Panticapaeum

45.35083333333336.468611111111Koordinaten: 45 ° 21 ' 3 " N, 36 ° 28' 7" E

Pantikapaion ( Ancient Greek Παντικάπαιον ) was an ancient city on the Crimean peninsula. It was located on the site of the present city of Kerch and was the capital of the Bosporan Kingdom. The city was also the Bosphorus (Greek Bosporus ) called (after the name for the rear sight Generic Bosporus Strait of Kerch ).

Formation and flowering time

Originally, the oldest architectural remains Pantikapaions have been dated to the 7th century BC, but this is now doubted. Thus Pantikapaion was probably founded in the 6th century BC by Greeks from Miletus as a colony and then became the seat of the kings of the Bosporan Kingdom. The city lay on the western shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus and retired from the bottom Meeresterrase up on the slopes of Mount Mithridates - up, on the summit of a fortified castle ( Acropolis ) stood.

The city was in the midst skythischem area. With the Scythians mainly trade was driven. After the Bosporan kingdom, the kings of Pontus took over the Greek cities in Crimea until the Romans incorporated this area too.

In the year 63 BC Mithridates VI lost. , Ruler of the Kingdom of Pontus and one of the biggest enemies of Rome, on the Acropolis of Pantikapaion his life. Based on this ruling, the survey on which the fortress of Pantikapaion once stood, marked with the name Mithridates Mountain. This name was changed in the course of Abgewinnung the Crimea by Russia from the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

Late Antiquity

In the course of late antiquity lost Pantikapaion which was under Roman protectorate at that time, its meaning. Cause was probably the increasing attacks by barbarians. So since the third century took the Goths raids in the Black Sea region. Shortly before the middle of the 4th century, the coinage of King Rheskuporis VI. adjusted. In the 70 years of the 4th century, the Huns devastated the cities of the Bosporan Kingdom. However, the history of the city not ended. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the city, which now appears as the Bosporus in the sources belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. At that time, Crimean Goths settled in the city of Bosporus, which is evidenced by finds of the 5th to the 7th century. In 534 Justinian commissioned Gothic auxiliaries with the reconquest of the city, which had been occupied by Huns. Ever since objects Germanic character, such as bow brooches were made in local production. To let 576 Turxanthos, who had just taken control of Göktürks, conquer the city by the Utigurenführer Angai. In the 7th century, the city came under the control of the Khazars.

Excavations of the ruins began 1830. During archaeological investigations in the 19th and 20th centuries it was discovered the necropolis and came across numerous well preserved coins, steles and vases.