Chersonese, Tauric

Chersonese, Tauric

▪ ancient region, Ukraine
      ancient region comprising the Crimea and, often, the city of Chersonesus, located three miles west of modern Sevastopol, Ukraine. The city, founded on the Heracleotic Chersonese (or Chersonesos Micra [Small Chersonese]) by Ionian Greeks in the 6th century BC, probably as a trading factory, was refounded in the 5th century by Megarian Greeks from Heraclea Pontica and became a Dorian city. Prosperous from the 4th century BC, it maintained a free constitution of the Greek type and fought for its continued independence against the Scythians of southern Russia, against the native Tauri of the southern Crimea, and against the kings of Bosporus in the west. It traded with Athens and cities on the Pontic coast in the early period and with Delos, Rhodes, and Delphi in the Hellenistic Age. About 110 BC it turned to Pontus for protection against the Scythians and was subsequently incorporated into the Pontic Empire of Mithradates VI (Mithradates VI Eupator). Under the Roman Empire, Chersonese was treated as a free city protected by the Bosporan client king; a Roman military station guarded its considerable grain trade. The city continued to flourish in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD and again under the Byzantine Empire. Uninhabited since the 14th century, the site of the city contains the remains of a wall from the 4th century BC and also a wall and many churches of Byzantine times.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Chersonese — (  /ˈkɜrs …   Wikipedia

  • Chersonese — Cher so*nese (k[ e]r s[ o]*n[=e]s), n. [Gr. cherso nhsos; che rsos land + nh sos island.] A peninsula; a tract of land nearly surrounded by water, but united to a larger tract by a neck of land or isthmus; as, the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Chersonese — or ancient Chersonesus geographical name any of several peninsulas: as (1) Jutland (the Cimbrian Chersonese (or Cimbric Chersonese) ); (2) the Malay Peninsula (the Golden Chersonese); (3) Crimea (the Tauric Chersonese ); (4) Gallipoli (the… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • chersonese — /kerr seuh neez , nees /, n. a peninsula. [1595 1605; < L chersonesus < Gk chersónesos, equiv. to chérso(s) dry + nésos island] * * * In ancient geography, any of several peninsulas in Europe and Asia (the term means peninsula ). Tauric… …   Universalium

  • Tauric Chersonese — geographical name see Chersonese …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Ukraine — /yooh krayn , kruyn , yooh krayn/, n. a republic in SE Europe: rich agricultural and industrial region. 50,684,635; 223,090 sq. mi. (603,700 sq. km). Cap.: Kiev. Russian, Ukraina. Formerly, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. * * * Ukraine… …   Universalium

  • Mithradates VI Eupator — known as Mithradates the Great (Latin; Born of a Noble Father) died 63 BC, Panticapaeum King of Pontus (120–63 BC) and enemy of Rome. As a boy he was coruler with his mother from с 120, then overthrew her to become sole ruler in 115. He gradually …   Universalium

  • Taurica — ( el. Ταυρίς, Ταυρίδα, la. Taurica) also known as Tauris , Taurida , Tauric Chersonese , and Chersonesus Taurica was the name of Crimea in Antiquity. Etymology of the name The Greeks named the region after its inhabitants, the Tauri. As the Tauri …   Wikipedia

  • History of Crimea — Location of Crimea (dark green) with respect to Ukraine (light green) on a map of Europe Crimea, a peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea and an autonomous republic under the jurisdiction of Ukraine, has a history of over 2000 years.… …   Wikipedia

  • Chersonesus Taurica — Χερσόνησος St Vladimir s Cathedral overlooks the extensive excavations of Chersonesus. Alternate name Корсунь Location Gagarin Raion, Sevastopol …   Wikipedia

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