The "Cimmerian Bosphorus" of Antiquity, shown on a map printed in London, ca 1770

The Cimmerian Bosporus (Bosporus Cimmerius) was the ancient name for the Strait of Kerch that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The Cimmerians (Cimmerii) were the ancient inhabitants who gave their name to a strait that reminded the Greeks of the more familiar Bosporus that separates Thrace from Asia at Byzantium. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1254x760, 218 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1254x760, 218 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Kerch Strait. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... The shallow Sea of Azov is clearly distinguished from the deeper Black Sea. ... The Cimmerians (Greek Kimmerioi) were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Russia and Ukraine, in the 8th and 7th century BC. Assyrian records, however, first place them in the region of Azerbaijan in... This article is about the strait; Bosphorus is also a university in Turkey. ... Byzantium was an ancient Greek city-state, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas. ...

The Bosporan kingdom is interesting as the first Hellenistic state, the first, that is to say, in which a mixed population adopted the Greek language and civilization. It depended for its prosperity upon the export of wheat, fish and slaves, and this commerce supported a class whose showy wealth over the centuries are exemplified by the contents of the numerous burial barrows, or kurgans. The towns have left hardly any architectural or sculptural remains, but the kurgans have yielded spectacular Greco-Sarmatian objects now mostly preserved in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. They comprise especially gold work, vases exported from Athens, coarse terracottas, textile fragments and specimens of carpentry and marquetry. The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Kurgan (кургáн) is the Russian word (of Turkic origin) for tumulus, a type of burial mound or barrow, heaped over a burial chamber, often of wood. ... Sarmatian Cataphract Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae (the second form is mostly used by the earlier Greek writers, the other by the later Greeks and the Romans) were a people whom Herodotus (4. ... The Hermitage Museum (Эрмитаж) in St. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα Athína IPA ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world. ...

Site

The straits are about 2.5 miles long and 2.5 miles broad at the narrowest, and are formed by an eastern extension of the Crimea (anciently called Tauric Chersonese) and the peninsula of Taman, a kind of continuation of the Caucasus. This in ancient times seems to have formed a group of islands intersected by arms of the Kuban River (Hypanis) and various sounds now silted up.. The Crimea /kraɪˈmia/ is a peninsula and an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea. ... Tauric Chersonese (also Chersonesus Taurica as in Latin) was the name given by the ancient Greeks to the Crimean peninsula, now part of modern Ukraine. ... The Entholinguistic patchwork of the modern Caucasus - CIA map The Caucasus, a region bordering Asia Minor, is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. ... The Kuban (Куба́нь) is a river in Russia, in the Northern Caucasus region. ... In geography a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land (see also strait). ...

Greek colonies

Bosporan phial (top view), 4th century BC

The whole district was dotted with Greek cities: on the west side, Panticapaeum (Kerch), the chief of all, often itself called Bosporus, Chersonesos, and Nymphaeum; on the east Phanagoria, Cepi, Germonassa (Tmutarakan), Portus Sindicus, Gorpippia. These Greek colonies were mostly settled by Milesians, Panticapaeum in the 7th or early in the 6th century BC, but Phanagoria (c. 540 BC) was a colony of Teos, and Nymphaeum had some connection with Athens — at least it appears to have been a member of the Delian League. ImageMetadata File history File links Phiale. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Phiale. ... Panticapaeum was an ancient Greek colony founded about 2600 years ago on the Cimmerian Bosporus, at the site of present-day Kerch city in the Crimea (Ukraine). ... Kerch (Russian: Керчь; Ukrainian: Керч; Old East Slavic: Корчев, Turkish and Crimean Tatar: Kerç) is a city (2001 pop 157,000) on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, an important industrial, transportation and tourist center of Ukraine. ... Tauric Chersonesos (Greek Χερσονασος, also Chersones, Khersones, Korsun, Russian and Ukrainian: ) was a site of Greek settlements founded approximately 2500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean (Taurian) Peninsula. ... A Nymphaeum, in Greek and Roman antiquities, is a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. ... Ancient Greek colony on the penninsula between the Black Sea and the Azov, roughly on the site of modern Tmutarakan. ... Tmutarakan is an ancient city that controlled the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. ... Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. ... Miletus was an ancient city on the western coast of Anatolia (in what is now the Aydin Province of Turkey), near the mouth of the Maeander River. ... Teos (or Teo), a maritime city of Ionia, on a peninsula between Chytrium and Myonnesus. ... The Delian League was an association of Greek city-states in the 5th century BC. It was led by Athens. ...

Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus

According to Diodorus Siculus (xii. 31) the locality was governed from 480 to 438 BC by a line called the Archaeanactidae, probably a ruling family, who gave place to a tyrant Spartocus (438–431 BC), apparently a Thracian. He founded a dynasty which seems to have endured until c. 110 BC. The Spartocids have left many inscriptions which tell us that the earlier members of the house ruled as archons of the Greek cities and kings of various native tribes, notably the Sindi of the island district and other branches of the Maeotae. The text of Diodorus, the inscriptions and the coins do not supply sufficient material for a complete list of them. Diodorus Siculus (ca. ... A tyrant (from Greek τύραννος týrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... The Thracians were an Indo-European people, inhabitants of Thrace and adjacent lands (present-day Bulgaria, Romania, Republic of Moldova, northeastern Greece, European Turkey and northwestern asiatic Turkey, eastern Serbia and parts of Republic of Macedonia). ... Spartocids (Greek: Σπαρτοκίδαι): a Greek dynasty of the Kingdom of Bosporus, ruled in 438–110 BC. Categories: | | | ... ...

Satyrus (431–387 BC), the successor of Spartocus, established his rule over the whole district, adding Nymphaeum to his dominions and laying siege to Theodosia, which was a serious commercial rival by reason of its ice-free port and direct proximity to the corn fields of the eastern Crimea. Theodosia (Russian: Феодосия; Ukrainian: Феодосія; Greek: Θεοδωσία; Crimean Tatar/Turkish: Kefe) is a port and resort city in southern Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of Crimea at coordinates 45. ...

It was reserved for his son Leucon (387–347 BC) to take this city. He was succeeded by his two sons conjointly, Spartocus II, and Paerisades; the former died in 342 and his brother reigned alone until 310. Then followed a civil war in which Eumelus (310–283 BC) was successful.

His successor was Spartocus III (303–283 BC) and after him Paerisades II. Succeeding princes repeated the family names, but we cannot assign them any certain order. We know only that the last of them, Paerisades V, unable to make headway against the power of the natives, in 108 BC called in the help of Diophantus, general of Mithridates the Great of Pontus, promising to hand over his kingdom to that prince. He was slain by a Scythian Saumacus who led a rebellion against him. Mithridates VI of Pontus, (132 BC- 63 BC), called Eupator Dionysius, was the king of Pontus in Asia Minor and one of Romes most formidable and successful enemies. ... After the colonisation of the Anatolian shores by the Ionian Greeks, Pontus soon became a name which was applied, in ancient times, to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the Main), by... Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the KulOba kurgan burial near Kerch. ...

The house of Spartocus was well known as a line of enlightened and wise princes, although Greek opinion could not deny that they were, strictly speaking, tyrants, they are always described as dynasts. They maintained close relations with Athens, their best customers for the Bosporan corn export, of which Leucon I set the staple at Theodosia, where the Attic ships were allowed special privileges. We have many references to this in the Attic orators. In return the Athenians granted him Athenian citizenship and set up decrees in honour of him and his sons.

Mithradates entrusted the Bosporus Cimmerius to his son Machares, who, however, deserted to the Romans. But even when driven out of his own kingdom by Pompey, Mithradates was strong enough to regain the Cimmerian Bosporus, and Machares slew himself. Subsequently the Bosporans again rose in revolt under Pharnaces, another of he old king's sons. After the death of Mithradates (63 BC), this Pharnaces (63–47 BC) made his submission to Pompey, but tried to regain his dominion during the civil war, but he was defeated and killed by Caesar at Zela. A pretender, Asander, married his daughter Dynamis, and in spite of Roman nominees ruled as archon, and later as king, until 16 BC. After his death Dynamis was compelled to marry an adventurer Scibonius, but the Romans under Agrippa interfered and set Polemon (14–8 BC) in his place. See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Pharnaces II of Pontus (63 BC - 47 BC), was the king of Pontus and son of the great Mithridates VI. Pompey had defeated Mithridates VI in 64 BC and gained control of much of Asia Minor, but Pharnaces II attempted to take advantage of the Roman civil war to retake... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 110s BC 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC - 60s BC - 50s BC 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC Years: 68 BC 67 BC 66 BC 65 BC 64 BC 63 BC 62 BC 61 BC 60... A bust of Julius Caesar. ... Zile is a city in eastern Turkey and an important agricultural trading centre. ... Marcus Agrippa Agrippa redirects here. ...

To him succeeded Aspurgus (8 BC–AD 38?), son of Asander, who founded a line of kings which endured with certain interruptions until AD 341. These kings, who mostly bore the Thracian names of Cotys, Rhescuporis, Rhoemetalces, and the native name Sauromates, claimed descent from Mithridates the Great, and used the Pontic era (starting from 297 BC) introduced by him, regularly placing dates upon their coins and inscriptions. Hence we know their names and dates fairly well, though scarcely any events of their reigns are recorded. Their kingdom covered the eastern half of Crimea and the Taman peninsula, and extended along the east coast of the Sea of Azov to Tanais at the mouth of the Don, a great market for trade with the interior. They carried on a perpetual war with the native tribes, and in this were supported by their Roman suzerains, who even lent the assistance of garrison and fleet. At times rival kings of some other race arose and probably produced some disorganization. At one of these periods (AD 255) the Goths and Borani were enabled to seize Bosporan shipping and raid the shores of Anatolia. With the last coin of the last Rhescuporis, AD 341, materials for a connected history of the Bosporus Cimmerius come to an end. The kingdom probably succumbed to the Huns established in the neighborhood. Sarmatian cataphract from Tanais. ... The term Don may refer to; Don, Donald Ducks nickname. ... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche portrays the Goths as cavalrymen. ... Asia Minor lies east of the Bosporus, between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. ... The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian nomadic tribes, who appeared in Europe in the 4th century. ...

Byzantine Cimmerian Bosporus

In later times it seems in some sort to have been revived under Byzantine protection, and from time to time Byzantine officers built fortresses and exercised authority at Bosporus, which constituted an archbishopric. They also held Ta Matarcha on the eastern side of the strait, a town which in the 10th and 11th centuries became the seat of the Russian principality of Tmutarakhan, which in turn gave place to Tatar domination. Byzantine Empire (Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. ... Tmutarakan (Russian: Тьмутаракань, Ukrainian: Тьмуторокань) is an ancient city that controlled the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. ... Historically, the term Tatar (or Tartar) has been ambiguously used by Europeans to refer to many different peoples of Inner Asia and Northern Asia. ...

With the Diaspora a Jewish element had been added to the population, and under its influence were developed in all the cities of the kingdom, especially Tanais, societies of "worshipers of the highest God," apparently professing a monotheism without being distinctively Jewish or Christian. Look up Diaspora in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The term diaspora (Ancient Greek διασπορά, a scattering or sowing of seeds) is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands; being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the... Sarmatian cataphract from Tanais. ...

Numismatics of Cimmerian Bosporus

Archeologists have discovered a large series of coins of Panticapaeum and other cities from the 5th century BC. The gold staters of Panticapaeum bearing Pan's head and a griffin are specially remarkable for their weight and fine workmanship. We have also coins with the names of the later Spartocids and a singularly complete series of dates solidi issued by the later or Achaemenian dynasty' in them may be noticed the swift degeneration of the gold solidus through silver and potin to bronze. Marble sculpture of Pan copulating with a goat, recovered from Herculaneum Pan (Greek , genitive ) is the Greek god who watches over shepherds and their flocks. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.