The great city of Hermonassa was founded by lesbian Greeks long before our era. For some time it was part of the Bosporus Kingdom, a Hellenistic state in the Black Sea region. Then, already in the 6th century AD, the Bosporus lost its independence and became part of the Byzantine Empire. However, in the same century, the territory of Hermonassa was captured by the Turkic Kaganate. After the invasion of the Turks, the city was renamed Tumen-Tarkhan, or in Slavic, the very legendary Tmutarakan.
When the Türkic Kaganate split into two parts, a state ruled by the Khazars, the Hunno-Bulgar people, emerged from the Western Türkic Empire. The Khazar Kaganate immediately extended its influence to the lands of Tmutarakan. But after the destruction of the Khazar state in 965, the city came under the rule of Kievan Rus. Tmutarakan gained relative independence at the beginning of the 11th century. In 1024, the Grand Duke Mstislav defeated the Kievites, and finally consolidated the status of his state in all Russian lands. Then the great Battle of Listvenskaya took place, which claimed the lives of many glorious men.
However, since 1054 Tmutarakan already falls under the dependence of the Chernigov principality. The sons of the Chernigov prince begin to rule in the ancient city. Soon Tmutarakan itself was cut off from the rest of Russia by the advancing Polovtsian hordes. The last prince of the great land was the legendary Oleg "Gorislavich", also known as Archon Tamarkhi. "Gorislavich" ruled Tmutarakan until 1115, in which he died. Many of his troops consisted of Byzantines and various mercenaries. After the death of Prince Oleg, information about the Tmutarakan principality disappears from the chronicles.
According to some historians, in the XII century, the Tamatarha region (or Tmutarakan) belonged to the Byzantine Empire. In many Greek sources, these lands were referred to as Byzantine. But scientists have not received accurate information. In the 13th and 14th century, the city became a colony of the Genoese Republic. There is also information that it was ruled by princes from Adygea. This continued until 1475, when this area fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. After the invasion of the Turks, this city already received a different name - Taman.
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This is what can be said about the once great city, built in antiquity by the ancient Greeks. Too often he changed hands. At first it was owned by the Bosporians, then by the Turks, then by the Rusichi, and later by the Italians. There is still no information about what happened to the Russian principality itself after the death of the last ruler. Information was never received. Perhaps some secrets may remain unsolved forever. Indeed, in those days there were no computers, no tablets, or other other technological sources. And the chronicles themselves, as a rule, were written mainly for those who benefited from it.