Pantikapaion ( , from Scythian *Pantikapa 'fish-path';
Early existence
During the first centuries of the city's existence, imported Greek articles predominated:
pottery (see
Kerch Style),
, and metal objects, probably from workshops in
Rhodes,
Corinth,
Samos, and
Athens. Local production, imitated from the models, was carried on at the same time. Athens manufactured a special type of bowl for the city, known as
Kerch ware. Local potters imitated the
Hellenistic bowls known as the
Gnathia style as well as relief wares—
Megara bowls. The city minted silver coins from the 5th century BC and gold and bronze coins from the 4th century BC.
[Sear, David R. (1978). Greek Coins and Their Values . Volume I: Europe (pp. 168-169). Seaby Ltd., London. ] At its greatest extent it occupied .
The
Hermitage Museum and
Kerch Museums contain material from the site, which is still being excavated.
Fifth to first centuries BC
In the 5th–4th centuries BC, the city became the residence first of the
Archaeanactids and then of the
Spartocids, dynasties of
Thracian kings of
Bosporan Kingdom, and was hence itself sometimes called Bosporus. Its economic decline in the 4th–3rd centuries BC was the result of the
Sarmatians conquest of the steppes and the growing competition of
Ancient Egypt grain.
Mithridates
The last of the
Spartocids,
Paerisades V, apparently left his realm to
Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus. This transition was arranged by one of Mithridates's generals, Diophantus, who earlier had been sent to Taurica to help local Greek cities against
Palacus of the Scythian kingdom in Crimea. The mission did not go smoothly: Paerisades was murdered by
Scythians led by
Saumacus, and Diophantus escaped to return later with reinforcements to suppress the revolt (c. 110 BC).
Half of a century later, Mithridates took his life in Pantikapaion, when, after his defeat in a war against Ancient Rome, his son and heir Pharnaces and citizens of Pantikapaion turned against him.
Further reading
External links
