Paerisades V (c. 125-109 or 107 BC) was the last king of the Spartocid dynasty, rulers of the kingdom of Bosporus for three centuries. Paerisades V was killed during the so-called revolt of Saumacus, which broke out upon the transfer of kingship to Mithridates VI Eupator.

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Panticapaion is said to be the oldest Greek colony in the Straits of Kerch. It was founded by Milesians in the 6th century BC. Ancient written sources report the city's history up to Roman times. There is also plenty of archaeological evidence related to the political, social, economical, religious and cultural activities of the city, while it is reported that Panticapeans founded their own colony, Tanais. Despite the destructions Panticapaion suffered in the course of its history, it remained...

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Ancient Greek city located at the waist of the Cimmerian Bosporus straits. Its remains have been discovered north of the modern city of Kerch in Ukraine. In recent years, the identification of these remains with the city of Porthmeion has been questioned, as it is believed that they belong to Parthenion. The settlement dates to the 6th-1st cent. BC.

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Patraeus, one of the oldest colonies of northeastern Black Sea, was founded in the second quarter of the 6th c. BC, on the east coast of the Maeotian Lake (Azov Sea), and soon became a significant commercial centre of the Asian part of the Cimmerian Bosporus. Between the 1st c. BC and the 1st c. AD it had a powerful fortification system. The city was destroyed in the late 4th century.

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Doctor of Greek origin from Taganrog. He served as mayor of the city and as municipal doctor and contributed significantly to the town’s social and cultural life.

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Asiatic nomadic people that during the 9th century settled in the southern Russian and Ukrainian steppes, along the northern coast of the Black Sea, and during the 10th century occupied the region north of the Danube, becoming –within two centuries– one of the most important for the Byzantine foreign policy northern neighbours of the empire. During the 11th century their relations with the Byzantine empire were generally hostile and they constituted the empire’s most dangerous opponent in the...

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Settlement and necropoleis, situated 10 km to the north of the town of Kobuleti (Georgia), on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. The ancient name of the site is not recorded.

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Pityous was the most isolated Greek colony in the Black Sea. Today it is located under the modern city of Pitsunda of Abkhazia, the secessionist province of Georgia. It was destroyed by the Eniochi in the 1st cent. AD, but it quickly recovered and became an important Roman fortress. In 254 it was captured by the Borani, allies of the Goths. Later it became a bishopric, while in the 6th cent. it belonged to the kingdom of the Lazi. Several churches and an important martyrium are mentioned for...

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One of the most serious and difficult issues while studying a specific culture is the mutual relations between a big city (polis) and a small country town. The latter was usually located near a big city and its economy was mainly based on agriculture. The relations between the chora and the polis in the Black Sea are rooted in the early settlements of ancient Greeks and the foundation of the first colonies.

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