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Nymphaeum (Black Sea, Antiquity)

Συγγραφή : Petropoulos Ilias (17/2/2008)
Μετάφραση : Koutras Nikolaos

Για παραπομπή: Petropoulos Ilias, "Nymphaeum (Black Sea, Antiquity)",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Εύξεινος Πόντος
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=11232>
Νυμφαίον (Εύξεινος Πόντος, Αρχαιότητα) (30/10/2008 v.1) Nymphaeum (Black Sea, Antiquity) (21/7/2009 v.1) 
 

1. Location

The remains of the ancient settlement of Nymphaeum are located approximately 17 km SW of Panticapaeum (the modern city of Kerch), in the Geroevka settlement,1 on the coast of the Cimmerian Bosporus and Lake Čurubaš; the latter was a sea gulf in antiquity.

2. Sources

There are several references to the settlement of Nymphaeum by a number of Greek and Latin authors.2According to the scholiast of the ancient rhetor Aeschines, the name Nymphaeum means ‘temple of the Nymphs’; there was also another city under the same name in the Black Sea.3 The orator himself mentions that there is a village in the Pontus which belonged to Athens but was surrendered to the enemy following a coup.4 The ancient lexicographer Harpocration relates that according to the testimony of Craterus, Nymphaeum paid tribute to Athens,5 equal to one talent (as a member of the Athenian League).6 In Pseudo-Scylax’s Periplus Nymphaeum is included in the list of the Greek cities in the country of the Scythians.7 The Anonymous also determines the geographical location of Nymphaeum: 25 stadia south of the city of Tyritake (mentioned as ‘Tyristake’ in the ancient text) and 85 stadia from Panticapaeum.8 The geographer Strabo reports that the city of Nymphaeum is situated in the fertile lands extending from Panticapaeum to Theodosia, featuring also a good harbour (‘eulimenos’).9 Nymphaeum is also mentioned (together with Theodosia and Chersonesus Taurica) as one of the fortresses which rebelled against the king of the Pontus, Mithridates Eupator in 63 BC.10 The Latin author Pliny in his Naturalis Historia relates that during the time of his work’s composition Nymphaeum had already been abandoned.

3. City and chora

Together with the establishment of the urban settlement we have the exploitation of the surrounding agricultural lands, which were deemed the best in the entire Crimean peninsula.11 More specifically, during the Archaic period, the chora of Nymphaeum was rather limited and contained few agricultural settlements. During the Classical period and more so in the Hellenistic period, the agricultural settlements of the chora increased to a few hundred, which suggests that overtime the economy of the Greek city developed. This is also proven by the fact of the city's membership to the Athenian League. A coin, recently discovered in the outskirts of Nymphaeum, bearing the inscription ΣΑΜΜΑ, has been correlated with this period. Some scholars believe that it was minted at Nymphaeum during this period by the then tyrant of the city, Sammas.12

The period of Nymphaeum’s independence ends in 405/4 BC, when the rulers of the Bosporan Kingdom, the Spartocids, captured the city and annexed it to their state.13 The capture of Nymphaeum, according to the available evidence, is attributed to Gylon’s treason. However, the lost of its independence did not affect the city and its agricultural chora’s growth negatively. Following its annexation to the Kingdom of Bosporus, Nymphaeum started to expand westwards and into the steppes of the Crimean hinterland.

According to archaeological evidence, the population of the hinterland settlements consisted mostly of several barbarian tribes. Apart from the Scythians and the Taurians (bearers of the Kizil-Koba culture), new population groups started settling in the area in the early 4th cent. BC, arriving from the Asiatic side of the Bosporus.14 From the second half of the 3rd cent. to the early 1st cent. BC, we can observe a marked decrease in the population of the agricultural settlements, while the opposite holds for the period from the 1st cent. BC to the 3rd cent. AD. This last occupation phase of the agricultural hinterland of Nymphaeum extends from the 3rd to the 6th cent. AD.15 One can reasonably infer that the agricultural lands close to the city were continuously farmed throughout Antiquity.

4. Archaeological research

Archaeological research in the site of the settlement begun in the 1860s and is still ongoing without major interruptions. Lately, archaeologist Olga Sokolova from the Department of Ancient History of the Hermitage Museum has been in charge of the excavations.16

The foundation of ancient Nymphaeum is dated to the period between 580 and 560 BC. It appears that the colonists originated from Ionia, perhaps from Miletus, as in the case of most of the cities of the Black Sea and the Cimmerian Bosporus.17 In all likelihood, among the colonists most active in the period of the settlement’s establishment were the Samians.18 Unfortunately the ancient sources give no information on the foundation of the city or on the relations of the Greek colonists with the local populations. It has been suggested that Nympheum was founded on the site of an earlier Scythian settlement.19 Archaeologically it has been proven that local pottery originating from this site dates from the Middle Bronze Age to the last quarter of the 6th cent. BC. Some archaeologists believe that the presence of pottery associated with the Kizil-Koba culture, which is connected to the Taurians of southwest Crimea, indicates the proximity of the first Greek colonists with bearers of this culture.

According to scholars, the first phase of the Greek occupation here is characterized by the peaceful coexistence of colonists and locals.20 During this period, the houses in the settlement of Nymphaeum, as well as in most Greek colonies of the northern, southern and eastern Black Sea, were underground or half-underground pits. In the late 6th cent. BC, in the area of the Nymphaeum’s acropolis, we have the construction of a temple, possibly dedicated to the Cabiri. Next to this building the remains of another sanctuary have been unearthed, dating to the late 6th – early 5th cent. BC, which is thought to have been dedicated to Aphrodite.

In the mid-6th cent. BC, another temple was built SE of Nymphaeum, dedicated to Demeter, patron deity of agriculture. This temple seized to exist shortly afterwards, as it was totally destroyed in a fire which broke out in the late 6th cent. BC.21 The settlement was surrounded by a defensive wall possibly in the 5th cent. BC, while the acropolis was fortified in the late 4th-early 3rd cent. BC. During these two centuries Nymphaeum was adorned with monumental buildings erected on its acropolis, as well as by a new temple dedicated to Demeter, whose cult was predominant in Nymphaeum, and Aphrodite.22 In the early 4th cent. BC the settlement was destroyed, but it quickly recovered boasting a new defensive wall and richly decorated monumental buildings.23

5. Conclusions

Nymphaeum appears to have been an important economic and production centre from an early age.24 The discovery of a pottery workshop (dating to the first half of the 6th cent. BC) as well as of wineries, supports this view.25 The city’s significant economic growth, largely attributable to the farming of its chora, led to its membership in the Athenian League.

1. On the identification of the ancient settlement see Sokolova, O.Y., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D.V. - Petropoulos, E.K. (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4.vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003), pp. 760-761.

2. For example: Strabo 7.4.4; Ptolemy 6.2; Anonymous, Periplus 7; Steph. Byz. s.v. ‘Νυμφαίον’

3. Scholia ad Aeschinem ‘In Ctes.’ 3.171.

4. Aeschin., In Ctes. 171.

5. Harp., Lexicon of the Ten Orators, s.v. ‘Νυμφαίον’.

6. Herman-Hansen, M. - Heine-Nielsen, T. (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford University Press 2004), p. 948, no. 704.

7. Pseudo-Scylax. 68.

8. Anonymous, Periplus 76.

9. Strabo 7.4.4.

10. App. Mith. 108.

11. On this issue see Sokolova O.Y., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D.V. - Petropoulos, E.K. (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003), p. 769. Also Herman-Hansen, M. -Heine-Nielsen, T. (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford University Press 2004), p. 948, no. 704.

12. Sokolova, O.Y., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D.V. - Petropoulos, E.K. (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003), p. 769.

13. Zinko, V.N., "The Chora of Nymphaion (6th century B.C. - 6th century A.C.)", in Guldager, Bilde, P. - Stolba, V.F. (eds.), Surveying the Greek Chora: Black Sea Region in a Comparative Perspective. (Black Sea Studies 4, Aarhus University Press 2006), p. 295.

14. Zinko, V.N., "The Chora of Nymphaion (6th century B.C. - 6th century A.C.)", in Guldager, Bilde, P. - Stolba, V.F. (eds.), Surveying the Greek Chora: Black Sea Region in a Comparative Perspective. (Black Sea Studies 4, Aarhus University Press 2006), pp. 304-306.

15. For more information on the history of the archaeological research in the settlement of Nymphaeum see Sokolova O. Yu., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D. V. & E. K. Petropoulos (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003) p. 761-764. Also, Г. А., Кошеленко, И. Т, Кругликова, В. С., Долгоруков (eds.), Античные Государства Северного Причерноморья (Москва 1994) p. 63.

16. Inscriptions dating to the 3rd cent. BC prove that the Milesian calendar was used in Nymphaeum, cf. Herman Hansen, M. & Th. Heine Nielsen, (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford University Press 2004) p. 948, no. 704.

17. Sokolova O. Yu., "Nymphaeum', in Grammenos, D. V. & E. K. Petropoulos (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003) p. 765. Also Zinko V. N., "The Chora of Nymphaion (6th century B.C. - 6th century A.C.)", in P. Guldager Bilde & V. F. Stolba, (eds.), Surveying the Greek Chora: Black Sea Region in a Comparative Perspective. (Black Sea Studies 4, Aarhus University Press 2006) p. 290.

18. Г. А., Кошеленко, И. Т, Кругликова, В. С., Долгоруков (eds.), Античные Государства Северного Причерноморья (Москва 1994) p. 63. Contrary to this view, archaeologist V. Zinko believes there are no evidence indicating Scythian presence in the area of Nymphaeum, see Zinko V. N., "The Chora of Nymphaion (6th century B.C.- 6th century A.C.)", in P. Guldager Bilde & V. F. Stolba, (eds.), Surveying the Greek Chora: Black Sea Region in a Comparative Perspective. (Black Sea Studies 4, Aarhus University Press 2006) p. 290.

19. Sokolova O. Yu., "Nymphaeum', in Grammenos, D. V. & E. K. Petropoulos (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003) pp. 765-766.

20. Sokolova O. Yu., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D. V. & E. K. Petropoulos (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003) pp. 766-767.

21. Горская О. В., "Культы Нимфея по материалам граффити", in The Bosporan Phenomenon, Materials of the International Scientific Conference, vol. Ι (Санкт-Петербург 2002) p. 119.

22. Г. А., Кошеленко, И. Т, Кругликова, В. С., Долгоруков (eds.), Античные Государства Северного Причерноморья (Москва 1994) p. 64.

23. Herman Hansen, M. & Th. Heine Nielsen, (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford University Press 2004) p. 948, no. 704.

24. Herman Hansen, M. & Th. Heine Nielsen, (eds.), An Inventory of Archaic Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation (Oxford University Press 2004) p. 948, no. 704.

25. Sokolova O. Yu., "Nymphaeum", in Grammenos, D. V. & E. K. Petropoulos (eds.), Ancient Greek Colonies in the Black Sea. (Publications of the Archaeological Institute of Northern Greece, 4. vol. Ι, Thessaloniki 2003) pp. 767-768.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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