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480 BC: Unification of part of the settlements on the shores of Bosporus of Cimmeria under the leadership of Panticapaeus into the future Bosporus kingdom
In 480 BC, part of the Greek settlements on the shores of Bosporus of Cimmeria united, subsequently forming an independent state of the Bosporus Kingdom with its capital in the city of Panticapeia (on the site of modern Kerch).
380 BC: Sindh lands are included in the Bosporus kingdom
Main article: Greek colonies in Russia
At the beginning of the 4th century BC, the Bosporus rulers from the Spartokid dynasty - Satyr І, and then his son Levkon І began to actively interfere in the internal affairs of Sindika. As a result of their policy, the king of the Sinds, Hekatey, was involved in a war with the Meot tribes living in modern Kuban.
The military power and diplomacy of Bosporus eventually prevail around 380 BC, apparently after the death of Hecataeus, the Sindian lands are included in the Spartokid possessions.
Sindika renamed Gorgippia after its new viceroy Gorgippa
Gorgipp, brother of Levkon І, becomes the governor of Sindike - this new region of the Bosporus state. He landscaped the war-ravaged Sindh Harbor, expanded the city's boundaries, redeveloped urban neighborhoods, and attracted a new population to the policy.
One of the evidence of Gorgipp's active activity is the organization of the production of ceramic tiles, the quality of which was confirmed by a stigma with the name of the ruler. It must be assumed that such tiles served to overlap the roofs of public buildings, temples and other buildings significant for the city.
Soon the settlement receives a new name Gorgippia, named after its founder-ktista.
320 BC: Gorgippia is one of the most prosperous cities of the Bosporus kingdom with a population of 11 thousand people
As evidenced by archaeological excavations, in the IV-III centuries. BC Gorgippia was one of the most prosperous cities of the Bosporus kingdom. Its population at this time could reach 10-12 thousand people.
The houses formed regular rectangular neighborhoods, separated by stone-paved streets. The city was surrounded by a stone fortress wall, beyond which was located the "city of the dead" - a necropolis, a city cemetery.
On the territory of the rural district of Gorgippia there were land allotments-clerks with manor houses owned by the families of citizens of the policy.
Land cultivation was the backbone of the city's economy. Written sources of the 4th century BC report a colossal amount of grain exported from Bosporus, and undoubtedly a considerable part of it was cultivated in Sindika.
In the IV century BC. In the urban suburb, the temple of Demeter is being built - the goddess of agriculture and fertility, on whose favor the harvest depended.
Archaeologists' finds testify to the lively trade ties of Gorgippia with the cities of the Black Sea region and the Eastern Mediterranean. Judging by the finds of clay amphorae of vessels for transporting liquids, olive oil and wine were brought here in large quantities from the Aegean islands of Phasos, Chios, Knid, Kos, Rhodes and Paros, as well as from the cities of the southern coast of Pontus Euxine-Heraclea and Sinopa. Black and painted dishes were brought from Attica and Asia Minor. A number of finds indicate that goods brought from Tauride Chersonesos and from the eastern coast of the Black Sea from Dioscuriada were in demand on the Gorgippi market.
From the end of the IV to the middle of the ІІІ century. BC Gorgippia hosted sports events dedicated to Hermes, the names of the winners were carved annually on a marble slab found in the area of the agora city square. It is noteworthy that many of the names included in this list are written based on the norms of the Dorian dialect of the Greek language. It must be assumed that their carriers are the descendants of the inhabitants of the city of Callatis, who moved to Bosporus at the end of the 4th century BC at the invitation of King Eumel, as reported by Diodorus of Sicily.
300 BC: Holidays in honor of Hermes with sports in Gorgippia
In the first half of the IIІ century. BC for 60 years, holidays are held in Gorgippia in honor of Hermes. The names of the winners in 4 types of sports are carved annually on a marble slab.
260 BC: Sarmatian attacks or internal conflicts lead to prolonged decline
In the second quarter of the ІІІ century. BC The Bosporus state is experiencing serious shocks associated with the appearance of warlike nomads near the borders of the state and the subsequent decline of agriculture and a monetary crisis.
Negative processes also affected Gorgippia. During excavations of urban areas, traces of fires that destroyed residential buildings were noted, bronze arrowheads were found in the firefighters. Agricultural estates were abandoned. In the city itself and in its vicinity, treasures of coins were discovered, hidden by their owners in the hope of concealing or preserving what was acquired. Researchers associate fires and desolation with Sarmatian raids, but it cannot be ruled out that their cause could be internal troubles, rebellions, pogroms.
200 g BC.
129 BC.
From the protracted crisis, the Bosporus state fully recovered only in the II century. BC.
109 BC: King Perisad V is killed by his pupil, Scythian Tsarevich Savmak
Growing up at the court of the last representative of the Spartokid dynasty of the Bosporus king Perisad V, the Pontic commander Diophantus had a great influence on Bosporus, and with his help an agreement was reached on the inheritance of the kingdom by Mithridates VI Eupator - king of Pontus, a state located on the southern shore of the Black Sea. But the Scythian aristocracy, led by the pupil of the king Savmak, was dissatisfied with this.
Around 109 BC, Perisad V was killed by Savmak, who seized power in the country. The rebels were supported only by the western part of the kingdom, and the eastern part remained faithful to Mithridates.
Diophantus had to sail from Panticapaeus to Chersonesos, and with the support of the townspeople - go to Pont.
As part of the Pontic kingdom
108 BC: Warlord of Mithridates VI Eupator subdues Bosporus Kingdom
In the spring of 108, the army of the Pontic strategist Diophantus came out of Chersonesos, and by the beginning of 107 BC. e. Liberated Theodosia and Panticapaeus.
Savmak's mutiny was crushed by Diophantus. As a result, for more than half a century, Bosporus became the possession of Mithridates VI Eupator.
Mithridates was a prince of mixed Iranian-Greek descent. Mithridates is the Greek pronunciation of the Iranian name Mihrdat, meaning "given by Mithra" (Persian مهرداد - Mehrdād), the name of the ancient Iranian god of the sun. The name Mihrdat itself comes from the ancient Iranian Miθra -dāta. The Greek epithet "eupator" (other Greek Εὐπάτωρ) means "noble father" and has been adopted by a number of other Hellenistic rulers.
In 107-63 BC, Gorgippia is part of the Pontic power of Mithridates VІ Eupator. For some reason, Mithridates Eupator treated Gorgippia with special attention. Under him, the city received the right to mint its own coin. In the years 100-80 BC, coins are minted on behalf of Gorgippia: silver drachmas and didrachmas depicting Helios, Dionysus, Artemis, copper shells and tetrachals. One of the inscriptions reports on a certain "Europator law on inheritance" in force in the city. Apparently, in the Mithridatean era (the end of ІІ - the first half of the І century. BC) Gorgippia flourished.
63 BC: Suicide of Mithridates VI Eupator
The protracted wars of Mithridates VI with the Roman Empire ended with his defeat and death in the Bosporus capital Panticapaeum. Already in the last months of the Pontic king's reign, some cities and regions of Bosporus were engulfed in anti-Mitridate uprisings. Instability persisted later. The pretenders to the throne fiercely fought each other for power, attracting barbarian tribes to the allies, who made devastating raids.
It was not for nothing that in the second half of the І century. BC on the outskirts of Gorgippia, fortifications with towers were built by the townspeople sought to protect themselves from external danger.
Client State of the Roman Empire
Main article: Roman Empire
47 BC: Caesar established control over Bosporus while maintaining its formal independence by appointing Mithridates of Pergamon as king
After the war with Farnak II (48-47 BC), Caesar actually established control over Bosporus, appointing in 47 BC King Mithridates of Pergamon.
The Bosporus kingdom was not directly subordinate to the Roman Empire, but rather became a dependent state as a result of a series of events that began in the 40s of the 1st century BC. e., after the intervention of Julius Caesar in the affairs of the kingdom. Bosporus remained formally independent, but its rulers were confirmed by Rome, and the state was in the orbit of Roman politics.
30 g BC.
12 BC: By order of Augustus, Polemon became king of Bosporus
By order of Augustus, in 13-12 B.C.E., Polemon became king of Bosporus.
Despite its close connection with Rome, the Bosporus kingdom retained its statehood and was never formally fully absorbed by the empire as a province.
14 AD: Great-grandson of Mithridates Eupator, King Aspurg comes to power and becomes a friend of Tiberius
The situation stabilized only with the coming to power in 14 AD. Bosporus king Aspurg, great-grandson of Mithridates Eupator. He managed to establish friendly relations with the Roman emperor Tiberius, due to which tense relations with Rome remained in the past, and the king himself and his descendants formally became members of the imperial family, adding to their names the family formula "Tiberius Julius" and receiving the right to bear the sonorous title "friend of the emperor and friend of the Romans."
Cotis, brother of Mithridates VIII, wins civil war thanks to alliance with Rome
Under the first successor of Aspurg, King Mithridates VIII, in the 40s of the І century. AD, Gorgippia was involved in the civil war that unfolded on Bosporus. Mithridates pursued an outspoken anti-Roman policy, which was taken advantage of by his brother Cotis, who, having gained the support of the empire and received at his disposal several units of the Roman troops, entered the struggle for the throne.
Excavations of the city revealed traces of a local fire that destroyed one of the richest Gorgippian houses. Perhaps it was a basilea - the royal residence, the existence of which in Gorgippia is known from inscriptions. The fact that the situation in the city and its environs was tense is evidenced by a treasure found near Anapa, containing coins of Mithridates VIII. The war that lasted several years ended with the victory of Kotis. Mithridates was captured and sent to Rome, where he lived as a prisoner for more than 20 years.
Gorgippia's heyday thanks to viticulture and wine production
The period from the second half of the 1st to the beginning of the ІІІ century CE was a heyday for Gorgippia, when it rapidly increased in size. The inscription of the end of the І - beginning of the ІІ century AD reads: "The great king Tiberius Julius Savromat, a friend of the Caesar and a friend of the Romans, the pious, lifelong high priest of Augustus and the benefactor of the fatherland, erected the demolished walls of the city from the base, giving them to the city, multiplied in comparison with the borders of the ancestors..." It is noteworthy that on the coins of this king there is an image of the fortress gates flanked by towers, at the foot of one of which a prisoner kneels with his hands tied behind his back. It is quite possible that the І walls of Gorgippia, erected by the will of Savromat, are presented here.
The basis of the economy of the policy in the first centuries CE was viticulture and wine production. During excavations of the ancient city, wineries were opened. In some of them, judging by the volume of tanks coated with cement, up to 8-9 tons of wine were produced. It is no coincidence that a temple of the god of viticulture and winemaking Dionysus was erected in Gorgippia, from which several marble details of the external and internal decor were preserved.
To store and transport wine, containers of clay barrels-pythos and amphorae were required, the production of which was established in ceramic workshops brought to the outskirts of the city. The inscription of the І century AD reports that wheat, barley and millet were also exported from the Gorgippi port for sale in addition to wine.
Judging by the inscriptions that have come down to us, the townspeople not only built temples and erected statues, but also united in religious and trade unions of fias, released slaves into the will, devoting them to revered deities.
186: Statue of Viceroy of Neocles in Gorgippia
In 1939, during earthworks in Anapa, at the place where, according to archaeologists, the central city square, the agora, was located, a marble statue broken into two parts and a marble slab with an inscription, once attached to a pedestal, were found. They learned from the inscription that the person depicted by the sculpture was called Neocles, that he was the governor of the Bosporus king, and that the statue was erected by his son, also the governor of Gorgippia, in August 186 AD e.
On the neck of a man, an ornament not characteristic of Hellenes is a neck hoop-hryvnia. It ends with the heads of snakes, between which is a pendant in the form of a bull's head. Such decorations are well known from finds in the mounds of barbarian nobility - Scythian, Sarmatian, Meot. Among the barbarian peoples, hryvnia served as a symbol of power. The hryvnia on the neck of Neokla indicates that he was related to some noble family from among the nomadic aristocracy, maybe even to one of the leaders of the Sarmatian tribes who lived near the borders of the Bosporus state.
It is possible that Neokl was one of those buried in the famous "Crypt of Hercules," opened on the necropolis of Gorgipia in 1975 [1] the [2]
Due to its high artistic value, the find was transported to Moscow, to the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, and a plaster copy was made for the Anapa Museum in the early 1950s.
200: Building houses in Gorgippia
Excavations of Gorgippia, located on the territory of modern Anapa, by 2025 examined the remains of 60 houses of different times. The most studied residential building of the first centuries AD. On the territory of the reserve found the remains of 22 houses of this era.
The house was rectangular in plan, had a U-shaped layout, a courtyard and covered rooms on the sides of the courtyard. The total area of the house was about 400 m ².
The preserved basement walls (foundations) are composed of local stone - sandstone on clay mortar. The walls of the first floor were built of mud brick (adobe). Floors, rafters, beams, supporting pillars were wooden, roofs were tiled. The basements had living rooms above them. They descended into the basement from the room through a hatch in the floor along a wooden or stone staircase. The floors in the basements were adobe, the walls were coated with a layer of clay. Adobe partitions were built in the ground part of the house and in the basements using clay-coated reed knits. The walls were whitened, painted with paints.
Air and light entered the premises of the house through the courtyard. Small-sized windows were positioned high. The basements were illuminated by lamps located in special niches. In the basements found containers for storing products - amphorae and pythos, dug into the ground. In some houses, wells with fresh water were arranged.
In each house there was a room where the hearth was located. Iron braziers were found in the houses of the first centuries AD. In cold weather, the rooms were heated by portable clay vessels containing hot charcoal.
The toilet was a cesspool and was located near the house.
240: Germanic tribes or Alans destroy Gorgippia
Around 240 AD, Gorgippia was attacked by enemies. The city was destroyed and burned. It is still not clear where the trouble came from. Some researchers associate this event with the invasion of Germanic tribes, others with the raid of the North Caucasian Alanovs. The fate of the urban population also remains unknown.
380: The settlement of Eudusia is mentioned on the site of Gorgippia
Only a century or a half after the destruction of the city on the ashes of Gorgippia, buildings are being built again, and one of the geographers of the 5th century AD indicates a settlement with the name Eudusia at this place.
Notes
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