Panticapaeum and other ancient Greek colonies along the north coast of the Black Sea.

Panticapaeum (Greek: Παντικάπαιον; see also List of traditional Greek place names), present-day Kerch: an important Greek city and port in Taurica (Tauric Chersonese), situated on a hill (Mt. Mithridates) on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, founded by Milesians in the late 7th–early 6th century BC. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1301x818, 324 KB) Map showing Ancient Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1301x818, 324 KB) Map showing Ancient Greek colonies on the northern coast of the Black Sea. ... This is a list of traditional Greek place names. ... Kerch (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Crimean Tatar: , Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ) is a city (2001 pop 157,000) on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, is an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine. ... The Chersonesus Tauricus of Antiquity, shown on a map printed in London, ca 1770 Taurica (Greek: , Latin: ) also known as Tauris, Taurida, Tauric Chersonese, and Chersonesus Taurica was the name of Crimea in Antiquity. ... The name Mithridates (more accurately, Mithradates) is helenized form of a Indo-Aryan Mithra-Datt, which means One given by Mithra. Mithra is the Indo-Aryan sun-god and Datt (Given by) derives from the Indo-European root da, to give. That name was borne by a large number of... 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 lower half of the benches and the remnants of the scene building of the theater of Miletus (August 2005) Miletus (Hittite: Milawata or Millawanda, Greek: Μίλητος transliterated Miletos, Turkish: Milet) was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia (in what is now the Aydin Province of Turkey...

In the 5th–4th centuries BC, the city became the residence first of the Archaeanactids and then of the Spartocids, dynasties of Greek kings of Bosporus, and was hence itself sometimes called Bosporus. Its economic decline in the 4th–3rd centuries BC was the result of the Sarmatian conquest of the steppes and the growing competition of Egyptian grain. The last of the Spartocids, Paerisades V, apparently left his realm to Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus. Archaeanactids (Greek: Αρχαιανακτίδαι): a Greek dynasty of the Kingdom of Bosporus, ruled in 480–438 BC. Categories: | | | | ... Spartocids (Greek: Σπαρτοκίδαι): a Greek dynasty of the Kingdom of Bosporus, ruled in 438–110 BC. Categories: | | | ... The Bosporan Kingdom, which was located on the Crimea peninsula, existed in the time of the Roman Empire. ... Sarmatia and Scythia in 100 BC, also shown is the extent of the Parthian Empire. ... Spartocids (Greek: Σπαρτοκίδαι): a Greek dynasty of the Kingdom of Bosporus, ruled in 438–110 BC. Categories: | | | ... 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. ... Traditional rural Pontic house A man in traditional clothes from Trabzon, illustration Pontus is the 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...

This transition was arranged by one of Mithridates's generals, a certain Diophantus, who earlier was sent to Taurica to help local Greek cities against Palacus of Lesser Scythia. The takeover didn't go smoothly: Paerisades was murdered by Scythians led by Saumacus, Diophantus escaped to return later with reinforcements and to suppress the revolt (c. 110 BC). For the mathematician, see Diophantus. ... Palacus or Palakus was the king of Lesser Scythia who succeeded his father, Skilurus. ... Major ancient towns and colonies in Scythia Minor Scythia Minor, Lesser Scythia (Greek: Μικρά Σκυθία, Mikrá Skythia) was in ancient times the region surrounded by the Danube at the north and west and the Black Sea at the east, corresponding to todays Dobruja, with a large part in Romania and a... Scythian warriors, drawn after figures on an electrum cup from the KulOba kurgan burial near Kerch. ... For the mathematician, see Diophantus. ...

Half of a century later, Mithridates himself took his life in Panticapaeum, when, after his defeat in a war against Rome, his own son and heir Pharnaces and citizens of Panticapaeum turned against him. In 63 BC the city was partly destroyed by an earthquake. Raids by the Goths and the Huns furthered its decline, and it was incorporated into the Byzantine state under Justin I in the early 6th century AD. Third Mithridatic War (75 - 65 BC) Mithridates VI had long been a thorn in Romes side, having launched two wars against the Roman Republic, in the early 1st century B.C. In response to the chaos in Rome, following the terror of Marius and Sullas dictatorship, the Empire... Area under Roman control  Roman Republic  Roman Empire  Western Empire  Eastern Empire Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a city-state founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... 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... Invasion of the Goths: a late 19th century painting by O. Fritsche, is a highly romanticized portrait of the Goths as cavalrymen. ... The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian equestrian nomads or semi-nomads. ... Byzantine Empire at its greatest extent c. ... Flavius Iustinus Augustus. ...

Ruins of Panticapaeum in Kerch

During the first centuries of the city's existence, imported Greek articles predominated: pottery (see Kerch Style), terracottas, and metal objects, probably from workshops in Rhodes, Corinth, Samos, and Athens. Local production, imitated from the models, was carried on at the same time. Athens manufactured a special type of bowl for the city, known as Kerch ware. Local potters imitated the Hellenistic bowls known as the Gnathia style as well as relief wares—Megarian bowls. The city minted silver coins from the mid 6th century BC and from the 1st century BC gold and bronze coins. The Hermitage and Kerch Museums contain material from the site, which is still being excavated. Photo of Panticapaeum Ruins. ... Photo of Panticapaeum Ruins. ... Unfired green ware pottery on a traditional drying rack at Conner Prairie living history museum. ... Dionysos (here unseen), maenads and Eros, hydria by the Louvre CA 928 Group, ca. ... Terra cotta is a hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction. ... Location map of Rhodes Rhodes (Greek: Ρόδος (pron. ... Corinth, or Korinth (Greek: Κόρινθος, Kórinthos; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a Greek city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. ... Samos (Greek Σάμος) is a Greek island in the Eastern Aegean Sea, located between the island of Chios to the North and the archipelagic complex of the Dodecanese islands to the South and in particular the island of Patmos and off the coast of Turkey, on what was formely known as... Nickname: Το κλεινόν άστυ Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Government  - Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area [1][2]  - City 38. ... Kerch (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Crimean Tatar: , Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ) is a city (2001 pop 157,000) on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, is an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine. ... 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... Megara (Greek: Μέγαρα; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. ... The State Hermitage Museum (Russian: ) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest, oldest, most important and famous art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. ... Kerch (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Crimean Tatar: , Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ) is a city (2001 pop 157,000) on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, is an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine. ...

Bibliography

• Noonan, Thomas S. "The Origins of the Greek Colony at Panticapaeum", American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 77, No. 1. (1973), pp. 77–81.

Thomas Schaub Noonan (20 January 1938 – 15 June 2001) was an American historian, Slavicist and anthropologist who specialized in early Russian history and Eurasian nomad cultures. ...

External links

• Perseus Digital Library
• Decree honoring Diophantos, general of the Pontic king Mithridates VI
• Odessa Numismatics Museum: Panticapaeum
• Odessa Numismatics Museum: Bosporus
• Similarities between Panticapaeum and the City of Atlantis as described by Plato. Eagle/Wind 2005
• Bulletin of Odessa Numismatics Museum. Issue #8. September 2001. Silver coins of Pantikapeum (end VI–I BC).

North Pontic Greek colonies
Tyras • Olbia • Borysthenes • Eupatoria • Chersonesos • Charax • Theodosia Kimmerikon • Nymphaion • Tyritake • Panticapaeum • Myrmekion Kepoi • Phanagoria • Hermonassa • Gorgippia • Pitiunt • Dioscurias • Tanais