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Scythian Neapolis

Συγγραφή : Paleothodoros Dimitris (10/6/2008)
Μετάφραση : Velentzas Georgios

Για παραπομπή: Paleothodoros Dimitris, "Scythian Neapolis",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Εύξεινος Πόντος
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=12529>
Νεάπολις Σκυθίας (12/1/2009 v.1) Scythian Neapolis (2/12/2010 v.1) 
 

1. Location – Name

Scythian Neapolis was the capital of the Scythian Kingdom in the 2nd and 1st c. BC. It is located at Kermenchik, on the outskirts of Simferopol, Ukraine. Although the name is Greek, there is no evidence supporting that the Greeks were in any way involved in its foundation. The Greek name was probably given due to the pro-Hellenic policy of the Scythian kings of the Hellenistic period.

The city was founded on the ruins of an earlier short-lived Scythian settlement dated to the late 4th and the early 3rd c. BC. Despite former evaluation, it is now certain that there is no connection between this small settlement of the Kizil-Koba culture and the powerful fortified position that thrived in the Middle Hellenistic period.1

2. Excavations

Archaeological research at Kermenchik started in 1827 by the Archaeological Museum of Odessa. At that time, the inhabitants of the surrounding Tartar villages were removing all architectural remains from the site, a practice that was in use until the early 20th century. The excavator I.P. Blaramberg immediately identified the position with Scythian Neapolis, the capital of Scilouros’ kingdom.2 The early finds included significant items, such as a relief rider identified with Scilouros’ son, King Paulacus, a number of reliefs possibly depicting Scilouros with his sons,3 as well as a statue base inscribed with Scilouros’ name.

Research continued sporadically in the 19th century, while the systematic excavation of the settlement started in 1945 under P.N. Schultz and lasted until the mid-1950s. Since 1978 excavations have been carried out by Ukrainian archaeologists, most recently by Yuri Zajcev, who is responsible for the largest part of the latest publications in both Russian and English.

3. Archaeological Remains

3.1. Domestic Architecture

The first period of the settlement is connected with a number of farms in Greek style dated to circa 180 BC or shortly later, according to stamped handles of Rhodian amphoras found during excavations.4 The settlement was probably built as a result of a general mobility of nomadic Scythian populations in central Crimea under the pressure of the advancing Sarmatian tribes. A new Scythian elite joined the former Taurian-Scythian tribes that were permanently settled in the area. Towards the mid-2nd c. BC, or shortly later, circa 140 BC, the local settlement started to thrive, occupying an area of approximately 30 hectares, with the acropolis holding a prominent position to the north. There were pit dwellings, a typical feature of the region of Crimea already from the Archaic period.

A relatively large building, the so-called “early megaron,”was revealed in the southern part of the settlement. The building was rebuilt circa 135 BC and became what is today called “Megaron N” and is actually identified with the palace Scilouros built when he fortified Neapolis and other positions, such as Chavai and Palakion.5 The southern fortification is dated to around the same period and was designed in connection with the megaron, as its main gate leads there. Before long, the site was destroyed by a fire caused by a Sarmatian raid or, more possibly, an unknown natural cause. The fort was soon rebuilt, but construction activities never reached full swing, except the construction of the south palace in the area of the central gate and the mausoleum.

The south palace is a complex of buildings covering an overall area of 2,500 square metres, including the impressive megaronN –a building 25 m long and 10 m wide with Dorian columns on the facade, decoration consisting of marble statues in Greek style and a gabled roof with tiles in the Greek type from Sinope. It had only a huge audience hall with 1.5 m thick walls. The west wall had painted decorations of floral motifs. In the middle there was a hearth. At the back there was a sacrificial pit, probably dedicated to the gods of the Underworld. A large number of clay incense burners and small altars with vivid painted decorations were found both inside and outside the megaron. Statue fragments, a statue of Hecataeus and the statue of a female deity, possibly Ditagoia, were found inside the building. Other finds indicate the worship of Zeus.6

3.2 The Mausoleum of Argotus

The megaron was surrounded by houses and a structure with three rooms, which was connected to a wine press. Immediately in front of the palace, between the megaron and the central gate, excavations brought to light the mausoleum of Argotus, who was probably Scilouros’ predecessor. The identity of the mausoleum is known from a verse on an inscription found in 1999 referring to the ruler Argotus, whose successor buried him in the mausoleum. The excavators assume that Argotus died during the fire and was buried there by his successor, Scilouros. The inscription must have belonged to the pedestal of a bronze statue representing a rider and concluding the mausoleum.

Directly outside the main gate, the Soviet archaeologist P.N. Schultz located in 1945 a large four-sided building, which originally included a male burial and three horse burials. The finds also included traces of a marble throne, where the deceased was at first in sitting position, as well as parts of his armor: an iron helmet of the Attic type, a sword of Celtic type, arrowheads and spearheads. Numerous golden items decorating the deceased's garment were found beside the weapons. Another seventy people were later buried there, probably officers and the king’s slaves. At a subsequent moment, the deceased was displaced from his original position and was secretly buried in a stone grave.7 A clay altar with relief decorations of bands and bucrania, resembling the respective findings from megaron N, was found near the mausoleum.

4. The Destruction of Neapolis

Scilouros’ city was destroyed circa 114-112 or 108 BC.8 The dramatic events connected with the destruction are described at length in an inscription discovered in the 19th century in Taurike.9 Diophantus from Chersonesus, a general of Mithridates VI, not only repelled the raid of the numerous Scythians of King Paulacus, but also occupied the positions of Chavai and Neapolis. After an inactive year, the Scythians revolted again against Mithridates’ rule and Diophantus attacked once more and destroyed the forts. It is possible that during one of the two raids, the authorities removed Scilouros’ dead body from its original position inside the mausoleum.

Despite its fortified position, Neapolis never recovered. It remained a middle-sized town until the 3rd c. AD. Evidence about the town in the Roman period mainly comes from its cemeteries. The exact time when the town was abandoned is still vague. Earlier research connected the abandonment of the position with Goth raids in the Bosporus during the reign of Gallienus (252-254). However, extensive stratigraphical research in Neapolis as well as the study of material from the necropoleis today suggests an earlier period of abandonment, irrelevant to the Goth movements but possibly connected to Sarmatian invasions before 240 AD.10

1. Zajcev, Y., “Absolute and Relative Chronology of Scythian Neapolis in the 2nd century BC”, in Stolba, V.F. – Hannestad, L. (edit.), Chronologies of the Black Sea Area in the Period c. 400‑100 BC (Aarhus 2005), pp. 259‑273.

2. Zajcev, Y., The Scythian Neapolis (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD). Investigations into the Graeco-Barbarian city on the northern Black Sea coast (BAR International Series 1219, Oxford 2004), p. 1.

3. Zajcev, Y., The Scythian Neapolis (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD). Investigations into the Graeco-Barbarian city on the northern Black Sea coast (BAR International Series 1219, Oxford 2004), pp. 121-124, fig. 69-72 (Palacus relief), p. 120, fig. 67-68 (Scilouros relief with his sons).

4. Zajcev, Y., The Scythian Neapolis (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD). Investigations into the Graeco-Barbarian city on the northern Black Sea coast (BAR International Series 1219, Oxford 2004), p. 83, fig. 24; Zajcev, Y., “Absolute and Relative Chronology of Scythian Neapolis in the 2nd century BC”, in Stolba, V.F. – Hannestad, L. (edit.), Chronologies of the Black Sea Area in the Period c. 400-100 BC (Aarhus 2005), pp. 270-273.

5. Strabo, 7, 4.7.

6. Zajcev, Υ., The Scythian Neapolis (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD). Investigations into the Graeco-Barbarian city on the northern Black Sea coast (BAR International Series 1219, Oxford 2004), pp. 49-52.

7. Zajcev, Υ., “Absolute and Relative Chronology of Scythian Neapolis in the 2nd century BC”, in Stolba, V.F. – Hannestad, L. (edit.), Chronologies of the Black Sea Area in the Period c. 400-100 BC (Aarhus 2005), pp. 259-273; Burgunder, P., “Le royaume scythique de Skilouros dans ses relations avec les Grecs”, Association Suisse d’Archéologie Classique, Bulletin (2007), pp. 14-16.

8. Zajcev, Y., “Absolute and Relative Chronology of Scythian Neapolis in the 2nd century BC”, in Stolba, V.F. – Hannestad, L. (edit.), Chronologies of the Black Sea Area in the Period c. 400-100 BC (Aarhus 2005), pp. 259-273.

9. IOSPE I 352; see entry Burgunder, P., “Le royaume scythique de Skilouros dans ses relations avec les Grecs”, Association Suisse d’Archéologie Classique, Bulletin (2007), p. 10, n. 2.

10. Zajcev, Y., The Scythian Neapolis (2nd century BC to 3rd century AD). Investigations into the Graeco-Barbarian city on the northern Black Sea coast (BAR International Series 1219, Oxford 2004), p. 40.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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