Kutaisov V. Ancient Greek polis Kerkinitis

Present dissertation is the first generalizing study in which more then a century of investigations of one of the Ancient Greek colonies on the North Black Sea Littoral - Kerkinitis - is reviewed. Different sides of life of this Hellenic polis during the whole period of its existence, since the VI-th to the II-d centuries BC, are discussed in the study. The author analyses economics, coinage, religious and burial rights of population. The essay of historical development of Kerkinitis based on synthesis of all available sources is proposed. Kerkinitis was founded soon after the middle of the VI-th century BC as a result of migration of eastern Ionian Greeks to the northen periphery of Hellenic oikoumene which has been a retaliatory measure on the conquest of Asia Minor by Persians. The parent state of Kerkinitis was one of the leading Ionian centers, probably Milet, but the possibility of participation of Ephesus in the process of foundation cannot be excluded. The progressive development of Kerkinitis as an autonomous polis was suddenly interrupted in the second half of the IV-the century BC by territorial expansion of Chersonesus and the main vector of it has fallen on the Northwestern coast of the Crimea. Key-words: Kerkinitis, Kalos Limen, Chersonesus, Dandaka, Tamiraka, Olbia, polis, town, choras.