The Collapse of Pergamon

2020 ◽  
pp. 74-94
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller

Pharnakes was succeeded by his brother Mithridates IV in the early 150s BC. His reign was brief, and his son, the powerful Mithridates V, became king within a decade. Mithridates V ruled for thirty years; during his reign the important state of Pergamon, to the west of Pontos, came to an end with its territory willed to the Roman Republic. This gave Rome territory on the Asian mainland. At first Pontic policy was to support Roman ambitions: Mithridates V sent aid to them in their third war against Carthage. His international posture was recognized by the island state of Delos and elsewhere in the traditional Greek world. But around 120 BC he was assassinated at Sinope on the Black Sea, which had replaced Amaseia as the Pontic capital; he was the only Pontic king to suffer such a fate.

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-53
Author(s):  
I.A. Belousov ◽  
A.G. Koval

A new species of the genus Cimmerites Jeannel, 1928, C. maximovitchi sp. nov., is described from the Akhunskaya Cave and Labirintovaya Cave, both located in the Akhun Karst Massif on the Black Sea Coast of the West Caucasus (Krasnodar Territory, Russia). The new species is rather isolated within the genus Cimmerites and occupies an intermediate position between species related to C. kryzhanovskii Belousov, 1998 and species close to C. vagabundus Belousov, 1998. Though both C. maximovitchi sp. nov. and C. kryzhanovskii are still known only from caves, these species are quite similar in their life form to other members of the genus which are all true endogean species.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-185
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Podolak

Views on the institution of direct democracy have changed during the period of democratic transition. The various advantages and positive effects of direct democracy have been confirmed by the practice of some democratic countries. Its educational and political activation value for society was also noted, without which civil society cannot form. The referendum is especially treated as the purest form of correlation between the views of society and the decisions of its representatives. In a situation where two representative bodies are present – the parliament and the president – a referendum is considered a means of resolving disputes between them in important state affairs. The referendum is nowadays becoming more than just a binding or consultative opinion on a legislative act, especially a constitution. First and foremost, it is important to see the extension of the type and scope of issues that are subject to direct voting. Apart from the traditional, i.e., constitutional changes, polarising issues that raise considerable emotion have become the subject of referenda. Problems of this type include, in particular, moral issues, membership in international organisations, and so-called ‘New Policy’. This article presents the role and importance of the referendum as an institution shaping the democratic systems of the Black Sea Region.


Author(s):  
I. N. Timukhin ◽  
B. S. Tuniyev

For the first time the level of relics of the high-mountain flora of the northwestern edge of the highlands of the Caucasus has been established. The Fisht-Oshten Massif and the Black Sea Chain have a uniquely high level of relics - 51.0% (617 species), with a predominance of Tertiary-relic species - Rt - 41.2% (498 species). The second largest representation is a group of Holocene relics - Rx - 7.3% (88 species), the minimum represented Pleistocene relics - Rg - 2.5% (31 species). The relic level of alpine species is one of the highest in the Caucasus and is 52.8% (338 species). Alpine species also have predominance of Pliocene relics - 46.7% (299 species), the number of glacial relics is 2.5% (16 species), the share of xerothermic relics - 3.6% (23 species). In the preservation of relic species revealed general trends, depending on the remoteness of local flora from the main diaspora on the Fisht-Oshten Massif and the modern area of the meadow belt. These trends persist in Tertiary relics, while other patterns are observed for glacial and Holocene relics. The number of glacial relics fades to the west, most clearly it can be seen in alpine species. The number of Holocene relics as much as possible on the edge areas (Fisht-Oshten Massif and Mt. Semashkho) and minimally on the central peaks of the Black Sea Chain, where the Holocene expansion of xerophyte plants was insignificant.


2020 ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller

Mithridates VI the Great began his solidified rule by expanding his kingdom, seemingly with the goal of encircling the Black Sea. He gained possession of the ancient territory of Colchis and then strengthened his predecessors’ control of the Bosporos, on the north side of the sea. He also established a presence on the west side of the sea. The locals on the north side of the sea welcomed the king because they were constantly subject to barbarian pressures. There were also economic benefits to the Pontic kingdom in acquisition of the new territories. Mithridates also established a Pontic presence south and west of his kingdom, in Paphlagonia and Galatia. Yet such aggressive actions by the king were noticed by the Romans, even though the northern Black Sea was not in any region of their direct interest.


2013 ◽  
Vol 330 ◽  
pp. 805-810
Author(s):  
Dragos R. Rugescu

The Romanian NERVA space project, aimed at building and using a small rocket launcher for injecting nanosatellites into a LEO, requires the establishment of a secure launching area. The first candidate is on the western coast of the Black Sea and the candidate launching and flight corridor is the west-east vector above the sea. A series of ecological and safety challenges appear due to the high population density of the regions close to the sea-shores of the Black Sea; they must be catalogued and securely solved, before any space activity above the Black Sea begins. The main challenges of such an endeavor are analyzed henceforth and several solutions that fall within the scope of a recent research activity of the NERVA team are proposed.


Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller

Existing from the early third century BC to 63 BC, the Mithridatic kingdom of Pontos was one of the most powerful entities in the Mediterranean world. Under a series of vigorous kings and queens, it expanded from a fortress in the mountainous territory of northern Asia Minor to rule almost all the Black Sea perimeter. This is the first study in English of this kingdom in its entirety, from its origins under King Mithridates I around 280 BC until its last and greatest king, the erudite and cultured Mithridates VI the Great, fell victim to the expanding ambitions of the Roman Republic in 63 BC. Through a series of astute marriage alliances (one of which produced the ancestors of Cleopatra of Egypt), political acumen, and military ability, the Pontic rulers (most of whom were named Mithridates) dominated the culture and politics of the Black Sea region for over two hundred years. This book is a thorough exploration of the internal dynamics of the kingdom as well as its relations with the rest of the Mediterranean world, especially the ever-expanding Roman Republic.


Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish

Originally famed for its philosophers of nature, Miletus became one of the great cities of commerce of the ancient world. Its four harbors and strategic location on the west coast of Asia Minor gave the city unique advantages as a vital port in both peace and war. Yet these factors also were the cause of repeated periods of invasion and destruction. Eventually Miletus ceased to be a major player in world affairs, not because of the fortunes of war, but because of the slower but deadlier effects of the gentle Meander River, which silted its harbors and created malaria-ridden marshes. Miletus is easily reached from Izmir by taking E87 south to Selçuk, then proceeding on highway 525 through Söke to Akköy, then north through Balat to the site of Miletus. Today it is difficult to imagine that Miletus once was situated on a narrow peninsula and boasted of four harbors, three on the west and one on the east. Due to the continual silting effects of the Meander River, the ruins of Miletus now are situated in a broad plain some 5 miles from the sea. The island of Lade, where the Persian armada burned and destroyed the Ionian fleet in 494 B.C.E., was once to the west of the coast of Miletus. Now it is merely a hill 4 miles west of Miletus. A Mycenaean colony that had cultural contacts with Crete and Greece existed in this location from 1400 B.C.E. Greeks settled in the area by at least the 10th century B.C.E. The city prospered and grew wealthy from its colonies on the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and even in Egypt. It was one of the first cities in the ancient world to mint coins. Soon Miletus became the most important of the twelve cities of the region of Ionia. The city came under Persian control in 546 B.C.E. and later opposed them in the Battle of Lade, but the result was the loss of their fleet and the complete destruction of their city in 494 B.C.E. Herodotus, in fact, said that Miletus was reduced to slavery. Subsequently, Ephesus surpassed Miletus as the first city of the region.


Author(s):  
А.Л. Чибиров

В статье на основе историографических данных освещаются вопросы ранней истории иранских племен южной России, населявших обширные территории Великой Степи, протянувшейся от Байкала на востоке до среднего течения Дуная на западе. Будучи гигантским природным коридором, соединявшим цивилизации Азии и Европы, Великая Степь являлась естественным продолжением иранского культурного мира, определявшего собой культурный облик прикаспийской и приаральской Азии и тесно связанного с культурным миром Месопотамии. Великая Степь постоянно принимала поток мигрантов-кочевников, двигавшихся с востока на запад. В историографии зона постоянных ареальных контактов названа циркумпонтийским регионом, с разных сторон примыкающим к Черному морю. Данные археологии дают основания усматривать здесь экспансию кавказских металлургических центров и связанных с ними степных групп в балкано-дунайский регион, что является результатом расселения древних индоевропейцев из каспийско-черноморских степей на запад и юго-запад с дальнейшим выделением конкретных индоевропейских групп. Одним из первых ученых, уделившим пристальное внимание иранству и эллинству как основе, на которой зарождалось славянство в южнорусских степях, был М.И.Ростовцев, роль и значимость которого для российской археологии и антиковедения трудно переоценить. The article on the basis of the historiographic data highlights the early history of the Iranian tribes of Southern Russia, which inhabited the vast territory of the Great Steppe, stretching from the Baikal in the east to the middle reaches of the Danube in the west. Being a gigantic natural corridor connecting the civilizations of Asia and Europe, the Great Steppe was a natural continuation of the Iranian cultural world, which determined the cultural image of the Caspian and the Aral Sea Asia and was closely connected with the cultural world of Mesopotamia. The Great Steppe constantly received a stream of nomad migrants moving from east to west. In historiography, the zone of constant areal contacts is called the Circumpontic region, which from different directions was adjacent to the Black Sea. Archeological data give grounds to see here the expansion of the Caucasian metallurgical centers and related steppe groups into the Balkan-Danube region, which is the result of the settlement of the ancient Indo-Europeans from the Caspian-Black Sea steppes to the west and south-west with the further identification of specific Indo-European groups. One of the first scholars to pay close attention to Iran and Hellenism as the basis on which Slavs arose in the southern Russian steppes was M.I.Rostovtsev, whose role and significance for Russian archeology and study of antiquity can hardly be overestimated.


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