List of the most ancient cities of Crimea. The most ancient city of Crimea

Crimea is a striking peninsula, a place where the history of past centuries and the present are harmoniously intertwined. Here, right in the center of modern cities, you can see the monuments of past centuries.

"Fragments" of the past in the Crimean cities

The ruins of large settlements, the remains of fortresses, burial mounds, places of worship are found in almost every city or its environs. Most of the ancient buildings today are considered monuments of history and archeology. Many have been given the status of nature reserves; research work and museums operate.

How developed the peninsula was already in ancient times, allows you to understand the familiarity even with a short list of ancient settlements. The most famous today are the following objects:

Panticapaeum is the oldest of the Greek cities in the Crimea. Founded at the end of the 7th century BC, it is located in the center of modern Kerch. To see his remains, you need to climb a high staircase of 500 steps leading to Mount Mithridates.

And 11 kilometers from Panticapaeum, the ruins of the ancient Bosporan settlement of Tiritaka were found.

Chersonese Tauride - the ruins of another Greek settlement, one of the sights of Sevastopol. The foundation of this colony dates back to the fifth century BC. Chersonese was a large, well-fortified city.

Remains are preserved here to this day. ancient temple, the ruins of a theater where, according to legend, gladiator fights were fought, a mint, a defensive tower. In the church of Chersonese, Prince Vladimir, the Baptist of All Russia, was baptized.

Naples Scythian - ancient settlement on the outskirts of Simferopol. Created in the III century BC. e., the city served as the capital of the Scythian state. Today, on the territory of the ancient tract, a defensive tower and the mausoleum of King Skilur have been preserved.

Ruskophil-Kale - a castle in the Great Yalta region, built in the XIII-XIV centuries - a fortification with an area of ​​​​about 450 sq.m.

Kerkinitida is a Greek city built at the beginning of the 5th century BC. e. and lasted until the end of the II century BC. e. Its ruins are located in the center of Evpatoria, on the Quarantine Cape. Although most of the settlement has been covered up, two of its sections are well-groomed and museumified.

Kalos-Limen - the ruins of an ancient Greek settlement founded in the 4th century. BC e. in the village of Chernomorskoye.

Kimmerik - a Cimmerian tract of the 6th - 5th centuries BC. e., located between Lake Elken and Mount Opuk.

The Scythian Ust-Alma settlement is one of the largest Scythian settlements of the 2nd century BC. e., located on Cape Kremenchik.

Cave and underwater cities of Crimea

A separate category includes old cave cities. Mangup-Kale - a Byzantine defensive fort of the sixth century BC, Chufut-Kale near Bakhchisaray, Kacha-Kalyon, Kyz-Kermen, others - these villages were created in the rocks. Houses, utility rooms, temples, defensive walls cut directly into the rock.

Crimea even has its own Atlantis - the underwater city of Acre. A small ancient Greek village, which served, among other things, as a port, existed near Cape Takil in the 6th century BC. e. ‒ 4th century AD e. Later, the sinking of the coast led to the flooding of most of the city.

Travelers with diving skills can see the ruins of Acre. Diving is possible as part of specialized excursions in the summer.

Note to tourists

A visit to the excavations of ancient cities can be easily combined with other types of recreation:

excursion activities;

visiting unique natural monuments;

beach recreation.

On the territory of the peninsula there are many ancient defensive towers, forts, and other fortifications that have been preserved in excellent condition. On the territory of many of them bright events are held. In particular, thematic festivals are held annually in the Genoese fortress, and reconstructions of medieval battles are staged.

Throughout the peninsula there are numerous hotels, hotels, boarding houses. Room reservations are available online. Pricing policy depends on the region, level of service and visiting season.

Pontus Euxinus - Scythian Sea

Crimea became known for world history many centuries before our era. AT ancient times, the peninsula was called Taurica. This name was recorded by the Byzantine historian of the VI century AD Procopius nz Caesarea. The Old Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" gives a slightly modified form of this name - Tavriania. Only in the XII century, the Tatars, who conquered the peninsula, called the Greek city of Solkhat (now Stary Krym) Crimea, which became the center of their possessions. Gradually, during the XIV-XV centuries, this name spread to the entire peninsula. The names of the Greek colonies that arose in the Crimea in the VI century BC. cannot be considered the oldest Crimean toponyms. Before the arrival of the Greeks in the Crimea, numerous tribes lived here, leaving their mark on history, archeology, and toponymy.

Crimea belongs to those few places on earth where people have appeared since time immemorial. Here, archaeologists discovered their sites of the Paleolithic era - the early Stone Age.

Scientists believe that before the beginning of the divergence of peoples - about 3700 BC. throughout the entire territory of the Caspian steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the common language of communication was, the roots of which lie in.

The roots of the most ancient names of the Crimean places, rivers, mountains, lakes should be sought in the Proto-Indo-European language - Vedic Sanskrit: support, stronghold, tower, tower, pylon.(a related word in Old Russian: KROM - castle, fortification, secluded, hidden from ...; Kromny - outer edge (edge); KROMA - edge, piece of bread;) At the root of the word Kram - kram - fortress, verb " kR" and "krta" - create, build, make, that is - this is a man-made structure - the Fortress, the Kremlin.

Slavic historian, archaeologist, ethnographer and linguist, author of the 11-volume encyclopedia "Slavic Antiquities" Lubora Niederle claimed that “... among the northern neighbors of the Scythians mentioned by Herodotus, not only the neurons ... but also Scythians called plowmen and farmers ... were undoubtedly Slavs, who were influenced by the Greco-Scythian culture.

The first population of Crimea known to us from ancient Greek sources was the Scythians, Taurus and the Cimmerians, who were related or Thracian.

In the southwestern part Crimean peninsula, 15 km from Sevastopol, is located ancient city balaclava, having rich history over 2500 years old.

Since ancient times, it has been a powerful military fortress created by nature itself. Balaklava harbor is closed by high rocks on all sides from sea storms, and the narrow entrance to the harbor reliably protects it from enemy invasions from the sea. reports that Tauris lived in the mountains of Taurida, who knew a lot about martial arts.

There are two toponyms within the Dnieper Left Bank ancient Slavic species - Perekop, near Sreznevsky - Perekop, possible calque of relict Indo-Aryan * krta - “made (that is, dug by hand)” , hence the name Crimea. Approximately in the same place, at the base of the Crimean peninsula, there is another Russian. Oleshye , one of the "populated places" by the sea, which from time immemorial - from Herodotus Hylaea ('Y - "forest") up to the present Aleshkovsky (!) Sands - steadfastly conveyed and preserved the image of this "wooded" patch among the surrounding treeless spaces.

The name "Balaklava" comes from the word, strength, power, energy, strength, military force, army, army. The word "Bala" comes from - RV). Perhaps the name of the harbor "Bala + Klava" - comes from "Bala" - military, "Klap, kalpate" - klṛ p, kalpate - "strengthen, strengthen, fortress" (from the root "kḷ p"), ​​that is - Military Fortress.

Ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo (64 BC - 24 AD) and Roman writer, author " natural history» Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) associated the name of the harbor and military fortress with the name of his son (II century BC) Palak - "strong warrior." Names of the god of war in ancient Greece - Pallas (Pallas), an epithet of a goddess Athena Palada(other Greek Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ) – militant goddess of war strategy and wisdom, and the name of the Scythian prince Palak - "warrior", come from the same root.

In the 5th century, on both banks of the Kerch Strait, a powerful arose, the inhabitants of which consisted of representatives of various peoples - Greek colonists, Scythians, Meots. Dominant dynasty The Spartakids were of Thracian origin, and the royal guard also consisted of the Thracians. In the Proto-Indo-European language, the roots of the language of the Scythians, Cimmerians, Greeks, Goths lie, which is why they found mutual language and, allowing for the interpenetration of cultures and linguistic borrowings on the peninsula, for example, from the Germanic tribes - - the Scythians, who were in a single Gothic union of tribes in the Crimea.

The role of the Goths in the life of the Crimea was very significant, since even in the Byzantine medieval sources the Crimea was called Gothia. belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. A few fortified Ostrogothic settlements remained in the Black Sea region in the western mountainous part of Crimea, inhabited by Greeks and subordinated to Byzantium, as well as from the 5th century in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov on Taman Peninsula the Ostrogoths at the end of the 4th century were cut off by the invasion of the Huns and other nomads in the Black Sea region. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I built a line of fortifications in the Crimea to protect the settlements of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). In Taurida (Crimea) there was a Gothic the fortress city of Mangup, the cities of Doro (Doros), Theodoro, ready-meal merchants living on the "table mountain" (near Alushta).

In the 6th century, the Crimean Goths adopted Orthodox Christianity and patronage from Byzantium. In Crimea for a long time the Crimean-Gothic language was preserved, dating back to the Ostrogothic dialect tribes of the Eastern Goths, who came to the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov in 150 - 235, and living in the neighborhood with Greek settlers and Scythians. Flemish monk V. Rubruk, who testifies in 1253 that the Goths in the Crimea at that time they spoke the "Germanic dialect" ( idioma Teutonicum - "Taurian language").

Distribution of power Kyiv princes Ancient Russia on a fairly large part of the peninsula closely and for a long time brought the population of Crimea closer to the ancient Russian state. There were gates of sorts through which Kievan Rus went out to communicate with the countries of the East. In the first centuries of our era in the Crimea appeared Slavs. Their migration to the peninsula is most naturally explained by the so-called great migration of peoples in the II-VII centuries.

From time to time, Byzantine sources recall the Slavs in Tavria. But scientists were able to get a more complete picture of their life on the peninsula only starting from the era of Kievan Rus. Archaeologists have discovered in the Crimea the remains of material culture, the foundations of architectural structures, close to those that were built in the cities of Kievan Rus. Moreover, the fresco paintings and the plaster itself of the Crimean Russian churches are very similar in composition to the fresco paintings of the Kyiv cathedrals of the 11th-12th centuries.

Much about the ancient Russian population of the Crimea becomes known from written sources. From "The Lives of Stefan of Surozh" know that at the beginning In the 9th century, the Russian prince Bravlin took possession of the Crimean cities of Korsun (or Kherson, so in the Middle Ages Chersonesus began to be called) and Sudak. And in the middle of the same century, the ancient Russians settled for a long time in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, having mastered the Byzantine city Tamatarkhoy later Tmutarakan, the capital of the future ancient Russian principality of Tmutarakan, part of whose land stretched in the Crimea. Gradually Russian principality spreads its power northwestern part of it on the outskirts of Kherson, the entire Kerch Peninsula.

Tmutarakans principality formed in the middle of the 10th century. Remote from other Russian lands, it was under constant pressure from Byzantium, but managed to survive. Successful Vladimir Svyatoslavich's campaign against Kherson in 989 expanded ancient Russian possessions in the Crimea. According to the Russian-Byzantine agreement, Kievan Rus was able to annex the city of Bosporus with its outskirts to the Tmutarakan principality, which received the Russian name Korchev (from the word "wrath" - a forge, the current Kerch).

On the Taman Peninsula, a Tmutarakan stone was found, on which an inscription was carved that in 1068 Russian prince Gleb Svyatoslavovich “I measured the sea on ice from Tmutarakan to Korchevo. 10,000 fathoms and 4,000 fathoms.

The Arab geographer Idrisi called Kerch Strait "the mouth of the Russian river". There he even knew a city with the name "Russia". Medieval European and Oriental geographic Maps Crimea recorded a lot of place names, names of cities and settlements, indicating a long and long stay of the Russians in the Crimea: " Cosal di Rosia", "Rossia", "Rosmofar", "Rosso", "Rossika" (the latter near Evpatoria), etc.

At the end of the 12th century, a mass of nomadic Polovtsy, who took possession of the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, cut Crimea off from Kievan Rus for a long time. At the same time, the Polovtsians destroyed the Tmutarakan principality, but a significant part of the Russian population remained on the peninsula. One of its strongholds was city ​​of Sudak(Russian name Surozh). According to the Arab writer Ibn al-Athir. At the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, many Russian merchants lived in the Crimea and the Black Sea was called Russian sea.

The Russian population of the peninsula, as well as representatives of other local peoples, was dealt an irreparable blow by the conquest of the peninsula Mongol-Tatars after 1223.

This is the name of the ancient policies (city-states), whose inhabitants were equal citizens, each of which had the right to its own land plot and all political rights. Part of the population was not included in the policy and did not have the rights of citizens. From the VI century BC. such ancient Greek cities began to appear in the northern Black Sea region. Tauric Chersonesos (Sevastopol) was such an ancient city along with Feodosia, Panticapaeum (Kerch), Olbia and others.

• - most deep canyon Ukraine, shares two mountain range- Boyka and Ai-Petri, length - about 3 km, maximum depth - 320 m, minimum width 3-5 m. First described by Professor I. I. Puzanov in 1925 ....

  Toponymic Dictionary of Crimea

• - Crimean, Yalta, Cape Martyan, Karadag, Kazantip, Opuk ...

  Toponymic Dictionary of Crimea

• - South Coast of Crimea from Cape Aya to Kara-Dag, this coastal strip is primarily a climatic resort. It has a Mediterranean climate...

  Toponymic Dictionary of Crimea

• - a small cyclone that occurs with westerly tropospheric currents on the leeward side Crimean mountains, a vortex with an almost vertical axis. It draws in air from the yail, strengthening the northwest winds from the mountains in the south...

  Dictionary of winds

• - settlements, Greeks and Romans in foreign lands...
• - Greek and Roman settlements based on foreign lands...

  Antique world. Dictionary-reference

• - ANTIQUE LITERATURES, literature Dr. Greece and Rome. Even in Kievan Rus were known products. ancient authors; in ancient Russian Manuscripts contain translations of the speeches of Demosthenes...

  Lermontov Encyclopedia

• - cities that arose during the Greek. colonization in the north. coast of the Black Sea in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. episodic visits by the Greeks to the Black Sea were already in the 2nd half. 2nd and 1st floor. 1st millennium BC e., but systematic ...

  Soviet historical encyclopedia

• - in the Black Sea region. They arose during the Greek colonization in the 7th century. BC e. The largest agrarian cities in the Northern Black Sea region are Tyra, Olbia ...

  Russian encyclopedia

• - cities that arose during the Greek colonization on the northern coast of the Black Sea in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. At the end of the 7th c. BC e. on the northern shores Greek trading posts appeared on the Black Sea - emporia ...
• - settlements founded by ancient peoples in foreign lands ...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - a narrow strip of the coast of the Crimean peninsula, from Cape Aya in the west to the Karadag massif in the east. Comfortable subtropical Mediterranean climate...

  Modern Encyclopedia

• - ; arose during the Greek colonization from the 6th century. BC e. The largest ancient cities: in the north - Tira - Olbia, Chersonese, Feodosia, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria, Tanais; on the Caucasian coast - Gorgippia, Dioskurias, Phasis ...
• - a narrow gently sloping strip of the coast of the Crimean Peninsula, bounded from the north by the slopes of the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains. Length approx. 150 km - from Cape Aya in the west to the Karadag massif in the east...

  Big encyclopedic dictionary

• - g / city - scientific / chny tse / ntr, go / kind - scient / chny tse / ntra, pl. cities / - scientific centers / ntra, cities / in - scientific ...

  merged. Separately. Through a hyphen. Dictionary-reference

• - Dobredet, like a khan to the Crimea ...

  IN AND. Dal. Proverbs of the Russian people

"ANTIQUE CITIES OF CRIMEA" in books

Chapter Seven FROM THE CITY OF FLUPOV TO THE "HISTORY OF ONE CITY"