1. Other names of the settlement

The city is mentioned under various names as one of the Greek poleis of the Cimmerian Bosporus: as Cýtaia in the Periplous of Pseudo-Scylax, Cytaia in the Scholia on the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Cyta in Pliny the Elder, Cytaion in Ptolemy, Cyta and Cydeaka in the Periplous of Pseudo-Arrian and Cyta in Stephanus Byzantius.¹

2. Topography

The remains of the city are located in Crimea in the southeast edge of the Kerch peninsula, on a hilly elevation of the seaside plain, 40 km south of the city of Kerch. The archaeological site in its south part has been severely eroded by the sea and it is estimated that at least half of it has been already destroyed. Judging from its current extent of 45 km², the city’s original size is estimated between 80 to 90km.² The Classical and Hellenistic period necropolis is located north and northeast of the city, while the Late Roman necropolis is situated on the foothills of the Djurk-Oba mountain chain.

3. Historical data

The evidence for the history of Cytaea mainly comes from archaeological research. On the basis of the current data, its foundation is dated to between the late 6^th and the early 5^th cent. BC.³ It was probably founded as a colony, either by Ionians of Asia Minor or by the inhabitants of some other Greek city in the Bosporus, in the context of internal colonization.

Contrary to many other settlements in the Cimmerian Bosporus, ancient authors refer to this settlement as a ‘polis’,⁴ which could be interpreted as an indication of the presence of a body of citizens in the city and of a series of political features pertaining to a polis.⁵ The precise date and the manner of Cytaea’s annexation into the Kingdom of Bosporus remain unknown. By the 4^th cent. BC the city definitely belonged to the state of the Spartocids, when this state had taken on its definitive form, on its European side.

The city flourished during the 4^th and 3^rd cent. BC. The urban expansion of the settlement is dated to the first half of the 4^th cent. BC, when we have the construction of stone-built residences and fortifications. Cytaea, although it did not have a well-protected harbour, played an important role in the grain trade in the Bosporus. It maintained commercial relations with Chios, Athens and the south cities in the Black Sea. Its economy depended predominantly on agriculture, while fishing also played an important role. The city undoubtedly possessed its own chora, whose form of organization and extent remain uncertain.

In the 4^th cent. BC Cytaea developed handicrafts; mainly simple ceramic vessels are produced, while by the 3^rd cent. BC we have the appearance of pottery workshops.⁶ There is evidence indicating the existence of metalworking, in which the local ore of the Kerch (and of Kryvyi Rih).⁷ During the Hellenistic period Cytaea undergoes a financial crisis, which is observed by the shrinkage of trade and the limitation of commercial relations.

In the late 2^nd cent. BC, together with the other cities of the State of Bosporus, Cytaea was incorporated into the Kingdom of Pontus of Mithridates VI Eupator. In the second half of the 1^st cent. BC the city survived a catastrophe, probably the result of warfare waged by king Polemon I.

By the first centuries after the birth of Christ, together with the rest of the Cimmerian Bosporus, Cytaea was under Roman rule and experienced, until the 4^th cent. AD, a second period of prosperity. According to the archaeological evidence, the city seized to exist in the second half of the 6^th cent. AD.

4. Monuments

4.1. Defensive walls

In the late 4^th cent. BC the city was fortified with defensive walls, 2.20-2.50 m in thickness, with two main faces, of which the internal one was made up of limestone ashlar blocks, while the external one of rough blocks, rather large, filled in with dry rubble. The walls were reinforced with towers, while a moat (measuring 6 m in width in places) was also constructed. The walls were strongest on the coastal, east and north side of the city (their thickness ranging between 3.20 and 2.90 m respectively). During the 2^nd cent. BC the west wall was constructed, 1.7 m in width, which survives partially. The west tower protected the north gate and was made up of large limestone dressed blocks. The towers original dimensions were 5.00 x 4.20 m.

In the 1^st cent. AD the original wall was reinforced with a supplementary one, whose maximum thickness was 3 m, and was made up of large rough limestone slabs filled with dry rubble. In the 3^rd and up to the second half of the 4^th cent., the tower was fortified against battering rams with a bastion, 1.50-2.50 m thick, while an outwork was constructed along the north gate.⁸

4.2. Public buildings: Temple and sanctuary of Zeus Bronton

Although no remains from Classical and Hellenistic buildings have survived, the archaeological finds testify to the use of an architectural order during the building of the city. Excavations on the coastal zone have revealed the existence of a sanctuary in the second half of the 4^th cent. BC, of which only altars and bothroi (pit altars) survive.

In 1918, in the area of the city, an inscribed limestone cult table was found, 1.35 m in height and 1.38 m in width, with two sculptured supports. These are in the form of female busts, which culminate in lion’s limbs. The sculptures exhibit strong influence from the local school of sculpture and probably represent some monstrous mythological figure similar to the sphinx. The slab of the table bears an inscription which informs us that it was crafted by the citizens and dedicated to (Zeus) Bronton in the year 531 of the Bosporan calendar (234 AD).⁹ The temple was probably located in a central spot of the city, north of the cultic ash mound.

4.3. Houses

From the early period of the city, sections from a structure dug into the earth and of uncertain use survive. By analogy to the other cities of the Cimmerian Bosporus we can assume that the first residences of Cytaea were wholly or partially dug into the earth. The earliest stone-built houses date to the first half of the 4^th cent. BC. These residences usually consist of one room, a courtyard, stone pavement and a cistern.¹⁰ By the early Classical period the city contained many store-pits for storing cereals.

4.4. Cultic ash mound

In a central spot of the city a cultic ash mound has been identified. It was shaped like a hill, with a thickness of up to 12 m and it covered a total extent of 5km², approximately 2/3 of which survive today. The hillock consists of ash and burned potsherds, shells and seaweed remains. Among the finds are numerous potsherds, mainly from amphorae, stone and bone votive offerings,clay figurines and coins. The apothetes (deposit) dates from the last quarter of the 5^th cent. BC to the 4^th cent. AD and is probably connected with the activities of one of the city's central sanctuaries, where female rural goddesses were worshiped.¹¹ The earliest finds indicate that since the foundation of the sanctuary in the 5^th cent. BC, Demeter and Kore were worshiped at Cytaea, while during the 4^th cent. BC these cults were supplemented by those of Aphrodite, Dionysus, Heracles, Zeus, Apollo, the Anonymous Hero (possibly the city’s founder) and of the Mother of the Gods (Cybele). The worship of the above-mentioned deities is documented by clay figurines and a series of inscriptions incised on potsherds.¹²