Ancient Crimea: the history of the peninsula from the first people to the Copper Age. What peoples live in Crimea

The sites of primitive people discovered by archaeologists on the Crimean peninsula (Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Volchiy Grotto) indicate the settlement of the region by humans already in the Stone Age.

The most ancient population of the Black Sea region and Crimea consisted of those who lived here at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. semi-sedentary and nomadic tribes, known under the general name of Cimmerians. The memory of them was preserved in local toponyms mentioned in ancient Greek sources: Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, Cimmerium. The Cimmerians apparently inhabited all the Black Sea steppes, but in the Eastern Crimea, as well as on the Taman Peninsula, they lived longer.

In the 7th century BC e. The Cimmerians acted in alliance with the Scythians. There is information about a defeat in 652 BC. the Lydian capital Sardis by the Cimmerians and Scythians. The Cimmerian culture discovered by archaeologists is close to the Scythian and dates back to the end of the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by excavations on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, where burials of the 8th-7th centuries were discovered. BC e., associated with the Cimmerians. According to the story of Herodotus, the Cimmerians were driven out of the Northern Black Sea region by the Scythians, who dominated here already in the 7th century. BC e.

The descendants of the Cimmerians are considered to be the Tauri, who already lived in the Scythian times in the mountains of Crimea. The mountain range on the south coast of the peninsula was also called Taurus. The Greek name of the Crimean Peninsula - Taurica, which was preserved both in antiquity and in the Middle Ages, is associated with this name.

The bulk of the Scythians were tribes that came in the 8th century. BC e. from Central Asia. Several Scythian tribes of the Northern Black Sea region are known: the royal Scythians, who also lived in the Crimea, the Scythian nomads, the Scythian ploughmen, the Scythian farmers, the Scythian Vonns. The social system of the Scythians in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. characterized by the gradual collapse of tribal lines and the emergence of class relations. Patriarchal slavery was already known among the Scythians. The change from Cimmerian culture to Scythian culture in the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. coincided with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. By the 4th century. BC e. The Scythian kingdom, which united individual tribes, turned into a strong military power that successfully repelled the Persian invasion. Remarkable monuments of the famous Scythian “animal” style were discovered by archaeologists in the burial mounds and mountainous hills of Crimea - in the Kulakovsky Kurgans (near Simferopol, Ak-mosque), unique gold items depicting human figures, animals and plants were found in the famous Scythian mounds of Kul-Oba, Ak-Mosque Burun, Golden Mound.

In the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. there is an intensive process of Greek colonization of the North Pontic coast, due to economic and social development Ancient Hellas. In the 7th century BC e. the west was colonized, and in the 6th century. BC e. - northern coast of the Black Sea.

First of all in Taurida, probably in the first half of the 6th century. BC e., on the site of modern Kerch on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, the city of Panticapaeum was founded by the Milesians. The city itself was called by the Greeks and simply Bosporus. Around the middle of the 6th century. BC e. Tiritaka, Nymphaeum, and Cimmeric arose in Eastern Crimea. In the VI century. BC e. Theodosius was founded by the Milesian Greeks, as well as Myrmekium, located not far from Panticapaeum.

Around 480 BC e. In the Eastern Crimea, the previously independent Greek city-states (polises) are united into a single Bosporan state under the rule of the Archeanactids, immigrants from Miletus. In 438 BC. e. power in the Bosporus passes to the Spartokids, a dynasty possibly of Thracian origin.

Crafts, agriculture, trade, coin circulation of Panticapaeum, where from the middle of the 6th century. their own silver coins were minted and were at a relatively high level of development. There was an expansion of the external expansion of the Bosporan state. However, in the III-II centuries. BC e. The onslaught of the Scythians intensifies from the west, and the Sarmatians penetrate from the Kuban region.

The creation of a Scythian state in Crimea and the aggravation of social contradictions in the Bosporan kingdom contributed to the weakening of the latter.

In the western part of Crimea, Chersonesos, founded in the 5th century, played an important role. BC e. immigrants from the southern shore of the Black Sea (from Heraclea Pontic). Initially it was a trading post, which then became a center of agricultural and handicraft production. Trade also grew, the development of which was associated with the issuance of its own coins made of silver and copper. The remains of ancient Chersonesus are preserved on the western outskirts of modern Sevastopol.

Chersonesos probably followed a hostile policy towards the Bosporus. However, by the end of the 2nd century. BC e. The onslaught of the Scythians on Chersonesos intensifies. The Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator provided military assistance to Chersonesus. Eastern Crimea and Chersonesus then came under the rule of the Pontic king. Perisad, the last king of the Bosporus from the Spartokid dynasty, abdicated the throne in favor of Mithridates VI. But this only aggravated the urgent social contradictions in the slave-owning Bosporus. In 107 BC. e. An uprising led by the Scythian Savmak took place here, but it was suppressed by the troops of the Pontic king.

The Pontic kingdom became the main obstacle to further expansion of the Romans to the East. This led to the wars of Mithridates with Rome, which lasted from 89 BC. e. until the death of the Pontic king in 63 BC. e. The death of Mithridates meant the actual loss of political independence by this part of the Black Sea region. By the end of the 1st century. BC e. A portrait of the Roman emperor and members of his family appears on Bosporan coins. True, in 25 BC. e. Rome confirms the independence of Chersonese, but this independence was largely nominal.

City-states of Taurica in the first centuries AD. were developed slave-owning policies. This opinion is supported by their administrative structure, as well as the monuments of material culture discovered by archaeologists.

The dominant force in the steppe zone during this period were the Sarmatians, led by tribal nobility, surrounded by warriors. Several alliances of Sarmatian tribes are known - Roxolani, Aorsi, Siracs. Obviously, from the 2nd century. And. e. Sarmatians receive the general name Alans, probably from the name of one of their tribes. However, in the Crimea, the Sarmatians, apparently, were inferior in number to the mass of Scythians who survived here, as well as the descendants of the ancient Tauri. In contrast to the Sarmatians, this old population is called Tauro-Scythians in ancient sources, which perhaps indicates the erasure of the differences between them.

The center of the Scythian tribes in Crimea was Scythian Naples, located on the site of present-day Simferopol. Scythian Naples was founded at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. and existed until the 4th century. n. e.

In the I-II centuries. Bosporan Kingdom is experiencing a new rise, it occupies approximately the same territory as under the Spartokids. Moreover, the Bosporus actually exercises a protectorate over Chersonesus. At the same time, Sarmatization of the population of the Bosporan cities occurs. In foreign policy The Bosporan kings showed a certain independence, including in relations with Rome.

In the 3rd century. In the Crimea, the Christian religion spread here, probably from Asia Minor. In the 4th century. an independent Christian bishopric already existed in Bosporus.

Chersonesus at this time continued to develop as a slave-owning republic, but the previous democratic system (within the framework, of course, of the slave-owning formation) was now replaced by an aristocratic one. At the same time, the Romanization of the ruling city elite took place. Chersonesus becomes the main stronghold of the Romans in the Northern Black Sea region. It housed a Roman garrison and supplied food to the center of the empire.

In the middle of the 3rd century. n. e. The Bosporan state was experiencing economic and political decline, reflecting the general crisis of the ancient slave system. Starting from the 50-70s. in Crimea, the onslaught of the Borans, Ostrogoths, Heruls and other tribes that were part of
to the Gothic League. The Goths defeated the Scythians and destroyed their settlements in the Crimea. Having captured almost the entire peninsula, with the exception of Chersonesos, they established their dominance over the Bosporus. The Gothic invasion led to the decline of the Bosporan kingdom, but it was dealt a mortal blow in the 70s. IV century tribes of the Huns who appeared in Eastern Crimea. The Bosporus, destroyed by them, lost its former significance and gradually disappeared from the historical arena.

From the collection “Crimea: past and present", Institute of History of the USSR, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1988

Ancient peoples of Crimea

During the Jurassic period of the Earth, when there was no man yet, the northern edge of the land was located on the site of the mountainous Crimea. Where the Crimean and southern Ukrainian steppes now lie, a huge sea overflowed. The appearance of the Earth gradually changed. The bottom of the sea rose, and where they were depths of the sea, islands appeared, continents moved forward. In other places on the island, the continents sank, and their place was taken by the vast expanse of the sea. Enormous cracks split continental blocks, reached the molten depths of the Earth, and gigantic streams of lava poured out to the surface. Piles of ash many meters thick were deposited in the coastal strip of the sea... The history of Crimea has similar stages.

Crimea in section

In the place where the coastline now stretches from Feodosia to Balaklava, at one time a huge crack passed through. Everything that was located to the south of it sank to the bottom of the sea, everything that was located to the north rose. Where there were sea depths, a low coast appeared, where there was a coastal strip, mountains grew. And from the crack itself, huge columns of fire burst out into streams of molten rocks.

The history of the formation of the Crimean relief continued when the volcanic eruptions ended, the earthquakes subsided and plants appeared on the land that emerged from the depths. If you look closely, for example, at the rocks of the Kara-Dag, you will notice that this mountain range is riddled with cracks, and some rare minerals are found here.

Over the years, the Black Sea has beaten the coastal rocks and thrown their fragments onto the shore, and today on the beaches we walk on smooth pebbles, we encounter green and pink jasper, translucent chalcedony, brown pebbles with layers of calcite, snow-white quartz and quartzite fragments. Sometimes you can also find pebbles that were previously molten lava; they are brown, as if filled with bubbles - voids or interspersed with milky-white quartz.

So today, each of us can independently plunge into this distant historical past of Crimea and even touch its stone and mineral witnesses.

Prehistoric period

Paleolithic

The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is the Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave.

Mesolithic

According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to 6 thousand BC. the territory of Crimea was not a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of the modern Sea of ​​​​Azov. Around 5500 thousand BC, as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosporus Strait, for quite short period Large areas were flooded, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed.

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

In 4-3 thousand BC. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. In 3 thousand BC. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.

Nomadic peoples of the Northern Black Sea region of the 1st millennium BC.

At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. A tribe of Cimmerians emerged from the Indo-European community. This is the first people living on the territory of Ukraine, which is mentioned in written sources - Homer’s Odyssey. The Greek historian of the 5th century told the greatest and most reliable story about the Cimmerians. BC. Herodotus.

monument to Herodotus in Halicarnassus

We also find mention of them in Assyrian sources. The Assyrian name "Kimmirai" means "giants". According to another version from ancient Iranian - “a mobile cavalry detachment”.

Cimmerian

There are three versions of the origin of the Cimmerians. The first is the ancient Iranian people who came to the land of Ukraine through the Caucasus. The second is that the Cimmerians appeared as a result of the gradual historical development of the Proto-Iranian steppe culture, and their ancestral home was the Lower Volga region. Third, the Cimmerians were the local population.

Archaeologists find material monuments of the Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region, in the Northern Caucasus, in the Volga region, on the lower reaches of the Dniester and Danube. The Cimmerians were Iranian-speaking.

The early Cimmerians led a sedentary lifestyle. Later, due to the onset of an arid climate, they became a nomadic people and mainly bred horses, which they learned to ride.

The Cimmerian tribes united into large tribal unions, which were headed by a king-leader.

They had a large army. It consisted of mobile troops of horsemen armed with steel and iron swords and daggers, bows and arrows, war hammers and maces. The Cimmerians fought with the kings of Lydia, Urartu and Assyria.

Cimmerian warriors

The Cimmerian settlements were temporary, mainly camps and wintering quarters. But they had their own forges and blacksmiths who made iron and steel swords and daggers, the best at that time in the Ancient World. They themselves did not mine metal; they used iron mined by forest-steppe dwellers or Caucasian tribes. Their craftsmen made horse bits, arrowheads, and jewelry. They had a high level of development of ceramic production. Particularly beautiful were the goblets with a polished surface, decorated with geometric patterns.

The Cimmerians knew how to perfectly process bones. Their jewelry made from semi-precious stones. Stone gravestones with images of people made by the Cimmerians have survived to this day.

The Cimmerians lived in patriarchal clans, which consisted of families. Gradually, they have a military nobility. This was greatly facilitated by predatory wars. Their main goal was to rob neighboring tribes and peoples.

The religious beliefs of the Cimmerians are known from burial materials. Noble people were buried in large mounds. There were male and female burials. Daggers, bridles, a set of arrowheads, stone blocks, sacrificial food, and a horse were placed in men's graves. Gold and bronze rings, glass and gold necklaces, and pottery were placed in women's burials.

Archaeological finds show that the Cimmerians had connections with the tribes of the Azov region, Western Siberia and the Caucasus. Among the artefacts were women's jewelry, decorated weapons, stone steles without an image of a head, but with a carefully reflected dagger and a quiver of arrows.

Along with the Cimmerians, the central part of the Ukrainian forest-steppe was occupied by the descendants of the Belogrudov culture of the Bronze Age, bearers of the Chernoles culture, who are considered the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs. The main source of studying the life of the Chornolists are settlements. Both ordinary settlements with 6-10 dwellings and fortified settlements were found. A line of 12 fortifications built on the border with the steppe protected the Chornolistsiv from attacks by the nomids. They were located on areas closed by nature. The settlement was surrounded by a rampart on which a wall of wooden frames and a moat were built. The Chernolesk settlement, the southern outpost of defense, was protected by three lines of ramparts and ditches. During attacks, residents of neighboring settlements found protection behind their walls.

The basis of the economy of the Chornolists was arable farming and homestead cattle breeding.

The metalworking craft has reached an extraordinary level of development. Iron was used primarily for the production of weapons. The largest sword in Europe at that time with a steel blade with a total length of 108 cm was found at the Subbotovsky settlement.

The need to constantly combat the attacks of the Cimmerians forced the Chornolists to create a foot army and cavalry. Many pieces of horse harness and even the skeleton of a horse, laid next to the deceased, were found in the burials. Archaeological finds have shown the existence of a Cimmerian day in the Forest-Steppe of a fairly powerful association of Proto-Slavic farmers, which for a long time resisted the threat from the Steppe.

The life and development of the Cimmerian tribes were interrupted at the beginning of the 7th century. BC. the invasion of the Scythian tribes, with which the next stage is associated ancient history Ukraine.

2. Taurus

Almost simultaneously with the Cimmerians, people lived in the southern part of Crimea indigenous people- Tauri (from the Greek word "Tavros" - tour). The name of the Crimean peninsula - Tauris - comes from the Tauris, introduced by the tsarist government after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus in his book “History” said that the Tauris were engaged in cattle breeding on the mountain plateaus, farming in the river valleys, and fishing on the Black Sea coast. . They were also engaged in crafts - they were skilled potters, they knew how to spin, process stone, wood, bones, horns, and also metals.

From the second half of the 1st millennium BC. In the Taurians, like other tribes, property inequality appeared, and a tribal aristocracy was formed. The Tauri built fortifications around their settlements. Together with their neighbors, the Scythians, they fought against the Greek city-state of Chersonesus, which was seizing their lands.

modern ruins Chersonese

The further fate of the Taurians was tragic: first - in the 2nd century. BC. - They were conquered by the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, and in the second half of the 1st century. BC. captured by Roman troops.

In the Middle Ages, the Tauri were exterminated or assimilated by the Tatars, who conquered Crimea. The original culture of the Taurians was lost.

Great Scythia. Ancient city-states in the Northern Black Sea region

3.Scythians

From the 7th century to the 3rd century BC. horror on tribes and states of Eastern Europe and the Middle East were overtaken by the Scythian tribes, who came from the depths of Asia and invaded the Northern Black Sea region.

The Scythians conquered a huge territory at that time between the Don, Danube and Dnieper, part of Crimea (the territory of modern Southern and South-Eastern Ukraine), forming the state of Scythia there. Herodotus left a more detailed characterization and description of the life and way of life of the Scythians.

In the 5th century BC. he personally visited Scythia and described it. The Scythians were descendants of Indo-European tribes. They had their own mythology, rituals, worshiped gods and mountains, and made blood sacrifices to them.

Herodotus identified the following groups among the Scythians: the royal Scythians, who lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Don and were considered the top of the tribal union; Scythian plowmen who lived between the Dnieper and Dniester (historians believe that these were the descendants of the Chernoles culture defeated by the Scythians); Scythian farmers who lived in the forest-steppe zone, and Scythian nomads who settled in the steppes of the Black Sea region. Among the tribes named by Herodotus as Scythians proper were the tribes of the royal Scythians and the Scythian nomads. They dominated over all other tribes.

Outfit of a Scythian king and military commander

At the end of the 6th century. BC. In the Black Sea steppes, a powerful state association was formed led by the Scythians - Greater Scythia, which included the local population of the steppe and forest-steppe regions (Skolot). Great Scythia, according to Herodotus, was divided into three kingdoms; one of them was headed by the main king, and the other two were junior kings (probably the sons of the main one).

The Scythian state was the first political union in south-Eastern Europe in the early Iron Age (the center of Scythia in the 5th-3rd centuries BC was the Kamenskoye settlement near Nikopol). Scythia was divided into districts (nomes), which were ruled by leaders appointed by the Scythian kings.

Scythia reached its highest rise in the 4th century. BC. It is associated with the name of King Atey. The power of Atey extended over vast territories from the Danube to the Don. This king minted his own coin. The power of Scythia did not waver even after the defeat from the Macedonian king Philip II (father of Alexander the Great).

Philip II on campaign

The Scythian state remained powerful even after the death of 90-year-old Atey in 339 BC. However, at the border of the IV-III centuries. BC. Scythia is falling into decay. At the end of the 3rd century. BC. Great Scythia ceases to exist under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. Part of the Scythian population moved south and created two Lesser Scythia. One, which was called the Scythian kingdom (III century BC - III century AD) with its capital in Scythian Naples in Crimea, the other - in the lower reaches of the Dnieper.

Scythian society consisted of three main layers: warriors, priests, ordinary community members (farmers and cattle breeders. Each of the layers traced its origins to one of the sons of the first ancestor and had its own sacred attribute. For warriors it was an ax, for priests - a bowl, for community members - plow whitefish. Herodotus says that the Scythians held special honor among the seven gods; they were considered the ancestors of people and the creators of everything on Earth.

Written sources and archaeological materials indicate that the basis of Scythian production was cattle breeding, since it provided almost everything necessary for life - horses, meat, milk, wool and felt for clothing. The agricultural population of Scythia grew wheat, millet, hemp, etc., and they sowed grain not only for themselves, but also for sale. Farmers lived in settlements (fortifications), which were located on the banks of rivers and fortified with ditches and ramparts.

The decline and then the collapse of Scythia were caused by a number of factors: worsening climatic conditions, drying out of the steppes, decline in the economic resources of the forest-steppe, etc. In addition, in the III-I centuries. BC. A significant part of Scythia was conquered by the Sarmatians.

Modern researchers believe that the first sprouts of statehood on the territory of Ukraine appeared precisely in Scythian times. The Scythians created a unique culture. Art was dominated by the so-called. "Animal" style.

The monuments of the Scythian era, mounds, are widely known: Solokha and Gaimanova Graves in Zaporozhye, Tolstaya Mogila and Chertomlyk in the Dnepropetrovsk region, Kul-Oba, etc. Royal jewelry (golden pectoral), weapons, etc. were found.

WITH Kifian gold pectoral and scabbard from Tolstoy Mogila

Silver amphora. Kurgan Chertomlyk

Chairman of Dionysus.

Kurgan Chertomlyk

Golden comb. Solokha Kurgan

Interesting to know

Herodotus described the burial ritual of the Scythian king: Before burying their king in the sacred territory - Guerra (Dnieper region, at the level of the Dnieper rapids), the Scythians took his embalmed body to all the Scythian tribes, where they performed a rite of memory over him. In Guerra, the body was buried in a spacious tomb along with his wife, closest servants, horses, etc. The king had gold items and precious jewelry. Huge mounds were built over the tombs - the more noble the king, the higher the mound. This indicates the stratification of property among the Scythians.

4. War of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius I

The Scythians were a warlike people. They actively intervened in conflicts between the states of Western Asia (the struggle of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius, etc.).

Around 514-512 BC. The Persian king Darius I decided to conquer the Scythians. Having gathered a huge army, he crossed the floating bridge across the Danube and moved deep into Great Scythia. The army of Daria I, as Herodotus claimed, numbered 700 thousand soldiers, however, this figure is believed to be several times exaggerated. The Scythian army probably numbered about 150 thousand fighters. According to the plan of the Scythian military leaders, their army avoided open battle with the Persians and, gradually leaving, lured the enemy into the interior of the country, destroying wells and pastures along the way. Currently, the Scythians planned to gather forces and defeat the weakened Persians. This “Scythian tactic,” as it was later called, turned out to be successful.

in Darius's camp

Darius built a camp on the shore of the Sea of ​​Azov. Overcoming vast distances, the Persian army tried in vain to find the enemy. When the Scythians decided that the Persian forces had been undermined, they began to act decisively. On the eve of the decisive battle, the Scythians sent the king of the Persians strange gifts: a bird, a mouse, a frog and five arrows. His adviser interpreted the content of the “Scythian Gift” to Darius as follows: “If, Persians, you do not become birds and fly high into the sky, or mice and hide in the ground, or frogs and jump into the swamps, then you will not return to yourself, you will be lost by these arrows." It is not known what Darius I was thinking, despite these gifts and the Scythians who formed troops into battle. However, at night, leaving the wounded in the camp who could support the fires, he fled with the remnants of his army.

Skopasis

King of the Sauromatians, who lived in the 6th century BC. e., the father of history Herodotus mentions in his books. Having united the Scythian armies, Skopasis defeated the Persian troops under the command of Darius I, who came to the northern shores of Maeotis. Herodotus writes that it was Skopasis who regularly forced Darius to retreat to Tanais and prevented him from invading Great Scythia.

This is how the attempt of one of the most powerful owners of the then world to conquer Great Scythia ended shamefully. Thanks to the victory over the Persian army, which was then considered the strongest, the Scythians won the glory of invincible warriors.

5. Sarmatians

During the 3rd century. BC. - III century AD the Northern Black Sea region was dominated by the Sarmatians, who came from the Volga-Ural steppes.

Ukrainian lands in the III-I centuries. BC.

We do not know what these tribes called themselves. The Greeks and Romans called them Sarmatians, which translates from ancient Iranian as “girt with a sword.” Herodotus claimed that the ancestors of the Sarmatians lived east of the Scythians beyond the Tanais (Don) river. He also told a legend that the Sarmatians trace their ancestry to the Amazons, who were taken by the Scythian youths. However, they were unable to master the language of men well and therefore the Sarmatians speak a corrupted Scythian language. Part of the truth in the statements of the “father of history” is: the Sarmatians, like the Scythians, belonged to the Iranian-speaking group of peoples, and their women had a very high status.

The settlement of the Black Sea steppes by the Sarmatians was not peaceful. They exterminated the remnants of the Scythian population and turned most of their country into desert. Subsequently, on the territory of Sarmatia, as the Romans called these lands, several Sarmatian tribal associations appeared - Aorsi, Siracians, Roxolani, Iazyges, Alans.

Having settled in the Ukrainian steppes, the Sarmatians began to attack the neighboring Roman provinces, ancient city-states and settlements of farmers - Slav, Lviv, Zarubintsy culture, forest-steppe. Evidence of attacks on the Proto-Slavs were numerous finds of Sarmatian arrowheads during excavations of the ramparts of Zarubinets settlements.

Sarmatian horseman

The Sarmatians were nomadic pastoralists. They received the necessary agricultural products and handicrafts from their sedentary neighbors through exchange, tribute, and ordinary robbery. The basis of such relations was the military advantage of the nomads.

Wars for pastures and booty were of great importance in the life of the Sarmatians.

Dress of Sarmatian warriors

Archaeologists have not found any Sarmatian settlements. The only monuments they left are mounds. Among the excavated mounds there are many female burials. They found magnificent examples of jewelry made in the “Animal” style. An indispensable accessory for male burials is weapons and equipment for horses.

Fibula. Nagaichinsky mound. Crimea

At the beginning of our era, the rule of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea region reached its highest point. The Sarmatization of the Greek city-states took place, and for a long time the Sarmatian dynasty ruled the Bosporan kingdom.

In them, like the Scythians, there was private ownership of livestock, which was the main wealth and the main means of production. A significant role in the Sarmatian economy was played by the labor of slaves, into whom they turned prisoners captured during continuous wars. However, the tribal system of the Sarmatians held on quite steadfastly.

The nomadic lifestyle of the Sarmatians and trade relations with many peoples (China, India, Iran, Egypt) contributed to the spread of various cultural influences among them. Their culture combined elements of the culture of the East, the ancient South and the West.

From the middle of the 3rd century. AD The Sarmatians lose their leading position in the Black Sea steppes. At this time, immigrants from Northern Europe - the Goths - appeared here. Together with local tribes, among whom were Alans (one of the Sarmatian communities), the Goths carried out devastating attacks on the cities of the Northern Black Sea region.

Genoese in Crimea

At the beginning of the 13th century, after the crusader knights captured Constantinople as a result of the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), the Venetians who took an active part in organizing the campaign were given the opportunity to freely penetrate into the Black Sea.

storming of Constantinople

Already in the middle of the 13th century. they regularly visited Soldaya (modern Sudak) and settled in this city. It is known that the uncle of the famous traveler Marco Polo, Maffeo Polo, owned a house in Soldai.

Sudak fortress

In 1261, Emperor Michael Palaiologos liberated Constantinople from the crusaders. The Republic of Genoa contributed to this. The Genoese receive a monopoly on navigation in the Black Sea. In the middle of the 13th century. The Genoese defeated the Venetians in the six-year war. This was the beginning of the two-hundred-year stay of the Genoese in Crimea.

In the 60s of the 13th century, Genoa settled in Caffa (modern Feodosia), which became the largest port and trading center in the Black Sea region.

Feodosia

Gradually the Genoese expanded their possessions. In 1357, Chembalo (Balaklava) was captured, in 1365 - Sugdeya (Sudak). In the second half of the 14th century. the southern coast of Crimea was captured, the so-called. "Captainship of Gothia", which was previously part of the principality of Theodoro - Lupiko (Alupka), Muzahori (Miskhor), Yalita (Yalta), Nikita, Gorzovium (Gurzuf), Partenita, Lusta (Alushta). In total, there were about 40 Italian trading posts in the Crimea, Azov region and the Caucasus. The main activity of the Genoese in Crimea is trade, including the slave trade. Cafe in the XIV - XV centuries. was the largest slave market on the Black Sea. More than a thousand slaves were sold annually at the Kafa market, and the permanent slave population of Kafa reached five hundred people.

At the same time, by the middle of the 13th century, a huge Mongol empire was emerging, formed as a result of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his descendants. The Mongol possessions extended from the Pacific coast to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.

The cafe is actively developing at the same time. However, its existence was interrupted in 1308 by the troops of the Golden Horde Khan Tokhta. The Genoese managed to escape by sea, but the city and the pier were burned to the ground. Only after the new Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) reigned in the Golden Horde did the Genoese again appear on the shores of the Gulf of Feodosia. By the beginning of the 15th century. A new political situation is emerging in Taurica. At this time, the Golden Horde finally weakens and begins to fall apart. The Genoese cease to consider themselves vassals of the Tatars. But their new opponents were the growing principality of Theodoro, which laid claim to coastal Gothia and Chembalo, as well as the descendant of Genghis Khan, Hadji Giray, who sought to create a Tatar state in Crimea independent of the Golden Horde.

The struggle between Genoa and Theodoro for Gothia lasted intermittently throughout almost the entire first half of the 15th century, and the Theodorites were supported by Hadji Giray. The largest military clash between the warring parties occurred in 1433-1434.

Hadji-Girey

On the approaches to Solkhat, the Genoese were unexpectedly attacked by the Tatar cavalry of Hadji Giray and were defeated in a short battle. After the defeat in 1434, the Genoese colonies were forced to pay an annual tribute to the Crimean Khanate, which was headed by Hadji Giray, who vowed to expel the Genoese from their possessions on the peninsula. Soon the colonies had another deadly enemy. In 1453 The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire finally ceased to exist, and the sea route connecting the Genoese colonies in the Black Sea with the metropolis was taken under control by the Turks. The Genoese Republic found itself faced with a real threat of losing all of its Black Sea possessions.

The common threat from the Ottoman Turks forced the Genoese to draw closer to their other irreconcilable enemy. In 1471 they entered into an alliance with the ruler Theodoro. But no diplomatic victories could save the colonies from destruction. On May 31, 1475, a Turkish squadron approached the Cafe. By this time, the anti-Turkish bloc “Crimean Khanate - Genoese colonies - Theodoro” had cracked.

The siege of Kafa lasted from June 1 to June 6. The Genoese capitulated at a time when the means to defend their Black Sea capital had not been exhausted. According to one version, the city authorities believed the promises of the Turks to save their lives and property. One way or another, the largest Genoese colony fell to the Turks surprisingly easily. The new owners of the city took away the property of the Genoese, and they themselves were loaded onto ships and taken to Constantinople.

Soldaya offered more stubborn resistance to the Ottoman Turks than Kafa. And after the besiegers managed to break into the fortress, its defenders locked themselves in the church and died in a fire.

In recent years, after the return of the Tatars from deportation, interethnic and interregional relations on the Crimean Peninsula have worsened. The basis of the conflict is a dispute: whose land is this and who is indigenous to Crimea? First, let's define who historical and ethnographic sciences classify as indigenous peoples. The Encyclopedia gives this answer:

An indigenous people is an ethnic group that has mastered a territory that was not inhabited by anyone before.

Now let’s trace the changes in Crimean ethnogenesis (the appearance various peoples), although this will not be a complete picture, but nevertheless it is impressive. So, in Crimea they lived in different time.

About 300 thousand years ago – primitive people(Early Paleolithic); tools for labor and hunting were found at sites on the South Coast.

About 100 thousand years ago- primitive people ( Middle Paleolithic); more than 20 human sites are known: Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Shaitan-Koba, Akkaya, Zaskalnaya, Prolom, Kobazi, Wolf Grotto, etc.; religion - animism.

40-35 thousand years ago– people of the Upper Paleolithic; religion - totemism; 4 sites were found, including Suren I.

12th-10th millennium– people of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); more than 20 sites were found throughout Crimea: Shankoba, Fatmakoba, Alimov canopy, Kachinsky canopy, etc.; religion - totemism.

8th millennium– Neolithic (New Stone Age) people; Kemi-Oba culture (Tashair); religion - totemism.

5th millennium(Bronze Age) – the arrival of the tribes of the “Catacomb” and “Srubnaya” cultures to the Crimea (burials in mounds).

The existence of different cultures did not pass without leaving a mark on them - they undoubtedly influenced each other, changed and enriched, and perhaps merged, giving rise to new cultures. Perhaps this was the beginning of the culture of the Cimmerians (alien tribes) and the culture of the Taurians (local tribes):

3rd millennium BC(Iron Age) - Cimmeria, Cimmerians - a warlike people, Indo-Aryans - people of the European type; area of ​​their settlement: south modern Russia, Ukraine, North Caucasus, Crimea; religion – polytheism. They lived in the valleys. Most likely, they brought the ability to mine and process iron to Crimea.

X century BC- Tavria, Tavrika, Tauris, Taurians (they can only be called a single people with a certain stretch; rather, they are a conglomerate of various tribes: Arichs, Napei, Sinkhs, etc.) They lived in the mountains, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing; their burials have been preserved - dolmens and fortifications: Uch-Bash, on Cape Kharaks, on Mount Castel Seraus, Koshka, Karaul-oba, on the rocks of the Kachin Gate, Ai-Yori and in the Karalez Valley; religion - the cult of the Virgin and other gods.

These tribes were united by one name by the Greeks, who were already visiting the Crimean shores in those days. It is not clear why they called them that: either because of their ferocious disposition, or because of their countless herds (“tauros” is a bull from Greek), or this word meant “highlanders” (taurus-tur-mountain)…

VII-VI centuries BC- Greeks. Chersonese Tauride, Cimmerian Bosporus on the shores of the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea) and Maeotis (Sea of ​​Azov). The Greeks founded these two states, as well as hundreds of settlements along the coast; religion - polytheism, Pantheon of Olympian gods led by Zeus (Cronos); from the 1st century AD – gradual Christianization; the Greeks were the first in Crimea to begin trading local slaves “for export” (how, by the way, could the Tauri, and then the Scythians, treat them, because they didn’t even consider them people?)

VIII-VII centuries BC– Scythia, Scythians (Skolot), Sindians, Meotians, Sakas, Massagetae and other Indo-Iranian nomadic tribes, which practically displaced the Cimmerians from the Crimean expanses and gradually became settled in vast territories (the capital of Scythia was near modern Nikopol, and the second - in the Crimea (Simferopol) - Scythian Naples, built in the 3rd century BC) Religion - polytheism. Pantheon of gods led by Popeye.

The eternal and irresistible process of mutual influence and mixing of peoples led to the fact that in the first centuries of our era the Tauri were no longer separated from the Scythians, but were called Tauro-Scythians, and some of the Scythian settlements mixed with the Greek ones (for example, the Tatars already in the 13th century found a poor Greek village, which was named Kermenchuk). But let's continue the list.

2nd century BC Sarmatia. The Sarmatians pushed the related-speaking Scythians out of the Northern Black Sea region and the Azov region into the Crimea; religion - polytheism.

1st century BC– Jewish Diaspora – Semites. Religion – monotheism (god Yahweh); gravestones with seven-branched candlesticks and inscriptions in Hebrew were discovered on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas.

I century BC - I century AD– Pontic people (Pontic Bosporus); settled on the site of the Bosporan Cimmerian kingdom led by Mithridates VI Eupator (Kerch); religion - polytheism. Together with the Pontic people, Armenians appeared on the peninsula.

1st century BC – III century AD– the Romans and Thracians, after the defeat of the Pontic Kingdom, captured Crimea (now this is the easternmost outskirts of the Roman Empire); religion - polytheism, and from 325. – Christianity; The Romans introduced local residents to their culture and introduced them to the virtues of Roman law.

Until the 4th century AD– Eastern Slavs: Antes, Tivertsy (Artania) – known in the Northern Black Sea region since ancient times; pushed to the north during the Great Migration of Peoples, partially preserved in Taman - the future Tmutarakan; religion - polytheism.

III century AD– Germanic tribes: Goths and Heruli (Gothia, Captaincy of Gothia); came from the Baltic states, destroyed Scythia and created their own state of Gothia on the southern coast of Crimea. Later, they left the Huns to the west, some returned in the 7th century. The Goths were the impetus for the unification of the Slavs; religion - polytheism, and later - Christianity.

III century AD– Alans-Yas, related to the Sarmatians (distant ancestors of the Ossetians); together with the Sarmatians they settled among the Scythians; best known in Crimea for their settlement of Kyrk-Ork (until the 14th century, then Chufut-Kale), when they were pushed into the mountains by the Huns; religion – Christianity.

IV century– Huns, Xiongnu (Hun Principality) – the ancestors of today’s Tuvans; invaded from the Trans-Altai region, dealt a powerful blow to the Goths, drove away a significant part of the population, thereby marking the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples; religion - paganism, later - Christianity.

IV century– Byzantium (East Roman Empire), Kherson theme; after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Taurica, as it were, was “inherited” by Byzantium; strongholds in Crimea - Kherson, Bosporus (Kerch), Gurzuvits (Gurzuf), Aluston (Alushta), etc. In 325. accept Christianity.

VI century– the Turks (Mongoloid Turkets) raided to the Crimea from Siberia, having established their Ashin dynasty in Khazaria (the lower reaches of the Volga and Terek), but did not gain a foothold on the peninsula; pagans.

VI century- Avars (obry) - created the Avar Kaganate in Transnistria, also raided the Crimea until they were defeated by the Bulgars; pagans.

7th century– Bulgars (Bulgarians). Some of them settled in the Crimea, becoming settled from nomadic, settling in foothill valleys and engaging in agriculture (in general, the Volga Bulgar-Turks moved to the West; another wave of them went north, creating the Kazan Khanate; in the Balkans they assimilated with the southern Slavs, founding Bulgaria and adopting Christianity ); pagans, and from the 9th century. - Orthodox Christians.

7th century– Greekized superethnos (Gothia, Doros) – formed the Greek-speaking basis of the population of the Mangup principality (Dori); Byzantium is strengthening, uniting multilingual peoples who lived in the mountainous Crimea and along the South Coast; religion – Christianity, as well as other religions.

VIII-X centuries– Khazar Khaganate, Khazars (Turkic-speaking peoples of the Dagestan type); religion is paganism, later some converted to Islam, some to Judaism, and some to Christianity. Power in the Kaganate is first seized by the Turkets-Ashins, then by the Jews; Judean Khazaria captures part of the steppe and coastal Crimea, competes with Byzantium, and seeks to subjugate Rus' (destroyed by Prince Svyatoslav in 965).

VIII-X centuries– Karaites; came to Khazaria from Israel through Persia and the Caucasus; crossed with the Khazars; forced out by Rokhdanite Jews to the outskirts of Khazaria, including the Crimea; language – Kynchak dialect of the Turkic language, close to Crimean Tatar; religion – Judaism (only the Pentateuch – Torah is recognized).

VII-I centuries– Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) – remained in Crimea and Taman as fragments of the defeated Khazar Kaganate (known as residents of the Tmutarakan principality and Kievan Rus); the language is close to Karaite; religion – Orthodox Judaism-Rabbinism.

Late 9th – early 19th centuries.– Pechenegs-Bejans (Turkmens) – Turks from the Baraba steppes; defeated by the Polovtsians and Guzes; some dispersed to the Crimea, some to the Lower Dnieper region (Karakalpaks); were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs; religion - paganism.

X-XI centuries– Guz-Oghuz (Turkmen) – Turkic people. Leader - Oguz Khan; ousted the Pechenegs from the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region, and then, together with the Pechenegs, opposed the Russes (Rugs), Slavs and Polovtsians; religion - paganism.

X-XIII centuries- Eastern Slavs (Tmutarakan Principality as part of Kievan Rus). This is the principality (Taman and Korchev-Kerch), founded by Prince Vladimir in 988, in 1222. together with the Polovtsians, they fought off the Turks; at the Battle of Kalka in 1223. Ataman Tmutarakan Plaskinya took the side of the Mongol-Tatars; religion – Christianity.

XI century– Polovtsians (Kypchaks, Cumans, Komans). They created the state of Odzhaklar in the Black Sea region and Crimea with its capital Sarkel (on the Don). They alternately fight with Russia and make alliances; together with four Russian princes Mstislav and Khan Katyan, they were defeated on the Kalka River in 1223; some went to Hungary and Egypt (Mamluks), the rest were assimilated by the Tatars, Slavs, Hungarians, Greeks, etc. Religion - paganism.

XI century– perhaps Armenians were settling in Crimea at this time (their homeland was being tormented by the Persians and Seljuk Turks). Mountain Taurica east of present-day Belogorsk has for some time been called Primorsky Armenia; in a wooded tract there emerges the Armenian monastery of Surb-Khach (holy cross), known even outside the Crimea; Belogorsk itself is a large and rich city - Solkhat (it is inhabited by Kipchaks, Alans and Rus, as well as Soldaya, Surozh (Sudak).

Ancient authors have many reports about the dews (Rus) who lived from the first centuries of our era in the Northern Azov region, the Black Sea region and in the Crimea. In Byzantine documents it was stated: “ Scythians, who are Russians" In the 9th century. The Black Sea was called the Russian Sea by the Arabs (previously it was the Rum Sea - “Byzantine”). In the 9th century. The enlightener Kirill saw books “written in Russian characters” in Taurica. The word "ros" means "light, white." The Tarkhankut Peninsula was designated as the “white coast”, and the Dews lived there. The Arabs called the Rus Slavs, the Greeks called the Scythians, and the Cimmerian Bosporus was considered their homeland. There is a version that the Novgorod prince Bravlin, who visited the Greek settlements, was a local Tauro-Scythian leader, and the “Russian new city” is most likely Scythian Naples. In the 11th century. The Kerch Strait is called the Russian River, and on its Crimean shore, opposite Tmutarakan, stands the city of Rosia - the White City (Kerch?). The Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin in 1474, when returning from “Overseas,” visited the Crimea, where he saw many Russians and people of the Orthodox faith in general, as well as baptized Tatars (which he wrote about in his diaries).

XII-XV centuries- Venetians, Genoese, Pisans founded trading posts in Crimea: Kafa, Soldaya, Vosporo, Chembalo. They appeared in Crimea back in Byzantine times and participated in the Battle of Kulikovo in Mamai’s army. In 1475 Kafa (modern Feodosia) fell under the attacks of the Turks and Tatars. Religion – Catholicism.

XII-XV centuries– in Crimea, the multi-ethnic Mangup principality of Theodoro emerges, having connections with Constantinople, Europe, Moscow and numbering 200 thousand. people of the population (most of them are Greeks). It extended from Balaklava to Alushta, located in the mountainous Crimea; defeated by the Turks and Tatars in 1475. After 300 years, only 30 thousand remained in Crimea. Greeks, half of them Urums (Tatarized). In 1778, the Greeks left for the Azov region (Mariupol).

Beginning of the 13th century.– Crimea is inhabited by Tatars – Ulus of the Golden Horde. The capital becomes Eski-Crimea - Old Crimea (formerly Solkhat). The Transbaikalian tribes of the Tatars and Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, captured the Yenisei and Ob Kirghiz and conquered the peoples of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 13th century. Genghis Khan moved west towards the Kipchaks and Kievan Rus. In Crimea - since 1239; pagans, and from the 14th century - Sunni Muslims.

Crimean Khanate (Tatars) - from 1428. the capital moved from Solkhat to Bakhchisarai; formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. Since 1475 to 1774 this state is a vassal of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; liquidated in 1783 Religion – Islam.

XIII century– Gypsies – known in Crimea since the time of the Crimean Khanate. They may have first appeared in Khazar times; religion is paganism, and then partly Christianity, partly Islam.

XV century – 1475-1774- Turks, Ottoman Empire (the first attempt to establish themselves in Crimea was in 1222) The Turks capture Kafa, Sudak, the cave cities of Mangup and Chufut-Kale, and the Sultan becomes the religious head of the Crimean Tatars. Religion – Islam.

XVIII - XX centuries.– Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Germans, Czechs, Estonians, Moldovans, Kara Greeks, Wallachians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Kazan and Siberian Tatars, Koreans, Hungarians, Italians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. Turks and most of the Tatars go to Turkey, and the settlement of Crimea and the Novorossiysk region by Slavic and other peoples (including from abroad) begins. Religion – various religions and denominations.

Afterword

The article uses data from the article “Indigenous and local” (newspaper “Krymskaya Pravda” dated January 27, 2004), written by Vasily Potekhin, candidate of historical sciences, Honored Education Worker of Crimea, member of the Writers' Union, who states:

None of the peoples currently living in Crimea are aboriginal - autochthonous, that is, indigenous. The principle of our peaceful multi-ethnic existence today is reflected on the coat of arms of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the form of the motto: “Prosperity in unity.” Nationalism inevitably leads to national fascism. Crimea was, is and will be a historical testing ground for the creation of multinational Eurasian culture.

Culture will save the world.

Interest in the national culture of the Crimeans, in the history of representatives different nationalities and the peoples of Crimea is quite natural. Get to know the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras We offer it to you too.

You can familiarize yourself with the ethnic characteristics and composition of the population of Crimea in the article History of the Peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout the history of the Crimean peninsula in chronological order.

Taurus. The Hellenic Greeks called Taurus the tribes that inhabited the mountainous foothills of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown, perhaps the Tauri are the descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. The most ancient monuments of their material culture on the peninsula date back to approximately the 10th century. BC e., although their culture can be traced earlier. The remains of several fortified settlements, sanctuaries, as well as burial grounds, the so-called “Taurian boxes,” were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally engaged in sea piracy. With the beginning new era A gradual merger of the Taurians with the Scythians began, as a result of which a new ethnonym appeared - “Tavro-Scythians”.

Cimmerians- the collective name of the warlike nomadic tribes that inhabited the X-UP centuries. BC e. Northern Black Sea region and the flat part of Taurica. There are mentions of this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the 7th century BC e. The Cimmerians, pushed back by the Scythians, left the Northern Black Sea region. However, the memory of them was preserved for a long time in geographical names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, etc.)

Scythians. Nomadic tribes Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and lowland Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to a sedentary lifestyle and absorbing part of the tribes who lived here. In the 3rd century. BC e. Under the onslaught of the Sarmatians, the Scythians lost their possessions on the mainland of the Black Sea region and the Sivash region and concentrated in the plain Crimea. A late Scythian state was formed here with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought with the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the 3rd century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The remainder of the Scythians mixed with the Tauri, Sarmatians and Goths.

Ancient Greeks (Hellenes). Ancient Greek colonists appeared in Crimea in the 6th century. BC e. Gradually populating the coast, they founded a number of cities and settlements (Pantikapaeus, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities united into the Chersonese state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time they had a huge cultural and political influence on all the peoples living in Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lost their political independence and became dependent on the Kingdom of Pontus, the Roman Empire, and then Byzantium. The Greek population is gradually merging with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.

Sarmatians. Nomadic tribes of the Sarmatians (Roxolans, Iazygs, Aorses, Siraks, etc.) appeared in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding out the Scythians. They penetrated into Taurica from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., either fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, or entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, along with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs also came to Crimea. The Sarmatians, gradually settling throughout the peninsula, mixed with the local Greco-Scythian-Taurian population.

Romans (Roman Empire). Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporan kingdom) in the 1st century. before. n. e. after the victory over the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. But the Romans did not stay in the Bosporus for long. In the second half of the 1st century AD. e. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesos, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. From this time on, Chersonesus and the Bosporan kingdom became dependent on Rome.

The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonesos intermittently for about two centuries, introducing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks at Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the 4th century, Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.

Alans- one of the large Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate Crimea in the 2nd century. Initially, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they settle down and accept Christianity. In the early Middle Ages, along with the Goths, the Goto Alans formed an ethnic community.

Goths. The Germanic tribes of the Goths invaded the Crimea in the 3rd century. Under their blows, the Poednescythian kingdom fell, and the Bosporus fell into a dependent position. Initially, the Goths settled in the plain Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement subsequently received the name Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. With the support of Byzantium, fortified settlements were built here (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the Goths adopted Christianity, the Gothic diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the 13th century, on the territory of Gothia, the Principality of Theodoro was formed, which existed until 1475. Neighboring with the Alans and professing a common Christian faith, the Goths gradually merged with them, forming the ethnic community of “Goto-Alans”, which subsequently participated in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars .

Huns. During the IV - V centuries. Crimea was repeatedly invaded by hordes of Huns. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. The Bosporan kingdom fell under their attacks, and the local residents took refuge from their raids in the foothills and mountainous part of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For some time they were a threat to the inhabitants of mountainous Taurica, but then quickly disappeared among the local, more cultured population.

Byzantines (Byzantine Empire). The Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire is commonly called Byzantines. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in Crimea, determining the politics, economy and culture of local peoples. Actually, there were few Byzantines in Crimea; they represented the civil, military and church administrations. Although a small number of residents of the empire periodically moved to live in Taurica when the metropolis was uneasy.

Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurida. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonesos and Bosporus were fortified. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the 13th century. Byzantine influence on the peninsula practically ceases.

Crimean Greeks. In the V-IX centuries. in the southeastern and southwestern Crimea, a new ethnic group was formed from the descendants of the ancient Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Goto-Alans, and part of the Turks, which later became known as the “Crimean Greeks.” Combined these different peoples the adoption of Orthodox Christianity, as well as a common territory and way of life. In the 8th-9th centuries, the Greeks, who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconocorans, joined it. In the 13th century. In southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities were formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orskoe, the main language of which was Greek. from the 15th century... after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro by the Turks, natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks took place, but many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost native language) until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. A small part of the Crimean Greeks later returned to Crimea.

Khazars- a collective name for various nationalities of Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the 7th century a state was formed - the Khazar Kaganate, uniting several peoples. At the end of the 7th century. The Khazars invaded Crimea, capturing its southern part, except Chersonesus. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. There were repeated uprisings of the local Christian population against the rule of the Khazars. After the elite of the Kaganate adopted Judaism and victories Kyiv princes over the Khazars, their influence in Crimea weakened. The local population, with the help of Byzantium, managed to overthrow the power of the Khazar rulers. However, for a long time the peninsula was called Khazaria. The Khazars who remained in Crimea gradually joined the local population.

Slavic-Russ (Kievan Rus). Kievan Rus, establishing itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was constantly in conflict with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, seizing considerable booty.

In 988, the Kiev prince Vladimir and his squad adopted Christianity in Chersonesus. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the Kyiv prince at its head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Kaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in Crimea ceased, but trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.

Pechenegs, Polovtsians. The Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking nomads - quite often invaded Crimea in the 10th century. They did not have a significant impact on the local population due to the short duration of their stay in Crimea.

Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Appeared on the peninsula in the 11th century. and began to gradually settle in southeastern Crimea. Subsequently, the Polovtsians practically merged with the newcomer Tatar-Mongols and became the ethnic basis of the future Crimean Tatar ethnos, since they outnumbered the Horde and were a relatively settled population of the peninsula.

Armenians moved to Crimea in the 11th-13th centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in southeastern Crimea (Solkhat, Kafa, Karasubazar), and then in other cities. They were engaged in trade and various crafts. By the 18th century A significant part of the Armenians renounce, but do not lose the Christian faith (Orthodoxy of the monophysical sense), until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. Some of the Crimean Armenians subsequently returned to Crimea.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, some Armenians, fleeing the Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moved to Crimea. In 1944, Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, they are partially returning to Crimea.

Venetians, Genoese. Venetian merchants appeared in Crimea in the 12th century, and Genoese merchants in the 13th century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese gained a foothold here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, according to an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, included the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonese. Actually, there were few Genoese - administration, security, merchants. Their possessions in Crimea existed until the capture of Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese who remained in Crimea after that (Crimean women's men) gradually disappeared among the local population.

Tatar-Mongols (Tatars, Horde). Tatars are one of the Turkic tribes conquered by the Mongols. Their name eventually passed on to the entire multi-tribal array of Asian nomads who set off on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. Horde is its more accurate name. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.

Horde(among them were Mongols, Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and the Turkic peoples predominated numerically), united under the rule of the Mongol khans, first appeared in Crimea in the 13th century.

Gradually they began to settle in northern and southeastern Crimea. The Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde with its center in Solkhat was formed here. In the XIV century. The Horde converted to Islam and gradually settled in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Cumans (Kipchaks), gradually moved to sedentary life, becoming one of the ethnic cores of the Crimean Tatar ethnos.

Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Tatars - this is how these people are called in other countries; the self-name “kyrymly” means Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later received the name “Crimean Tatars,” was long, complex and multifaceted. Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Goto-Alans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) took part in its formation. The Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

Among them, three subethnic groups can be distinguished. “Mountain Tatars” settled in the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula. Their ethnic core was mainly formed by the 16th century. from the descendants of the Horde, Kipchaks and Crimean Greeks who converted to Islam.

The ethnic group of “South Coast Tatars” was formed later on lands subject to to the Turkish Sultan. Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived on these lands and converted to Islam, as well as the descendants of settlers from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of Crimea began to settle on the southern coast.

In the steppe Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Sivash region, the Nogais roamed, who had mainly Turkic (Kipchak) and Mongolian roots. In the 16th century they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnic group. They began to be called “steppe Tatars”.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the process of emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey and other countries begins. As a result of several waves of emigration, the number of the Crimean Tatar population decreased significantly and by the end of the 19th century it accounted for 27% of the population of Crimea.

In 1944, the Crimean Tatar people were deported from Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different subethnic groups that had previously hardly mixed with each other.

Currently, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to Crimea, and the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group is taking place.

Turks (Ottoman Empire). Having invaded Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro. A sanjak was formed on their lands - Turkish possessions in Crimea with its center in Kafe. They made up 1/10 of the peninsula, but these were the most strategically important territories and fortresses. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, Crimea was annexed to Russia and the Turks (mainly military garrisons and administration) left it. The Turks organizedly resettled immigrants from Turkish Anatolia on the Crimean coast. Over time, having mixed considerably with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name “South Coast Tatars.”

Karaites (Karai)- nationality Turkic origin, possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day their origin is the subject of heated scientific debate. This is a small Turkic-speaking people, formed on the basis of a religiously isolated sect that professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism. Unlike Orthodox Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah (Bible). Karaite communities began to appear in Crimea after the 10th century, and by the 18th century. they were already the majority (75%) in the Jewish population of Crimea.

Russians, Ukrainians. During the XVI-XVII centuries. Relations between the Slavs and Tatars were not easy. The Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and booty. In turn, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, carried out military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.

In 1783, Crimea was conquered and annexed to Russia. The active settlement of the peninsula by Russians and Ukrainians began, who by the end of the 19th century. became the predominant population here and continue to remain so.

Greeks and Bulgarians from lands controlled by Turkey, under threat of reprisals, with the support Russian state moved to Crimea at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Bulgarians settle mainly in rural areas southeastern Crimea, and the Greeks (they are usually called modern Greeks) - in coastal cities and villages. In 1944 they were deported from Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to Crimea and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.

Jews. Ancient Jews have appeared in Crimea since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting among the local population. Their numbers here increased significantly in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. They lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade,

By the 18th century some of them are strongly Turkified, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks - a Turkic-speaking ethnic group professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always made up a significant proportion of the population of the peninsula (it was up to 8% by the beginning of the 20th century), since Crimea was part of the so-called “Pale of Settlement”, where Jews were allowed to settle.

Krymchaks- a small Turkic-speaking people formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to Crimea at different times and from different places and were thoroughly Turkified, as well as Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic sense, which served to unite them into a single people. A few representatives of this people still live in Crimea today.

Germans. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in early XIX V. German settlers, taking advantage of significant benefits, began to settle mainly in the steppe Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Were mainly engaged in agriculture. Almost until the Great Patriotic War they lived in separate German villages and hamlets. By the beginning of the 20th century. Germans made up up to 6% of the peninsula's population. Their descendants were deported from Crimea in 1941. Currently, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.

Poles, Czechs, Estonians. Settlers of these nationalities appeared in Crimea in the middle of the 19th century and were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the 20th century. they practically disappeared among the predominant local Slavic population.

Pontus Euxine - Scythian Sea

For world history, Crimea became known many centuries BC. IN ancient times, the peninsula was called Tavrika. This name was recorded by the Byzantine historian of the 6th century AD Procopius of Caesarea. Old Russian Chronicle“The Tale of Bygone Years” gives a slightly modified form of this name - Tavriania. Only in the 12th century did the Tatars, who conquered the peninsula, call the Greek city of Solkhat (now Old Crimea) Crimea, which became the center of their possessions. Gradually, during the XIV-XV centuries, this name spread to the entire peninsula. Names of Greek colonies that arose in Crimea in the 6th century BC. cannot be considered the oldest Crimean toponyms. Before the arrival of the Greeks in Crimea, numerous tribes lived here, leaving their mark on history, archeology, and toponymy.

Crimea belongs to those few places on earth where people have appeared since time immemorial. Here, archaeologists have discovered their sites from the Paleolithic - Early Stone Age era.

Scientists believe that before the divergence of peoples began, it was around 3700 BC. throughout the Caspian steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, there was a single language of communication, the roots of which lie in.

The roots of the most ancient names of Crimean places, rivers, mountains, lakes should be sought in the Proto-Indo-European language - Vedic Sanskrit: support, stronghold, tower, tower, pylon.(a related word in Old Russian: KROM - castle, fortification, secluded, hidden from...; Kromny - outer edge (edge); KROMA - edge, piece of bread;) At the root of the word Kram - kram - fortress, verb " kR" and "krta" - create, build, make, that is - this is a man-made structure - a Fortress, the Kremlin.

Slavic historian, archaeologist, ethnographer and linguist, author of the 11-volume encyclopedia “Slavic Antiquities” Lyubora Niederle claimed that “...among the northern neighbors of the Scythians mentioned by Herodotus, not only the Neuroi... but also Scythians called plowmen and farmers... were undoubtedly Slavs, who were influenced by the Greco-Scythian culture."

The first population of Crimea known to us from ancient Greek sources were the Scythians, Taurus and the Cimmerians, who were related or Thracian.

In the southwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, 15 km from Sevastopol, is the ancient city of Balaklava, which has a rich history dating back more than 2,500 years.

Since ancient times, it has been a powerful military fortress created by nature itself. Balaklava harbor is closed by high cliffs on all sides from sea storms, and the narrow entrance to the harbor reliably protects it from enemy invasions from the sea. reports that in the mountains of Tauris there lived Taurians who knew a lot about the art of war.

within the Dnieper Left Bank there are two toponyms ancient Slavic species - Perekop, Sreznevsky - Perekop, possible tracing of relict Indo-Aryan *krta – “made (that is, dug by hand)” , hence the name Crimea. In approximately the same place, at the base of the Crimean Peninsula, there is another Russian. Oleshye , one of the “inhabited places” by the sea, which since time immemorial - from Herodotus Hylaea (‘Y – “forest”) to the present Aleshkovsky (!) Sands – firmly conveyed and preserved the image of this “wooded” patch among the surrounding treeless spaces.

The name "Balaclava" comes from the word "strength, power, energy, strength, military force, army, army." The word "Bala" comes from - RV). Perhaps the name of the harbor “Bala+klava” comes from “Bala” - military, “Klap, kalpate” - klṛ p, kalpate - “to strengthen, strengthen, fortress” (from the root “kḷ p”), that is - Military Fortress.

The ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo (64 BC - 24 AD) and the Roman writer, author of Natural History Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) associated the name of the harbor and military fortress with the name of their son (II century BC) Palak - “strong warrior.” Names of the god of war ancient Greece - Pallas (Pallas), epithet of the goddess Athena Palada(ancient Greek Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ) – warlike goddess of the military strategy and wisdom, and the name of the Scythian prince Palak - "warrior", come from the same root.

In the 5th century, a powerful city emerged on both banks of the Kerch Strait, whose inhabitants consisted of representatives of various nations - Greek colonists, Scythians, Maeotians. Dominant dynasty The Spartacids were of Thracian origin, and the royal guard also consisted of Thracians. In the Proto-Indo-European language lie the roots of the language of the Scythians, Cimmerians, Greeks, Goths, which is why they found a common language and, allowing for the interpenetration of cultures and linguistic borrowings on the peninsula, for example, from the Germanic tribes - the Scythians, who were part of a single Gothic union of tribes in the Crimea .

The role of the Goths in the life of Crimea was very significant, since even in Byzantine medieval sources Crimea was called Gothia. belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. A few fortified Ostrogothic settlements remained in the Black Sea region in the western mountainous part of Crimea, inhabited by the Greeks and subordinate to Byzantium, and also from the 5th century in the Azov region on the Taman Peninsula, the Ostrogoths at the end of the 4th century were cut off by the invasion of the Huns and other nomads in the Black Sea region. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I built a line of fortifications in Crimea to protect the settlements of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). In Taurida (Crimea) there was Gothic the fortified city of Mangup, the cities of Doro (Doros), Theodoro,

Gothic traders living on the “table mountain” (near Alushta). In Crimea, the Crimean-Gothic language was preserved for a long time, dating back to the Ostrogothic dialect of the Eastern Gothic tribes, who came to the Black Sea and Azov region in 150 - 235, and lived in the vicinity of Greek settlers and Scythians. The Flemish monk V. Rubruk, who testifies in 1253 that the Goths in Crimea at that time spoke the “Germanic dialect” (idioma Teutonicum). The Crimean Peninsula occupies an important place in the history of Ukraine. The population of Crimea and Ukraine was connected by common economic, political and cultural processes.

Spread of power Kyiv princes Ancient Rus' on a fairly large part of the peninsula, closely and for a long time brought the population of Crimea closer to ancient Russian state. There was a kind of gate here through which Kievan Rus went out to communicate with the countries of the East. In the first centuries AD, Slavs. Their resettlement to the peninsula is most naturally explained by the so-called great migration of peoples in the 2nd-7th centuries.

Byzantine sources mention the Slavs in Crimea from time to time. But scientists were able to get a more complete picture of their life on the peninsula only starting from the era of Kievan Rus. Archaeologists have discovered in Crimea the remains of material culture, the foundations of architectural structures close to those built in the cities of Kievan Rus. Moreover, the fresco paintings and the plaster itself of the Crimean Russian churches are very similar in composition to the fresco paintings of Kyiv cathedrals of the 11th-12th centuries.

Much about the ancient Russian population of Crimea becomes known from written sources.

From "The Lives of Stephen of Sourozh" we find out that at the beginning In the 9th century, the Russian prince Bravlin took possession of the Crimean cities of Korsun (or Kherson, this is how Chersonesus began to be called in the Middle Ages) and Pike perch. And in the middle of the same century, the ancient Russians settled for a long time in the Azov region, taking possession of the Byzantine city of Tamatarcha and later Tmutarakan, the capital of the future ancient Russian principality, part of whose lands extended in the Crimea. Gradually, the Kiev government extends its power to the northwestern part of it to the outskirts of Kherson, the entire Kerch peninsula.

Principality of Tmutarakansi developed in the middle of the 10th century. Remote from other Russian lands, it was under constant pressure from Byzantium, but managed to survive. Successful Vladimir Svyatoslavich's campaign against Kherson in 989 expanded ancient Russian possessions in Crimea. According to the Russian-Byzantine agreement, Kievan Rus was able to annex the city of Bosporus with its outskirts to the Tmutarakan principality, which received the Russian name Korchev (from the word “korcha” - forge, present-day Kerch).

The Arab geographer Idrisi called Kerch Strait “the mouth of the Russian river”. There he even knew a city called “Russia”. Medieval European and eastern geographical maps of Crimea recorded many toponyms, names of cities and settlements, indicating the long and long stay of the Russians in Crimea: “ Cosal di Rossia”, “Russia”, “Rosmofar”, “Rosso”, “Rossica” (the latter near Evpatoria), etc.

At the end of the 12th century, an influx of nomadic Polovtsians, who took possession of the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, cut off Crimea from Kievan Rus for a long time. At the same time, the Polovtsians destroyed the Tmutarakan principality, but a significant part of the Russian population remained on the peninsula. One of its strongholds was the city of Sudak (Russian name Surozh). According to the reports of the Arab writer Ibn al-Athir. At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, many Russian merchants lived in Crimea. The Russian population of the peninsula, as well as representatives of other local peoples, suffered an irreparable blow from the conquest of the peninsula Mongol-Tatars after 1223.