Zinko О. Ethnic history of the Eastern Crimea (second half of the 3rd century - the middle of the 7th century).

Ethnic processes on the territory of the Eastern Crimea in the second half of the 3rd –the middle of the 7th century AD are analyzed in the dissertation on the basis of wide range of sources and scientific literature. It is shown that the border location of the Bosporan Kingdom at the edge of Mediterranean civilizations and the great steppe zone forced to maneuver constantly between the rush of steppe nomads and the Empire. In spite of being culturally closer to Greco-Roman oicumena than to nomads, the citizens of the Bosporus preferred independent existence at the borderline of two worlds and did not aim at the powerful hand of the Empire like Chersonesos did. However, the Bosporus Kingdom could not oppose its powerful neighbors’ rush, barbarian hordes first of all, actively and constantly at the last stage of its history. As the result the Bosporites had to look for allies and to play on contradictions between Romans and barbarians. Of course, such balancing could be provided only by balance of forces between the empire and nomads. And if the Bosporan Kingdom in the second half of the 3rd century – the 5th century found forces for keeping even nominal sovereignty, then in the 6th-the 7th centuries it lost independence and stopped its existence, shrinking to a small provincial Byzantine city of Bosporus at the place of the former capital of a big Kingdom. During all the period increasing dynamism of barbarian invasions-transmigrations, absence of support and significant afflux of population from Greco-Byzantine world, resulted not only in collapse of the Bosporan Kingdom but steady decrease of the number of Bosporus Greeks, in spite of constant including of some representatives and whole groups of different barbaric tribes into that ethnic conglomerate. The result of that historic process in consequence of inter osculation and inter extermination was destruction of ancient Bosporus state, disappearance of Bosporus Greeks and new type of civilization rise.