The territory of the settlement of the Scythians is the territory of the Bosporan kingdom. Bosporan Kingdom and Greek colonization in the North Caucasus

Bosporan kingdom: a brief historical outline

The Bosporan kingdom is a Greek monarchical formation of the Northern Black Sea region. The history of its origin begins with the appearance of resettlement policies that grew up in the coastal zones of the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea and Taman. These apoikias were erected by Asia Minor and Hellenes from the Aegean Sea.

Among them were democratic republics and policies with an oligarchic form of government. The rich land allowed the newly arrived Greeks to farm, raise livestock, fish and, of course, trade with the metropolis, neighboring tribes and policies. Unifying tendencies arose in the cities, which intensified under the influence of the threat of attacks by the Scythian barbarians. Panticapaeum gradually acquired the status of a metropolitan policy.

According to the ancient writer Diodorus Siculus, the Bosporan kingdom existed from 480 BC. e. It was then ruled by the Archaeanactids - immigrants from Miletus, who managed to hold tyrannical power for 42 years, passing it on by inheritance.

The Archaeanactids were replaced by the Spartokids, who headed the Bosporus kingdom almost until the 1st century BC. BC e. How Spartoc came to power, historians do not know. One can only assume that events like a coup took place. However, we can also assume that there was a voluntary transfer of power.

The first rulers of the kingdom were the archons of the Bosporus. Despite the tyrannical nature of government, the cities of the Bosporus kingdom still had some signs of autonomy. This is confirmed by information about the people's assemblies and councils existing there. In addition, positions in such policies were elective.

The next era of the Bosporus kingdom is associated with the activities of Satir I, Levkon I and Perisad I. They increased the territory of the state (it included the mouth of the Don, the lower reaches of the Kuban and the eastern part of the Sea of ​​Azov), conquered Theodosius, and later the Sindo-Meots and Scythians living nearby.

Economic ties of the Bosporus kingdom The economy of the Bosporus kingdom was based on trade. Initially, his policies cooperated with the settlements of Asia Minor and the Greek islands of the Mediterranean. Then, around the 5th c. BC e., goods began to be transported to Athens. In parallel, there was an exchange with dependent barbarian tribes. Scythians, Meots and Sinds were good suppliers of slaves, and slaves were valued in overseas markets. Hellas supplied the Bosporan Kingdom with wines, olive oil, and craftsmanship. The main commodity of the Bosporus is grain, but besides it, fish, skins, and wool were also imported from overseas. All this the Greeks received thanks to their own labor and the efforts of dependent barbarians who sold the products of agriculture and crafts. In exchange for these goods, the Hellenes gave the tribes items made by local artisans and things delivered by sea. The Bosporus kingdom also had trade relations with Olbia and Chersonese, with the Southern Black Sea region and Eastern Pontus. Toward the end of the VI century. BC e. in Panticapaeum they established the minting of their own money. Later, the issue of coins continued, but it is known that during the economic crisis of the III century. BC e. gold and silver have replaced low quality copper equivalents. After the reform of Levkon II, the situation stabilized. Agriculture, cattle breeding and crafts in the Bosporan kingdom In the state, which actively exported grain crops, special attention was paid to agriculture. Agricultural districts were located around the urban centers, some farmers lived in villages-koms. A lot of cereals were grown on the Scythian sites and on the lands of the Sindo-Meots. The inhabitants of ancient settlements used the plow method and a two-field tillage system. They grew crops such as wheat, barley, vetch, lentils, and millet. The Greeks also grew legumes, alternating them with cereals. Viticulture brought tangible profit. In the Bosporan kingdom, cattle were kept, with the help of which they cultivated the land. Artisans of the Bosporan kingdom reached a high level of skill. Especially in woodworking and stonework construction. They knew how to make ships, houses, furniture, personalized tiles. Local craftsmen skilfully processed metals, many iron and bronze items made in the Greek policies of the Bosporus have been found. Bosporan jewelry was no less striking: jewelry that was attached to clothing or harness, rings, bracelets, etc. Many such items were found in Scythian burials. In addition, the Hellenes knew how to weave, processed the skin on their own, made crafts from bones and, of course, clay products. In the pottery workshops of the Bosporus kingdom, kitchen utensils were produced, which were distributed among the Greeks and representatives of the tribes subject to them. Bosporan Kingdom: Life, Religion and Cultural Features The entire population of the Bosporus kingdom consisted of three social groups: slaves, the top and the middle stratum (communal peasants, foreigners, people who did not have slaves). The ethnic composition of the state was quite diverse, as it included representatives of barbarian tribes. By the way, many of them managed to occupy high positions in society. The amount of arable land significantly prevailed over urban areas, therefore, among the settlements of the Bosporus kingdom, there were not only policies, but also small villages inhabited by farmers. The cities were opulent. Among them, the most majestic was Panticapaeum: its houses, temples, public buildings were richly decorated, during the construction of the structures located there, the latest technologies for that time were used, and artificial terraces were made. The phenomenon of the Bosporan culture is an artistic craft. There are many scenes from the life of the Scythians on the items made in ancient policies. Probably, things were made to order, and in the Bosporan kingdom there was a whole school of masters who were engaged in this kind of painting. The high level of culture of the Bosporans is evidenced by the developed poetry and theatrical art that they have, which was not inferior to the real Greek. Poems were told to the music and even organized a kind of competition in which the best reciter won. In the Bosporus kingdom they loved lyrics and dances, just like in the Mediterranean cities. With the penetration of the Sarmatians, elements of the traditions of the nomadic Iranian-speaking people began to be traced there. The inhabitants of the Bosporan state revered the gods of fertility. Their deities were of Greek and Eastern origin. Among them are Aphrodite, Apollo, Astarte, Kiberu, Koru, Zeus, etc. In their honor, the Greeks built temples, made sculptures and figurines. To date, two religious complexes of ancient times have been opened: the Nymphaeum sanctuary of Demeter and Apatur in Taman. Thus, the Bosporus kingdom arose in the 5th century. BC e. and lasted until the last decades of the 4th century. n. e. It's eight hundred years old. It was founded by the Archaeanactids, but after some 42 years they were replaced by the Spartocids, who ruled until the 1st century BC. BC e. Satyr I, like his followers, including Perisad I, managed to expand the territories of the monarchy. From the end of the 4th century BC e. barbarians occupied an important place in the life of the kingdom. It all ended with the fact that in the II century BC. e. Hellenes paid tribute to them. At the end of the II century. BC e. The campaigns of Diophantus took place and the Bosporan kingdom became part of the Pontic state. It is known that this stage in the history of the monarchy was marked by an economic crisis. Almost all the money that could go to the development of cities was given to fight against Rome. In the middle of the 1st c. n. e. everything changed: the former enemy of the Bosporan state became its ally, although he could not protect the Bosporans from the devastating raids of the Huns. Despite the efforts of enemies, the economy and culture developed in this state. At the best of times, the living conditions of the Bosporan citizens resembled those of Rome. INLIGHT

In the Northern Black Sea region in the 5th century BC - 4th century AD. It was located on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait), the capital was Panticapaeum (now Kerch). During the periods of the highest prosperity, it included the Eastern Crimea (at times also the territory of Chersonesos in the Western Crimea), the Taman Peninsula, the Lower Kuban region, the Eastern Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and the Don Delta. Large centers - Phanagoria, Germonassa, Gorgippia, Feodosia, Nymphaeum, Tanais. The first Greek colonies were founded on the territory of the Bosporan state in the middle of the 6th century BC. Around 480, as a result of the union in the face of the Scythian expansion of several policies of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Bosporus state was formed around Panticapaeum. The ruling dynasties are the Archaeanactids (until 438), then the Spartocids (until the end of the 2nd century BC). The Spartocids completed the unification of the Greek policies into the Bosporus state, under them it acquired the character of a hereditary corporate tyranny. Representatives of this dynasty were the supreme kings of the subject barbarian peoples, preserving their traditional power structures, and the archons of the Greek cities. The Bosporus state had its own chronology and coinage. The basis of the army under their rule was made up of barbarian and mercenary contingents. The economy of the Bosporus state was based on the production and export of bread; its largest exporters were the tyrants themselves and their associates. The export of bread in prosperous years reached enormous proportions (16,000 tons annually to Athens alone). The bulk of marketable grain was produced by semi-dependent and partly dependent local population, as well as by slaves. Slaves, cattle, skins, fish, furs were exported. For domestic needs, viticulture and winemaking, gardening, horticulture, and beekeeping developed. Ceramic, metallurgical (including the casting of statues) production, wood and stone processing, and weaving were developed. Wine, olive oil, fabrics, metal products, art ceramics and works of monumental art, weapons, jewelry, etc. were imported. Trade (including intermediary) with a barbarian environment played an important role. Already in the 5th century, the Bosporans had trading quarters in local settlements and strongholds in the Don delta, where the city of Tanais was founded in the 3rd century. In the classical and Hellenistic periods, the Bosporan policies maintained close ties with the cities of Greece and Asia Minor. In relations with Scythia, periods of unions were replaced by sharp rivalry. The main cults in the Bosporan state are Apollo (the deity-leader of the colonists), Demeter, Cybele, Aphrodite (the sanctuary of Apatur on the Taman Peninsula), “God the Highest Hearing” (in Roman times, under the influence of Judaism, part of the population of the Bosporan state gravitated towards monotheism). From the beginning of the 3rd century, the Bosporan rulers began to call themselves kings. From the 1st half of the 3rd century, the Bosporan state maintained intensive ties with Egypt. From the 2nd half of the 3rd century, crisis phenomena appeared in the economy and finances of the Bosporus state, which, coupled with the complication of the political situation at the end of the 2nd century, caused by the pressure of the Scythians and Sarmatians, led to the fall of the Spartokids. Perisades V, the last representative of the Spartokids, transferred power to the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. The performance against Mithridates in 107 by the Scythian prince Savmak, a pupil of Perisad, was suppressed. The Bosporan state was drawn into the struggle with Rome as a stronghold for the troops of Mithridates. The son of Mithridates Pharnaces II, having received power from Rome, made an unsuccessful attempt (50-47 years) to unite his father's possessions in the Bosporus and in Pontus. At the turn of our era, the Sarmatian dynasty of Tiberius-Juliev, vassal to Rome, associated with Mithridates, established itself in the Bosporan state. The Bosporan state acted as an ally of the Roman Empire, but pursued a fairly independent policy. In the 1-2 centuries of our era, the Bosporan kings repeatedly successfully fought against the Scythians and Taurians in the Crimea, the Sarmatians in the Azov region, controlling the latter up to the mouth of the Don, inclusive, often subjugated Chersonese. The influx of Sarmatians into the cities of the Bosporan state during this period caused a significant Sarmatization of its culture.

During the wars of the middle of the 3rd century, part of the Bosporan cities (Gorgippia, Tanais, etc.) and a significant number of rural settlements were destroyed by the barbarians. In the 340s, the issue of Bosporan coins ceased, and from the 2nd half of the 4th century, the East Germanic (Gothic or Heruli) presence in the Bosporan state increased. The participation of Bishop Cadmus of Bosporus in the Council of Nicaea in 325, archaeological and epigraphic data testify to the Christianization of the Bosporus state. The Bosporan state lost its independence in the 530s, after being captured by the Byzantine troops. See also Antique cities of the Northern Black Sea region.

The artistic culture of the Bosporan state was formed as a result of the interaction of the Greek tradition, introduced by the colonists, and the aesthetic preferences of the autochthonous environment (mainly Scythian). The cities of the Bosporan state had a layout typical of the cities of Ancient Greece. In the 5th-4th centuries BC, monumental fortress walls with towers were built. Since the 4th century BC, stone has been actively used in architecture, the construction technique reaches its highest peak. In residential architecture, the types of buildings characteristic of Greece and Asia Minor were used (including a house with a peristyle courtyard), one of the significant local features is the presence of stone cellars. The necropolises of the Bosporan state are represented by both ground burials and burial mounds. In the 4th century BC, an original type of stone burial mounds with “false” ledge vaults (Golden and Tsarsky kurgans) appeared. At the beginning of the 3rd century BC, under-kurgan crypts with semi-circular vaults were borrowed from Greek architecture (the first crypt of the Vasyurinskaya mountain on the Taman Peninsula).

Wall painting was associated with architecture (2nd half of the 4th century BC - early 4th century AD) - the most interesting part of the ancient heritage in the art of the Bosporus state, which formed a kind of local school of painting. In the 4th-2nd centuries BC, the painting was mainly of a decorative nature (“the crypt of 1908” on Mount Mithridates, the painting of the walls of the second crypt of the Bolshaya Bliznitsa barrow), from the 1st century BC plot images appear (the crypt of Demeter on Glinische, the “crypt Stasov 1872-1899). Mosaics were used to decorate dwellings.

The vase painting on the territory of the Bosporus state is represented by imported painted ceramics, mainly from Attica and Asia Minor. The most original are the so-called Phanagorian vessels - three painted figured lekythos (in the form of a sphinx, Aphrodite and a siren) from the necropolis of Phanagoria (late 5th - early 4th centuries BC, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). At the end of the 4th-3rd centuries BC, local ceramic vases (the so-called watercolor ones), silver dishes (kylixes with a relief image of the team of Helios) were produced.

The sculpture of the Bosporan state also developed under Greek influence. The main artistic features of Ionian sculpture manifested themselves in the monuments of both the archaic era (marble head of the kouros, State Historical Museum, Moscow) and the classical era (the upper part of the stele depicting an athlete from Kerch, 1st half of the 5th century BC, Hermitage). From the 5th century BC, there are works from Attica (relief on the edge of a marble disk from Panticapaeum, 2nd half of the 5th century BC; grotesque figurines from the Great Bliznitsa barrow, Hermitage). In some sculptures of the 4th century BC, the tradition of Greek masters - Praxiteles, Skopas - is palpable. Numerous works of Greek glyptics come from the Panticapaeum burials of the 4th century BC (a blue chalcedony gem depicting a flying heron by the famous craftsman of the 2nd half of the 5th century BC Dexamenos from the island of Chios, the Hermitage). Starting from the 3rd century BC, in the sculpture of the Bosporus state, there are works of various Hellenistic schools: Alexandrian (head of the goddess Hygieia, 3rd century BC, Hermitage), Pergamon (head of a Hellenistic king from Panticapaeum, late 2nd - 1st century BC, Hermitage ). During the Hellenistic period, terracotta figurines remain popular. In the 1st-3rd centuries AD, the works of local sculptors were widely distributed, especially tomb reliefs, marked by an ever-increasing schematism of the image.

Widely represented in the art of the Bosporan state is toreutics, made in the tradition of Greek-Scythian art (gold items of the 4th century BC from the burial mounds of Kul-Oba, Chertomlyk, etc., the Hermitage).

Lit .: Rostovtsev M. I. Antique decorative painting in the south of Russia. SPb., 1913-1914. [T. 1-2]; he is. Scythia and the Bosporus. M., 1925; he is. State and culture of the Bosporan kingdom // Bulletin of ancient history. 1989. No. 2-4. 1990. No. 1; Blavatsky V.D. The art of the Northern Black Sea region of the ancient era. M., 1947; Gaidukevich V. F. Bosporan kingdom. M.; L., 1949; Ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea region. M.; L., 1955. T. 1; Ivanova A.P. Sculpture and painting of the Bosporus. K., 1961; Kobylina M.M. Terracotta figurines of Panticapaeum and Phanagoria. M., 1961; History of art of the peoples of the USSR. M., 1971. T. 1, Tsvetaeva G. A. Bospor and Rimskoy M., 1979; Ancient states of the Northern Black Sea region. M., 1984; Tolstikov V.P. On the problem of the formation of the Bosporan state // Bulletin of ancient history. 1984. No. 3; Treister M.Yu. Bosporus and Egypt in the 3rd century BC // Ibid. 1985. No. 1; Shelov-Kovedyaev F.V. The history of the Bosporus in the VI-IV centuries BC // The most ancient states on the territory of the USSR. Materials and research. 1984. M., 1985; Essays on archeology and history of the Bosporus. M., 1992; Maslennikov A. A. Hellenic Chora on the Edge of the Oikumene: Rural Territory of the European Bosporus in Antiquity. M., 1998; Crimea, the North-Eastern Black Sea region and Transcaucasia in the Middle Ages: IV-XIII centuries M., 2003 (bibl.).

F. V. Shelov-Kovedyaev, L. I. Taruashvili (artistic culture).

The Bosporan kingdom arose in the 5th century BC. e. as a result of the unification of the Greek colonial cities (Fanagoria, Gorgippia, Kepa, Patus, etc.) under the rule of the hereditary rulers of the Bosporus from the Archeanaktids (480-438 BC). The city of Panticapaeum became the capital of the Bosporus kingdom (now Kerch). The greatest expansion of the territory of the Bosporan kingdom occurred during the reign of Spartacid dynasty , which arose from the first archon of the Bosporan kingdom Spartocus I (438 BC-433 BC)

In the works of ancient Greek literature, the name is known Pardokas - Παρδοκας - Scythian policeman from the comedy of Aristophanes. The historian Bladize reads the Scythian name Pardokas as Spardokas - Σπαρδοκας or Spardakos - Σπαρδακος, and considers this name identical to the Latin name Spartacus - Spartacus - Spartacus.

During the reign of the archon Bosporus Satyr I (407-389 BC), the lands were annexed to the Bosporan kingdom southeastern coast of Crimea, the cities of Nimfeya, Heraclea, Feodosia. The heirs of the Spartokid dynasty began to call themselves "archons of the Bosporus and Theodosius" from 349 BC.

During the reign of the Bosporus King Leukon I (389 -349 BC) The Bosporus kingdom managed to subdue the local tribes living on the coast of Miotida (Sea of ​​Azov) and on the shores of the Taman Peninsula. King Levkon I, became known as "basileus of all Sinds and Meots, archon of the Bosporus and Theodosius."

Along the banks Myotids (Sea of ​​Azo) lived myots, Sarmatians and Sinds. Syndica, that is, the lands of the Kuban River basin and part of the Northern Black Sea region were called the land of the Sinds. Name Kuban river comes from the ancient Greek word "Gopanis" (Gipanis) - "horse river", "violent river".

From the end of the 2nd century BC. e. The Bosporan state joined the Pontic kingdom (Pontus), which occupied in 302-64. BC. vast territories on the southern coast of the Black Sea in Asia Minor.

The heyday of the power of the Bosporus state is associated with the name of the Pontic , who ruled in 121 - 63 BC. e.

Believing in your power and invincibility of your army, Mithridates IV Evpator began to fight with the Roman Empire.
As a result three Mithridatic wars with Rome (89-84; 83-81; 74-64 BC) The Bosporan and Pontic kingdoms were incorporated into the Roman Empire and became Eastern Roman provinces in 64 BC.

At the end of the 4th century BC, fierce internecine wars began in the Bosporus kingdom between his sons Perisad I. In the struggle for the royal throne princes Satyr, Eumel and Prytan involved the inhabitants of the Bosporan cities and nomadic tribes in a bloody internecine war. The entire Kuban region, and possibly the Lower Don, became the territory of hostilities.

Basileus (king) of all Sinds and Meots from 310 BC. e.-304 BC e. became archon of the Bosporus and Theodosius Evmel son of Perisades I.
Having reigned on the throne of the Bosporus, he was forced come to terms with the presence of Roman troops in some cities. The next century and a half became a time of relative stability and calm in the Northern Black Sea region, an era of economic prosperity for the Bosporan cities, an era of their gradual settlement by the Sarmatians. Know the Sarmatians and ordinary nomadic Sarmatians began to settle in the Bosporan cities. Some of the Sarmatians were able to reach high positions in the Bosporan administration, for example, the Sarmat Neol became the governor of Gorgippia.

At the end of the II and the first half of the III centuries. AD most city posts in Tanais occupied by non-Greeks or descendants of Greeks from mixed marriages. The names of the ruling dynasties of the Bosporus have changed, among the Bosporus kings there are known rulers who wore name Savromat (Sarmatian)

The Bosporus state existed until the 4th century AD. and fell under the onslaught of the invasion of the Huns.

Bosporan kingdom of Meotida

Cities in the Eastern Crimea were formed in the 7th century. BC e. (during the peak of the power of the Scythian civilization). Around 480 BC e. an independent Bosporus kingdom arose here, the capital of which was Panticapaeum (modern Kerch). The very name "Panticapeum" is again not Greek, but local: compared with the Indo-Iranian languages, it can be translated as "the way of the fish." (This is a dubious etymology. Panticapaeum is “panti-kap”, where “panti” = “five” (inside the characteristic “nasal “n”, see Sanskrit and the same Novgorod phonetics), and “cap” = “temple”. Panticapaeum - the city of "five temples", "five sanctuaries". Note. Yu. D. Petukhova). Nymphaeum, Mirmekiy, Kimmerik, Tiritaka and Theodosius on the Crimean side, Phanagoria, Hermonassa (modern Taman) and Sindskaya harbor (Gorgippia, modern Anapa) on the Taman side obeyed Panticapaeum. In the end, the Bosporus included in its possessions almost all of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, up to the mouth of the Don, and a significant part of the Kuban.

Bosporus kingdom in 480-438. BC e. ruled by the Archeonactid dynasty, about which almost nothing is known. In 438 BC. e. Spartacus became king, founding a dynasty that ruled for three and a half centuries. All researchers agree that the second Bosporan dynasty was not Greek, but local; moreover, they are forced to admit that the combat strength of the Bosporan army was Scythian cavalry 144 . But for some reason they do not dare to say directly: TO WHOM THE RULING DYNASTY AND THE ARMED FORCES BELONG TO, THE POLITICAL POWER BELONG TO THEM. THE BOSPORUS WAS REALLY A MEOTO-SARMATIAN KINGDOM!

Not wanting to admit the obvious fact, they once launched a "duck" that supposedly the Spartakid dynasty was not local, but ... Thracian - as if it was a stone's throw from Thrace to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. On what basis? Yes, only on the fact that the names of some Bosporan kings coincided with the names of the Thracians. Meanwhile, it is known that many peoples of Indo-European origin had the same names - a legacy of the former unity ... (both in Thrace, and in Tavria, and in the "Germans" with France - remember the Merovingians - and in Scythia the Rus dynasties ruled, who came out of the same nest, from one superethnos - that's why they had similar names, the names of the Rus. It is high time for us to stop being surprised by this fact. Note. Yu. D. Petukhova).

In view of the local, Azov, Meotian-Sarmatian origin of the Spartakid dynasty, there is no reason to call the Bosporan state Greek. The very existence of a strong, stable royal power in the Bosporus, fundamentally different from the ancient "parliamentary democracies", interspersed with unstable "tyrannies", shows that the Bosporus was in line with traditions other than Greek ones. It was precisely a full-fledged kingdom, a hereditary monarchy, and not a tyranny at all.

Monuments of the eastern Aral Sea region of the 7th century BC e. - V c. n. e.

The Bosporus kingdom was ruled by a local, national dynasty throughout almost its entire 1000-year history. The fall of the Spartacids (107 BC) occurred as a result of aggression from the southern coast of the Black Sea: Crimea was briefly captured by the Pontic kingdom, located on the territory of modern Turkey. But, after the defeat of Mithridates of Pontus by the Romans, the Bosporus restored its independence and was able to assert it, repelling the onslaught of the Roman Empire. In 47 BC. e. a representative of the local population, Aspurg, overthrew the heir of Mithridates from the throne and married his daughter Dynamis; thus was founded the new Reskuporid dynasty, which ruled for four centuries.

The name "Aspurg" indicates the origin of the new king from the Azov Meots-Aspurgians. The name of this people can be deciphered as "ases" (yases) living in fortresses (purgos - in Greek a tower). As you know, "Ases" is one of the oldest names of the Aryans (it is preserved in the Scandinavian and Indian legends about Asgard - the city of Ases). In 1 thousand AD. e. and in the Middle Ages, the Don and Azov Sarmatians bore the name "aces". The ethnic appearance of the new Bosporan dynasty is also evidenced by the fact that several of its representatives bore the name Sauromatus. Sarmatian horsemen constituted the main military force of the Bosporus throughout its history.

The Reskuporids had to face the Roman Empire, which united all the civilizations of the Mediterranean into one political organism. Rome reached its maximum influence on the banks of Pontus during the reign of the emperors Trajan and Hadrian. Roman garrisons stood at that time in Chersonese and the lower reaches of the Dnieper. But in vain the compilers of historical maps include the Black Sea coastal region in the Roman Empire. This never happened. The Bosporan kings retained their formal title and real political power 145 .

Everything points to this: both the preservation of the stable succession of the local national Reskuporid dynasty for centuries, and the long-term minting of its own coin, which continued until the middle of the 4th century BC. n. e. (there was nothing similar in the kingdoms dependent on Rome). Although the Bosporan kings of the 1st-2nd centuries. n. e. were called Roman-loving, this did not mean political dependence (the rulers of the Parthian Empire were also considered Hellenic-loving). A ruler dependent on Rome could not take the title of king of kings, as Sauromates the First did at the end of the 1st century. n. e.

The Bosporus was not only not included in the Roman possessions, but was the object of constant aggression on the part of Rome, which tried in every possible way to interfere in its internal affairs. The extreme possessions of the Romans in the II century. n. e. in the east of the Black Sea were Chersonese and Dioscurias (modern Sukhumi). Flavius ​​Arrian, who visited Dioscurias in 134, compiled a brief description of the route to the Bosporus for the emperor Hadrian (Periplus of Pontus of Euxine). In fact, the "periplus" was intelligence, a description of the routes suitable for military expeditions 146 . They do not write about the subject lands, the “provinces” of the empire, in a similar tone. The Bosporan kingdom never submitted to the Roman Empire - it continued to play the role of a "barrier", blocking the Romans from entering Inner Eurasia.

The history of the Bosporus was long, and the political power was surprisingly successive (in 800 years, only two dynasties were replaced there). In the 370s. n. e. the Bosporan cities were crushed by the Huns... The example of the Azov-Black Sea cities of the Bosporan kingdom especially clearly shows the amazing multi-thousand-year continuity of the culture of Southern Russia. Originating in the Bronze Age, the most significant of them exist to this day.

After the short-term decline of the "great migration of peoples", the Bosporan kingdom was restored as the Tmutarakan principality within the statehood of Varangian Rus; its cities also experienced a new upsurge. So, the ancient Panticapaeum, inhabited already in the Bronze Age, reached the pinnacle of power in the 5th century. BC e. - IV century. n. e. as the capital of the Bosporus, after a short-term decline, it was revived as part of Khazaria (VII-VIII centuries), became known from the end of the VIII century. under the name Korchev and became part of the Russian Tmutarakan principality (X-XII centuries).

The capital of this principality was another ancient city of the Bosporus, Hermonassa, which received the name Tmutarakan. Another most important city of the Cimmerian Bosporus, Theodosius, was inhabited as early as the Neolithic (!), in the Bronze and Iron Ages. In the 5th-6th centuries, Feodosia, which recovered after the Hun pogrom, was a settlement of the Alans 147 ; from the end of the 6th century passed to Khazaria, from the X century. known under the name of Kafa, in the XI century. became part of the Tmutarakan principality.

The city of Sudak, inhabited in the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age, also existed in the ancient period, from the 4th century BC. BC e. (They prefer not to mention this: after all, not a single Greek policy "took responsibility" for its foundation!). According to sources, in 212 AD. e. The Alano-Sarmatians built a fortress here called Sugdeya... In Russian chronicles, the city is known under the name Surozh, most likely this is its original name: from the ancient Aryan solar god Surya. Another sunny city. By the name of this city, the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov was also called Surozh ...

The real decline of the Azov-Black Sea cities experienced in the XIII-XVII centuries. After the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Crimea was indeed "colonized" by enterprising Mediterraneans. With the consent of the Tatars, Feodosia from the 1270s, and Kerch from 1318 came under the rule of the Genoese, who turned them into the largest centers of the slave trade. The profit from the “living commodity”, the Slavic slaves (who were called: esclavo, slaves), was considerable, Europe in “symbiosis” with the Tatars was engaged in “initial accumulation of capital” ...

This continued until the last serpent from the lair of the Serpent Gorynych, the Crimean Tatar Khanate (end of the 18th century), was crushed and sunny cities Crimea and the Azov region were not returned to Russia.