Does anyone know when Roman troops finally left the Bosporan Kingdom?<br>
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I saw recently that
www.hostkingdom.net/crimea.html dates the<br>
Roman evacuation to AD 338, but I don't know why. I'd be grateful if anyone could let me know what the source for that date might be, and how reliable it is.<br>
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A paper summarised at
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~arkeo...onday2.htm suggests that a garrison was re-installed somewhen around the end of the 3rd century, and I presume this might be the force that was allegedly withdrawn in 338. <p></p><i></i>
Quote:</em></strong><hr>Does anyone know when Roman troops finally left the Bosporan Kingdom?<hr><br>
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I guess that depends on your definition of Roman. The "extreme south coast," as the author of that first web site puts it, continued as a Roman province (and, later, theme) well into the Byzantine era. Although, according to Treadgold, there appears to have been a brief period before 395 when all of the Crimea was lost- the Romans were definitely back by the next century and gradually held slightly more than the south coast.<br>
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Right around 338 is when the Goths were being pushed into the area by the Huns. The first web site also notes that the Ostrogoths were in the Crimea then (as do Treadgold's maps). So that is most likely the reason why (keeping in mind that they were withdrawn from <em>most</em> but not all of the peninsula)- combined with the fact that Constantius was occupied fighting along the Danube and against the Persians (in Mesopotamia and Armenia).<br>
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Don't know about the sources- Ammianus maybe?<br>
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I have translated the materials i got while visiting Chersonesos (Sevastopol). Chersonesos was founded in 422 BC. in 63 BC it became a Roman "virtual dependent". In 44-36 BC the Chersonesos city has a charter of eleutheria (???) from Rome. 50-200 AD Sarmatians invade the Crimean displacing the Late Sythians. 88-97 St. Clement exiled to Chersonesos by Rome.<br>
140-250 AD Roman military in Chersonesos.<br>
370 AD Huns invade Crimean.<br>
527-565 AD during reign of Justinian I the Western Crimean fortified by Constantinople.<br>
695-711 Byzantine emperor Justinian II exiled to Chersonesos (then called Cherson)<br>
829-841AD Emperor Theophilos establishes military districts in Crimea.<br>
1223 AD First Mongol invasion of Crimean<br>
about 1250 AD Cherson destroyed by Major fire.<br>
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I would quote the sources, but I doubt Cyrillic letters will work here <p>"Just before class started, I looked in the big book where all the world's history is written, and it said...." Neil J. Hackett, PhD ancient history, professor OSU, 1987</p><i></i>
Thanks, chaps. Part of the problem is that Chersonesos, and the south coast of the Crimea in general, isn't actually part of the Bosporan kingdom, so it's not always exactly clear what regions modern references apply to. I've just found
www.da-costa.net/memoire/ - studies (in French) on the Roman military presence in the Black Sea - which mentions a war in 290-2, an alliance of Chersonesos and Rome against the Bosporan Kingdom; there is an inscription showing that Chersonesos still had a Roman garrison in 488, by which time the Bosporan Kingdom has disappeared.<br>
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Hmm. Still trying to straighten all this out... <p></p><i></i>