CRIMEA. 



83$ 



Crimea, all the Greek possessions in the Crimea were denomina- 

 "■ **y~"™' ted Sngdania at one period. 



Caffa, or Kaffa, formerly a place of great importance, 

 but now fallen to ruin, has been already described in a 

 separate article. See Caffa. 



Kertsch, Kertchy, Cherz, Kars, or Kerez, on a bay 

 in the straits of that name, is a small walled town on a 

 projecting point of land, a few miles from the ruins of 

 the ancient Panticapceum. The natives of the Crimea 

 still call the town of Kertsch, and the straits, Vospor, 

 though they write the word Bospor ; and all the mo- 

 dern Greeks uniformly pronounce the letter /2 as our 

 V. This town, though not long since of considerable 

 importance, is now reduced to extreme wretchedness 

 and insignificance. It was the regal seat of the Bos- 

 phorian kings, and once the residence of the great 

 Mithridates king of Pontus. 



Yenikale is a small town, with a strong fortress com- 

 manding the narrowest part of the straits of the Cim- 

 merian Bosphorus, being the Part/ienium of the ancients. 

 Between this and Kertsch, on the shore of a considera- 

 ble bay, are the ruins of the ancient city of Myrmecum. 

 About four miles from Yenikale, towards the sea of 

 Azof, on a rocky point advancing into the sea, stood 

 an ancient pharos or light-house, said to have been 

 built by Mithridates, and still called by the modern 

 Greeks Phanari Miiridati, or the lanthorn of Mithri- 

 dates. 



& Taman, on a bay in the island of the same name, 

 anciently called Phanagoriae Sinus, is a fortress of some 

 importance, near which are the ruins of the ancient city 

 of Phanagoria. There are several other towns, and many 

 villages, particularly along the southern side of the 

 peninsula, which it is quite unnecessary to particula- 

 rize. 

 !j*tory. The ancient Taurica ChersGtieius was so called from 



its inhabitants, the Tauri or Taurici, a Sarmatian tribe. 

 It was also called Chcrsonesus Scythica, and Cher orie- 

 nts Magna, to distinguish it from the Heracleotic Cher- 

 sonesus, or Minor. The most anciently known inha- 

 bitants were the Cimmerians, a numerous and martial 

 tribe of the Thracians, who long continued to defend 

 this peninsula against the Scythians ; but were driven 

 from the plain by their more powerful adversaries, 

 about 66*5 years before the Christian era, and forced to 

 take refuge in the southern hills, where they maintain- 

 ed their independence under the name of Tauri, or 

 mountaineers. About 550 years before Christ, the 

 Greeks began to form colonies on the southern shores 

 of the Taurica, at which time Panticapaeum was built 

 by the Milesians, and where they long carried on a 

 flourishing commerce, having reduced the subordinate 

 eastern peninsula, which formed the Greek kingdom 

 of Bosphorus. About 100 years afterwards, the Scy- 

 thians were almost extirpated by the Sarmates ; after 

 which the Tauri, called also Tauro-Scythae, extended 

 their dominion nearly over the whole peninsula, and 

 pressed so hard upon the Bosphorian kingdom that it 

 submitted, 112 years before the incarnation, to Mithri- 

 dates, king of Pontus, who subdued the Tauri, and 

 reduced the whole Chersonesus under his dominion. 

 After the ruin of Mithridates by the Romans under 

 Pompey, the kingdom of Bosphorus seems to have sub- 

 sisted, but dependent upon the Romans, till the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era, in considerable power 

 and splendour ; at which period the Alani drove out 

 the Tauri from the greater Chersonesus, and forced the 

 Bosphorian kings to become tributary. 



About 150 years afterwards, the Alani were extir- Crimen. 

 pated or. driven out by the Goths, during whose do- v "^"y""*" 

 minion Cliristianity was first introduced into the Cher- 

 sonesus, in the reign of the Roman emperors Diocle- 

 tian and Constantine. The Goths Avere obliged, in 

 their turn, to give way to the Huns, and took refuge 

 in the mountains, where they defended themselves un- 

 der several petty kings in strong forts, which were af- 

 terwards, by a singular corruption, instead of castles of 

 the Goths, called castles of the Jews. The descen- 

 dants of the Huns took the name of Aoultziagrians, 

 who led a wandering life in the steppes or plain coun- 

 try of the Crimea, and were in the sequel reduced to 

 subjection by the Khatyares, to whom also the Goths 

 in the mountains, and the Greek cities on the coast, 

 became tributary. 



In 840, the emperor Theophilus subjugated the 

 Crimea, the country between the Nieper and the Don, 

 and Kuban Tartary, placing the seat of government at 

 Cherson or Chersonesus. The whole of this country, 

 or at least its steppes or pastures, was occupied by the 

 Khatyares, under the acknowledged supremacy of the 

 Constantinopolitan empire, and from them the flat part 

 of the peninsula had the name of Khat, or Gatyria, 

 corrupted into Gasaria, Chazaria, and Cassaria; the 

 mountainous part being called Gothia from the Goths, 

 and Tsikia from a remaining tribe of the Alani. 



In 880, the Khatyrians were driven out by the 

 Kanglians, or Petschenegers. About the year 1050, 

 they had to fly before the Komanes or Comanians, 

 called also Uzes, Butyres, Palatstzes, or Polouzes, to 

 whom also the remaining Goths and Greeks became 

 tributary. About this time, the town of Sougdia or 

 Sugdaya, now Sudack, rose to such eminence by its 

 commerce, that all the Greek possessions in the Crimea 

 received the appellation of Sugdania; and in 1204? re- 

 fused obedience to the empire of ^Constantinople. Even 

 at a much later period, when the Turks became mas- 

 ters of the Constantinopolitan empire, there still re- 

 mained two Greek principalities in the Crimea, one 

 called Theodor, now Inkerman ; and the other named 

 Gothia, now Mangoute. 



In 1237, the Komanes were subdued by the Mongols 

 or Tartars, after which the Crimea became a province 

 of the western Tartar empire of Kiptschak, the people 

 being governed by princes of the different tribes, and 

 roamed about the plains with their flocks and herds; and 

 now the Greeks and Goths paid tribute to the Mongols. 

 In the beginning of this Tartar empire, a number of 

 Tcher-casses or Circassians established themselves in 

 the western subordinate peninsula, and Kertsch was 

 governed by a prince of that nation, probably taking 

 its name from that tribe. 



When the Latins became masters of Constantinople, 

 the Venetians established an important commerce with 

 the Crimea and the island of Taman ; in which they 

 were afterwards supplanted by the Genoese, their com- 

 mercial rivals, who, by permission of the Mongoles, 

 rebuilt Caffa, the ancient Theodosia, which they made 

 their staple, or the centre of their commerce in the 

 Black Sea. They also reduced Sudack and Cembalo, 

 or Portus Symbalorum, now Balaclava. At this period 

 a lucrative trade was carried on with India and China 

 from the Crimea, by means of caravans in two different 

 routes. One from Cathay or northern China across the 

 Amour, and through central Asia, by the north of the 

 Caspian, and Astrakan to Tanna, now Azof, in which 

 the Venetians participated along with the Genoese- 



