Cities of Khazaria. Kromos Estatium
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The khazar cities here include not only those cities that were built by the khazar architects, but also those that were built before the arrival of the khazars, were used by the khazars for their needs and tasks for a long time.
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Myrmekion in the Cimmerian Bosporus **
The city of the Bosporan state, the Panticapean Polis, was founded by greek immigrants, according to some sources from Ionia, according to others from Miletus. Its main settlement is now located 4 kilometers from the borders of Kerch. At this time, the scythians were galloping across the Crimea. Before that there was the aryan cimmerians.
In fact, the technology of greek development of new territories in the Crimea was the same everywhere. They did not go further than the shore. They created a small trading post on the cape, agreed with the scythians what goods the greeks would buy from them, what they would sell.
The greeks also began to develop the coast of the Kerch Strait, which they were interested in because it was a passage yard from Asia through the Caucasus to the Crimea and back, partially bypassing the Black Sea steppes.
The scythians, who mastered the Crimea 150 years earlier than the greeks, did not prevent the greeks from creating their trading posts on the shores of the Crimea. We must assume that history has missed the peace treaty concluded between the king of the Crimean scythians and the ruler of Ionia six hundred years before the birth of Christ. Peace con (treaty) between The King of the Crimean scythians and the Ruler of Greek Ionia. Agreement on the ownership of territories. Scythians on the steppes, greeks on the banks.
Myrmekion was one of the first Greek Polis in the Crimea, which began the greek colonization of the Peninsula. Its foundation is attributed by historians to the beginning of the 7th century before the beginning of the New Faith.
The city is located on the seashore in the Kerch Strait, in antiquity called the Bosporus of Cimmeria. The greeks from the towers of the city could see the Taman Peninsula, which they attributed to Asia.
The history of the city's name is still controversial among historians. Some believe that Myrmecius was the founder of the city, or one of the leaders of Miletus, who sent this expedition here. Others believe that the scythians or the greeks called the rocks in the Kerch Strait.
According to another version, the greeks brought to the Crimea the technology of plough farming, the patroness of which was Myrmeca from the retinue of Athena. In addition to arable farming, the Ionian greeks passed on elements of greek professions to the scythians and later to the alans. There was a heated discussion about this in Greece itself, since it was believed that only Athens, as the capital, had the right to transfer greek technology to the outskirts. And Ionia was at that time the eastern province of Greece.
According to another version, Mirmek is the name of a mythical ant in Ancient Greece, and in the Crimea, where the greeks founded their trading post, there was a lot of grass in which ants were found, which the greeks called mirmeks, the scythians called mirvami, the aryan cimmerians called marmavami, which is close to the old russian muravey (ant in English).
Myrmekion in the 5th century, began to print its own currency, in which stood the image of their ancient God Myrmica, ant. Then the production of the coin was moved to Panticapea.
This is how, in the aggregate, the naming of this city seems to have developed.
Then there were the byzantines, and the khazars, and the ottomans, and the future germans, the goths, and the tatars, but no one changed the name of the city, everyone considered it related to themselves, this naming.
In the middle of the 6th century BC, the Kerch isthmus is experiencing a severe drought, small settlements are often overtaken by fires, in addition, their dissatisfaction with the influence of the greeks on the Kerch isthmus is shown by the increased alans, who, unlike the scythians, were more inclined to settle down and build permanent settlements.
By the end of the 6th century BC, the greeks already have a defensive wall around the Acropolis, and a little later a similar wall is being built in Porphmia. Behind the wall is the posad. The area of the territory of Myrmekia at this time is about 2.5 hectares.
At the beginning of the 5th century BC, Myrmecium was actively developing, trade between the alano-scythians and Ionica flourished, the area of the town is 7 hectares at this time. Now there are no half-earth houses here, all the houses are above ground and have basements.
The greeks here produced agricultural products, salted fish, produced wine, which they traded with the local scythians and with their mother country.
The hellenes brought wine-making technology to the Crimea. They did not avoid Myrmecia, where the greeks, and later the alans, cultivated many varieties of grapes. A special technology for processing grapes was developed here, which is still used by local winemakers.
Winemaking consisted of two-stage production. First, the grapes were choked with their feet, the resulting wort went to the wine, the rest was pressed with stone presses and went to the juices.
In addition, they brought weapons, jewelry, and pottery on their ships, which they exchanged for slaves from the scythians. Pottery was traded here as usual, however, relations between the settlers and the Scythian Kings were not always peaceful, and conflicts arosed.
The houses were of a semi-earthen type with a small superstructure of wood and reeds on top. Living quarters were built on the rocky territory of the coastal cape in the bay, now this place is called Quarantine cape.
In 430 BC, as a result of a strong earthquake, the city is destroyed. The weakened city is attacked by the scythians. However, after 10 years, the entire defensive system is being restored, now it looks more solid, however, friction with the Scythians persists; the walls contain the remains of the arrows of the steppe inhabitants.
In the late 5th century BC, the scythians attacked the city several times and eventually destroyed it.
In the middle of the 5th century BC order in relations with the scythians settled down, the Scythian Princess married a milesian patrician, and Myrmecius revives his fame. Many buildings are being built in the city, mostly made of wood. The city burns several times, but is being rebuilt again.
By 350 BC, Myrmecium is flourishing. A temple is being built here, public buildings are being built, the building area is being restored, and new buildings are being built right on top of the remains of the old ones.
In the 4th century BC, Myrmecium is settled by a second wall, which closes off the attacks and the posad. Its area at this time is 9 hectares.
Its buildings stretch along the coast from east to west, concentrating around the pier and fortress walls. At the end of this avenue rose a rock with a platform to which steps were cut out of stone.
In the middle of the 4th BC, the country is again overtaken by a drought as a result of a heat wave that lasts for several years. All major buildings in Myrmekian are destroyed in fires. After a new climate pause, the greeks, apparently already with the alans, are building new defensive walls that protect the city from the scythians. The area of buildings in the city reaches 8 hectares.
In the 3rd century before Christ, the city finds a new breath, its trade flourishes, all its enemies prefer to be friends with the city. Several pagan shrines appear in the city.
The city developed without much cataclysm until the 1st century BC, before the arrival of Rome. On the territory of Myrmecian at this time, various sociocults of scythians, alans, and greeks are professed, and roman volunteers appear, who, as it turned out, did not come in peace.
In the middle of the 1st century BC, the Bosporan Kingdom, which had maintained relative peace between different tribes and peoples in the Crimea, fell. The romans, who extended their power over the entire Crimea, did not at first support the Myrmecium, which for the next hundred years lived on its own, gradually drying up.
In the 1st century after the birth of Christ, life on the site of the city is still barely warm, there are only a few dwellings.
The city is dying as a result of the weakening of the Bosporan Kingdom due to internal strife and the death of its historical nobility led by Mithridates Eupator.
In the middle of the 2nd century, defensive structures are already difficult to distinguish from ditches, although a monumental tomb dedicated to the king of the Bosporus Kingdom, possibly Tiberius Julius Eupator, suddenly appears on the cape.
In the middle of the 2nd century after the birth of Christ, apparently, the romans came to the city, they built a fortress here, which is gradually being equipped with manors. After a while, Myrmecium is again built up with manors and regains its status as a city, even if insignificant. The life of the city, however, did not go well, its inhabitants gradually left it, preferring to go to the Panticapean cities.
In the 250th year after the birth of Christ, the goths appear on the Kerch isthmus and settle in Myrmekia. They bring their own ideas to the city's urban planning policy, the volume of construction is increasing, but there is no special system, there was no unified development plan, each estate had its own defensive walls and existed as if separately from the city, they are mini-fortresses.
By the year 375, the influence of the goths was weakening due to the appearance of the huns, who turned all the surrounding territories into pastures.
In 390, the townspeople leave the city for Panticapea, apparently, their exodus lasted for more than a decade.
From that moment on, the city ceased to function. 4 centuries nothing special happens here, even the transition of the Crimea under the guardianship of Byzantium does not enliven this place.
At the end of the 4th century, Myrmecius tries to repel the pressure Of the Kingdom of the huns, people begin to leave this dangerous place, trade stopped and by the beginning of the 4th century the city ceased to exist.
In its place, settlements appeared and then disappeared. Only with the arrival of the khazars, people of the saltov-mayatsk culture appear here. It is the khazars who come with the alans. Apparently, the neighboring settlements have preserved their alanian roots, the area comes to life for a while, vineyards appear again, and wine is made.
In 965, Khazaria fell, and the Khazarian influence, which was already small, disappeared completely. In 988, the khazars were replaced by Ancient Rus. But nothing has changed in the areas where Khazaria ruled, since in fact russo-slavic influence was introduced to Khazaria from the very beginning of the 10th century. Svyatoslav in 965 only legally established the end of the Khaganate.
Until the end of the 11th century, the village did not show itself in the historical arena, since Kievan Rus had no special interest in the Crimea. And didn't even begin to legally register rights to it. Although the settlement of Rus and the Peninsula, and the Kerch isthmus all these centuries were actively conducted.
Since the end of the 11th century, the influence of Rus has been weakening, and the polovtsians have been coming here for 200 years. They do not deal with the coast, they had no trade ambitions, they settled in the steppe zone of the Crimea, rich in various grasses.
After the polovtsians in the second half of the 13th century, the Golden Horde came to the Crimea, which did not show any interest in settling on the site of Myrmekia. However, due to the fact that the Kerch Strait at this time became part of the directions of the Silk Road, separate settlements appear on the site of Myrmekia, which control only the land part. And for this, cities are not required.
For the Horde, Byzantium returns for a short time, which no longer had the strength to revive its old trading posts in the Crimea.
In 1380, the Genoese Republic received Crimea, but the inhabitants of the villages around the former city of Mirmekrian did not even know about it.
In 1400, the Golden Horde returns, as if it has finally forgotten something in the Crimea. Myrmekia is out of reach again.
The Crimean khanate, which existed in Crimea until 1475, developed an urban system, but the basis of the state socio-culture of the Khanate was the steppes, with the seas they did not know what to do.
Osmania, which had held Crimea for 300 years before the arrival of the Russians, occupied the cities, but did not revive them. The turks used the Peninsula exclusively for geopolitical purposes, to deter competitors in the Black sea.
The russians who came to Crimea in 1783 did not even know that there was once a city on the Kerch isthmus.
After many centuries, the new settlers could no longer tell what had been there before, and by the 19th century, chronicled stories about Myrmecia in greek writing were considered mythological and fabulous.
Myrmekiy remained in the memory of history by the fact that it was almost the first Greek urban-type settlement in the Crimea, the first defensive stone wall around the city recorded in the Crimea appears here, a large number of hoards with coins were found here, the largest burial site in the Crimea with a huge marble sarcophagus was found there.
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