Tamatracha est située sur la péninsule de Taman, à l’entrée de la mer Azov, sur le site de Germonassa de l’époque classique. Le centre de la principauté russe et de l’éparchie du patriarchat constantinopolitain, la ville présente dans les sources écrites entre la fin du VIIIe et le XIVe s. Les fouilles ont découvert les couches d’habitation des Khazares (VIIIe-Xe s.), de Tmutarakan (XI-e-XIIe s.), et des XIIIe-XIVe s., de l’époque de la domination gênoise.

Tanais is one of the most important ancient centres of the northern Black Sea, outstanding both due to its geographical location as well as for the peculiar conditions under which it was founded and grew. One of the determining features is that it was located at the nodal point were three peoples met: the Scythians, the Maeotians and the Sarmatians; it was also built at a great distance from the other centres of the Kingdom of Bosporus. The ancient author Strabo preserves a wealth of...

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A Muslim Turkish speaking ethnos (ethnic group), originating in Crimea, it also settled in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Central Asia, Western Europe, and North America.

In modern times, the name Dobrudja has referred to the territory between the Kilia arm of the Danube Delta to the north, the Black Sea to the east, maritime Danube (i.e. downstream of Silistria) to the west, and the rivers Beli Lom and Kamchiya (in the region of the Maritime Balkans) to the south. However, in mediaeval times, the name Dobrudja referred to only one part of today’s region of the same name, namely to the ‘land’ of Dobrotici. Under Ottoman administration (from the fifteenth century...

The Ottoman military operations for the conquest of Dobrudja extended from 1388 to 1484; but it was in the early sixteenth century when the Ottoman-Turks managed to establish effective political control in the region. During the Ottoman rule, Dobrudja had a mixed population of Muslims, Romanians, Greeks, Armenians, Jews and other ethnic groups. Dobrudja was incorporated into Romania in 1878.

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Odessa was one of the major centres of the Greek theatrical life, during the period before the Greek Revolution of Independence (1821). This assumption rests on the activities of a significant theatrical company and on the enactment of several noteworthy plays, which were also important for their ideological background and connection to the movement of the ‘Greek Enlightenment’. During the years after the Greek Revolution, the theatrical activities continued thanks to amateur theatrical...

The theme of Cherson was founded around 840, in order to constitute a stronghold of the Byzantine Empire at the Taurian territory. Contrary to other Byzantine themes, it kept a relative autonomy in relation to the central authority. Initially its territories were confined to the SW Crimea, but at the beginnings of the 11th century the Byzantine dominion temporarily expanded eastwards. In the 13th century a part of the theme’s territories passed into the control of the Empire of Trepizond.

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