Myrmekion

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Myrmēkion or Myrmecium (Ancient Greek: Μυρμήκιον, Ukrainian: Мірмекій, Russian: Мирмекий) was an ancient Greek colony in Crimea. The settlement was founded in the eastern part of the modern city of Kerch, 4 km NE of ancient Panticapaeum on the bank of Kerch Bay near the Karantinny Cape. The settlement was founded by Milesians in the first half of the 6th century BC. According to Strabo, it was 20 stadia from Panticapeum, and 40 stadia from Parthenium and opposite to it was the town of Achilleum. Near the town was a promontory of the same name. It was in the place of modern Yeni-Kale and many ancient remains have been found. In the 5th century BC, the town specialized in winemaking and minted its own coinage. It was surrounded by towered walls, measuring some 2.5 metres thick. Myrmekion fell into the hands of the Bosporan kings in the 4th century BC and gradually dwindled into insignificance in the shadow of their capital, Panticapaeum. Regular excavations began in 1934 undertaken by an expedition led by V.F. Gaidukevich. The site was excavated by Polish archaeologists, led by Kazimierz Michałowski, in the 1950s. Between 1982 and 1994 an expedition led by Yu.A. Vinogradov was working...

There are two versions of the origin of the city’s name. The first derives it from the Greek root “myrmex” (“ant”). The second associates the name with a Greek word meaning “underwater reef”.

Information about Myrmekion has been preserved in ancient manuscripts. Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax (4th century BC), describing the coasts of eastern Crimea, names Myrmekion among the most important cities of the region ( Theodosia, Nymphaeum, Panticapaeum ), whereas Strabo refers to it sometimes as a “town” and sometimes as a “village”.

Myrmekion was founded at the boundary of the 1st and 2nd quarters of the 6th century BC. The metropolis is unknown, though researchers assume it may have been Miletus. According to S. O. Zhebelev, the city was named after its founder. Yu. O. Vinogradov, however, linked the name to the rocks protruding into the strait near Myrmekion.

The population lived in small semi-dugout dwellings with roofs made of dried seaweed, built only in the area of the small rocky Cape Quarantine and along the shore of the bay to the west. In the mid-6th century BC, the city suffered a major fire. Soon afterward, a defensive wall was built around the acropolis (a similar one was discovered at Porthmion ). The city became one of the two earliest Greek colonies in the northern Black Sea region. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, the city expanded to 6–7 ha and was built up with large above-ground houses.

At the end of the first third of the 5th century BC, the city was destroyed, most likely as a result of a Scythian attack. Its territory shrank more than fourfold, and a new defensive wall was erected over the former quarters, in which arrowheads were found. After the mid-5th century BC, life in the city revived, reaching its peak in the first half of the 4th century BC. At that time, the city again had continuous development. A temple and public buildings were probably located here; around the mid-4th century BC they were again destroyed by fire. The city was then surrounded by a new defensive wall that fully protected it from attack. The maximum area of the ancient settlement reached 7–8 ha.

The city experienced another flourishing in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC: during this time a unique object appeared — a stone mound over 3 m high located within the city. Its emergence was probably connected with a nearby sanctuary.

For a long time, Myrmekion did not have independent significance and was presumably a settlement belonging to a member of the Bosporan royal family.

In the mid-1st century BC, Myrmekion perished during the civil strife that unfolded in the Bosporan Kingdom after the death of Mithridates VI Eupator. Life at the site revived in the first half of the 1st century AD, when Myrmekion consisted of several large estates. Around the mid-2nd century AD, they were destroyed, and a huge royal tomb of a Bosporan king (possibly Tiberius Julius Eupator) was built on the cape, in which the Myrmekion Sarcophagus was found in 1834. After some time, Myrmekion was again built up with estates.

From the Hellenistic period, Myrmekion is known as an ancient center of winemaking. The wineries consisted of rooms with two (less often three) platforms for treading grapes by foot and pressing the remaining juice using a stone press. Juice of uneven quality flowed into separate compartments of cisterns, whose capacity reached 7–8 thousand liters. Archaeological excavations also revealed Roman-period fish-salting vats.

From the mid-3rd century, Goths entered the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom. Urban development became irregular. Buildings consisted of separate, sometimes fortified, estates.

In the 380s, the Bosporan Kingdom, which included Myrmekion, fell under the invasion of the Huns. By the 4th century, Myrmekion ceased to exist: its inhabitants moved under the protection of Panticapaeum. In the 8th–9th centuries, a settlement of the Saltovo-Mayaki culture existed on the site, which ceased to exist in the 10th century.

After the Mongol conquest of Crimea and its inclusion in the Golden Horde, settlements near the Kerch Strait became transit points of the Silk Road, as a result of which small settlements arose on the site of the ancient city in the 13th–14th centuries. During the reign of Khan Uzbeg, the emir of Solkhat transferred Bosporus to the Venetians in exchange for the payment of a trade duty, but as a result of the Venetian–Genoese war of 1350–1356, Bosporus passed into Genoese possession. A settlement known in Genoese sources as Pondico arose on the site of Myrmekion.

Of interest are the remains of a small fortress of the 14th–15th centuries discovered on the very edge of Cape Quarantine. The fortress was fortified by a wall (2.6 m wide) and a ditch. Residential and economic buildings were located along the inner side of the wall; all of them burned down in a fire.

Myrmekion was founded at the boundary of the 1st and 2nd quarters of the 6th century BC. The metropolis is unknown, though researchers assume it may have been Miletus. According to S. O. Zhebelev, the city was named after its founder. Yu. O. Vinogradov, however, linked the name to the rocks protruding into the strait near Myrmekion.

The population lived in small semi-dugout dwellings with roofs made of dried seaweed, built only in the area of the small rocky Cape Quarantine and along the shore of the bay to the west. In the mid-6th century BC, the city suffered a major fire. Soon afterward, a defensive wall was built around the acropolis (a similar one was discovered at Porthmion ). The city became one of the two earliest Greek colonies in the northern Black Sea region. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, the city expanded to 6–7 ha and was built up with large above-ground houses.

At the end of the first third of the 5th century BC, the city was destroyed, most likely as a result of a Scythian attack. Its territory shrank more than fourfold, and a new defensive wall was erected over the former quarters, in which arrowheads were found. After the mid-5th century BC, life in the city revived, reaching its peak in the first half of the 4th century BC. At that time, the city again had continuous development. A temple and public buildings were probably located here; around the mid-4th century BC they were again destroyed by fire. The city was then surrounded by a new defensive wall that fully protected it from attack. The maximum area of the ancient settlement reached 7–8 ha.

The city experienced another flourishing in the 3rd–2nd centuries BC: during this time a unique object appeared — a stone mound over 3 m high located within the city. Its emergence was probably connected with a nearby sanctuary.

For a long time, Myrmekion did not have independent significance and was presumably a settlement belonging to a member of the Bosporan royal family.

In the mid-1st century BC, Myrmekion perished during the civil strife that unfolded in the Bosporan Kingdom after the death of Mithridates VI Eupator. Life at the site revived in the first half of the 1st century AD, when Myrmekion consisted of several large estates. Around the mid-2nd century AD, they were destroyed, and a huge royal tomb of a Bosporan king (possibly Tiberius Julius Eupator) was built on the cape, in which the Myrmekion Sarcophagus was found in 1834. After some time, Myrmekion was again built up with estates.