Greek colonies in Russia

The main articles are:

• History of Russia
• Crimea
• Krasnodar Territory

VII in BC: The first colonies of the Greeks - Chersonesos, Panticapaeus, Phanagoria, Tanais

From the second half of the 7th century BC, the ancient Greeks began to explore the Black Sea coast.

On the routes of episodic voyages, during which the first trade contacts with local tribes were established, farmers rushed to the overseas regions, who learned that there was a lot of fertile land not occupied by anyone on the distant shores of the Pontus of Euxinsky, capable of producing rich yields. There were reasons for this, because in the Greek city-states, only those who owned the land were considered full citizens. With a stable population growth not disrupted by wars and epidemics, and the impossibility of expanding borders, many Greek policies faced the problem of an oversupply of the population, and its solution was found in the relocation of its part from the metropolis ("mother city") to new lands.

530 BC.

520 BC: Over two dozen Hellenic settlements founded on the banks of Cimmerian Bosporus

One of the directions of Greek colonization was the shores of the Kerch Strait of Bosporus of Cimmeria, as they called it in antiquity.

Over two dozen Hellenic settlements were founded on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus during the 6th century. BC. Some have become major cities.

510 BC: Sindika is the first Greek and Sindh settlement in Anapa Bay

The area of ​ ​ modern Anapa became attractive to the ancient Greeks only at the final stage of colonization of new lands. In the last quarter of the 6th century BC, a settlement arose on the banks of the Anapa Bay, which, judging by the surviving references in ancient Greek geographical treatises, was called Sindika or Sindh Harbor. The life of the first settlers was very modest. At first they lived in small dugouts, and then began to build houses with walls of stone and mud brick.

Contacts with the local Sindh tribe gradually developed (their ethnonym became the basis for the name of the settlement), the surrounding lands were developed and cultivated. Over time, a certain cultural and economic infrastructure arose around the Sindh harbor: a defensive moat was dug and a fortress wall was erected, behind it there was a necropolis cemetery, agricultural estates, then arable land, pastures for livestock, quarries for stone mining. It is noteworthy that, judging by the presence of burials in stone structures usual for neighboring barbarian burial grounds on the necropolis of Sindh Harbor, immigrants from the local environment could initially be part of the inhabitants of the city.

480 BC: Unification of part of the settlements on the shores of Bosporus of Cimmeria under the leadership of Panticapaeus into the Bosporus kingdom

Main article: The Bosporus Kingdom

Following the farmers, artisans began to move to overseas colonies on the Black Sea coast from Greece, striving to find new sources of production raw materials. There was a place for both political exiles and refugees from the areas affected by the Greek-Persian wars.

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).

475 BC: Scythian raids from Crimea through freezing strait into Sindh and Greek settlements

The peaceful course of life in Sindik was occasionally disrupted by enemy invasions. During excavations of an early Greek settlement on the site of Anapa, archaeologists discovered traces of several fires that destroyed residential buildings and outbuildings. Some of them could be associated with the winter raids of the Crimean Scythians into the Sindian lands, which Herodotus reports: "The sea freezes and the whole Bosporus of Cimmeria. And the Scythians, who live on this side of the moat, make military campaigns on the ice and drive covered wagons to the opposite coast, to the land of the Sindhs. " The purpose of these campaigns, apparently, was the desire of the Scythians, under the threat of weapons, to force the Sinds to pay tribute. However, it is certain that the Northern Black Sea nomads during these hostilities could plunder the Greek cities and rural settlements that met along the way.

The Sindas, who lived near the eastern borders of the Bosporus kingdom, experienced the influence of ancient civilization quite early, their leaders began to be called kings and minted silver coins based on Greek models, cities appeared in their possessions. Sindh Harbor was located on the lands of Sindiki.

380 BC: Sindh lands are included in the Bosporus kingdom. Sindika renamed Gorgippia

Around 380 BC, the Sindic lands are included in the Spartokid possessions. See Bosporus Kingdom for details.

30 g BC.

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.

At the same time, the Bosporus kingdom was never part of the Roman Empire, remaining its client state.