Pantikapaion

Coordinates: 45°21′3″N 36°28′7″E / 45.35083°N 36.46861°E / 45.35083; 36.46861
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Pantikapaion
Παντικάπαιον (in Ancient Greek)
Taurica
Coordinates45°21′3″N 36°28′7″E / 45.35083°N 36.46861°E / 45.35083; 36.46861
TypeSettlement
Area100 ha (250 acres)
History
BuilderSettlers from Miletus
Founded7th or 6th century BC
AbandonedApproximately 370 AD
PeriodsArchaic Greek
CulturesGreek
Site notes
ConditionRuined
OwnershipPublic
Public accessYes

Pantikapaion (

founded by Milesians in the late 7th or early 6th century BC, on a hill later named Mount Mithridat. Its ruins now lie in the modern city of Kerch
.

Early existence

See also:
Greeks in pre-Roman Crimea
A coin from Pantikapaion, bearing a star inside a diadem and the letters "ΠΑΝ" (Pan), 2nd century BC.

During the first centuries of the city's existence, imported Greek articles predominated:

Hellenistic bowls known as the Gnathia style as well as relief wares—Megarian bowls. The city minted silver coins from the 5th century BC and gold and bronze coins from the 4th century BC.[2] At its greatest extent it occupied 100 hectares (250 acres).[3] The Hermitage and Kerch
Museums contain material from the site, which is still being excavated.

Representations of Pan on 4th century BC gold and silver Pantikapaion coins

Fifth to first centuries BC

In the 5th–4th centuries BC, the city became the residence first of the

Thracian kings of Bosporus, and was hence itself sometimes called Bosporus. Its economic decline in the 4th–3rd centuries BC was the result of the Sarmatian conquest of the steppes and the growing competition of Egyptian
grain.

Mithridates

Small statue of Scythians with bows from Panticapeum, 4th century BC

The last of the

Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus. This transition was arranged by one of Mithridates's generals, Diophantus, who earlier had been sent to Taurica to help local Greek cities against Palacus of the Scythian kingdom in Crimea. The mission did not go smoothly: Paerisades was murdered by Scythians led by Saumacus
, and Diophantus escaped to return later with reinforcements to suppress the revolt (c. 110 BC).

Half of a century later, Mithridates took his life in Pantikapaion, when, after his defeat in a war against Rome, his son and heir Pharnaces and citizens of Pantikapaion turned against him.

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-521-20091-2
    .
  2. ISBN 0 900652 46 2
  3. ^ "Panticapaeum". Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies. Retrieved 18 February 2013.

Further reading

External links

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