Panticapaeum

Panticapaeum was the capital of the kingdom of Bosporus. The city was founded in the second quarter of the VI century BC. At various time the city was called Vospro, Cherkio and Korchev. It had experienced many internal wars, barbarian attacks, earthquakes, but the life in this place has never stopped. Strabo called it "a very big city", the mother country "of all the Milesian of Bosporus", as it was the permanent residence of the kings of the Bosporus. The remains of Panticapaeum are located on the hilltop of the Mithridates Mountain in the heart of modem Kerch, and also on the slopes and surroundings of the mountain under the modem buildings. The colony was put on the Mithridates Mount in the VI century BC. In the last quarter of that century, the settlement transformed into a town, and then became the capital of the powerful kingdom of the Bosporus, that was located on both sides of the Kerch Strait. On the northern slope of the mountain $there was a trade area - the agora. Archaeologists discovered the palace of the Spartokids at the top of the hill. In the center of the palace there was a large paved courtyard surrounded by columns. To the left of the entrance of the palace the temple of Aphrodite and Dionysus was situated p, (the basement has been preserved). On the slope of the mountain there are Doric columns of some Bosporus resident’s building. In the central part of the building there was a large rectangular courtyard. At the very top of the hill there was a citadel. Strong walls with towers surrounded the city from all sides and covered the road that ran along the top ridge of the mountain. Panticapaeum had a convenient harbor and a shipyard. The terrible king Mithridates VI Eupator was killed there. To commemorate this event people of Kerch named the mountain in the center of the city "the Mithridates.

In 1962-1972, the Bosporus expedition of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, under the direction of Irina Dmitrievna Marchenko, discovered the southern part of the monumental building complex with a peristyle courtyard, on the stylobates of which several lower drums of columns remained in their original position. A significant number of other drums, as well as a full set of entablature parts, were built into the retaining wall of the terrace, built later, in the 1st century BC. e., on the ruins of the complex. Based on the analysis and measurements of all the preserved order details, as well as the layout of the building, the architects developed a reconstructive diagram of this ancient complex, which received the provisional name «Pritanei». In 1975, full-scale reconstruction was carried out in the premises and on the part of the Pritaney's colonnade by the method of anastylosis, that is, from genuine parts. And to this day, the «Pritany» on the northern slope of Mithridates is the only example in the Northern Black Sea region of the scientific full-scale reconstruction of a monumental antique architectural object. It is also a monument to Irina Dmitrievna Marchenko - the scientist who has done so much for the archeology of Panticapaeum.

Many years of archaeological research are designed to answer many questions, which cannot be clarified otherwise, because ancient authors left very little evidence about the cities of Bosporus. The first question is when and under what circumstances was Panticapaeum founded?

In recent years, the Pushkin Museum's expedition has been working on the very top of Mount Mithridates, towering over Kerch. It was there, on the rocky ledges, that the first colonists settled. In the first years of its existence, the settlement on the top of Mount Mithridates was surrounded by a powerful stone wall, under the protection of which they built rectangular houses of adobe bricks on a stone basement.

In 2014, the Pushkin Museum's expedition for the first time in the history of Panticapaeum's research managed to study the undisturbed archaeological layer of the first settlement. Ceramics originating from this layer allows dating it to 620-590 BC. Thus, Panticapaeum can be considered the oldest city in our country. According to Strabo, its founders are Greek colonists from the Asia Minor city of Miletus. Indeed, the oldest ceramics from Panticapaeum is predominantly Eastern Greek. Pay attention to the elegant paintings in the so-called Wild Goat style, characteristic of the Greek cities of Asia Minor (modem Mediterranean coast of Turkey).

Temple of Apollo (510 - 490 ??)

An important event in the history of Panticapaeum is the construction in 510-490 BC of a large temple dedicated to Apollo, the main patron saint of Panticapaeum. Information about the existence of this temple is brought to us by ancient authors and epigraphic sources, inscriptions on the pedestals of statues dedicated to the deity.Even more important are fragments of architectural order elements, the foundations of columns and the wreckage of the architrave - the ceiling of the temple. Professor Vladimir Dmitrievich Blavatsky, the first head of the Bosporus expedition of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, proposed the first reconstruction of the temple. Vladimir Petrovich Tolstikov, the head of the expedition since 1977, significantly clarified the initial plan. The temple was built in the Ionian order of the Samos variant, which is very characteristic of the archaic cities of Asia Minor. Panticapaeum became the religious center of the Bosporan Greeks.

Presumably, the temple of Apollo was rebuilt in the second quarter of the 5th century. BC. He got a slightly different look, was built in the Attic version of the ionic order. The presented capital was discovered during excavations of Panticapaeum.

Tolos

At the end of the 6th century BC. Panticapaeum expanded and a public architectural ensemble appeared on the Western plateau of the mountain, which included at least four rectangular in terms of multi-chamber buildings connected by a street network. Its compositional and functional center was a round-shaped building - tolos. Greek crowds were important public and ritual buildings, embassies were hosted there, parties were organized, magistrates elected by the community discussed here, under the auspices of the gods, the most important state affairs.

A unique ancient object, which has no direct analogies, was found in the tholos complex, the outer surface of which is decorated with relief friezes, and along with the floral decor on the Jgath is also presented a plot frieze: a race of big chariots drawn by a pair of horses. The use of the plot decor on the outer surface indicates that the Panticapaeum bath was riot intended to be deepened below the floor, as was customary among the ancient Greeks, but towered above the floor. That is, it was designed for a circular review.

For a quarter of a centufy, fragments of a unique Üàô were waiting in the Museum's storerooms. In 2009, the restorer of the highest category, Vladimir Ilyich Cheremkhin, connected the fragments of the bathtub and reconstructed a significant modeling program into a unique exhibit.

Temple of Dionysus and Aphrodite in Antes

Not far north of the central building of the residence, a sacred area, called temenos, is closed on all sides. It housed a small temple in the antes with two Doric columns on the eastfacing facade. The temple stood on a rectangular base, 10.5 x 7.4 m in size. Its foundation was laid anti-seismic structure of two rows of parallel wooden beams. A large number of terracottas (burnt clay figurines) were found in the layer of the destroyed temple, the composition of which allows us to conclude that in the last period" the existence of the temple in it was worshiped by Dionysus and Aphrodite and Apollon.

Building complex with peristily yard (second half of the 4th - 1st century bc)

The building complex with a peristyle courtyard was discovered by excavations in 2004-2007, 2009. Its remains occupy a total area of at least 400 sq. m. In terms of planning, the complex closes the north-western comer of the residence of the Spartokids. The design feature of this structure is that its young part is built into the rock mass, vertically raised to a height of more than 6 m. In the center of the complex there was a peristyle paved, that is, framed by a Doric colonnade, a courtyard, along the perimeter of which there were rows of adjacent rooms. The three southern rooms had a two-story structure. The walls of their interiors were decorated with polychrome (multi¬colored) plaster, as well as highly artistic overhead relief polychrome marble figurines. The purpose of this room in the structure of .the royal basileia is not entirely clear. However, it is obvious that Mithridates VI Eupator could see and visit him in the last months of his stay on the acropolis of I Panticapaeum.

Pritaney

In 1962-1972, the Bosporus expedition of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, under the direction of Irina Dmitrievna Marchenko, discovered the southern part of the monumental building complex with a peristyle courtyard, on the stylobates of which several lower drums of columns remained in their original position.

A significant number of other drums, as well as a full set of entablature parts, were built into the retaining wall of the terrace, built later, in the 1st century ’ BC. e., on the ruins of the complex. Based on the analysis and measurements of all the preserved order details, as well as the layout of the building, the architects developed a reconstructive diagram of this ancient complex, which received the provisional name «Pritanei».

In 1975, full-scale reconstruction was carried out in the premises and on the part of the Pritaney's colonnade by the method of anastylosis, that is, from genuine parts. And to this day, the «Pritany» on the northern slope of Mithridates is the only example in the Northern Black Sea region of the .scientific full-scale reconstruction of a monumental antique architectural object. It is also a monument to Irina Dmitrievna Marchenko - the scientist who has done so much for the archeology ofPanticapaeum.