Ancient terracotta vessels unearthed at the Sindian necropolis near Phanagoria. The photograph by Prokudin-Gorskii (ca. 1912).

The Sindi (Greek: Σινδοί, Herod. iv. 28) were an ancient people in the Taman Peninsula and the adjacent coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea), in the district called Sindica, which spread between the modern towns of Temryuk and Novorossiysk (Herod. l. c.; Hipponax. p. 71, ed. Welck.; Hellanic. p. 78; Dionys. Per. 681; Steph. B. p. 602; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. § 41, &c.). Their name is variously written, and Mela calls them Sindones (ii. 19), Lucian (Tox. 55), Sindianoi. Phanagoria was an ancient Greek colony on the Taman peninsula between the Black Sea and the Azov, roughly on the site of modern Tmutarakan. ... 1. ... Satellite view of the Black Sea, taken by NASA MODIS Cities of the Black Sea The Black Sea (known as the Euxine Sea in the antiquity) is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. ... Temryuk (Темрюк in Russian) is a town in the Krasnodar Krai in Russia, located on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from the Sea of Azov and the site of ancient Tmutarakan. ... Novorossiysk (Russian Новороссийск) is a city in southern Russia, one of the main Russian ports on the Black Sea, in Krasnodar Krai. ... Stephanus Byzantinus (Stephanus of Byzantium), the author of a geographical dictionary entitled Εθνικα (Ethnica), of which, apart from some fragments, we possess only the meagre epitome of one Hermolaus. ...

Strabo describes them as living along the Palus Maeotis, and among the Maeotae, Dandarii, Toreatae, Agri, Arrechi, Tarpetes, Obidiaceni, Sittaceni, Dosci, and Aspurgiani, among others. (Strab. xi. 2. 11). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia classes them as a tribe of the Maeotae. In the 5th century BC, the Sindi were subjugated by the Bosporan Kingdom. They left multiple tumuli which, when excavated by Soviet archaeologists, revealed that their culture was heavily Hellenized. The Sindi were assimilated by the Sarmatians in the first centuries AD. The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Title page of the 3rd ed. ... 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. ...

Besides the sea-port of Sinda, other towns belonging to the same people were Hermonassa, Gorgippia, and Aborace. (Strab. xi. 2, et. seq.) They had a monarchical form of government (Polyaen, viii. 55), and Gorgippia was the residence of their kings. (Strab. l. c.) Nicolaus Damascenus (p. 160, ed. Orell.) mentions a peculiar custom which they had of throwing upon the grave of a deceased person as many fish as the number of enemies whom he had overcome. Anapa (Russian: ) is a seaport town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).
• Strabo's book 11 on-line
• (French) ENCYCLOPÉDIE OU DICTIONNAIRE RAISONNÉ DES SCIENCES, DES ARTS ET DES MÉTIERS
• Trubachov, Oleg N., 1999: Indoarica, Nauka, Moscow.

The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, published in 1854, was the last a series of classical dictionaries edited by the english scholar William Smith (1813–1893), which included as sister works the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. ... Sir William Smith (1813 - 1893), English lexicographer, was born at Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents. ...

External links

• Coins of the Sindes