Thalatta, Thalatta: Xenophon's view of the Black Sea

2000 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Mitford
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Greek City ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Moment

The moment when the Ten Thousand sighted the Euxine is one of the most haunting scenes to come down to us from the ancient world. Retreating from Cunaxa near Babylon in 401 BC, Xenophon describes how the Greeks fought their way northwards across Kurdistan to scale the Pontic mountains, and reached the sea at the Greek city of Trapezus, already more than two centuries old. By linking Xenophon's famous account with Hadrian's inspection of his eastern frontier, their route across the mountains, and their triumphant viewpoint, can be determined with some certainty.About 120 miles before the Greeks reached the Black Sea, the ruler of a large and prosperous city called Gymnias, probably the modern Bayburt, sent a guide to Xenophon.

scholarly journals Les Karaïmes de Crimée : communauté et exil

Slovo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol The autobiographical... (Windows on Europe>) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blandine Guyot
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
International Audience ◽  
The Moment

International audience Two tales are being proposed, whose authors, Avraam Kouchoul and Jacques Kefeli, were Crimean Karaims. They had combated in the White Army and emigrated to France in the 20ties, following the events of the Russian revolution. In his tale « Prayer »[Molitva], written in 1930 and published in Russian in France in the review Russkaâ Mysl’ n° 45 (4820), November 26, 2010, Avraam Kouchoul describes the moment of exile in November 1920, his departure from the port of Sebastopol, Crimea and his crossing of the Black Sea on a ship towards Constantinople. In the tale « The Wise Hakim Isak, ancient legend of Crimea » [Mudreč Hakim Isak, drevnaja krymskaja byl’], published in Russian in the emigration review Vozroždenie N° 47, Paris, 1955, the story takes place in the period of the Crimean Khanat, around Bakhtchisaraj palace and Choufout Kale fortress. The Khan and his favorite spouse are in love with each other, but are threatened by divorce in spite of themselves. A Karaim doctor, Hakim Isak, renamed for his wisdom, is called to Court to try and solve this drama. The author, Jacques Kefeli, dedicates the second part of his tale to the descendants of the legend’s figures, his contemporaries in emigration in France. Dans cet article sont présentés deux récits dont les auteurs, Avraam Kouchoul et Jacques Kefeli, étaient Karaïmes de Crimée. Ils avaient combattudans l’Armée blanche et émigrèrent en France, dans les années 1920, à la suite des événements de la révolution russe. Dans son récit « Prière » [Molitva], écrit en 1930, et publié en russe en France dans le journal Russkaâ Mysl’ n° 45 (4820), le 26 novembre 2010, AvraamKouchoul relate le moment de l’exil en novembre 1920, au départ du port de Sébastopol, en Crimée, et sa traversée en bateau sur la mer Noire en route vers Constantinople. Dans le récit « Le Sage Hakim Isak, légende ancienne de Crimée » [Mudreč Hakim Isak, drevnaja krymskaja byl’], publié en russe dans la revue d’émigration Vozroždenie n° 47, Paris, 1955, l’histoire se passe dans la période du Khanat de Crimée, autour du palais de Bakhtchisaraï et de la forteresse de Tchoufout Kalé. Le Khan et son épouse favorite s’aiment d’un amour partagé, mais l’ombre d’une séparation plane sur leur couple. Un médecin karaïme, Hakim Isak, renommé pour sa sagesse, est appelé à la Cour pour tenter de dénouer ce drame. L’auteur, Jacque Kefeli, consacre la seconde partie de son récit aux descendants des personnages de la légende, sescontemporains dans l’émigration en France. Мы представляем два рассказа, их авторы крымские Караимы Авраам Кушуль и Яков Кефели. Они воевали в Добровольческой армиии эмигрировали во Францию в 1920 годах в связи с событиями русской революции. В своем рассказе «Молитва», написанном в 1930 г., и опубликованном на русском языке во Франции в журнале Русская Мысль, № 45 (4820), 26 Ноября 2010 г., Авраам Кушуль описывает момент исхода в ноябре 1920, с отправлением из порта Севастополя в Крыму и пересечение Чёрного моря по пути в Константинополь. Рассказ «Мудрец Хаким Исак, древная крымская быль» также вышел на русском языке в Париже, в журнале русской эмиграции Возрождение, № 47, в 1955, начинается с событий, происхдящих во время крымского каганата, вокруг дворца в Бахчисарае и крепости Чуфут-Кале. Хан со своей любимой женой любят друг друга, но их счасъе вдруг подставлено под угрозой. Караимский доктор Хаким Исак, известный своей мудростью, был вызван ко двору хана,, чтобы помочь разрешить эту проблему. Автор посвящает вторую часть рассказа потомкам персонажей легенды, своим современникам, находящимся в эмиграции во Франции.

the claim that if anything of the sort had occurred I would have brought a plea in bar of action against him, but that I should come to court with this plea and demonstrate to you both that I have done this man no wrong and that his prosecution of me is illegal. [2] If Pantainetos had suffered any of the wrongs of which he is now complaining, he would clearly have brought a suit at once during the period when our business dealings took place, since these suits are monthly and we were both in town, and when all mankind are in the habit of showing their indignation right at the moment of their wrongs rather than after a delay. Since he has suffered no wrong – as you too will (I’m sure) affirm when you hear what happened – but is plaguing me from the confidence aroused by his success in the suit against Euergos, the only course left for me is to prove in your court, judges, that I am not in any way guilty and provide witness for my statements in an attempt to save myself. [3] My request to all of you will be modest and fair: to hear me with goodwill on the issue of my barring plea and to pay attention to the whole of my case. For though many suits have taken place in the city, I think it will be found that no-one has brought a suit more shameless or more unscrupulous than the one he has dared to lodge and bring to court. I shall give you as brief an account as I am able of all our dealings from the beginning. [4] Euergos and I loaned one hundred and five mnai to Pantainetos here, judges, on the security of a processing plant among the mine workings at Maroneia and thirty slaves. Forty-five mnai of the loan were mine, while one talent belonged to Euergos. As it happened, Pantainetos owed a talent to Mnesikles of Kollytos and forty-five mnai to Phileas of Eleusis and Pleistor. [5] The individual who sold the processing plant and the slaves to us was Mnesikles (he was the one who had bought the property for Pantainetos from Telemachos, its former owner), and Pantainetos leased it from us for the interest accruing on the money, one hundred and five drachmas per month. We made a contract in which were written the terms of the lease and a right for Pantainetos to redeem the property from us within a stated time. [6] Once this had been completed in the month of Elaphebolion in the archonship of Theophilos, I sailed off to the Black Sea, while this man and Euergos were here. As to their dealings with each other while I was away, I could not say. For their versions do not agree with each other, nor does Pantainetos’ version always agree with itself. Sometimes he says he was evicted

2002 ◽  
pp. 173-187
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Processing Plant ◽  
Mine Workings ◽  
Stated Time ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The City

Miletus

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clyde E. Fant ◽  
Mitchell G. Reddish
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
The West ◽  
Major Player ◽  
Strategic Location ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
The City

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.

The View through the Russian Prism, 1760–1805

The Great Sea ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abulafia
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Naval Stores ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Baltic

The increasing debility of the Ottoman Empire brought the Mediterranean to the attention of the Russian tsars. From the end of the seventeenth century Russian power spread southwards towards the Sea of Azov and the Caucasus. Peter the Great sliced away at the Persian empire, and the Ottomans, who ruled the Crimea, felt threatened. For the moment, the Russians were distracted by conflict with the Swedes for dominion over the Baltic, but Peter sought free access to the Black Sea as well. These schemes had the flavour of the old Russia Peter had sought to reform, just as much as they had the flavour of the new technocratic Russia he had sought to create. The idea that the tsar was the religious and even political heir to the Byzantine emperor – that Muscovy was the ‘Third Rome’ – had not been swept aside when Peter established his new capital on the Baltic, at St Petersburg. Equally, the Russians could now boast hundreds of vessels capable of challenging Turkish pretensions in the Black Sea, even if they were far from capable of mounting a full naval war, and the ships themselves were badly constructed, notwithstanding Peter the Great’s famous journey to inspect the shipyards of western Europe, under the alias Pyotr Mikhailovich. In sum, this was a fleet that was ‘poor in discipline, training, and morale, unskilful in manoeuvre, and badly administered and equipped’; a contemporary remarked that ‘nothing has been under worse management than the Russian navy’, for the imperial naval stores had run out of hemp, tar and nails. The Russians began to hire Scottish admirals in an attempt to create a modern command structure, and they turned to Britain for naval stores; this relationship was further bolstered by the intense trading relationship between Britain and Russia, which had continued to flourish throughout the eighteenth century while England’s Levant trade withered: in the last third of the eighteenth century a maximum of twenty-seven British ships sailed to the Levant in any one year, while as many as 700 headed for Russia.

General

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-101
Author(s):  
Robert Shorrock
Keyword(s):  
Red Sea ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Silent Majority ◽  
Classical World ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Greek World

For those readers seeking an engaging general introduction to the classical world, The Ancient World by Jeremy Toner would make an excellent first port of call. It is part of a new (though hardly original) series of ‘Small Introductions to Big Topics’ which thus far includes Politics, Art in History, and Shakespeare. The book chooses to focus not on toga-clad Romans and gleaming marbles temples but on that ‘other’ ancient world filled with noise, colour, death, and disease, populated not primarily by emperors and poets but by the ‘silent’ majority of slaves and the freeborn poor. Despite the catch-all title, this is a book which is more obviously about the Roman than the Greek world. This is, however, a small grumble and Toner's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. Of particular interest is the discussion of watermills and the generation of energy (71–6), comparison between the empires of Rome and China (104–18), and the way in which a ‘Rome-coloured vision’ from the medieval period up to the high-classical watermark of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries informed the West's perspective of, and engagement with, Islam (122–30). Illustrations are not abundant (and it is a shame not to have included a picture of the Vietnam Memorial discussed on pages 135–7), but they are decent enough, with several helpful maps of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds (with the seas – the Black Sea and Red Sea included – coloured pink – neatly complementing the book's presentation of a less-familiar-looking ancient world).

scholarly journals The problem of the alkalinity degree diagnostics in the soils of the northwest of the Black sea region

2017 ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Bibik ◽  
Hryhorii Moroz ◽  
Vitalii Kyrylenko ◽  
Artem Kuzmenko
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Final Diagnosis ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Sodic Soils ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Moment

According to the results of the study of soils in the Northwest of the Black Sea region, it is determined that here, in the profile of vorony-calcic and calcic Chernozems, both residual and weak alkalinity are manifested. It was found out, nowadays, in the national soil science, there are no clear criteria for the selection of sodic soils and for the determination of their alkalinity degree. Furthermore, there is also the question of the differentiation of the actually sodic and residual-sodic soils. It has been established that on the territory of the Northwest of the Black Sea region polygenetic soils – vorony-calcic and calcic Chernozems weakly and residual-sodic were formed and the diagnostics of their classification and taxonomic position for the moment is rather ambiguous. The diagnostic of the alkalinity degree of vorony-calcic and calcic Chernozems in the Northwest of the Black Sea region was carried out in four methodological approaches. It was established, that it is impossible to carry out precise and unambiguous diagnostics of the alkalinity degree of soils of the territory of the study according to existing methods. Thus, the sodic and residual-sodic soils, according to classification of 1977, are almost entirely positioned as weakly sodic in accordance with the “Field determinant of soils”. In turn, taking into account the Novikova approach, the status of these same soils varies from non-sodic to solonetzes according to the degree of illuviation, the final diagnosis of which, however, contradicts the low content of exchangeable sodium. An integral approach to the determination of the alkalinity degree of soils is proposed, which is based on the chronological features of the course and direction of the sodification process. According to this approach, if the alkalinity of the studied soils is relict, its degree should be diagnosed by the illuviation of silt and by the content of exchange Na+ (Ni> 8 %, Na+<3 % – residual-sodic soils, Ni> 8 %, Na+ ≥ 3 % –sodic soils).In turn, in the case of the modern alkalinity, its degree should be determined by the ratio Ca2+/Mg2+ (<4,8) and by the content of the exchangeable Na+ (<3 % – residual-sodic soils, and ≥3 % – sodic soils). Key words: Chernozems, the alkalinity degree, diagnostic, steppe, the Northwest of the Black Sea region.

Xenophon and Sophaenetus

1929 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-40
Author(s):  
A. Gwynn
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Ancient History ◽  
Proper Place ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Town

The fifth book of Xenophon's Anabasis presents a puzzle which Mr. Tarn has not discussed in his most stimulating chapter on the ‘Ten Thousand’ in the Cambridge Ancient History. Xenophon is telling the story of the retreat along the shore of the Black Sea. At Cotyora, at Xenophon's own suggestion (so he tells us) a general кαθαρμός was held by the survivors. For some time past the troops had been beginning to get badly out of hand. There had been a particularly disgraceful scene at Cerasus, which they had left a week before their arrival at Cotyora. Certain local tribes of the Colchi had sent ambassadors to the Greek army, which was actually leaving the town at the moment of their arrival. Most of the troops were already outside the walls; but some stragglers who were still within the town stoned the ambassadors to death, and a general riot ensued. Now, not a word of this story is told by Xenophon in its proper place in the narrative (V. 4, 1), where we are simply told that the Greeks left Cerasus, some by sea and seme by land. The whole story is told later in great detail, and in a curious form: as a digression which Xenophon makes in a speech immediately preceding the court of enquiry at Cotyora.

An Old Persian Inscription from Phanagoria

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir D. Kuznetsov ◽  
Alexander B. Nikitin
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Taman Peninsula ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Persian Empire ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Private House ◽  
Active Interest ◽  
Old Persian

Abstract This article is a publication of the fragmentary Old Persian inscription from the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria (the Taman Peninsula, Russia). The inscription was found in a private house built over the ruins of the city’s fortifications, which perished in a fire in the late first or the early second quarter of the 5th century BC. The fragment of the stele bears six partially preserved lines of the text. The signs at the beginning and the end of each line are missing. Due to the fragmentary nature of the inscription, its contents can not be determined. However, the archaeological context of the find allows us to attribute its authorship to King Xerxes. The new document attests that the Persian Empire took an active interest in the northern coast of the Black Sea.

scholarly journals BYZANTINE GLAZED CERAMICS OF THE 13th CENTURY IN THE CRIMEA (short review)

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-404
Author(s):  
I. B. Teslenko
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Short Review ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
The Crimea ◽  
Eastern Crimea ◽  
To Come

Despite political and military upheaval in Byzantium in the 13th century, the most important of which were the conquest of Constantinople and the central territories of the empire by the Latins in 1204, and then the restoration of the state and the return of the capital by Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261, the manufacture of marketable glazed tableware on its historical territory had not stopped. Moreover, delivery of this ceramic into the territory of the Crimea also continued. This was largely due to the new owners of the maritime market — Italian merchants, first Venetians, and then Genoese, who were active participants of the political and military conflicts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Byzantium. At the same time, the composition of the imported ceramic was not stable. Finds from well-dated archaeological deposits known from the excavations of archaeological sites in the Crimea, as well as the surrounding area, provide the information as for the volume of the Byzantine import and changes in the imported pottery assemblage during the 13th century. First of all, these are the cultural remains with the layers of fire and destruction on the territory of the medieval towns in southern and south-western Crimea with the coins of 1250—1260s; shipwreck near the Novy Svet village south-west to Sudak, which wrecked not earlier than 1260—1270s; two pits in the harbor part of Soldaia / Sudak with coins of the 1266 and 1270s, which, according to stratigraphy, were filled after the mentioned catastrophe; sites in south-eastern Crimea with coins of the last quarter of the 13th — early 14th century, so on. Correlation of data from these contexts leads to the following conclusions. 1. Quantity of Byzantine ceramics imported into Crimea during the 13th century was quite significant. It accounts for up to 70 % and more of the ceramics assemblages. 2. The range of glazed ware remained approximately the same from the beginning until the middle — third quarter of the 13th century. The MBP (mainly «Incised Sgraffito Ware», less often «Champlevй» and others); GWW with monochrome green glaze as well as green and brown painted variants; «Zeuxippus Ware» (class IА&II) prevailed. 3. Since the last third of the 13th century less elegant and cheaper vessels («Sgraffito with Concentric Circles», jugs with stripes of white engobe) from different workshops, which in large quantities arise on the Byzantine and surrounding lands, start to come to the Crimea and Northern Black Sea Region. Their activities were stimulated by the intensification of maritime trade and the growing demand for cheap glazed pottery. 4. Cessation of some groups of import, especially MBP from Chalcis, may be due to the ousting of the Venetians from the Crimean market and their temporary difficulties with novation in the Black Sea after 1261. At the same time, the sales crisis could lead to the decline of some large pottery centers and to the emergence of new focused on more promising trading intermediaries, which the Genoese became.

Graffiti, Ancient and Modern

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Karen B. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Jewish Life ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Spatial Dimensions ◽  
Multiple Regions ◽  
The Impact

This book examines graffiti associated with Jews from the ancient world. These markings—found on sites such as the shores of the Black Sea, the deserts of Egypt and Arabia, and the eastern stretches of Mesopotamia—shed important insights about Judaism and Jewish life in antiquity. The book includes case studies from multiple regions to explore connections between graffiti writing and the devotional, commemorative, and civic activities conducted by Jews and their peers. This introduction considers different definitions of graffiti by analyzing various presumptions about textual and pictorial production that have accrued over the centuries. It also explains how particular modes of reading can generate distinct insights about associated cultures and social dynamics, whether in modernity or antiquity, by focusing on one genre of modern graffiti, known as tags. Finally, it discusses the agency of graffiti, social (and spatial) dimensions of graffiti, and the impact of graffiti on landscapes.

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