Listed 1 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "CHERSONISSOS Ancient city TAVRIS".
A city on the W coast of the Crimea ca. 3 km W of modern Sebastopol.
It is mentioned in the ancient sources (Strab. 7.4.2-7; Plin. HN 4.85; Polyb.
25.2.12; Pompon. 2.1.3; Ptol. Geog. 3.6.2 etc.). Founded in 421 B.C. by colonists
from Herakleia Pontica, perhaps on the site of an earlier Greek settlement, it
rapidly became the major city of SW Crimea and the chief center in this area for
international trade. In the 3d c. B.C. Kerkinitis and Kalos Limen came under its
control. In the 2d c. B.C. under attack from the Scythian king Palak, it was supported
by Mithridates Eupator, king of Pontus. Although the Scythians were conquered,
Chersonesos lost its independence and became one of the cities of the Bosporan
kingdom.
The city covered an area of 38 ha and its defensive system is one
of the major architectural monuments of the N Black Sea region. Stone walls (3.5
km long and up to 3.8 m thick), with crenellated towers and gates, were first
constructed in the 4th-3d c. and rebuilt in the Hellenistic and Roman times and
later. The city was laid out according to the Miletian plan with straight streets
crossing at right angles. Traces of houses from the 3d-2d c. follow the same plan
as those in other cities in the region. A corridor led to an inner courtyard onto
which rooms opened; each house had a well or cistern and the basins were often
paved with mosaics. Other architectural remains include a mint of the 4th c. B.C.,
several wine-making establishments, several large pottery workshops, numerous
cisterns for the salting of fish; large baths of the Roman era, Christian basilicas
of the 5th-7th c.; an odeum (?); a theater of the late 3d-early 2d c. B.C., which
was still in use in the 4th c. Outside the walls in the Hercules peninsula excavations
have uncovered the ruins of numerous fortified farinsteads, some for grape growing
and others for grain.
Among the many Greek inscriptions found are the oath of the inhabitants
of the city (3d c. B.C.) and the decree of Diophanes (end of the 2d c. B.C.).
A fine head of an ephebus in the manner of Skopas has been discovered; also many
locally made terracottas, including a torso of a statue of Herakles. The Roman
period is represented by funerary monuments, with portraits, and sarcophagi ornamented
with scenes of Eros, griffins, and other figures of local legend. The Cherson
Museum contains material from this site.
M. L. Bernhard & Z. S. Ztetyllo, 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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