The Tauri were the original inhabitants of the southern coast of Crimea, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains and the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the Black Sea. They gave their name to the peninsula, which was known in ancient times as Taurica, Taurida and Tauris. Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Capital Simferopol Largest cities Simferopol, Eupatoria, Kerch, Theodosia, Yalta Official language Ukrainian. ... The Yayla Mountains or Crimean Mountains (Crimean Tatar: , Alpine Meadow mountains; Ukrainian: , translit. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... 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. ...

They are thought to have been an offshoot of the Cimmerians, whom the Scythians expelled from their original homeland further north in the 7th century BC. The Cimmerians (Greek Κιμμέριοι, 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... Scythia was an area in Eurasia inhabited in ancient times by an Indo-Aryans known as the Scythians. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 7th century BC started on January 1, 700 BC and ended on December 31, 601 BC. // Overview Events Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria who created the the first systematically collected library at Nineveh A 16th century depiction of the Hanging Gardens of...

In book IV of The History by Herodotus, the Tauri are described as living "entirely off of war and plundering". They became famous – or perhaps notorious – for their worship of a virgin goddess, to whom they sacrificed shipwrecked travellers and waylaid Greeks. The Greeks identified the Tauric goddess with Artemis Tauropolos or with Iphigeneia, daughter of Agamemnon. The Tauric custom of human sacrifice inspired the Greek legends of Iphigeneia and Orestes, recounted in Iphigeneia in Tauris by the playwright Euripides. The Histories of Herodotus of Halicarnassus is considered the first work of history in Western literature. ... Bust of Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: , Herodotos Halikarnasseus) was a Dorian Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC (484 BC - ca. ... The Artemis of Versailles, a Roman copy of the marble sculpture of Leochares, now at the Louvre Artemis (Greek: nominative , genitive ), in Greek mythology was daughter of Zeus and of Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. ... The sacrifice of Iphigenia by the Illioupersis Painter Iphigeneia (, also Iphigenia and sometimes Iphianassa) was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology. ... -1... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ... The sacrifice of Iphigenia by the Illioupersis Painter Iphigeneia (, also Iphigenia and sometimes Iphianassa) was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology. ... Orestes Ορεστης is a Greek name, literally he who stands on the mountain, or mountain-dweller. Orestes can refer to: In Greek mythology, the son of Agamemnon. ... Iphigeneia in Tauris (in Greek: ) is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written sometime between 414 BC and 412 BC. It bears much in common with another of Euripides plays, Helen, and is often described as a romance, a melodrama, or an escape play. ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ...

According to Herodotus, the manner of their sacrifice was to beat the head with a club and remove the head, then they either bury the body or throw it off a cliff, and lastly nail the head to a cross. Prisoners of war likewise had their heads removed, and the head was then put onto to a tall pole and placed at their house "in order that the whole house may be under their protection".

Although the Crimean coast eventually came to be dominated by Greek (and subsequently Roman) colonies, notably the one at Chersonesos, the Tauri remained a major threat to Greek power in the region. They engaged in piracy against ships on the Black Sea, mounting raids from their base at Symbolon (today's Balaklava). By the 2nd century BC they had become subject-allies of the Scythian king Scilurus. The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... The remains of the city of Chersonesos Chersonesos (Greek: , Latin: , Ukrainian: , Russian: ; see also List of traditional Greek place names) also known as Chersonese, Chersonesos, Cherson, Khersones and Korsun was an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2500 years ago in the southwestern part of Crimea, known then as Taurica. ... The flag of 18th-century pirate Calico Jack Piracy is robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. ... Balaklava (Ukrainian: , Russian: , Crimean Tatar: ) is a town in Crimea, Ukraine which officially has a status of a district of the city of Sevastopol. ... (3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) // Events 175 BCE - Antiochus IV Epiphanes, took possession of the Syrian throne, at the murder of his brother Seleucus IV Philopator, which rightly belonged to his nephew Demetrius I Soter. ...