Crimea in the Roman era

The

In ancient times Crimea was known as "Chersonesus Taurica", from the name of the Tauri, who were descendants of the Cimmerians. Many Greek colonists settled in Taurica: their most renowned colony was Chersonesos. In 114 BC the Bosporus kingdom accepted the overlordship of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, as a protection from tribes of Scythians. For nearly five centuries after the defeat of Mithridates by the Roman Pompey, Crimea was under the suzerainty of Rome.

The main Roman settlement was

When the Romans arrived at Taurica, they set up their camp and built a fortress and a temple of Jupiter Dolichenus on the coast of the harbor of Balaklava, then called Symbolon Limen.^[4]

In 67, Emperor

The prosperous merchant-towns (of Taurica), permanently in need of military protection amidst a flux of barbaric peoples, held to Rome as the advanced posts to the main army....(during that century) Roman troops were stationed in the peninsula, perhaps a division of the Pontic fleet, certainly a detachment of the Moesian army, (other garrisons in Panticapaeum and Chersonesos); their presence even in small numbers showed to the barbarians that the dreaded legionary stood behind (the Bosporanum Regnum).^[6]

The region was temporarily conquered by the

Several decades later the camp was restored by a vexillatio of the Legio I Italica: it hosted a detachment of the Legio XI Claudia at the end of the 2nd century. In this century, new stone walls were added to the fortress and a new Roman road was built, connecting Charax to Chersonesos.^[9]

The camp was abandoned by the Romans at the end of the 3rd century.

Roman client kings

These are the Roman client kings of the Bosporan Kingdom:

• Pharnaces 64 BC – 47 BC
• Mithridates I
  47 BC – 44 BC
• Asander
  47 BC, then 44 BC – 17 BC
• Scribonius
  17 BC – 16 BC
• Dynamis
  with Asander 47 BC, then 44 BC – 17 BC, then with Polemon from 16 BC until her death in 14 BC
• Polemon I 16 BC – 8 BC
• Aspurgus 8 BC – 38 AD^[10]
• Rhescuporis I 14 – 42 AD[10]
• Polemon II 38 – 41 AD^[10]
• Mithridates II 42 – 46 AD^[10]
• Cotys I 46 – 78^[10]
  • Roman Province 63 – 68
• Rhescuporis II 78 – 93^[10]
• Sauromates I 93 – 123^[10]
• Cotys II 123 – 131^[10]
• Rhoemetalces 131 – 153^[10]
• Eupator 154 – 170^[10]
• Sauromates II 172 – 210^[10]
• Rhescuporis III 211 – 228^[10]
• Cotys III 228 – 234^[10]
• Sauromates III 229 – 232^[10]
• Rhescuporis IV 233 – 234^[10]
• Chedosbios
  233 – 234 (?)
• Ininthimeus 234 – 239^[10]
• Rhescuporis V 240 – 276^[10]
• Pharsanzes 253 – 254^[10]
• Teiranes 276 – 278^[10]
• Sauromates IV 276^[10]
• Theothorses 279 – 309^[10]
• Rhadamsades 309 – 322^[10]
• Rhescuporis VI 314 – 341^[10]

Ancient episcopal sees of Roman Crimea (Zechia) that are listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees include:^[11]

• Bosporus, Byzantine? Archbishopric
• Chersonesus in Zechia
• Matrega
• Nicopsis (Tuapse)
• Phulli
  (Stary Krym), ?Archbishopric
• Soldaia
• Sugdaea
• Tanais

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) re-established Roman control of the region under Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565).

In the 6th century, probably at the end of the reign of Justinian I, the status of Roman Crimea changed. Taurica became the Province of

This enlargement of Byzantine Taurica resulted in the elevation of the ranks of its governors. In the second half of the 6th century, the military and civil authorities in the region were entrusted to the military deputy, "doux Chersonos".

Furthermore, the city of Chersonnesos was used by the Romans as a place of banishment:

Many series of Roman coins survive from the 1st century BC to about 300, and also some from the Byzantine period.[13]

See also

• History of Crimea
• Strait of Kerch
• List of Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus

Notes

Bibliography

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Bosporus Cimmerius".

Main article:

Bibliography of Crimea

• Joseph Coleman Carter; Glenn Randall Mack, eds. (2003). Crimean Chersonesos: city, chora, museum, and environs. University of Texas at Austin. Institute of Classical Archaeology.
  ISBN 978-0-9708879-2-4
  .
• Fornasier, Jochen; Böttger, Burkhard (2002). Das Bosporanische Reich: der Nordosten des Schwarzen Meeres in der Antike.
  ISBN 978-3-8053-2895-1
  .
• Theodor Mommsen; William Purdie Dickson (1996). The provinces of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to Diocletian.
  ISBN 978-0-7607-0145-4
  .