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PORTHMEION (Ancient city) TAVRIS
An ancient Greek settlement NE of Pantikapaion along the W coast of
the Kerch Strait near the village of Zhukovka (Anon., Periplus Ponti Euxini, 69,
76). Founded in the late 6th c. B.C., it was extensively rebuilt about the middle
of the 3d c. B.C. on a grid pattern and was encircled with a powerful defensive
wall, possibly in response to the threat posed to the Bosporus by the Scythian
state established in the Crimea. The life of the city ended in the first half
of the 1st c. B.C., most likely during the turbulent reign of Mithridates Eupator.
The city, whose remains today cover an area of 0.65 ha, has been studied
since 1950 but only intermittently. Much of the original settlement was apparently
destroyed during rebuilding, but remains of dwellings from the late archaic and
Classical eras have been discovered. During the Hellenistic period, large one-block
buildings seem to have been constructed which were then subdivided into a series
of separate homes with common external walls bordering on the adjoining streets.
At one point along the defensive wall, a city gate flanked by towers was uncovered.
A paved street led from the gate into the city. Situated at the crossing from
the European to the Asiatic side of the Kerch Strait, the city had a lively trade
evidenced by numerous finds of various types of imported Greek pottery and by
coins of Pantikapaion.
T. S. Noonan, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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