Historical description of ancient Chersonesus and the monuments discovered in it

Contents Historical description of ancient Chersonesus and the monuments discovered in it I. Taurus. - Tavro-Scythians. - Greek settlements. – Херронес. – Херсонес. - Sevastopol. II. Spread of Christianity in Chersonesus. - Ancient churches. Description of the Chersonese monuments located at the Sevastopol Department of the Polytechnic Exhibition I. Pagan monuments A. Chersonese crypt No. 1. Patella, or plate made of fine-grained clay No. 2. Προχόος or vessel with one handle No. 3. Οίνοχόος No. 4. Kanfar No. 5. White clay lamps No. 6. Bronze incense burner No. 7. Bronze idol Single grave, opening near Chersonesus No. 8. Silver disk No. 10. Buckles and clasps Tombstones and stones with inscriptions Columns and their details II. Christian monuments View of the Christian church opened in Chersonesos in 1853 Gr. A.S. Uvarov Columns and capitals No. 70, 71. Iconostasis and ambo slabs. Slabs for various purposes Mosaic of the floor of the side galleries No. 83. Marble slab with armored image No. 81. Cornice made of wild stone Crosses Icons Utensils and small objects The proposed essay aims to present in a publicly accessible presentation the political and internal life of Tauric Chersonese, mainly on the basis of the monuments of its ancient life found here, and at the same time it was caused by the opening of an exhibition of monuments of ancient Chersonese at the Sevastopol Department of the Polytechnic Exhibition. Sevastopol arose on the site of ancient Chersonese, and the name of the latter is closely associated in this regard with the name of our glorious Black Sea port. Chersonesos was an important point in the civilization of ancient Taurida and has deep significance in our national history, as a hotbed of Christianity, and with it the beginning of civilization in our Fatherland. Under all these conditions, Chersonesus has the right to attract the attention and curiosity of every Russian. Both Russian and foreign scientists devoted their works to researching the history of Chersonesus: Bohusch. Sestrencewitz, Dubois de Montpereux, Köppen, Kene Arcas and others. But especially since the excavations carried out in the vicinity of Sevastopol by Gr. Uvarov advanced the study of this area, thanks to the discovery of many monuments, most of which are now exhibited at the Sevastopol Department of the Polytechnic Exhibition. Based on these sources, the “Historical Description of Chersonesos” was compiled. Let's name some of them: 1) Bohusch Sestrenzewifz. Hisloire du Royaume de la Cher sonese Taurique 1824. 2) Dubois de Montpereux. Voyage autour du Caucase t. VI. 1843. 3) Köppen. Crimean Collection. 1837. 4) Kene. Research on the history and antiquities of Tauride Chersonesos. 1848. 5) Arcas. Description of the Irakli Peninsula and its antiquities. Notes from Od. General East. and Ancient v. 2. 1848. 6) Extract from the most submissive Report. About archaeological research in the vicinity of Simferopol and Sevastopol in 1853. 7) Becker. Heracleotische Halbinsel 1856. 8) Investigations near Panticapaeum, Phanagoria and Chersonesos. Journal Min. Ext. business Other sources and aids will be shown in callouts. For convenience, when viewing the Chersonesos antiquities on display, their description is included at the end and forms a special part. Here we had in mind not so much the external description of this or that object, but rather its meaning and use in historical and everyday life. First, the monuments of pagan Chersonese are described: a burial crypt opened by Gr. Uvarov, and various objects found in the Chersonesos graves; and then from the monuments of the Christian era of this city - the northern Kherson church, opened in 1853 and all the monuments that had hitherto been discovered in the ruins of this city. Historical description of ancient Chersonesus and the monuments discovered in it I. Taurus. - Tavro-Scythians. - Greek settlements. - Herrones. - Chersonesos. - Sevastopol. The area occupied by the present-day Crimean peninsula was known in ancient times under the name Tauris, and owes this name to its primitive inhabitants, the Tauri, about whom only a few dark and fragmentary news from ancient writers have been preserved in history. The Tauri are depicted as a wild warlike people: they lived by robbery at sea and sacrificed to their gods the sailors brought by the storm to their shores. According to Herodotus, they killed them with a blow to the head with a club, then cut off the head, impaled it on a pole, and threw the body into the sea from the cliff on which the church of Artemis stood. The cult of this goddess was bloody and inhuman in nature and consisted of human sacrifices. All foreigners were subjected to this fate, whom circumstances brought to the inhospitable soil of Taurida. Euripides puts the following words into the mouth of Iphigenia, a former priestess of the stern Artemis: “a slave of a custom as ancient as barbaric, I sacrifice every Hellene whom evil fate brings here. It is my business to dedicate sacrifices, this is my sad duty. Others kill them and water the altar of the terrible goddess with the blood of the killed.” Orestes and Pylades, having landed on the shores of Tauris, have the following conversation with each other. – Orestes: “Didn’t we land at the church of Artemis? So this is the altar on which the blood of the Hellenes never ceases to flow!” – Pylades: “The very top of the altar turned purple from her.” - Orestes: “But look - and the booty is hanging on the vault of the church.” – Pylades: “These are the sad remains of strangers sacrificed here.” The sea that washed the shores of Tauris was very stormy, and therefore the Greeks called it inhospitable (ἄξεςνος), and sailing along it was fraught with danger from pirates. The low level of culture at which the first inhabitants of this region stood is shown by the remains of their ancient way of life, preserved in stone altars and caves. The first consist of several stone slabs placed perpendicularly and covered with other large slabs. They are very similar to the Celtic altars found in Switzerland and some areas of Central Germany. The many caves that dot the surface of the Crimean rocks served, in all likelihood, as the dwellings of the first inhabitants of Taurida and were carved out in the immemorial time of its history. History is silent about the time of their origin and purpose. Now they are empty: but there was a time when these wild rocks were inhabited, and abandoned caves served as housing for the primitive population of this region. They were a wild tribe who lived in the rocks, in rough-hewn caves and grottoes. They usually lie quite high above the surface of the earth, carved into a steep, almost vertical rock, in several rows and have communications with each other from the inside. Rough-hewn staircases lead into this unpretentious dwelling, through a small opening that serves as a door. This opening was closed with a reed fence and locked with a bolt, as indicated by the holes on the sides of the entrance. The cave itself is either a single recess in the rock, or consists of several compartments, carved out along the sides of the main large room and adapted to accommodate entire families. A bed and a hearth are the main accessories of every home. The bed was carved into the wall, and the hearth was located in the middle of the room. The ceilings in large caves are vaulted. (Dubois) To the north of Taurida, between the Don and Danube, numerous Scythian tribes spread out. They attacked the Crimea, pushed the Taurus to the south and mixed with them under the name of Tauro-Scythians. The historical fame of Taurida begins from the time when the Greeks founded their colonies here, on the site of which the famous Vosporan kingdom arose and the most important cities of Taurida were formed: Chersonesos, Panticapaeum, Theodosius, etc. The enterprising Greeks early began the colonization of the Pontic coast and their relations with the Tauride Peninsula. This is indicated by the Argonauts' campaign in Transcaucasia (Colchis), rich in gold mines, and the legend of Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, who filled the position of priestess in the church of Tauride Artemis or Diana. In the VI table. BC Greek settlements already occupy most of the Black Sea coast. The colonization of Tauris dates back to the same era and originated from two cities in Asia Minor: Miletus and Iraklia. The Milesians established themselves on the southeastern side of the peninsula and founded Panticapaeum (on the site of present-day Kerch), and immigrants from Iraklia Pontic 1 settled on its southwestern tip and founded Herrones, later known as Chersonese, and in our chronicles - Korsun. By the name of its metropolis, Iraklia Pontic and the entire southwest. The tip of Taurida, separated from the rest of the peninsula by the Ctenus Bay (the current Sevastopol roadstead) and the Symvolon Bay (the current Balaklava Bay), was called the Irakli Peninsula. From then on, Tauris became the center of lively trade relations and an important point of ancient Greek civilization. The Vosporan settlements first occupied a small coastal strip near the present Kerch Strait, known in ancient times as Vosporus of Cimmeria (Strab. L. VII p. 487), but then the boundaries of the Vosporan kingdom expanded and embraced the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov and part of Transcaucasia. Thus, the Greek colonies in Crimea constituted, after the Taurus and Scythians, the third ethnographic element of this region. Herrones, as we said, was founded by a Dorian colony from Pontic Praklia and was located at the southwestern tip of the Tauride Peninsula, on a high rock jutting out into the sea east of the present Troika Bay. This was approximately 5 centuries BC. At the very tip of the Praclia Peninsula, on the present Cape Lantern, there was the famous sanctuary of the Taurian goddess, “Παρθενος”, which is why the cape itself was called Partenite in ancient times. (Strabo VII ed Casavb. 213). Another church of the same goddess, based on the exact instructions of Strabo, should have been located near the cape where the monastery of St. George now stands. Here Dubois believes the famous church of Taurian Diana, in which Iphigenia made bloody sacrifices to the ancient goddess and from where the Taurus captured sailors caught in a storm for their bloody sacrifices. The Greek settlers, having established themselves in Crimea, maintained the cult of the native goddess in the newly built city, but wanting to connect the local deity with their native religious ideas, they changed her name to Artemis and revered her under this name. They built churches in her honor and stamped her image on coins, along with busts of Apollo and Hercules. Very little is known about the fate of ancient Herrones and its monuments. We can say that the traces of his existence have been erased by time and destroyed by the hand of man. Built originally on elevated S.W. tip of the Tauride Peninsula, it existed on this site for no more than five centuries, and during the time of Strabo, in the first century AD, ancient Cherrones had already been destroyed (Χερρον ή σος κατὲσκαμμένη), and its inhabitants moved their populations further east and founded a new Chersonesus nearby from present-day Sevastopol. What was the reason for this movement and at what time it occurred can only be answered with assumptions. Perhaps this catastrophe was a consequence of the attack of the Tauro-Scythians, who disturbed the Greeks with their raids; but it is most likely to assume that it was caused by the inconveniences of the original position of the city and the benefits of the new area for trade relations of the Chersonites. The Greek settlers, having arrived in a country unknown to them and being in danger from pirates, had to first of all choose for their populations the most isolated area, near the sea and as protected as possible from attacks by sea robbers. A high rocky coast, jutting out into the sea as Cape Partenit, guaranteed their city on this side; but later, when the Chersonites acquired a strong position in the territory of Taurida, established extensive trade relations and became very rich, the former area no longer seemed entirely convenient to them. And so they decided to move a few miles to the east and founded a new city 7 miles from the previous one on a spit formed by the harbors of Ctenus and Symvolon, that is, at an equal distance from the Sevastopol Bay and Balaklava Bay (Strab. L. VIII p. 214). 2 The resettlement of the Chersonites, which occurred calmly, undoubtedly continued for a long time. Residents moved to a new place, taking with them everything they could from the old city, and built a new one - from the ruins and materials of the previous one. This, by the way, explains why so few monuments remain from the former Herronis. The new situation significantly increased the well-being of the Herrsonites and gave them the opportunity to maintain extensive trade relations. The Khersonites had two excellent harbors, one of which was in the east and the other in the west: namely, the current Balaklava and Sevastol bays. In the latter, the English traveler Guthrie found iron rings that were used to tie ships, and the first, by its very name “Symbolon,” i.e., the harbor of advice or agreement, indicates relations and trade transactions associated with it. That these relations were significant and extended to distant countries is proven by coins of different Greek cities (see Kene. 9), found in Chersonesos and the testimony of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who speaks of the extensive trade of the Chersonites with the Pechenegs and other northern tribes, who received from Chersonesus: purple fabrics, silk belts, wrists, expensive materials and jewelry, leopard skins and other items. 3. In addition to historical evidence, archaeological discoveries also speak about the wealth and widely developed social life of Chersonesos during the flourishing period of its existence. Pallas, Dubois Montpere, Arcas, Gr. Uvarov and other scientists engaged in archaeological research on the soil of Chersonesos, with their discoveries, illuminated the ancient history of this city and introduced it to its internal life and external physiognomy. To protect themselves from attacks from their neighbors the Scythians, and perhaps the Vosporans, with whom the Iraklians came into conflict from time to time, they built a stone wall from the present Balaklava Bay to the Sevastopol roadstead, thus completely separating their territory from the rest of the Tauride Peninsula. This wall was made of large, roughly hewn limestones and, according to Strabo, extended for 40 stadia (8 versts). Near it there were several towers that probably served as guard posts to warn against enemy attacks. The city itself was also surrounded on all sides by a wall, the ruins of which are still preserved in many places. Its direction was incorrect with the twists and zigzags on which the towers are located; From the sea side, several piers lead to it, where they went along stairs carved into the rocks. There are traces of several gates leading into the interior of the city. The city itself was located incorrectly: the main street, three fathoms wide (Arkas), runs from the western gate along the southern edge of the city, and then turns to the northeast and gets lost there. Besides this wide street, which it would be more convenient to call a road, there were even smaller streets and alleys; but the Chersonese area is still so littered with rubble and debris that it is impossible to determine the direction and number of the latter. Not far from the gate was a vast city square (ἀγ ό ρα), stretching over 2,200 square meters. fathoms. Chersonesus, according to Dubois Montpere, was closely built up with houses and various buildings. According to his calculations, there were at least 5,000 houses here, and the city in its best era could accommodate up to 50,000 people. (Dub. Mon. VI. 149). According to the custom of indigenous Greek cities, the streets and squares of Chersonesos were decorated with metal and marble monuments in honor of famous citizens. Two statues cast from copper reminded citizens of the exploits of the famous Gykia. A marble monument with a bust of Agasicletus preserved in the memory of posterity the merits of this famous citizen, who “fortified the city and surrounded it with a wall, built a city square, and was its caretaker, demarcated the field around the city for growing vineyards.” The field belonging to the city was divided into equal quadrangular plots, which probably achieved equality between citizens of land ownership. The surroundings of Chersonesos, as Dubois's research showed, were covered with vineyards that supplied the residents with good wine. Only water did the Chersonites feel lacking. Having settled on a rocky seashore, in a country poor in flowing water, they, of necessity, had to take care of digging wells and installing water pipes. Several tanks are still preserved within the city, but the main reservoir from which the Chersonites received water was located in the outskirts of the city, 7½ versts from the current ruins of Chersonese... These are the main Chersonese monuments that have come down to us. This list should be supplemented with a description of the ancient churches and graves discovered here: but we will talk about these monuments later, when we move on to the history of Chersonesos in the Christian era of its history. With the founding of the new Chersonese, a more reliable political history of this city begins, from which more outstanding events will be brought here. The enemies of the Chersonites, as we said, were the Vosporans and the Scythians, with whom the Iraklian settlers waged constant wars, but maintained independence and self-government throughout the first five centuries. This independence continued until the first table. before the Nativity of Christ, when they came under the rule of the Romans. At this time, the Chersonites began to be strongly pressed by the Scythians, under the leadership of their king Skilur. They took possession of the harbor of Symvolon and built the Palakion fortress at its mouth. Unable to defend themselves from the attacks of the Scythians, the Chersonites turned for help to the famous Pontic king Mithradates 4. He gladly accepted this offer, which corresponded to his aggressive plans, and with 6,000 troops led by Diophantus, he defeated the Scythians and drove them out of Tauris. But as a reward for this service, he subjugated the Chersonites to his power, leaving his army and governor. When the Romans countered Mithradates' plans of conquest with the force of their weapons, he was defeated and committed suicide. (64 BC). But Chersonesus did not regain its independence and came under the rule of the Romans. However, the Romans granted autonomy to Chersonese, recognizing it as free and entrusting the administration of the city to its own Protevons, who presided over the Senate in peacetime and were the leaders of the army during war. From this time on, a flourishing time began in the history of Chersonesos. Being under the patronage of the Romans and until the time of Hadrian under the protection of the Roman garrison, the Chersonites waged successful wars with the Scythians and the Vosporan kingdom. Under Diocletian, they acted in concert with the Romans against the Sarmatian commander Criscon, occupied Panticapaeum and, as a reward for this service, received the rights of ately, or autonomy, coupled with exemption from all taxes. A remarkable episode from the history of Chersonese dates back to this time, preserved in the work of Constantine Porphyrogenitus “de administrando imperio” and characterizing the relationship between this city and Vosporans. The Chersonese Protevon Lamachus had an only daughter, Gikia, for whom the then Vosporan king Asander II wooed one of his sons, wanting with this union to become close to the Chersonites and to find a more convenient opportunity to take revenge on them for the victories over the Vosporan kingdom. Lamachus agreed to this marriage only on the condition that the spouses remain in Chersonesos and Asander’s son never returns to his homeland. The condition was accepted. Meanwhile, Lamachus died, and Gykia’s husband, pursuing his plans, managed from time to time, over the course of several years, to secretly lead 10 or more of his compatriots to Chersonesus, with the help of whom he thought to take possession of the city. They entered the house of Lamachus through secret paths and hid in a special room under the floor. The day of the anniversary of Lamachus arrived, which Gikia usually solemnly celebrated. On this day, Asander decided to act through his entourage and take possession of Chersonesus. But their plan failed. “One of the maids of Gykia,” says Constantine Porphyrogenitus, “was guilty of something and for this she was driven out of the mistress’s sight and locked in a separate chamber, under which the Vosporans were hiding. The maid accidentally dropped the spindle, which rolled to the wall and fell into a deep gap. To get it, she lifted one of the bricks and saw a crowd of people in the lower part of the house. Then she sent one of the maids to the mistress, asking her to come to her... and when Gikia came, she told everything that she had seen. Realizing that there was something evil hidden here, Gikia ordered her two relatives to gather the most significant citizens of Chersonesos, and they should choose three proxies from among them, and so that these three persons would promise with an oath to fulfill what she would ask them for...” Then she revealed to them the intention of the conspirators; but in order not to arouse suspicion, she advised starting the holiday with all the ceremonies and merry rituals, as it usually went, and in the evening, surrounding the house where the conspirators had hidden with brushwood and firewood and, when everyone calmed down, setting it on fire. The citizens did just that. Not knowing about the danger, the Vosporans were caught in the flames and died every single one. In gratitude for saving the city, the grateful Chersonese built a large hill on the site of Lamach's house, and in honor of Gykia they erected two copper statues: one depicted her in magnificent clothes, revealing her husband's intrigues to the Chersonites, and in the other she was depicted armed, at the moment of revenge on the traitors. On the base of this statue there was an inscription carved that conveyed all the circumstances of the conspiracy. This event happened in the last years of the reign of Constantine the Great and belongs to the most flourishing time of this city. The decline of Chersonese begins with the Byzantine period of its history, when it, along with other Greek regions of Pontus, went to the rulers of the Eastern Roman Empire, which went to Arcadius. From that time on, over the course of several centuries, Crimea was attacked by the Huns, Goths, Avars, Khozars and other peoples brought forward from Asia at the beginning of the great migration. The city at this time was so impoverished that it no longer had its own means to restore the walls and asked for help from Emperor Zeno. For the repair of the city walls, Zeno ceded part of the collection allocated for the maintenance of the ballistarii or Roman riflemen located in Chersonesos. The Chersonites immortalized this event by erecting a statue with an inscription in honor of the emperor. In the same era, Chersonesos became famous in our history. Already under the first Russian princes, Chersonese was in great danger from the Russians, who raided Byzantium under Oleg, Igor and Svyatoslav. In view of this state of affairs, the Greek emperors vigilantly monitored the relations of the Russians towards Chersonesos and tried by all means to protect it from Russian weapons, as evidenced by several articles in the treaty of Igor with the Greeks (942). It was decided that the Russian prince should not assume any power over Chersonesus, undertakes not to disturb its inhabitants who came to fish at the mouth of the Dnieper and to keep the Black Bulgarians from war with the Chersonites (Nestor Ch. VIII). As the northern point of the empire, Chersonesus was very important for Byzantium, but due to its remote location it was in great danger from its northern neighbors. The legend about the campaign against Surozh (Ancient Sogdaya, Soldaya, - present-day Sudak) of the Novgorod prince Bravlin with the great army of the Russians, who took possession of the space from Korsun to Kerch, and about the miracle from the relics of St. Stephen of Sourozh Bishop also points to the military enterprises of the Russians against Taurida 5; but all these campaigns are far from having such significance in the fate of Russia and such importance in their consequences as the famous campaign against Korsun by V.K. Vladimir, which was accompanied by the great all-Russian event of his adoption of Christianity. The Grand Duke launched a campaign against Chersonese in 987 and besieged it from sea and land. The Chersonites stubbornly resisted, despite Vladimir's threat to stand for three years under the walls of their city. They hoped to hold out for a long time in Chersonesus, which was surrounded by a strong wall and surrounded by a ditch. To open access to the city, the Russians began to dig in this ditch, and the Chersonites dug into the ditch and carried the earth out of it into the city, thus destroying the Russian siege work. The city was taken after one of the besieged, monk Anastasius, fired an arrow into the camp with a note in which he announced that on the eastern side of the city there was a water supply system from which the residents received water. Then the Grand Duke ordered this water supply to be dug up, and the city was forced to surrender. Dubois, during his travels across the Crimea, discovered traces of an underground mine of the Khersonites in the city square, and near the Ushakov farm the remains of a water pipeline that supplied the Khersonites with water (Dub. VI, 150. Compare Arkas Western Odessa. General vol. II, 258). Having entered the city, Grand Duke Vladimir asked for the hand of Princess Anna, the sister of the then emperors Vasily and Constantine, and received it on the condition of accepting the Christian faith, for which he had long felt a disposition. On the city square, between the palaces of the Grand Duke and the Princess, stood the Church of the Virgin Mary, in which Vladimir received St. baptism. Both the church and the palaces existed in the time of Nestor, as can be seen from his chronicle. In gratitude to God for his conversion to faith and for the capture of the city, Vladimir built a church on a hill near the square where the besieged carried away the earth during the Russian siege. Some of the Chersonese shrines have now become the property of newly enlightened Rus'. Vladimir brought the relics of St. Clement and his disciple Thebes, various kinds of church utensils: crosses, icons, vessels that were left by him in the tithe church, entrusted to the management of Anastasius Korsunyanin. “And as soon as the Zizha (tithe church) has passed away,” our chronicler says, decorate it (Vladimir) with icons and entrust it to Anastas Korsunyanin; and the priests of Korsun ordered them to serve in it and gave it everything that he took from Korsun, icons and vessels and crosses.” From here, from Korsun, he also brought four bronze horses, which in Nestorov’s time still stood on the square in Kyiv. Having served this great service to our fatherland, Chersonesus leaves its historical soil and little by little loses its former significance. Returned again to the rule of the Greeks, he exhausts his strength in constant clashes with the newcomer Khozars, Pechenegs and Cumans, and his territory is reduced. In the 13th century The Genoese settled in the Tauride Peninsula and founded their trading cities and trading posts here. Kaffa becomes their leader, and together with Sudak (Soydaya) takes over all the trade of that region. The proximity of these two trading centers had a much more destructive influence on the fate of Chersonesos than the domination of the Tatars, who at the same time occupied the Crimea and captured some of its cities. In this pitiful state the city existed for about two more centuries; but this was only one shadow of the ancient glorious Chersonese, which served as the center of Greek settlements in Tauris. When in the middle of the 15th century. The Turks, having conquered Constantinople, directed their weapons against the Crimea: then the rich Genoese cities fell victim to their attacks: Caffa, Tana, etc.; and Chersonese at that time was so poor and sparsely populated and was in such decline that the conquerors did not find it necessary to use armed force against it and limited themselves to the slow plunder of the architectural monuments remaining in it. They broke out marble columns and large stones and transported them to Constantinople to build and decorate palaces and mosques. However, even a whole century after this, the city still retained visible traces of its former greatness in the remains of walls, towers and magnificent buildings that survived here and there among the rubble of dilapidated buildings. In 1595, Martin Bronovius, the envoy of Stefan Batory, found quite a few monuments still preserved from destruction. But at that time it was already an empty city, without population, abandoned by its inhabitants and left to inevitable destruction 6 . And the city really never came back to life. The new period in the history of Crimea, which began with the time of its conquest by Russian troops, did not bring to life the once flourishing city: but gave birth to a new city, which arose on the soil of ancient Chersonesos and partly from materials preserved on its ruins. We mean Sevastopol. This is the third city formed on the Iraklian Peninsula, in an area occupied by Dorian settlers. Sevastopol was founded shortly after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. Empress Catherine II, wishing to establish a port on the Black Sea, ordered in 1783 to send the Frigate “Caution”, under the command of Captain Bersenev, to survey the coast of Crimea and survey the port, which until that time was called Akhtiarskaya Bay. Bersenev, having arrived at his destination, found the port excellent, and soon the first Russian squadron was introduced into it. At the same time, the foundation was laid for a city that received the name Sevastopol. II. Spread of Christianity in Chersonesus. - Ancient churches. The political history of Chersonese far from exhausts its cultural significance; this latter can only be understood in connection with the history of Christianity in this region. In this regard, Chersonese experienced several major church-historical events, marking its existence as a prominent feature in the history of Christianity. We don’t know much about the spiritual and religious life of Chersonesos from written sources; but the poverty of historical information on this subject is significantly supplemented by archaeological discoveries made recently on its soil. These monumental remains preserve for us important indications of the fate of Christianity in this city and many aspects of its church life. To illuminate this material obtained through archaeological excavations and to guess from it the religious life of the Chersonites is the task of this essay. Chersonesus gained fame very early in the history of Christianity. The legend recorded by Nestor says that St. Andrew, on the way from Sinop, arrived in Chersonesus, and from here along the Dnieper he rose to the Kyiv mountains, where he prophesied about the founding of a famous city here, and planted a cross. At the end of the first century St. was exiled to Chersonesos. Clement of Rome. According to the ancient legend about his martyrdom 7, St. Clement, for his zeal for the faith and the conversion of many Romans to Christianity, through the machinations of the consul Mamertine, was exiled under Trajan to the most remote part of the empire, beyond the Euxine Pontus, to the desert adjacent to Chersonesos and condemned to work in the quarries (Πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης κα ί τ ȣ Π ό ντ ȣ ἐν ἐρ ή μω παρακειμένη τῆ Χερσῶνι π ό λει ). Others convicted for their faith were already in exile here. With his virtues and teachings, he converted many of his accomplices to Christ, and for this, by order of Trajan, he was thrown into the sea with an anchor around his neck. Subsequently, the body of the martyr was found and preserved in the church built in his honor; but already St. Cyril, going to preach to the Slavic tribes, took with him 8 from Chersonesos part of the relics of St. Clement and brought it to Rome, and the other remains were transferred to Kyiv by V.K. Vladimir and placed in the tithe church. As the most remote region of the empire, bordering on the semi-wild nomadic tribes of the Scythians, Sarmatov Avars, Huns and others, Chersonesus for a long time served as a place of exile for political criminals and for people who had fallen out of favor with the government. Thus, here Flavia Domitilla, the niece of Emperor Domitian 9, languished in exile for her sympathy for the Christian faith; Here Pope Martin was in exile for disagreeing with Emperor Constance, who patronized Monothelitism 10, then St. Joseph the hymnist for the veneration of icons 11 and many more. other. What influence all these exiles had on the fate of Christianity in this region, we cannot say; but, in any case, being under strict supervision, they had little freedom to spread Christian concepts and influence others with a word of persuasion. As far as historical evidence allows us to judge, until the end of the 4th century Chersonese remained so pagan that the first missionary bishops sent in 310 by the Bishop of Jerusalem Hermon: Ephraim and Basil, had no success in Tauro-Scythia and died a martyr's death 12. Oh St. Vasily's legend says that he lived for some time in a cave called the parthenon or maiden's cave 13. In this legend, one topographical feature of ancient Chersonesus has been preserved, namely, an indication of the famous church of Artemis of Taurus, which Strabo calls the Virgin (Παρθένος). The work of the first missionaries of Christianity in this region was continued by several of their closest successors, namely the bishops: Eugene, Elpidius and Agathodorus, sent to preach by the same Archbishop Hermon of Jerusalem. But they were not successful and were tortured by the Chersonites. The successor of these three martyred Bishops was St. Epherius. He acted in Chersonesos at a time when Constantine the Great openly patronized the Christian religion and granted it complete freedom. Having encountered complete obstinacy on the part of the Chersonites, he turned to Emperor Constantine for assistance and persuaded him to issue an edict by which the rebellious pagans were deprived of their civil rights and expelled from the city, and people disposed to the Christian faith were settled in their place. But on the way to Byzantium, where St. Epherius went to thank the emperor for this order; he was caught by the pagans irritated against him and drowned 14. The successor of St. had a stronger position in Chersonesos and more success. Epherius Kapiton, who arrived in Chersonesos at the request of its inhabitants, who asked Constantine for Vel. bishop. Having spent some time unharmed in the fire, by this miracle he finally persuaded the Chersonites to accept Christianity and baptized many of them. Activities of St. Capiton dates back to the first quarter of the 4th century. About this time the Kherson diocese was founded and a continuous series of bishops began, some of whom were present at the councils and signed their names under their definitions. Simultaneously with the successes of Christianity in Chersonesos, the Christian faith was spreading in other areas of Tauris, among the Goths, Huns and other tribes that lived either in the Crimea itself or in the countries neighboring it. Among these tribes, the Goths had the most influence on the fate of Christianity, within ancient Taurida. Back in the middle of the 3rd century, they became acquainted with Christian teaching through the Greek captives they captured during the attack on Galatia; and then, after the victory of Constantine the Great, they openly accepted Christianity, and their bishop Theophilus was present at the first ecumenical council. The Gothic diocese was dependent on the throne of Constantinople, and St. John Chrysostom took an active part in its organization. The Crimean Goths became so accustomed to this hierarchical dependence that they themselves turned to Constantinople with a request for the installation of a new Bishop, as happened, for example, under John Chrysostom, after the death of their bishop Unina, and under Justinian, to whom they sent four ambassadors with the same request 15. It would, however, be unfair to think that at this time Christianity spread everywhere in Crimea, and its triumph over paganism was complete and complete. Not only in the 4th and 5th centuries, from which evidence of the persecution of Christians came down to us, even several centuries later, elements of paganism continue to linger next to the monuments of Christianity in Chersonesos and its environs. Chersonese coins until the end of the 6th century retained the previous Greco-Roman type and repeated images of Artemis, Hercules, an ox, a griffin with some other emblems and a few signs of the most ancient era. The first Chersonese coin with a Christian sign, according to the catalog of Mr. Quesne, belongs to the time of Emperor Mauritius (582–602) and depicts on the front side the emperor and his wife Constantine with a cross in his hand, and on the back an unknown saint, apparently in a phelonion, who in his right hand holds a long cross ending with the letter p, or a polygram of the name of Christ 16. From this time on, signs of Christianity on coins began to appear more and more often. This shows that the social life of Chersonesos adopted Christian principles long after the ideas of Christianity penetrated here along with their first preachers. On Byzantine coins minted under Constantine the Great, although the Christian stamp did not completely supplant images of a pagan nature, it already makes itself felt from the very first in the use of a monogram or initial letters of the name of Christ next to the emblems and signs of the former monetary system 17 . We do not find this mixed stamp on the Coins of Chersonesos. In the middle of the 7th century, Pope Martin, exiled to Chersonesus for disagreeing with the emperor in the then dogmatic disputes, depicts the morals of its inhabitants in the following terms: “we are not only separated from the rest of the world, but also deprived of the necessary things. The inhabitants of this country are all pagans; they lack philanthropy and natural compassion, understandable even to barbarians” 18. In Surozh, until the middle of the 8th century, according to the life of St. Stephen of Sourozh, many filthy people and few Christians. And about St. Stephen says that he “sat on the archbishop’s table for five years, baptized the entire city and its surroundings” 19. Let us not forget that we are talking about a city that had bishops before St. Stephen and was one of the possessions of Chersonese, extending to Feodosia and further to the east 20. Historical information about the religious life of Chersonesos in the Christian era is supplemented by archaeological monuments, and the study of the church-religious relations of the Chersonites should mainly rely on them. If these monuments are not so numerous as to resurrect before us the state of Christianity in this city, if these monuments are not indicated by exact chronological signs of their origin, they nevertheless reflected many important and characteristic features of the religious life of Chersonesos, about which history is silent, and which without these monuments would have disappeared for us without a trace. The ruins of ancient churches, graves and inscriptions - these are the archaeological data that illuminate the past fate of Christian Chersonesos. As for the churches, they appeared in Chersonesos very early and are contemporary with the first preachers of Christianity in this region. If you believe the story of the martyrdom of St. Clement, in his time there were already up to 75 churches in Chersonesus; but no matter how small these churches are, their number is obviously exaggerated and disproportionate to the small number of the then Christian population in this region. St. Epherius, one of the first Chersonese missionary bishops, relying on the patronage of Constantine the Great, built a large church in the city, which can be considered the first permanent church. The ancient Chersonese churches have survived to us in three types; namely: some, more extensive, were built according to the plan of ancient basilicas and, judging by the time of prosperity of this architectural style, should belong to the most ancient works of church architecture in Chersonesus. Other churches, smaller in size, with a quadrangular, almost square foundation, have all the signs of the Byzantine style. Finally, in the vicinity of Chersonesus and in many places in Crimea, small cave churches carved into the rocks, with a small room for the altar and recesses in the side walls for burying the dead, have been preserved. The mountainous terrain of Crimea was especially favorable for the construction of these cave churches, which served at the same time for church services and as a burial place. A representative of the first basilical type of Christian churches can be the foundation and details of the church opened in 1853 Gr. Uvarov. 21 Built according to the same plan, there was a church opened in Chersonesos by the architect Avdeev. More famous are the churches built in the Byzantine style. Since the 6th century, Byzantine architecture has dominated the entire Christian East and has become a widespread type of church architecture. By this time, the position of Christianity in Chersonesos had strengthened, and to satisfy the religious needs of the city, a need arose for a large number of churches. The significant population of the city in its heyday further reinforces this assumption and makes us think that there were quite a few churches in Chersonesos. Judging by their size, they were small: the most spacious of them, the ruins of which are located almost halfway along the main city street, is 18 arshins wide and the same length 22. Remarkable for its symmetrical cruciform plan and elegant marble and mosaic decoration, this church is even more remarkable for its origin. It stands on the site of the ancient sanctuary of Artemis of Tauride, the patroness of pagan Chersonesos, and is made from materials from this temple. Dubois, who saw the remains of the church, was amazed at the elegant works of classical sculpture in the capitals of the Ionic order, in marble slabs and other remains of ancient art. But these Fragments of the ancient style were mixed with the rude works of Byzantine workmanship, with the heavy columns and tasteless ornaments of later architecture. It is unknown when this transformation of the ancient church into a Christian church took place: we can only say that this church belonged to a Greek monastery and, perhaps, was the same one from which V. Prince Vladimir, according to Russian and Polish chronicles, transported the royal gates of Corinthian bronze to Kyiv as a trophy of his victory over Chersonese, along with church utensils and four copper horses. This episode from the history of Chersonesos is reminiscent of a similar circumstance that happened two centuries later with Byzantium. When the Crusaders captured Constantinople, they took from it many precious works of ancient art, and among other things, the copper horses that stood in front of the entrance to the Church of St. Sophia. These horses were captured by the Venetians, transported to Venice and still adorn the portal of St. Mark's Cathedral. In closer connection with the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir and the great cause of enlightening Russia with Christianity are the ruins of another Chersonese church, located on the glorious city square. This is probably the same church in which V. Prince received baptism and where his marriage to Princess Anna took place. Nestor says that this Church of Our Lady was located in the center of the city, on the city square and was built between two palaces, one of which was occupied by V. Prince Vladimir, and the other by Princess Anna. At the time of our first chronicler these historical buildings were intact, and Nestor identifies by them the position of the Church of Our Lady; but there is no trace of the palaces now; and only the ruins of the church remained, which Dubois Monpere saw and described at one time. 23 According to his description, this church represents a perfect example of the Byzantine style. Its altar protruded outward as a semicircular protrusion; the vaults and dome of the church were supported by columns of white marble mottled with blue veins; the tops (capitals) and their middles were decorated with Byzantine crosses. When in 1861 this place was cleared for the construction of a church in the name of St. Prince Vladimir, not only the foundation of the ancient church in which V. Prince was baptized was found, but the foundations of the surrounding churches and residential buildings, with cisterns, water pipes, bathhouses and other accessories of residential premises were discovered. Judging by this plan, Kherson Square was built up with churches and public buildings. In addition to the main church, on the foundation of which the current Church of St. Vladimir was erected, five churches were opened in parts and as a whole. The largest of them, with a prominent large altar projection, is oblong in shape, divided into three compartments, and laid out on the plan of a basilica. The other, somewhat smaller in size, approaches a square at its base, has two side altar compartments for the offering and a diaconium, and ends with a dome supported on four pillars. It is difficult to determine with certainty what the purpose of the buildings surrounding this church was. Maybe here was the seat of the Chersonese bishop and his clergy, maybe in this foundation the remains of the chamber of V. Prince and the princess, about whom Nestor speaks, survived. It is very likely that these buildings were intended for temporary housing of pilgrims who came to Chersonesus and were equipped with everything necessary for their life.1 Where and whether the remains of the church built by V. Prince Vladimir have been preserved, the latest discoveries do not say anything. Time is more and more smoothing out these significant ruins of ancient Chersonesos, which have such close, one might say, sacred significance in the history of our fatherland. We know even less about the fate of those churches about which fragmentary indications have reached us in one or another written source. Thus, from a handwritten legend about the discovery of the relics of St. Clement, written by an unknown person close in time, and perhaps an eyewitness to this event, we learn that in Chersonesos there were, in addition to the main cathedral church (catholic church), the church of St. Sozont, which was probably located near the city wall 24, the house of St. Leontius and the newly erected “pillar” in honor of St. Clement. Cave churches are much more preserved in Crimea. There are a lot of them in the rocks on the southern coast of Crimea, near Mangup, Inkerman, Tepekerman and other places. In order to understand the origin of these churches and their structure, it is necessary to consider them in connection with the caves and grottoes that abound in this part of the Tauride Peninsula, and which, as we said, served as the dwellings of the first inhabitants of this region. Later, when the cave tribe of Taurida emerged from the state of initial savagery and adopted Christianity, churches were carved into the rocks, which in their size and setting best suited the unpretentious requirements of the inhabitants of the grottoes. Cave churches - we will call them crypts - have a very simple structure and consist of two sections: one assigned to the altar, the other to the people. The altar always ends in a semicircle. In the semicircle there is a recess with a vault; A stone throne was placed here, its top board had a recess for relics. To the side of it, an altar was attached to the wall. But crypts of a more complex structure have been preserved, with many compartments, with the remains of ancient Byzantine painting and built according to a well-known architectural plan. Some of them were cut down again, while others were remade from those that had been cut out before and had an everyday purpose. This is what one of these extensive crypts, located near Inkerman, looks like. It should be noted that Inkerman is a fortress located on a steep cliff abutting the bank of the Chernaya River. The sides of this rock are cut with holes leading into caves or grottoes carved inside the rock. The crypt we are describing is carved into the rock at a height of two-thirds from its base. Two staircases lead into it; but one of them is completely destroyed, while on the other you can safely ascend to the platform, on the sides of which several caves or compartments have been made in the rock, which had different purposes. While still climbing the stairs, we must pass two small caves that were once inhabited, but are now filled with bones and turned into burial rooms. Rising even higher onto the platform, to the left we will have a small chapel, which serves as a porch or vestibule for another of much larger size. Passing another small chapel, with inscriptions carved on its walls, we finally enter the main crypt, located in accordance with the well-known plan: with a semicircular altar to the east and with three longitudinal compartments or naves. A four-pointed cross is carved on the altar vault; at the bottom along the circumference of the ledge there are seats for the presbyters and a bishop's seat 25. The existence of cave churches shows that the mountainous population of Crimea was very poor and satisfied their religious needs with churches hidden far from human eyes and almost inaccessible in their position. For all these circumstances, the cave churches represent an interesting monument from the history of that region and lead to many considerations. What motives forced the ancient inhabitants of Tauris to retire so far into this cave region? Were they afraid of persecution from alien tribes, or did they voluntarily choose solitude for any moral and religious purposes? But history does not answer all these questions, and the fate of the cave churches remains mysterious to us. In addition to these large public monuments of the religious life of the Chersonites, some objects that constituted a home shrine and were in circulation for private use serve as witnesses to their life and religious customs. This should include: crosses, medallions with sacred images, icons and some other household items. Of course, there are not so many of them that it would be possible to resurrect from them the religious life of Chersonesos, as it was reflected in the customs and forms of domestic life; nevertheless, hitherto discovered objects deserve attention and mention in this regard. Of the 20 examples of crosses delivered to the exhibition, most were used to be worn around the neck and were equipped with ears or drilled holes for this purpose. Some of them are metal, others are made of stone, some are very small, others are larger in size, some with a graffito carved image of the crucifixion, others in relief, others finally completely smooth, like most of the stone ones. The exquisite workmanship of the small crosses deserves attention, as does the design of the folding double crosses, each of which consists of two folding halves, hollow inside, each with an image of a crucifix. Both halves are fastened near the eyelet and can open freely. A cross made of a thin metal plate, with holes for nails, was nailed to the wall, or perhaps formed the frame of a wooden cross. Due to the nature of the images, the Chersonese crosses also deserve attention. On some of them the image of the crucifixion bears traces of the ancient type and represents the Savior in a long tunic or colobius; on one cross with the inscription “ἡ ὰγ ί α Θεοτ ό κ (ος)” the Mother of God is depicted holding the labor of the Eternal Child and with the image of the four Evangelists in medallions at the ends of the cross. The Chersonites also depicted the cross on rings: of the four metal objects of this kind, one with a carved seal shows a cross in a circle of dots. Fragments of a metal icon depicting a crucifixion have also been preserved. The prevalence of this image speaks for itself, showing how deeply this symbol of Christianity penetrated into the religious life of Chersonesos and what extensive application it found not only in church and liturgical life, but also in the field of domestic religious worship. As for the icons, they have the form of medallions, that is, oval or semi-oval metal tiles, with chased images of various religious subjects. Many of them resemble our ancient hryvnias; but from the absence of ears it is clear that they were not hung, but attached in some other way. Among the sacred images included here are: the Mother of God blessing, John the Baptist as he is depicted on the Deesis icon (δεησις), St. Procopius, St. George the Victorious and Demetrius of Selunsky. 26 Here are a few remnants of religious life, Korsunya, representatives of that region and, perhaps, that time, from where and when, according to our chronicle, Vladimir transferred icons, crosses and various church utensils to the Tithe Church. This memory of Korsun became so closely associated with the idea of ​​ancient Russian church utensils that many works of the best style were called Korsun. Description of the Chersonese monuments located at the Sevastopol Department of the Polytechnic Exhibition Its discovery was made in 1853, during excavations carried out in the vicinity of Chersonesos Gr. Uvarov. This monument is of particular importance to us for the curious data it presents for the history of funeral rites among the Chersonites and for getting to know some objects from their daily life. In general, it should be noted that the funeral cult of the ancients combined many objects from their everyday life: and therefore, graves and mounds, with funeral accessories preserved in them, often reveal secrets from the past life of peoples that history is silent about and people’s memory has forgotten. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, two methods of burial were used: burning the corpse and interring it. The latter was undoubtedly the oldest as a simpler and more natural form of burial; but already very early in the heroic era of the Iliad, the custom of burning corpses was in full force, and in the Iliad its ritual setting was conveyed to us in detail in the story about the burial of Patroclus, Hector and other heroes of the Trojan War. Omitting details, we will only say that the ashes and bones remaining from the burnt corpse were carefully collected and placed in urns or special boxes “λαρνακες, σοροι” like our coffins, decorated them with flowers, covered with expensive fabrics and transferred to the grave, over which a hill or mound was poured, and near the coffin They placed objects loved by the deceased. The Romans placed urns for preservation in special crypts or tombs. The interior of the tombs looked like a large room, along the walls of which semicircular niches or recesses were made in several rows. Urns with ashes were placed in these recesses and sometimes sealed with a tile or marble board. The burial usually took place outside the city in its environs. This was the case with the Greeks, and so it was with the Romans, by virtue of the law of the XII Tables, which prohibited burning corpses and burying them in the ground within the city. That is why, in the vicinity of Rome, extensive cemeteries with magnificent crypts of rich patrician families were formed and located along the roads leading to the city. With the beginning of the Christian era, when the custom of burning began to be introduced, and its place was taken by interment of the body or burial in the proper sense, the construction of graves began to be adapted to the preservation of the whole corpse, and the closest example of this type of funeral crypts are the catacombs or underground cemeteries near Rome, where the niches are much wider and more spacious than in the Roman crypts. Chersonesos graves belong to this period of burial practice and are adapted to placing corpses in their entirety. Following the general custom of that time, the Chersonites buried their dead outside the city, and therefore the outskirts of Chersonesos represent a vast cemetery that surrounds the city on all sides. Especially many graves have been preserved in the east of the city near the present Quarantine Bay. How strictly this rule was observed among the Chersonites, and what an extraordinary act was considered to violate it, is shown by an episode from the history of the famous conspiracy discovered by Gikiei. As a reward for this great service, she negotiates for herself the right to be buried within the walls of the city itself, and the citizens promise with an oath to fulfill her wish. She prefers this right to all other expressions of public gratitude and refuses to build a new house at the expense of the city to replace the one that burned down. But having received an oath confirming the fulfillment of his desire, Gikia doubts his sincerity and decides to test his citizens with a special cunning. Having persuaded her servants, she pretends to be dead. The citizens, after the meeting, did not dare to fulfill the oath they had taken and carried the imaginary dead woman out of the city. Near the grave itself, she stood up and bitterly reproached her fellow citizens for their treachery. Then they swore an oath a second time, and this time they kept their word. While still alive, they allowed Gikia to choose a place for burial and placed a gilded copper bust of Gikia on it as proof of her rights to the place marked by the monument. 28 From this it is clear that an exception was allowed for persons who provided special service to the city. Perhaps Agasiklet, to whose work the Chersonites owed so much, was also buried within the city limits by Agoron (the head of the city square). Subsequently, when Christianity spread in Chersonesos, Christians began to bury more famous people in churches, as evidenced by tombs with remains of bones found in the church opened by Gr. Uvarov. The suburban graves of the Chersonites are carved into rocks and look like crypts or caves; The rocky soil of the outskirts of Chersonesus is dotted with them. These recesses, according to Dubois, are ten feet long and eight wide. Inside them, one niche was cut out on each side, into which the deceased was placed. Sometimes there are many more such niches, and they are located in several rows or floors, for example. in family crypts. The cave form is the typical appearance of the graves of Chersonesos, and this feature distinguishes them from the graves of other areas of Crimea. So in Kerch and on the Taman Peninsula, the graves look like an embankment or mound, in the middle of which they left free space in the form of a room with a stone wall and a vault. A coffin containing the body of the deceased was placed here; and on the sides of the coffin are vessels, weapons and various household items. In Chersonesus, Inkerman and other areas, graves in the form of a mound are not found. How can we explain this difference? Funeral rites, without a doubt, are in close connection with the characteristics of the character, worldview and everyday relations of one or another tribe, one or another nationality, and from here, of course, the typical features of their funeral ritual are primarily explained. As a result, the settlers of the Ionian tribe, who lived on the eastern side of the Crimean peninsula, could differ in their funeral rites from the Greeks of the Dorian tribe who lived in Chersonesus. But besides this tribal difference, there were purely local, physical conditions that explain the peculiarity of the shape of the Khersonite graves in comparison with the Kerch or Taman ones. The fact is that the surroundings of Chersonesos have a rocky rocky surface, covered with a very poor layer of soil necessary for vegetation. Savings forced the inhabitants of Chersonesos to take care of this upper black soil layer and not use it for the construction of burial mounds. The situation was different in Phanagoria and Taman: there was a shortage of stone and the soil was replete with an earthy layer. It was from this that the vast mounds and mounds (tumuli) were built, covering the eastern side of the Crimean peninsula in large numbers. The Chersonesos crypt looks like a large quadrangular room carved into the rock. Long recesses like shelves were carved along its walls, on which the bodies of the dead were placed. Sometimes these shelves were separated by partitions to accommodate one dead person, sometimes they remained completely open, and then the corpses were arranged in several rows, one after the other, without gaps. When there was no room left on the shelves, the dead were placed on the floor, as can be seen from the position of some of the skeletons found here. The entrance to this crypt is carved quite high, and therefore they descended into it along several steps. It is clear from everything that this burial room served as a family crypt and was the family property of any separate Chersonese family with all the descendants descending from it. The existence of family tombs shows that the Chersonites followed the customs of the Greeks and Romans of that time regarding burial. Considering burial a sacred duty of everyone in relation to the deceased, people of sufficient means tried to provide a reliable and inalienable grave not only for themselves, but also for their family, relatives, and their descendants. In addition to family relationships and blood sympathies, this custom was also supported by the vanity of noble families, who were afraid of mixing their aristocratic ashes with the ashes of people of lower origin. This feeling was especially strongly developed among the patrician nobility, who cared even after death to distinguish themselves from the rest of the masses by hereditary family graves, which constituted the inviolable property of one or another noble family. “Aurelus Romanus et Antistia Chresime uxor ejus fecerunt sibi, liberis suis posterisque hoc monumentum cum aedificio superimposito” (i.e. Aurelius Romanus and Antistia Chresime his wife made this monument with an upper superstructure for themselves, for their children and offspring) is the usual inscription with which the owner of one or another tomb declared his right to it as to your ancestral property. Although no such stereotypical inscriptions were found in the Chersonese tombs; but there is no doubt that the crypts were intended to be family graves, were made to order, purchased for a certain price and became full property by purchase. This can be guessed from the fact that many begun crypts were found; some are half finished, others only have one entrance staircase hollowed out. The grave inscriptions of the Chersonites were very similar to the epitaphs of the Greeks and Romans. One gravestone depicts a woman with a child and the remainder of the following metrical inscription: “Τὴν πασαισι γυναιξι πολυτιοιμον” which means “the most worthy of all women.” On another tombstone kept in the Hermitage, a married couple is depicted with the Greek inscription: Theagenes son of Christion and his wife Ulpia Macaria, 65 and 52 years old. Greetings to you." If Quene’s guess is correct, who says that the number of years of Ulpia, as well as the last word, the inscriptions: “Χάἰρε” were written in a different handwriting and added by a later hand, then this can serve as proof of the assumption that the Chersonites prepared their graves in advance and that Ulpia, having made a tombstone for her husband during her lifetime, left an empty space on it, on which subsequently the summers of her life were written down. 29 In other funerary monuments of the pagan period, these inscriptions have a slightly different form and represent variants of one general epigraphic type. Unfortunately, the tombstones of the Chersonesos Museum were not preserved intact: only fragments or debris remained from them. One of them (No. 11) shows the place of the broken off head and neck of a seated woman, above whom a wreath is held, apparently by a woman’s or child’s hand, depicted in the relief. This plot is borrowed from the custom of the ancients to decorate the head of the deceased with a wreath; it is often repeated in ancient monuments, and wreaths made of gold or metal leaves were often found in the graves of the Kerch, Taman, and other graves. Along the wide cornice under the pediment, the remainder of the inscription preserved the names of Calleas, the son of Gaius, and Idytia, the daughter of Demetrius, who were probably buried under this monument. The other, (No. 12) better preserved tombstone presents a picture of a broader content and, as one might think, borrowed from the home life of the Chersonites. It is a female figure whose head is tightly wrapped in a veil; her legs rest on a high bench (subsellum.) This woman holds the hand of a boy standing on a raised platform near the bed, facing the viewer. Near the woman is another figure, probably representing one of the servants. A man lies on the bed and holds a bowl in his left hand. At his head stands a smaller male figure with a vessel like “ὐνοχ ό η”. This is, in all likelihood, a servant awaiting an order to fill the master's cup with wine or some other liquid. Below is a two-line inscription in which the names of Kiliya (daughter?) of Apollonius and wife of Apel (?), several others are read, and all this is concluded with goodwill to the dead in the short saying “Χαιρε” i.e. rejoice. The third monument, in the form of a truncated pyramidal slab (No. 13), depicts a male figure in a chiton and imathion. With her right hand she holds the dress on her chest, and in her left she holds something. Below is the inscription. In its first row the name of the person buried is probably indicated, and in the second the number of years of his life: ετηλε (35 years?). Limestone tombstone (No. 14) with the image of a male bust and with an inscription, which, according to the explanation of Pr. Kondakova means: “Gerusia in memory of Iraklid.” The style of Christian epitaphs, as can be judged from the two Crimean inscriptions that have come down to us, differed from pagan tombstones, and has the following stereotypical form: “here lies the servant of God Elena the nun. She died on the 11th of May, the fourth day, at the first hour.” The inscription dates back to 819. 30 Returning to the Chersonesos open graves, Count. Uvarov, we should note that they date back to a relatively late time and span the first ten centuries of our era, as evidenced by the coins found in them. Some of the coins, judging by the stamp, were struck under the first Roman emperors, others are of later origin, and the latest date back to the 10th century. Embracing such a wide period of time, the Chersonesos graves naturally witnessed the funeral rites of the pagan and Christian eras of Chersonesos and preserved monuments of the life and beliefs of this city during the two named periods of its history. A comparative study of Christian and pagan graves shows a remarkable similarity between both, not only in the design of the burial premises, but also in their very setting. And this already indicates the similarity of the funeral customs. Chersonese Christians were not completely free from the generally accepted custom of burying some objects from their home life with the deceased, although, as we will see later, they only partially retained this custom and modified it in accordance with their concepts. Thus, in the Christian graves of Chersonese, sometimes no foreign objects are found at all that made up the furnishings of pagan graves, and if they are found, then they are of a religious nature, with Christian images and inscriptions. In this regard, some of the family crypts provide a lot of interesting data. The bodies of Christians and pagans were found here. This makes it clear that the right of ancestral property remained in full force even when later descendants of a famous pagan family became Christians. It turns out that in this case there was no reason to deprive them of burial in a common grave acquired by their pagan ancestors, just as the religious feeling of Christians was not offended by the proximity of the ashes of their co-religionists with the ashes of their ancestor and relative who died in paganism. Christians separated their dead only by placing them on a special shelf and sometimes covering it with a tile or stone board. Further, the graves of the Chersonese Christians differed in many respects from the graves of the pagan Chersonites in their setting, which naturally emerged from the peculiarities of the Christian idea of ​​the afterlife. The pagan introduced many sensual, everyday elements into this idea and believed that the deceased, continuing his existence beyond the grave, did not cease to live with the same interests and needs that worried him on this side of the grave. As a result of this idea, he surrounded the grave of his relative with many different objects that served him during his lifetime. That is why in the graves of pre-Christian peoples so many remains of household life and accessories of everyday life were preserved. This was not the case with Christians. Their ideas about the afterlife were alien to this sensual nature - and this is the reason why in their graves, near Chersonesus, no vessels, teardrops, weapons, and other accessories of a pagan funeral setting were found, but only coins, crosses and remnants of clothing were found 31. Thus, in one grave a silver buckle with an embossed cross was found, and on the ceiling of one family crypt there was preserved a monogram of Christ, or an inscription consisting of a combination of the initial letters of the name “Christ”. Having prepared the body of the deceased for burial and dressed it in the best, elegant dress with various decorations, the Chersonites carried it out of the city on a stretcher, placed it on a board or in a box similar to a coffin and placed it in a grave niche, blocking the entrance with a stone or a stone slab. Glass teardrops were placed at the heads of the deceased, various kinds of pottery and lamps were placed at the feet, clothes were pinned at the chest with a clasp, and weapons were placed at the side. They also put in a lot of other things, which we will get acquainted with later when describing various objects exhibited in the archaeological collection of the Sevastopol department. Holidays were held in memory of the dead. From the story about the exploits of Gykia, it is known that the anniversary of her father Protevon Lamachus was celebrated, and the whole city took part in this memorial holiday. On this day, Gikia distributed wine, bread, oil, birds, fish and other supplies to the city leaders and people. Citizens had fun all day long, danced in the streets and continued the evening feast in their homes at tables with wine and various dishes. Among people less wealthy and famous, funeral feasts were limited to a circle of family, relatives and familiar faces, were connected with religious rituals and were distinguished by a cheerful, lively character. Let us now move on to a description of the objects found in the graves near Chersonesus. Most of these items belong to household utensils and can serve as an example of pottery production in the Greek colonies of the southern Crimea and monuments of their household life. Ceramic production reached a flourishing state among the Greeks at the end of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. From this period, the best works of this art, brought to the highest degree of artistic perfection, have been preserved to us, an example of which is the famous Kuma vase (found in the ruins of the ancient Italian city of Kuma) and known in the scientific world under the name of the Queen of Vases. The centers of ceramic production of the Greeks were originally Corinth and Athens: from here the best works of this industry spread throughout all the countries and colonies of ancient Greece, as luxury items and refined everyday furnishings. In the person of its best craftsmen, whose names remained among the Greeks along with the most famous artists, this production in Greece was put at a high level of development and enjoyed an honorable reputation. With the extensive use of vases among the Greeks in domestic life and for the decoration of graves, the demand for them naturally had to rise and give rise to extensive fabrication, which, in the course of time, spread throughout all the cities of Greece and in the places of the Greek colonies. But from then on, the elegant style of the works of ancient Greek ceramics began to gradually decline, and instead of artistically executed vases, with relief and painted images, very poor clay products appeared, which are especially often found in the graves of poor people, and also, interspersed with elegant works of this kind, and in the graves of those that, judging by the situation, belonged to wealthy people. The Greek settlements in Tauris, having their own pottery factories, received the best products of this kind from the indigenous Greek cities. So, for example, during excavations at the site of ancient Tanais, many broken amphorae 32 were found with the marks of the masters on the handles. In this collection of pens there are 66 different stamps, most of which belong to different workshops on the island of Rhodes, and others to other cities and localities in Greece. Here the names of “Αρτεμιδωρος, Μαρσυα, Αγαθακλευς, Καλεος” and other masters are read, whose works were sold among the inhabitants of ancient Tanais. The examples of pottery found in the graves of Chersonesus all belong to the later era of pottery, and therefore are important for us as monuments of the domestic life of the inhabitants of this area, and not as examples of art. Let us point out the more remarkable of them. No. 1. Patella, or plate made of fine-grained clay Pattella was used by the ancients as a dish on which food was served to the table: fish, meat and mainly solid food. Juvenal and Martial speak of patellas as a dish on which vegetables were served; other writers, calling the same type of dishes disk and lekanid, say that they served during feasts for serving food supplies. These plates were usually made of clay, which is why Juvenal calls them fragile (fragiles), but there were metal and large patellas, with embossed or carved images. In addition to domestic and economic use, patellas also had a religious purpose and were used during sacrifices and religious holidays as dishes on which meat was brought to the gods, as opposed to patera, or vessels for liquids from which libations were made. According to the Roman view, anyone who used these last vessels for ordinary everyday needs was considered an insult to the shrine. During feasts and home dinners, the ancients used to make offerings to the penates, on the patellae, which is why the very patron gods of the house were called patellarii dii. Patella is a diminutive name for Patena. This is the name given to the Greeks and Romans for a household vessel, similar in appearance to a patella, but somewhat deeper than it, much larger in size and with a slightly different purpose. It was a large, deep round bowl or dish with a lid: in it they cooked hot food in the kitchen, or served food to the table for a large number of guests. Writers often mention paten; information about one gigantic dish of this kind has been preserved by Ilinius, namely the paten of Vitellius, famous for his extravagance. This paten was so large that it required a special oven design and size. In size, it was called the shield of Minerva, cost 200 sesterces and contained strange foods such as pheasant and peacock brains, ostrich tongues and moray eel milk. Among the Greeks, patella corresponded to trivlion - “Τρυβλειον” - a type of dish on which meat and fish, as well as dessert and sauce, were served. Athenaeus left us a dinner menu in a rich Greek house, where food was served on gold and silver plates, but in ordinary household life clay patellas were used, and among these latter are those found in the Chersonesos graves. No. 2. Προχόος or vessel with one handle This vessel was called by the Greeks prochus (Προχ ό ος), by the Romans Gutturnium (Gutturnium) and was used for storing liquids, like our jugs. Many such vessels have been discovered in the ruins of Pompeii and at the sites of ancient Greek settlements, where they are often found in graves. Their purpose was very diverse, just as their very form was varied, with the unity of the main type. Those who sat down at the table washed their hands of them. This custom, firmly established in the practice of most ancient peoples, was observed with particular strictness among the Greeks and is mentioned several times by Homer, Athenaeus and other writers. The latter says that the ancients considered it indecent and impolite to sit down at the table without washing your face, hands and body. The law of hospitality, sacredly observed by the ancients regarding travelers and strangers, made this custom especially necessary and gave it the significance of the hygienically considerate care of the host. In Homer (Odiss. IV. vers. 49) tells how Menelaus received Telemachus and Pisistratus who arrived to him; but before sitting down at the table, the maid brought water in a beautiful golden jug (Προχ ό οω prokhuse), poured it onto a silver basin so that the guests could wash their hands, then moved an elegantly arranged table with various dishes. They scooped up water with Prokhus, like our jug, and used it in the morning when washing; They also used it to scoop wine from amphorae and large vessels and pour it into glasses or canfares during the table. In form and use, another vessel closely resembles the prochus, which was called by the Greeks “ὀινοχ ό ος” and, as the name itself shows, was used for pouring wine. Such a glass vessel was found in a single grave near Chersonesus, between many other objects placed near the deceased. This vessel, as you can see, is very similar to our jugs; it was made with a handle, a wide mouth and a groove or nose adapted for pouring liquid. This vessel was very common among the Greeks during feasts and is depicted on coins, painted vases and in wall paintings. It is remarkable that women are often depicted with this vessel, who served wine at Greek feasts and poured it into glasses or goblets for guests, i.e., they corrected the position of cupbearers. This position, as is known, was corrected on Olympus by the goddess of youth Hebe, serving wine to the celestials and amusing them with her beauty. The Greek expressed the same idea in other paintings, when, for example. depicted Dionysus or Bacchus with a kanfar (glass) in his hand, and next to him a female figure with “ὀινοχ ό ος” ready to fill the glass of the god of wine.” Variants of this image come across often. The Greek's sensual view of the afterlife and passion for pleasure gave this vessel a prominent place among other objects that made up the funeral furniture, and this is the reason why it is so often found in Greek graves. As for the described vessel, it should be noted that it was found in a woman’s grave and may indicate the very profession of the deceased. Kanfar is one of the drinking vessels and was used by the Greeks as a glass or goblet. Usually they drank wine from it at the table, but sometimes it was used in religious ceremonies in honor of Hercules and Dionysus, who are often depicted with a canthar in their hands 33. The shape of these vessels was different: sometimes they were made with two handles, sometimes without them, sometimes they had a high stand and looked like a glass, sometimes they were low and with wide diverging edges. According to Athenaeus, the ancient canfares were larger than the later ones, which, as Epigenes noted, were made so low and small that “it seemed more convenient to swallow them than to drink wine from them.” Whether the volume of canfar has changed in this way everywhere, nothing can be said based on these words alone; but as for the size of the canthar of Chersonesus, its capacity is very sufficient and shows that the Tauride Greeks were very fond of the drink of Bacchus and consumed it in significant doses. However, the Greeks used to drink wine diluted with water, and drinking whole wine was called the custom of the Scythians. According to Hesiod, they added three parts of water or even four to one part of wine. The favorite measure of a mixture was the ratio of 2 (wine) to 5 (water) or 1:3. 34 Sending his relative to the next world, the Greek tried to provide him with a vessel that had such universal use in everyday practice, and therefore placed the canthar in his grave along with other household and everyday items. No. 5. White clay lamps Lamps (λυχνος) are among the objects also very often found in graves, and, as can be seen from the furnishings of the Chersonese crypts, they were placed on the right side of the deceased. Among the Greeks and Romans of the historical period, lamps were a generally accepted method of lighting, and therefore were used in the homes of nobles and poor people. In distant times, when pottery was just beginning its first weak experiments, a torch (taeda) or a torch coated with some flammable substance was used for lighting. But this was in the pre-Homeric period, because in the Iliad illumination through lamps seems to be generally known. Given the enormous demand for this essential household item, the manufacture of lamps increased more and more and went hand in hand with the successes of pottery itself. At the best time of this production, lamps appeared of remarkable artistic perfection, with relief figures of mythological content and depicting entire scenes from history and domestic life. In Roman crypts on the site of ancient Pompeii, many lamps of high artistic merit, made of clay, bronze, silver and even gold, were found. Despite all the variety of shapes and finishes, they have always retained their typical appearance and represent round or oval cups, like a closed sink. A handle was attached to it on one side, and opposite it was a spout with a hole from which a lamp came out. Sometimes lamps were built with several lamps, according to the number of which they were called: two-three-four lamps. When used, they were usually placed on some kind of stand, or hung on a chain from the ceiling. When the stand was permanent, the lamp learned the name of the candelabra (λυχν ȣ χος). Candelabra were sometimes very tall, decorated with elegant carvings and were considered luxury items and home decoration. The lamps were adjusted with tweezers and sharp ends, which for this purpose were hung on metal chains on the lamp handle. Lamps placed in the grave did not always remain unused, like most of the objects located near the deceased, but were often used to illuminate common crypts and when performing religious ceremonies at the graves of the dead. Not only pagans, but also Christians maintained the custom of leaving lamps at the coffins: many of them were found in the Roman catacombs, where Christians buried their dead during times of persecution; many of these lamps are very well preserved and have images of the cross, the monogram of Christ and other symbols. The lamps presented here were taken from the graves of Chersonesos; they are made of white clay and have an elegant finish. One depicts Athena in a helmet with a mane, and the other a bull, one is completely intact, and on the other the edge of the spout where the lamp was inserted is knocked out. Both have well-preserved marks and figures, probably indicating the name of the master and the company of the pottery workshop. In these two items we have a sample of pottery and lamp production in the Greek colonies of Tauris in the 4th century. As we see, the elegant taste of the Greek has not yet disappeared among the inhabitants of this region, and they continue to arrange everyday consumer goods with remarkable art. If, however, we compare the lamps found in the vicinity of Chersonese with the same works from the Roman catacombs and crypts of noble families, we will see that the art of the then Chersonites was much lower than the art of the Romans and that the fabrication of the Pontic region could in no way compete with Roman production. No. 6. Bronze incense burner This is one of the very rare items of grave goods and was found in a family crypt of the 4th century. The incense burner is made of bronze, round, with three chains at the top, attached to a ring with a thick chain. At the bottom of it were found coals and ash from burnt incense or some other fragrant substance. In addition to home use, as a form of comfort, smoking was also used during funeral rites for religious and hygienic purposes. The ancients used to smear the body of the deceased with equal fragrant spices: aloe, balsam, myrrh, and, accompanying him to the grave, they carried incense and various incense along with other funeral accessories, which were then burned along with the corpse at the grave. At rich Roman funerals, incense was consumed in huge quantities. Pliny says of Nero that at the funeral of Poppaea he destroyed as many kinemoia and cassia as Arabia could not produce in one year (Plin. XII-18). Describing the funeral procession of Justinian, Coroin says, among other things, the following: “incense taken from Sava is burned, fragrant honey is poured into voluminous paterae, hundreds of other spices and amazing ointments are carried behind the coffin.” Incense burners served not only to purify the air in the crypt, but also for religious purposes, for smoking in honor of the gods at funeral festivals called parentalia and inferiae. It has the appearance of a poorly finished bronze figurine with four extremities representing arms and legs; On the reverse side there is a loop for hanging. This idol was found in a family crypt in the 4th century. in a small niche hollowed out under the shelf. In general, idols are rarely found in Greek graves. It is natural, however, to assume that the pagans considered it their duty to entrust their dead to the protection of the gods, and the placement of their images at the tomb of one or another person was a natural expression of this thought. Several idols were found in the mounds of central Russia at the site of the settlement of ancient Mary and in the Kerch graves 35. Single grave discovering near Chersonesus 36 This grave, judging by the situation, contained the corpse of some rich Chersonese resident, as can be concluded from the accessories of a women’s toilet and a large iron needle found here. Of the things found here, it deserves special attention. Initially, this disk was probably placed in the left hand of the deceased, and in his right hand was a ball (No. 9) made of smoky topaz: but subsequently, due to the decomposition to which the coffin and the corpse were subjected, the original position of these things changed, and they were found lying on the right and left sides of the frame, at the ends of the hands. Both the disc and the ball were used by the Greeks for playing; but especially discus throwing was a very common and favorite pastime of theirs. It required strength and skill and showed the thrower dexterity of movement and strength of muscles. Throwing the discus was not only one of the public entertainments of the Greeks, as for example. at the Olympic Games and in the circus, but in addition it was also home entertainment, developing and strengthening strength and accustoming dexterity of movements. The goal of the game was to be able to throw a metal circle called a disc as far as possible. How the Greek loved this fun and how he admired the deft techniques of discus throwers is shown by the famous statue of Myron “δισκοβολος” (discus thrower), copies of which are in many European museums. This statue represents the nude figure of a young, well-built man who leaned forward to impart more force to the movement of his right arm, which swings the discus. A disc found in a Chersonese tomb shows that this game, just like the game of ball, was used by the Chersonites, and that the Greek colonists of the Tauride Peninsula followed the customs of their metropolis in this regard. Just like in their homeland, the organization of public games and the management of gymnastic exercises were at the disposal of the government and were subject to its control. Among the government positions, the duty of a gymnasiarch, or overseer of gymnastic games of Chersonesos youth and public gymnasiums, is also mentioned. The images on the coins of Chersonesos and the inscriptions make it clear that these games were loved by the Dorian settlers of Tauris and consisted of single combat (πάλη), running in launches (δρομος), throwing copies of balls (ἀκ ό ντ ί ον), throwing a disc 37. It is known from ancient writers that the Greeks, in addition to the famous Olympic, Nemean and other pan-Hellenic games, played games, although with less splendor, in other cities, during holidays in honor of demigods and heroes. The Pontic coast was also famous for similar games. The sympathy for them was so great that the winners of these tournaments were awarded gold wreaths, and their names were often carved on monuments. So eg. the inhabitants of ancient Odyssos (on the site of present-day Odessa), represented by their military leaders (strategists), erected a stone slab in honor of Achilles, wanting to perpetuate the feat of their archon, Leonidas, who won the spear competition 38. On Chersonese coins there is an image of a chariot drawn by two or four horses with a driver who holds a whip in his right hand and a plot in his left hand, borrowed from the games played in Chersonese during the holidays. 39 It is clear that gymnastic games were among the favorite activities of the residents of the Greek settlements of the Pontic region, and the things and equipment used during the games were transferred, along with the deceased, to the grave as one of the objects often used by the deceased during his lifetime. These items (fibula) were a common part of the elegant clothing of rich Chersonesos citizens and are often found in the graves of the southern coast of Crimea and the Taman Peninsula. Clasp, used as a pin or brooch; it was used to pin the edge of outer clothing on the shoulder or chest. We have already noticed that the ancients used to bury their dead in their best elegant costume, with all the accessories of their complete festive toilet. In this regard, women's graves are especially rich in various trinkets and things from the fashion world: here we will find headdress accessories, necklaces, beads, pins, needles, bracelets and many other items that were part of the women's wardrobe of that time. From the abundance of these things, from their value and elegant decoration, one can guess that the inhabitants of the southern coast of Crimea were at a high degree of economic development and were so rich that they could make their toiletries from gold, silver and were not at all behind the Romans of their time in terms of luxury. What Martial and Juvenal say about the whims of noble Roman women, who spent huge sums on their attire and brought the luxury and sophistication of their toilet to an extreme degree, all this, as we see, took place in the life of the Greek Pontic colonies. A clear idea of ​​the luxury in attire that prevailed among the rich settlers of this region can be given by a list of different accessories for men's and women's toilets found in the same crypt near Kerch. The man was wearing a massive golden wreath (like a ribbon two fingers wide) with golden leaves similar to the leaves of dawn. The head rested on a pillow of fragrant herbs and roots. Near the frame lay also: two gold clasps, several gold buckles, several plates of sheet gold, probably left over from the belt. There were even more such things around the woman; namely: earrings twisted from small gold wires; a gold ring with two garnets, grains of a necklace - some mosaic, others gold, gold belt buckles, buttons made of sheet gold, fragments of a comb and a wicker basket. The poor were buried much more simply, and their graves brought us various things made of copper, bronze and other non-valuable materials. But the custom of furnishing the coffin of the deceased with items from his daily household use remained in full force even among poor people. In addition to the described items, the exhibition includes various architectural fragments delivered from the Kherson Museum. Tombstones and stones with inscriptions Nos. 11. 12. 13. 14. Described on pages 50, 51. 15. A fragment of the lower part of a tombstone inscription, of which only a few words have survived. 16. A similar fragment in which only a few letters can be made out. 17. 18. 19. 20. Four tombstones with Scythian images (see page 8). 21. Plate with inscription on 12 wreaths. Most of it is completely worn out. In character and meaning it is similar to the dedicatory inscription to Agasiklet (p. 14) and is dedicated to the name of some citizen who wisely ruled the people. 22. Plate with an inscription. Erected in honor of another unknown citizen who built a wall (of the city) with his own funds? 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. Fragments of slabs with heavily damaged inscriptions, of which on one the words Μνημης X are read. Perhaps “in memory.” 30. Fragment of a capital, Ionic order. 31. Parts of a Corinthian capital, antique work. 32. Bottom of a fluted column of antique work. 33. A fragment of an octagonal column. 34. Part of a column, drilled wide through the middle. 35. 36. 37. Small architectural parts and objects for various purposes. Fragments from marble and limestone cornices. 38. A bas-relief depicting the head of Pan or Satyr served as decoration for a cornice or architectural belt. 39. The female head is processed on top in the form of a small capital. Probably a fragment of a caryatid. 40. The torso of the lower part of the figurine is wearing a chiton. 41. Fragment of a hand from a figurine. 42. A fragment of a bas-relief depicting a woman's head. 44. Marble brick with a lion mask. There is a hole in the mouth for water drainage. 45. Water supply clay pipes. II. Christian monuments View of the Christian church opened in Chersonesos in 1853. Gr. A.S. Uvarov This wonderful architectural monument is presented here in a reduced-size model with all its architectural fragments. In 1853 Gr. Uvarov, carrying out excavations within the boundaries of ancient Chersonesus, discovered in its northern side, at the very edge of the coast, the foundation of an ancient church, completely preserved with the exception of one corner, which was carried away by the sea along with the collapsed part of the coast. Judging by the plan, this church belonged to the most ancient works of church architecture and was built in the form of a basilica. The Romans called basilicas oblong buildings, divided along the length into three or five sections. They were designated for judicial and commercial activities, were divided into several tiers in height, and also served, like passages and galleries, as places for walks. This architectural type was applied to the construction of Christian churches after Christians received freedom in worship, and Constantine the Great recognized Christianity as the dominant religion in the Empire. The most ancient churches of Rome, Antioch and Byzantium were built according to this model, and only received some changes and additions in relation to the conduct of worship. The Chersonesos Church was built according to the same architectural type. It is 16 fathoms long and 2½ arshins, 10 fathoms wide. 1½ arshins and is divided along the length by two rows of columns into three parts, of which the two lateral longitudinal ones are almost three times narrower than the middle compartment that makes up the church itself. There are 11 columns in each row, but the middle ones are sealed. This division of the church, emerging from the structure of the civil basilicas of Rome, received a special purpose in the Christian churches and was adapted to the separation of men from women in the church. This separation is strictly prescribed by the apostolic decrees and was observed in the Byzantine churches with such strictness that even queens and women of the highest class submitted to it along with others. More often, the galleries of the upper tier served as places for women (the so-called γυνα ί κειον), and men stood below. Special entrances led to these departments; in ancient times they were guarded on the male side by deacons, and on the female side by deaconesses. Since Christian churches faced the East with their altars, the side galleries were located on the northern and southern sides, respectively, of the Northern and Southern doors leading into the altar. In width, the Chersonesos church was divided into four parts, according to the typical plan of the most ancient Christian churches. The first, ending in a semicircular projection, makes up the altar. What has been preserved from it is a part of the wall drawn in a semicircle (absis), the elevation of the high place, a quadrangular slab indicating the place of the throne and an elevated platform in front of the altar barrier, which continues into the middle of the church with an pulpit. This elevation is called solea solium. The next large part with adjacent side galleries constituted the church itself, or the section where the people were seated during worship. In the ancient church, here stood the so-called faithful, or those Christians who had the right to be present during the entire liturgy and to partake of the Holy Mysteries. In this they differed from repentant Christians, that is, those who had fallen into some grave sin, and from catechumens who were just preparing to receive baptism. The last two classes of people listened only to part of the liturgy until the time of the sacrament of the Eucharist itself and then left the church. For them, the third compartment in the church or the vestibule (νὰρθηξ) was mainly assigned. There were two vestibules: one closer to the exit from the church, the so-called external vestibule (ἔξωναρθηξ), and the other adjacent to the church (or nave), called the internal vestibule (ἔσωναρθηξ). In both compartments stood penitents of the lowest degrees, and on the porch or open portico, in front of the entrance to the outer vestibule, stood the most serious sinners, who were forbidden to touch the church threshold. In the Chersonesos church, the internal and external vestibules have clearly been preserved. The internal one, forming a direct continuation of the main part of the church, was also divided into three sections; into a middle, wide space, and two side galleries. Three doors led to each of these compartments from the main church, just as three exits connected the inner porch with the outer one. The existence of these two porches, as well as the coins of the Roman emperors Valentinian, Gratian and Theodosius Vel. found in different places during the excavation of this church, show that its foundation must be dated back to ancient times, perhaps to the time of the immediate successors of Constantine the Great, when the basilica style first appeared and was universally adopted in the East for church architecture. The spatial division adopted in churches built according to this model corresponded perfectly to the conditions of the then worship and church discipline regarding proselytes of Christianity and persons undergoing various degrees of church repentance. To complete the basilica type, the Kherson church lacks an open entrance part, the so-called vestibule, a porch (vestibulum ἀυλὴ atrium); but the study of this church has not yet been completed, and perhaps further excavations will reveal the existence of a supposed entrance part, necessary for the completeness of this remarkable monument of church architecture. With the discovery of this part, the Chersonese Church would present a perfect similarity in basic features with many basilicas now existing in the West and with the famous church built under Constantine the Great, Bishop Pauline of Tire. A detailed description of this church is in the X book of church history by Eusebius. It is not difficult to decide how this Byzantine basilica type of church buildings passed and established itself in the Tauride Peninsula, if we take into account the political and hierarchical dependence of Chersonese on Byzantium, the spread of Christianity in this region through Greek missionaries and the very tribal ties of the Chersonites with Greece and the Christian east. We know that the first preachers of Christianity in this region came from Jerusalem, where there was the famous Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, about which Eusebius has preserved information. That the Chersonesus Church, in addition to its general plan, bears traces of Byzantine influence in architectural details and ornamentation, this will be clear from acquaintance with the rest of its architectural parts. With two rows of columns, as we have seen, the Chersonese church was divided, following the pattern of basilicas, into three longitudinal sections, unequal in width. Supporting the top of the building, they served as its best decoration inside and were made of white marble. Not a single column has survived intact, but only fragments of them remain, between which the capitals (or upper parts) deserve special attention. It is remarkable that they are not the same in their form and in the design of the ornament, and in this respect they represent examples of both the ancient Greek classical order and the later Byzantine style. The capitals of the Ionic and Corinthian order belong to the first class, and four capitals with Byzantine crosses and the monogram of Christ belong to the latter. – The Ionic capital is distinguished by its simplicity, the absence of elaborate ornaments of the Corinthian order, and consists of a low superstructure above the column with four scrolls at the corners. The Corinthian capital is higher, composed of floral patterns with various decorations. The Byzantine capital expands upward and looks like an inverted trapezoid. Its peculiarities can also include the use of a cross and a monogram of the name of Christ. Many capitals with similar images are located in the Constantinople Church of St. Sofia, and in the churches of Ravenna, built according to the Byzantine plan. This sacred symbol of Christianity was assimilated by Byzantine art earlier and more deeply than by Western art precisely because the triumph of the cross and the open proclamation of Christianity as a religion are associated with the name of Constantine the Great, the founder of Christian Byzantium. The sign of the cross appeared to him before the fatal battle that decided the fate of his opponent Maxentius; in Jerusalem, the appearance of a cross merged from the stars was visible; during the time of Cyril of Jerusalem, who described this phenomenon in a letter to Emperor Constantius, the cross of the Lord was found in Jerusalem by the mother of Constantine the Great, St. Elena. As for the monogram of the name of Christ, it belongs to one of the earliest works of Christian art and consists of a combination of the Greek letters J (iota) and X (Chi) initial in the name Jesus Christ, or the first two letters of the name Christ, i.e. X and R. There are inscriptions on the columns that shed light on the original history of the Chersonesos church and on the origin of the columns themselves. As can be seen from the inscriptions, they were made at the expense of the Chersonites, who donated more or less significant sums for this purpose. So, for example, on one of them the name of Chris the son of Pharnakov is read, who spent 500 denarii on the construction of several columns; from another it is clear that it was built at the expense of a Chersonese citizen, who probably spent 300 halqs on it (Kh. T.). These inscriptions thus retained the names of the donors until distant posterity, just as on monuments of civil architecture the names of citizens who built or renovated this or that building at their own expense are read. Here, for example, is the inscription carved on a slab found in 1853 on the ruins of ancient Tanais: “During the reign of King Tiberius Julius Cotis... I, Menius the son of Chariton, left for a long time without support, built at my own expense, arranged for the benefit of the city and merchants.” The spelling of the Chersonesos inscriptions is incorrect and shows the decline of the Greek language. If we turn from the capitals and columns of the Chersonesos church to the architectural fragments collected in the Chersonesos Museum, then we will find in them new confirmation of the idea that in Christian Chersonesos the architectural details of the classical style were preserved for a long time, that many of the columns and capitals represented a mixture of different styles, and others were finally executed in purely Byzantine taste. So, for example, one capital has the appearance of an overturned trapezoid (Byzantine motif) above a small Ionic column; On the trapezoid on two opposite sides there is an image of a cross in relief. Another capital of the Corinthian order with additions of the later Byzantine style, with the image of a cross in the form of a monogram, with filigree (mesh) ornaments, as is often found in Byzantine architecture. One capital of the Corinthian order has an antique character. It belonged to some ancient building and later, when this building was destroyed, it was taken for the construction of a Christian church, formed part of the portico and was built into the wall. For this purpose, the back side of the capital is roughly hewn and thus adapted to its new purpose. Of the columns of the Chersonesos Church, three are displayed in restored form: two in full size with inscriptions No. 47, 48 and one in a reduced size 49. There are eight capitals: four of them are 50, 51, 52, 53 with Byzantine crosses and a monogram: two 54, 55 of the Ionic Order and two 56, 57 of the Corinthian Order. 58. Large round column from the middle nave of the church. 59. The column is double, composed of two semi-columns. On one side, probably the front, is an image of a cross on a ball. 60. The capital is in the form of an inverted trapezoid over a small-sized capital, with crosses on both sides of the trapezoid. 61. The Corinthian capital is of a late Byzantine nature with the image of a cross in a monogrammatic form. 62. A similar capital, but smaller. 63. Large Corinthian capital made of limestone. It belonged to some pagan building and from here it was already taken for a Christian temple. (See page 81). 64, 65, 66. Samples of other capitals from Chersonesus. 67. The base (base) of a column from the middle nave of the church, large in size. 68. The base is of the usual type in Chersonesos churches, from a medium-sized column. 69. The column drum is octagonal. On its sides, in faint relief, there are symbolic images of a cross, a shell, a dove, a circle, etc. No. 70, 71. Iconostasis and ambo slabs. The barrier that in ancient times separated the altar from the middle part of the church was arranged somewhat differently than the iconostasis of our churches that took its place. The Chersonese church is an example of iconostases in their original form, as they were arranged in ancient times. This partition was not filled with icons, as it is now, it was not high and in several tiers, but retaining the character of a partition separating the altar from the rest of the church, it was either a low lattice (cancelli) or consisted of slabs inserted between the columns. Here are samples of the slabs that made up the altar barrier in the Chersonesos church. These slabs ran on both sides of the royal doors, separated, as we have already said, by columns of corresponding heights, with the exception of the free space left for the northern and southern doors leading into the altar. The height of the slabs is two arshins: above them there was a corresponding number of columns in the second tier, the space between which was not filled with slabs, but was covered with curtains. The pulpit of the Chersonesos church was made from the same slabs. Like the iconostasis, this part was built on the model of the ancient pulpits, representing an elevation going from the platform in front of the royal doors to the middle of the church. This elevation was surrounded by six marble columns, between which were placed marble slabs placed on edge, each with an image of an equal-ended Byzantine cross. From this elevation, which was ascended by several steps, the deacon read the Gospel, and the presbyters and bishops preached and taught the blessing to the people. In addition to the iconostasis and ambo slabs of the northern Chersonese church, several fragments of this kind were found from other churches and in other places of Chersonesus. Apparently, great attention was paid to the finishing of these slabs, as evidenced by several such specimens from the Chersonesos Museum. So, for example, iconostasis slab No. 72, unfortunately split, is bordered on top by a cornice of two shelves and a groove with a wide border or frieze. The surface of the slab is covered with carved patterns made up of a combination of symmetrically arranged geometric figures. Namely: the middle of the field is occupied by a rhomboidal figure, on the sides of which, therefore, at the four corners of the slab, are depicted four triangles, in which, in a flat linear relief, plant forms are represented: leaves and fruits. Both the front and back sides are smoothly polished. On the right side of the slab there was a quadrangular recess into which a rod was inserted, attaching the slab to the column. On another slab (No. 73), which has a slightly convex surface, the main decoration is a four-pointed Byzantine cross with flared branches on a circle. The remains of the iron bracket and hole show how this part was attached to the others; and as for the pulpit details, we find here parts of the pulpit balustrade or lattice that bordered the slabs of the pulpit, and samples of pilasters (or balusters) from which this lattice was made up. The most remarkable of the pulpit slabs are: No. 74. A slab with a geometric pattern of the same design as No. 72. 75. Iconostasis slab. On its surface there is a cross on curving branches, and in the middle in the medallion there is a cross in the form of a monogram. 76. A slab with a similar design, but with the image of a symbolic lamb in the middle. Both slabs are of very ancient origin, as can be concluded from the nature of the images placed on them. Both are badly damaged. No. 77. Lime slab with rosette-shaped weaving. 78. A limestone slab with a hemisphere probably served as the top decoration of the pillar. 79. A limestone slab with a strong relief image of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. 80. A limestone slab with a faint relief image of a figured cross - among scattering foliage ornaments. 81. Fragment of a marble slab: represents an image of a bowl with a vase with one handle placed in it; branches with flowers and fruits rise from the bowl and vase. On one side there is an image of a column on a high base, and on the other a tree in an ancient Christian character. 82. Marble ball with a pyramidal top. Mosaic floor of side galleries 40 Mosaic, or mosaic (μ ȣ σ ί ον, mosaique), consists of the art of combining multi-colored pieces of stone, glass or enamel into pictures and figures similar to paintings. This art was known in ancient times to the Persians and Assyrians, and from them it passed on to the Greeks and Romans. In the palaces of emperors and in the houses of noble Romans, walls, floors and ceilings were usually covered with mosaic images, as Pliny says and as can be seen from the remains of ancient mosaics in buildings of the Roman era. When Christians received the same rights in the empire as followers of other religions, and emperors, patronizing Christians, began to build churches, mosaics acquired important decorative significance in the Christian world and constituted a special type of mosaic painting. Many wall decorations and ancient Christian church paintings owe their long preservation to her. Roman basilicas were richly decorated with mosaic work; the most important and richer churches in Byzantium and other parts of the East also shone with mosaic decoration. In the church of St. Sophia, thanks to the plaster with which the Turks covered the walls of the temple, converted into a mosque, the ancient mosaics covering the dome, walls and floor of the side galleries were preserved in all their integrity and brilliance. We owe the discovery of these mosaics to Salzenberg, a German archaeologist, who, during the restoration of the mosque in 1854, managed to take and publish exact copies of these mosaic images. The Byzantines were very skilled in mosaic work and had excellent mosaic masters, while in Italy this art had already fallen, and in Germany it was never in great use and is found only in a few churches. Based on the remains of the mosaic that were preserved on the floor of the side galleries of the Chersonesos church, we, of course, cannot judge how much of it there was in the whole building; but it is very likely that it covered not only the side compartments, but also the middle space, and the very walls, and the ceiling of the church. With such a wealth of mosaic decorations, the Chersonesus Cathedral, in the proper sense, shone from the inside with motley and multi-colored decoration. Even to this day, it has well preserved the shine of the colors and the motif of the original drawing. The mosaic of the floor of the side galleries represents a series of regular octagons, executed on a white field, in the middle of each there is an equal-ended Byzantine cross in black, and the space between its branches is red. This combination of white, black and red colors in a variety of symmetrically arranged geometric shapes presented a brilliant and motley picture to the eye. In the middle of the gallery, this patterned mosaic strip is interrupted by a mosaic square (5 arsh. 6 vershoks), in which several concentric circles with radii are inscribed. The rest of the gallery space up to the narthex consists of mosaic octagons. In the narthex, the floor mosaic has a different pattern and consists of black circles intersecting a white and yellow background. Both the design and the color of the mosaic indicate the strong influence of Byzantine taste, to which the mosaicists who decorated the Chersonesus church with their works were subordinate. The same circumstance shows that our mosaics belong to the Christian period of Chersonesos and are executed in the same taste as the mosaics of the St. Sophia Church in Constantinople. The grace and correctness of the design as well as the art of work bring this mosaic closer to the best works of this kind before the Christian era, but the content of the design, in which the geometric motif predominates, in conjunction with the cross, indicates its Byzantine origin. It is clear that the mosaic work belonged to the best masters of that time; but whether it was prepared in Chersonese, or brought from which city, more famous in the history of art and industry, is difficult to say: one thing can be taken for granted that this church was built at the best time in the history of Chersonese, when the city still had rich funds for such expensive work, and that later, when this mosaic deteriorated, they were not able to restore it in its original form and were repaired with irregular pieces of white marble. It has been preserved in this form to this day. No. 83. Marble slab with armor image This slab was found near the southern wall near the doors leading from the vestibule into the church itself, and is remarkable for the armored (relief) image presented on it. Its plot, as can be seen at first glance, is borrowed from ancient life and resembles the bas-reliefs with which the ancients loved to decorate the walls of sarcophagi and tombs. Pictures of mythological content, scenes from home life, memories of historical events, and portraits of buried persons were depicted here, in conjunction with symbolic figures and epitaphs. The presented bas-relief depicts a man lying on a high bed; With his left hand he leans his elbow on the headboard, and in his right hand he holds a wreath, extended to the woman sitting by his bed. On the left side of the bed there is a table in the form of a tripod. Ancient Greek costume for men and women. The man is wearing a tunic or chiton, and on top is an imation that goes down to the waist, leaving his raised right hand bare. The woman is wearing a long, wide veil, which covers her head and falls in wide folds onto her waist. This painting represents a scene from a domestic setting. We consider it necessary to pay attention to the Greek inscription placed at the bottom of this bas-relief, which reads: “κυρηε βοηθι τον υκον το ȣ τον αμην”, (we have retained the original spelling here), and translated into Russian it means: Lord help the house this. Amen. The inscription, as we see, is of Christian origin, which is also indicated by the crosses carved in its spaces and in the upper part of the slab. One might think that this slab was donated by one of the Chersonesos residents in favor of the church under construction, or was taken from some family crypt, where it formed a tomb slab. 41 In order to make this slab convenient for use in a Christian church and to smooth out the sharp imprint of pagan origin that lay on it, they added the above-mentioned inscription and covered the bas-relief itself in several places with images of the cross. This bas-relief can serve at the same time as a monument to the pagan and Christian periods in the history of Chersonesus, showing us one of the ways in which the piety and zeal of the Chersonites for the church turned in its favor objects of pagan origin that belonged to their ancestors who did not yet know the Christian faith. Another example of a similar use of material before the Christian era is: No. 81. Cornice made of wild stone 42 This cornice, taken out of the wall near the northern door leading to the vestibule, is remarkable for its inscription dating back to the times of pagan Chersonese. On this cornice, on its front side, with which it was embedded in the wall, the name of one citizen is read; “Μοκ ί αρης” by the son of Timothy, who, when he was agoranom, that is, the caretaker of the city square, donated three thousand denarii to the church of Aphrodite. Many slabs with similar inscriptions were discovered in the vicinity of ancient Tanais, near the mouth of the Don, and in other areas of the southern strip of Russia, previously occupied by Greek populations. The ancients were in the habit of carving the names of citizens on those buildings that were built or maintained at their expense 43 ; and at the same time they meant when, where and for what amount the construction was done. The inscription we are talking about, together with the cornice, belonged to the church of Aphrodite in ancient Chersonesos and perpetuated the memory of the citizen "Μοκιάρης" who made a significant contribution to the benefit of this sanctuary. We do not know what kind of church it was, where it was located and how widespread the cult of Aphrodite was in Chersonesos; this church would have disappeared for us without a trace if one fragment of it, which accidentally ended up in the building of a Christian basilica, had not told us about the existence of this monument and hinted at its fate in Christian Chersonesos. From the spelling of the inscription we can conclude that it dates back to the 2nd century AD: therefore, at that time paganism in Chersonesus was still very strong, and the temple of Aphrodite was in a flourishing state. But Christianity took deeper and deeper roots into the soil of pagan Chersonese, the pagan cult fell, and along with the development of Christian teaching, Christian churches arose in Chersonese. Just as it happened in ancient Rome and within the Eastern Empire, where pagan sanctuaries were sacrificed to the benefit of the church by edicts of the Emperors and turned into Christian temples, the same thing now happened in Chersonesus with the sanctuary of Aphrodite. It was probably destroyed, and a Christian church arose on its ruins. This circumstance can explain how a cornice with an inscription from a pagan temple ended up in a Christian basilica; why in the Chersonesos Church, among the works of Byzantine church art, there are monuments and details of ancient, antique origin. However, for the construction of the Christian church, the Chersonites borrowed from the ancient church of Aphrodite, and perhaps from other buildings, only materials, but not the plan and construction system. This latter is so decisively different from the typical plan of pagan sanctuaries, and so fully corresponds to the conditions of Christian worship, that there can be no question of constructing it according to the architectural model of any pagan temple. Nos. 85, 86, 87, 88. Various inscriptions. Small objects of Christian and pagan origin, under the display case. No. 89. Six small metal crosses. No. 90. Three crosses made of stone. No. 91st. Three folding hollow crosses with a deep-carved image of the Crucifixion. No. 92nd. Larger stone cross. No. 93rd. Large metal cross. Image of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child. No. 94th. Four crosses with a protective image of the Crucifixion. No. 96th. Two parts of a metal image of the Crucifixion. No. 97th. Cross made of a thin metal plate. No. 98. Copper medallion with armored image of St. Procopy with the inscription ( α ) Πορκοπι on one side and the final letters οσ on the other side. The imation of the figure is fastened with a fibula on the right side. In the right hand of St. Procopius holds a blessing cross. No. 99. Icon of the Mother of God blessing. No. 100th. Semi-oval medallion with a armored image of the blessing Saint (omophorion?). No. 101st. Round medallion with the image of St. John the Baptist, as the third member of the image known as "Deesis". No. 102. A metal plate with a circle in which a cross is inscribed. No. 103rd. Medallion with an image, apparently, of St. George the Victorious and Demetrius of Selunsky. No. 104th. Fragments of the Crucifixion icon with a Greek inscription. No. 105th. Three fragments of a wooden gilded and painted frame of an architectural icon with a Greek inscription. No. 106th. Censer on three chains. No. 107th. Metal ladle. No. 108th. An iron ladle with a handle and an image of a winged beast of a heraldic nature. A broken handle was screwed on, perhaps having the shape of a cross at the end. No. 109th. The handle is metal, perhaps from a censer, with a twisted image of a cross at the top. No. 110th. Carved bowl, end-to-end pattern on 3 chains with a ring at the bottom, like a hanging chandelier. No. 111th. A bowl knocked out of a thin sheet. It belongs to the class of drinking vessels, the simplest genus, known as Kymbion; looks like a patella. No. 112th. Thick stone bowl with 4 sponges. No. 113th. Metal tray with three legs. No. 114th. Part of an instrument with a figured end in the form of a bird's head. No. 115th. Metal tray with oriental images and inscription. No. 116th. Carved wooden decorations running in a frieze depicting bunches of grapes and roughly shaped palmettes. No. 117th. A carved wooden plate with an in-depth ornament in the form of a figured star. No. 118th. A carved wooden plate, decorated on both sides with birds pecking hanging flowers like griffins. Apparently of eastern origin. No. 119th. Triangular plate with a through image of an animal in the medieval Romanesque style. No. 120th. A fragment of a round lattice (according to the drawing) made of circles and towns. For the towns there is an inscription of letters and an image of a cross. No. 121st. Two castles in the shape of a horse and a bird. No. 122. A handle with a head to which a ring is attached. No. 123rd. Four metal rings; two with carved seals, one of which represents a cross in a circle of dots. No. 124th. Pendants in the form of a rooster, a key, a figurine in a Phrygian cap, beads and metal balls. 44 No. 125–126th. Two marble statues found in Kerch. One represents a man and the other a woman. No. 127–132. Various gold items with Scythian images under a display case in the left side compartment: three vessels, an umbon (as the Romans called the overlay in the middle of a shield on the outside), a bracelet, a group of two Scythians. The originals of these things are in the Imperial Hermitage: here they are presented in casts. Iraklia Pontic was located in Asia Minor, in the Pontic region, which lay on the southern shore of the Black Sea, east of the Thracian Bosporus or the present Strait of Constantinople. According to Strabo, the new Chersonesus was 100 stadia from Cape Partenita, and between the city and this tip there were three bays, which are now known as Troinaya, Krugla and Streletskaya. These data clearly define the topography of new Chersonis, located between Karantinnaya and Streletskaya bays. De Administ. Imper. LVI. Banduri Orient imper. t. I, 57. Mifradata - this is how this name is read on ancient coins. The legend is borrowed from the life of St. Stephen of Sourozh based on a manuscript from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Notes from Odessa. General T. I, 191–196. "Urbs illa a multis non solum annis verum saeculis et hominibus et habitatoribus prorsus vacua, fonditus diruta ac io vastitatem redacta est." Bronovii tartariae descriptio p. 6. Dubois VI, 154. Μαρτυριον τ ȣ αγι ȣ Κλημεντος πάπα Ρωμης . Ed. Cotelerii ad. Cale. II Tom Pair. Apostol, p. 808 et sqq. Anast. Bibliothec. in Ep. ad. Carolum regem. Cf. Martynoff Annus graecoslavic· eccles. xxx January. Anastas Biblioth. in vit. S. Martyni papae. Synax. 3 Apr. Grigorov. Research note. Chersonesos. antiquity page 4 ex. 4. The information presented here is taken from the Acta Sanctorum Bolland. March, sub die VII. p. 639–642. Ἐ v τιν ί σπηλάιω παρθεν ό νι λεγ ό μενω . According to the legends of the Mother of St. Dmitry of Rostov, which is followed by Ave. Macarius (history of Christianity in Russia before Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, 1868, p. 50) and Kene research. oh friend. cities of Chersonesus 123 this kind of martyrdom is adopted by St. Capito. Anno vigesimo primo imperii Justiniani Augusti legatos quatuor Byzantium miserunt rogantes, ut antistite suo recens mortuo aliquem sibi Episcopum daret. Audierunt enim destinatum ab Imperatore fuisse praesulem ad Abasgos. Eorum petitioni libentissime concedens Justinianus Augustus ipsos remisit. Procop. de bello Goth. lib IV p. 573. Researched. about Chersonese Tavrich. Art. 1b5 274. Ducange Faniliae Byzant. mult. in locis. Sestrenzewitz l. c. p. 179. History of Christ. in Russia until St. Vladim. 69 Krymsk. collection. Köppen st. 229. A detailed description of it will be given below. Arcas. Notes from Odessa. General vol. 2 p. 257. Zap. Odessa General vol. V. 996. Plans – Tab. VI. Genvarsk. Cheti-minea Rukop. Moscow D. Academician No. 91. It is said that they wanted to bring the relics of St. Clement to the church of St. Sozont along the city wall, and took the creature nearby (page 39 on the reverse). The plan of this crypt and some others can be found in Arkas. Notes from Odessa. General Vol. II Dept. I. Tab. XI, XII. The model of this crypt is placed in the side compartment to the right of the main one. All these things are under the display case. It occupies a side compartment on the left side of the main one, where a model of the northern Chersonese church is placed. On the left side are grouped mainly the monuments of the pagan era of Chersonesos. Kene. Research about Chersonese p. 118. Köppen. Krymsk. collection 70–71. Wed. inscription in Kerchensk. Churches. Zap. From. General T. I p. 626. Extract from all-under Archaeologist report. Comm. 1853 p. 140. Amphora is one of the most commonly used vessels among the ancient Greeks. They were intended for storing liquids: wine, honey, oil and looked like a large, voluminous bowl with two handles and a wide hole. Amphoras were made of metal and clay, sometimes of extremely fine workmanship and painted on the outside. The best works of Greek ceramics belong primarily to this type of vessel and were found in the cities of the Greek settlements of southern Italy. Angiology. Krause. S 313 Zap. Odessa General Vol. I. Page 612. A model of this grave is placed in front of the entrance to the Chersonesos crypt, on the left side. Boekh Corp inscription grace II No. 2099. Murzakevich. About two Hellenic inscriptions found near the village of Troitskoye, near Odessa. Notes from Odessa General Vol. I. p. 278. Kene tab III. No. 30, 31, 34. See the model of the church where this mosaic is reproduced. A cast of it is placed on the wall on the right side of the Chersonesus church. A cast of it is placed on the wall on the left side. Searches at the mouths of the Don. Leontyev Prop. 420, 426. An inventory of the objects of the Chersonesos Museum delivered to the exhibition was compiled by prof. Kondakov. From here we borrow information about various antiquities belonging to the Chersonesos Museum.