CHERSONESOS — KHERSON — KORSUN)
The south of today’s Ukraine is extremely rich in unique historic and archaeological sites, among them Chersonesos, medieval Kherson, or Korsun as the place is mentioned in Old Rus’ chronicles. The government has ordered the setting up of a national preserve, meaning that the area would be protected by the state.
The most recent findings indicate that Chersonesus Taurica was founded in 528-572 BC by people originating from Pontic Heraclea and the island of Delos and existed for almost two thousand years. It was a large political, economic, and cultural venue of the region, playing an important role in the development of numerous ancient peoples. At first, Chersonesus Taurica occupied a small territory surrounded by fortified walls in the late fifth and first half of the fourth centuries BC. From the outset the city operated under democratic institutions. Agriculture was the economic basis of its life. Intensive housing and religious construction was centered in a territory measuring some 27 hectares and large arable lands were being mastered. While comparatively small plots were tilled in the early fourth and fifth centuries BC on the Mayakovy Peninsula, the entire 10,000 hectares of the Heraclean Peninsula was divided into plots in the second half of the fourth century BC. A chain of local settlements marked the territory’s boundary lines, inhabited by the Tauri that tilled the plots owned by citizens of Chersonesos.
In the late fifth or early fourth centuries BC, inhabitants of Chersonesos penetrated the northwestern Crimea, which had been tamed by Ionian Greeks. By then Chersonesos had grown from a provincial polis into a territorial state with possessions on the Heraclean Peninsula and northwest Crimea. The new type of the state was legally reflected by the oath of allegiance taken by the citizens of Chersonesos. In the second quarter of the third century BC, changes in the steppe zone of the northern Pontic littoral had led to the appearance in the Crimea of an early class and late Scythian state centered in the Scythian settlement of Neapol (currently Simferopol). The Scythians actively sought arable land. In the early second or late third century BC, they gained possession of almost all such territories in the northwest Crimea and settlements adjacent to Chersonesos suffered worst from their raids. The city could not defend itself from this enemy and had to turn to young King of Pontus Mithridates VI Eupator who sent troops to Taurica under the command of Diophantus who, in the course of several wars, removed the Scythian threat. Mithridates’ military assistance was accompanied by changes in the political status of the civil community. Chersonesos proclaimed King Mithridates of Pontus its protector and became part of the Kingdom of Pontus, while retaining its domestic self-government, with most land possessions in the north of current Turkey. The city accommodated a garrison meant to secure it against outward aggression and most likely collect the tribute due the king. Chersonesos thus lost its previous independence and, after the ambitious Mithridates was defeated by Rome, found itself in the Roman political orbit.
In the first couple of centuries AD, Chersonesos was closely connected with that empire. In the first half of the second century AD, it was granted the status of eleutheria (Greek for freedom) and a Roman garrison was stationed there. Roman soldiers rebuilt the fortified walls and watchtowers. Other garrisons were deployed elsewhere in Taurica. In the 230s and forties, the borders of the Roman Empire and such ancient centers of the northern Black Sea littoral as Tyra and Olvia suffered nomadic raids. But Chersonesos remained outside of the key campaign routes and remained the empire’s principal bulwark. It remained closely connected with the Eastern Roman Empire. After the Roman garrison withdrew, direct military aid was replaced by monetary subsidies to sustain troops.
It was previously assumed that the Hun onslaught ended the ancient history of the northern Pontic littoral in general and of Chersonesos in particular. Presently, it has been established that, after routing the army of the Alans the Huns proceeded westward, reaching the boundaries of the Roman Empire, leaving Chersonesos without serious damage. The bulk of the Huns appeared in the region later, in the fifth century, following Attila’s death and the collapse of their state. The Huns retreated from the Danube all the way to here, yet even then they left the Greek strong points alone, only now and then assimilating with the local population.
The status of Chersonesos, which became known as Cherson, in the in the late fifth century is corroborated by a record of fortification works resumed under Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno (474-491). The document makes it clear that Cherson (Kherson) was an imperial city and thus given money to repair the fortification. The inclusion of the city into the empire under Zeno coincides with the start of a local mint. The economic upsurge under Anastasius I (491- 518) paved the way for the Byzantine Empire’s foreign political expansion, which became especially evident under the Emperor Justinian I, called The Great (527-65), when imperial influence in the northern Black Sea region substantially increased, with Cherson remaining the key Byzantine bulwark there. The strengthening Byzantine presence in the Crimea dates from 532-39. In the 570s, other Turkic nomads came to the region from the north, after conquering the Alans. In 581, they pitched camp near Cherson but could not take the city. Turkic threat explains the strengthening of Cherson’s fortifications under Justinian II (reigned 685-695; 705- 711). After peace was quickly made with the Turks, the largest Christian churches began to be built. From the late fifth to seventh century, the city remained a component and principal stronghold of the Byzantine Empire in Taurica. As previously, Cherson was a large venue for the crafts and trade, attracting mostly the rural residents of Taurica.
In the late seventh and early eighth centuries, Cherson found itself in the epicenter of tempestuous political events in Byzantine history. Bardanes Philippicus was proclaimed emperor. After Justinian II was deposed and killed in 711 not only the residents of Cherson but also Khazars played a notable role in events. As for the Khazars, the Byzantine authorities had to share power with them in the Crimea for quite some time. In 840-41 or thereabouts, Byzantine themata military- administrative districts were instituted in the Crimea, centered in Cherson. Each was commanded by a strategos as commander of the armed forces.
In the second half of the ninth and in tenth century, Cherson-Korsun was closely connected with Kyiv Rus’ which at the time was gaining scope and momentum as a major political force in northern Black Sea region. The city would also play an important role in Rus’-Byzantium relations. At Byzantine emperor Basil II’s behest, Kyiv Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych provided military aid, yet the emperor failed to honor his commitments. In retaliation, Volodymyr seized Cherson in 988 or 989 and said he would withdraw only after the emperor agreed to let him wed his sister Anna. Byzantium had no alternative but make peace with Rus’, and Volodymyr got his bride. Legend has it that he was baptized at Cherson. Kyiv Rus’ was baptized shortly after the Korsun campaign, and this made a tremendous impact on the Slavic state, making Rus’ a full-fledged European state.
Batu Khan’s Tartars first appeared in the Crimea in 1223. The Seljuk Turks invaded the southern Crimean coast (they were settled in Asia Minor at the time). All this had a disastrous effect on Cherson. In the late thirteenth century it was seized by the Golden Horde led by Nogai. In the mid-fourteenth century the city found itself under the Genoese, who had long-lasting military-strategic and trade interests in the Crimea. The people of Cherson tried to survive under the circumstances, but in 1399 the city was once again raided and laid waste by the Tartars. After that separate urban regions continued to subsist, but were deserted sometime in the mid-fifteenth century. The area remained barren of human activity for quite some time and even the name of the city seemed to have been erased from memory, until Taurica was seized by the Ottoman Turks, making the Crimean Tartars their vassals and renaming Cherson Sari Kermen, meaning Yellow Fortress.
The new life of Chersonesos- Cherson-Kherson-Korsun began in 1827, when the first archaeological digs began. They have been intermittently underway to this day, owing to the selfless effort of several generations of domestic researchers for over than 170 years. Today, we have a more or less complete historical picture of that unique center of civilization. UNESCO lists Cherson/Kherson among the world’s most significant historical sites along with such wonders of the world as Egypt’s pyramids, Parthenon in Athens, and Coliseum in Rome.
