Nymphaeum
Nymphaeum was an ancient Greek city located on the eastern coast of the Tauric Chersonese, near modern-day Geroevka in Crimea. Founded in the first half of the sixth century BCE by Greek colonists, it was strategically situated on the Cimmerian Bosphorus, which connected the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. The city became an important Athenian outpost around 444 BCE but later returned to the Bosphoran kingdom after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Nymphaeum thrived on a robust grain trade, evidenced by archaeological findings of wealth among its burials, indicating a blend of Greek and Scythian cultures.
Significant structures included a shrine to Aphrodite and a temple of Demeter, along with a sanctuary for the Cabiri, all of which were destroyed in the fourth century BCE. Despite periods of decline, remnants from the third century CE, including a large structure made of rose marl, have been discovered, indicating continued habitation. The city underwent various reconstructions over the centuries, but faced widespread destruction, likely due to native attacks, leading to its eventual abandonment. Today, much of Nymphaeum lies submerged, preserving its history beneath the water.
Nymphaeum
Nymphaion (near Geroevka)
A Greek city, with a good harbor, on the east coast of the Tauric Chersonese (Crimea), eleven miles south of Panticapaeum (Kerch): situated on the Cimmerian Bosphorus (seeBosphorus) which linked the Euxine (Black) Sea with Lake Maeotis (the Sea of Azov). Occupying the site of an earlier Scythian settlement on a small hill, Nymphaeum was founded by Greek colonists in the first half of the sixth century, and was probably incorporated in the kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosphorus not long after 500, but c 444 became the principal Athenian outpost on the eastern shore of the Tauric Chersonese, before reverting to the Bosphoran kingdom after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War (404).
The city of Nymphaeum, protected by walls, enriched itself from a large-scale grain trade. Investigations of wealthy fifth-century burials have uncovered abundant material (clothing ornaments, arrow heads, horses and harness) that has led to the conclusion that the Scythian nobility partook actively in the life of the Greek community: finds include not only Greek imported ceramics (and brightly colored plaster ornaments) but also extensive local handmade pottery of native style.
The continuation of active life during the fourth century, despite destruction (see below), is confirmed by the excavation of a wine-pressing plant—the earliest so far known in the northern Black Sea area—which recalls that the short-lived issue of coinage by Nymphaeum, at a slightly earlier date, had depicted not only the head of a nymph (personifying the place-name) but also a vine branch.
Excavations have traced levels of habitation from the sixth century, when a shrine of Aphrodite on the acropolis was probably founded, in addition to a temple of Demeter near the harbor; a sanctuary of the non-Greek Cabiri was also erected in the same seaside area before 400. All these buildings were demolished in the course of the fourth century. Parts of a third (?) century edifice, however—which now lies underwater, like much of the ancient city and port—have been explored, as well as a large structure of about the same period which was made of rose marl (a mixture of clay and calcium carbonate). Large portions of the city were reoriented and reconstructed in the second century BC, and again in the first century AD, but subsequent epochs witnessed widespread destruction and abandonment, presumably as a result of attacks from natives in the interior.
See map ofThe Black Sea.