosperity and oblivion with it. The rulers of these territories waged constant wars with Rome and the barbarians. The Huns destroyed Panticapaeum-Kerch in 375. The city was burned and destroyed, the inhabitants were killed or became slaves. So the first era of the existence of this polis ended.

Different names - the city is one

Over the next millennia, Panticapaeum developed in Kerch, its history changed the name of the city:

Wars of the last centuries

After the Russian-Turkish war in 1774, Panticapaeum in Kerch finally became part of the Russian Empire, which was enshrined in the Kuchuk-Kaynardzhi treaty between Catherine II and Sultan Selim Girey. The city is going through an era of rapid construction and economic boom, which was interrupted during the Kramskoy War (1853-1856). The wars of the 20th century also left their mark on these lands. Fierce battles during the Second World War destroyed both Kerch and Panticapaeum. But the city has withstood both wars and the unstable 90s of the last century. Confirming the status of a resort town, Kerch welcomes tourists even today.

Excavation history

In 1859, by decree of Alexander II, the Imperial Archaeological Commission was created. And from this moment the official history of the excavations in Panticapaeum begins. And before that, many explorers, travelers and just adventurers were looking for the untold riches of Mithridates, hidden in the mounds. The legend of the life-size golden horse of Mithridates is still alive today. From 1876 to 1880, 55 burial mounds, two catacombs, more than a hundred burials were uncovered. Today the ruins of Panticapaeum on Mount Mithridates and the famous Adzhimushkay catacombs are included in the exposition of the Kerch Museum. Preserved defensive structures, houses and crypts, public buildings are open to tourists. And this is only part of the excavation. The ruins of the cities of Tiritaka, Ilurat and Nympheus are marked with protective symbols. And in the water area of ​​the Kerch Strait, the ruins of the port of Akra were discovered, where, according to legend, the ancient Greek god Achilles was born

Panticapaeum in Kerch: how to get there

The address of this cultural heritage site is st. Chekhov 1A, and it is located in the very center of Kerch. The way to the top of Mount Mithridates can be overcome by the Great Mithridates Stairs (51 Army Street). It is a historic building in itself. It was built by the Italian Alexander Digby (1832-1840) in the middle of the nineteenth century. 432 steps of a spiral structure made of gray stone in the classicism style look majestic and solemn, griffins are sitting on the railing - the symbol of Kerch. At the top, where the Obelisk of Glory stands today and an eternal flame burns (by the way, the first monument to the heroes of that war in the Soviet Union), until 1944 there was a mausoleum of the mayor of the city of Stempovsky - an eight-meter high chapel. The trail from the end of the stairs will lead tourists to the majestic ruins of Panticapaeum, the main attraction of which is an antique arch with a stone portico decorated with carvings, miraculously preserved during the period of massive bombings during the Second World War.

Why else is it worth visiting Kerch

This one of the most ancient Russian cities will surprise tourists not only with the ruins of Panticapaeum. All the sights of the city are located in its center. So, the Church of the Forerunner is located in the very heart of Kerch. This monument of Byzantine culture with a thousand-year history was completed in the 19th century - a bell tower and chapels were added to the cruciform church. Right in the center of the bus station there is a burial mound - Melek-Chismensky burial vault. It dates from the times of Plato and Aristotle. A stepped descent will lead to a burial chamber measuring 4 x 4 meters. Unfortunately, the crypt is empty - it was plundered a long time ago. The Turkish fortress Yeni-Kale, built in the narrowest part of the strait, will surprise you with sheer walls and a bastion with defensive towers. And here you can also see the Tsarsky Kurgan - the burial place of one of the Spartokids, while the oldest burial on the territory of the entire former Soviet Union, and the war memorial - the Adzhimushkay catacombs with an impressive museum exposition.

For more than 26 centuries, the city of Panticapaeum and the stories of its inhabitants excite the imagination of historians and simply interested citizens. A place covered with legends awaits its visitors. And although today these are only the ruins of Panticapaeum, a glorious Hellenic policy with the temples of Apollo and the place of death of the richest Mithridates VI appears in the imagination of a tourist. Excavations on Mount Mithridates continue, archaeologists find items that still belonged to the inhabitants of the Bronze Age. The mountain still did not reveal all the secrets of Mithridates the triumphant.

Panticapaeum is one of the most famous and visited attractions in the city of Kerch. Also, Panticapaeum is the most ancient city of Crimea and one of the oldest cities in Europe.

Geographic coordinates of Panticapaeum on the map of Crimea GPS N 45.350512 E 36.468141

The first settlements of people, on the site of the future Panticapaeum, and later Kerch, appeared in the 15-13th centuries BC, as evidenced by excavations in the vicinity of Kerch. But the first large settlement dates back to the 7th century BC. Immigrants from the city of Miletus (now the territory of Turkey, and at that time the territory of the ancient Greeks and the neighbors of the ancient city of Troy), went to conquer new lands and landed on the coast of the eastern Crimea - on the shores of the Kerch Bay.

It was here that the first large settlement was formed, on the top of the mountain which is now known as Mitridatova. Mount Mithridat is located in the center of Kerch. From its peaks, the city and most of the Kerch Bay are clearly visible.
In order to understand how ancient the city of Panticapaeum is, you can compare its age with the main capitals of the world. Panticapaeum is almost 200 years younger than Rome, after the founding of Panticapaeum, Paris will appear in 500 years, London in 700 years, Kiev in 1000 years, Moscow in 1800 years.

The development of the city of Panticapaeum began from the top of Mount Mithridates. The most important temple of the patron saint of the city of the Sun God - Apollo was located here, and next to it was the building of the chief procurator, and later the king. The lower the building was on the slope, the poorer the council or the estate was. The poorest part of the city's population lived by the sea, practically along the embankment. Accordingly, the fortifications of the city were built according to the same principle: the most protected part of the city is Mithridates, but the port part and the embankment were completely destroyed during any siege of the city.

Attractions Panticapaeum

Now on Mount Mithridates only the remains of the ancient city are open for visiting, but the underground part of the city, located inside the mountain, is still little explored and is closed to the public. Climbing the mountain, along the famous stairs, you see the Obelisk of Glory, dedicated to the defenders of the defense of the Crimea. Behind the obelisk begins the first part of the open-air museum - the ruins of Panticapaeum. A visit to the mountain and the open-air museum is absolutely free and available at any time of the year.

History of Panticapaeum

Panticapaeum was founded in the 7th century BC, by the ancient Greeks, it was the largest city in Crimea of ​​that era. The city is located at the intersection of trade routes between north and south, east and west and was an integral part of the Silk Road.
In the 4th century BC, Panticapaeum minted its own gold coin, has a military infrastructure, trades with the cities of the Crimea and the Roman Empire. In the first century BC, an uprising begins in Panticapaeum, which is brutally suppressed by King Mithridates, who replaced the royal dynasty of Peresad.

Until 370, Panticapaeum was ruled by the dynasty of Mithridates, which was overthrown by the invasion of the Huns.
At the beginning of the 4th century, the Roman Empire conquered the city and until the 6th century keeps it from the invasion of nomadic tribes.
In the 6th century, Panticapaeum came under the rule of Byzantium. In the 7th century, the Khazars captured the city and held it for almost 200 years. The Khazars renamed the city from Panticapaeum to the Khazar style - Karsha. In the 9th century, the Khazars were driven out of the city by the Slavs and Panticapaeum was a part of the Tmutarakan principality, up to the 12th century. At the beginning of the 12th century, for almost 100 years, the city passes back to Byzantium and regains its historical name.
From the 13th to the 15th centuries, the city was ruled by the Genoese until the capture of Crimea by the Ottoman Empire. In 1774, Panticapaeum became part of the Russian Empire and received a new impetus for development: a new military infrastructure appeared, the port was expanded and a city was built.

How to get to Panticapaeum