Homer, "The Odyssey":
“There is a sad region of Cimmerians, Covered with ever-damp fog and haze of clouds;
He never shows the eyes of people the face of the radiant Helios …"
The Greeks called the Northern Black Sea region Cimmeria, including the Crimea. Scientists date the creation of the "Odyssey" to the 9th-7th centuries. BC e. Homer writes that the climate in Crimea then was not so hot. This was later confirmed by Herodotus (5th century BC), writing that snowstorms rage here in winter, "unseen in Hellas", and the locals cross the Kerch Strait on horseback. This means that the Sea of Azov was frozen over.
By the way, there is a medieval manuscript, which says that in the winter of 763-764. The Black Sea was completely frozen: it was possible to ride a sleigh on the thick ice.
Sacrifice to Iphigenia. Tiepolo fresco dedicated to ancient Greek myth. According to the plot, the beautiful Iphigenia was to be executed, but at the last moment they regretted and sent to Taurida (as the Greeks called Crimea)
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The first Russians in Crimea
In the same century, Prince Svyatoslav defeated the Khazar Kaganate, after which the Tmutarakan principality was created, which included the Kerch Peninsula and some other territories of Crimea. In 988, the son of Svyatoslav, Vladimir, came with an army to the Byzantine Chersonesus Tauride (located on the territory of present-day Sevastopol - Ed.), Besieged it and took it. He was baptized there, bringing Christianity to Russia.
The main Russian city in the Crimea was Korchev (now Kerch. - Ed.). In 1068, Prince Gleb Svyatoslavich, the ruler of the Tmutarakan principality, "measured the sea" from Tmutarakan (now the village of Taman on the Taman Peninsula, Krasnodar Territory - Ed.) To Korchev. An inscription about this has been preserved on the Tmutarakan stone (marble slab, now in the Hermitage - Ed.). The inscription reads: "In the summer of 6576 indicta 6 Gleb the prince measured the sea on ice from Tmutorokan to Korchev 14,000 fathoms."
Homeland of camels
Camels were brought to the peninsula during the Great Silk Road. In Crimea, the center of this route was the city of Soldaya (now Sudak - Ed.). It is known that it was from Sudak that the Byzantine merchant Marco Polo set off on his first trip to China on camels (the merchant's brother had his own estate in Sudak - Ed.). Camel breeding in Crimea was practiced until the end of the 19th century.
The most famous legend
Based on the myths of Ancient Greece - the tragedy of Euripides "Iphigenia in Taurida" (V century BC). Iphigenia is the daughter of King Agamemnon. When the Greeks set out on a campaign against Troy, their ships could not go out to sea for a long time because of a strong storm. Then the oracle said that the goddess Artemis was angry with Agamemnon and demands his daughter as a sacrifice. Iphigenia agreed to go to the fire, but at the last moment Artemis took pity and took her to Taurida (at that time the so-called Crimean peninsula).
There, the locals also wanted to kill her at first, but then made her a priestess in the temple of fire. Many years later, Orestes, the youngest son of Agamemnon, who had been killed by that time, the brother of Iphigenia, with his friend Pilad, sailed to the shores of Taurida. Captured, they prepared to die on the altar, but brother and sister recognized each other. All three of them managed to escape safely to Greece.
About 50 tragedies, more than 70 operas, over 100 paintings have been created according to the myth of Iphigenia.
In Crimea, in the village of Beregovoe (not far from Simeiz), there is a rock called Iphigenia.
Capital of mod
Cardigan, raglan and balaclava - all these garments were invented during the Crimean War of 1853-1856.
Lord James Cardigan commanded a British light cavalry brigade during this war. Winter 1854/1855 in the Crimea was very cold.
The lord, who was then already 57 years old, was very cold. He was famous as a strict connoisseur of the regulations and demanded impeccable appearance of officers. Therefore, he ordered to knit himself a warm jacket with buttons without a collar, which was not visible under his uniform. The idea stuck. And Lord Raglan was in command of all British troops. The brave soldier lost his right arm at the Battle of Waterloo. And going to his last war (he died in 1855 from cholera in Sevastopol - Ed.), He ordered a special overcoat with an armhole, a one-cut sleeve and a cape. In addition to hiding a physical handicap, the raglan also served as protection from the rain due to the displacement of the shoulder seams. And so that ordinary English soldiers in Balaklava did not freeze, woolen hoods were invented for them, covering the entire face, with slits for the eyes and mouth. Then they transformed into famous hats.
How the Black Sea caught fire
The peculiarity of this sea is that living creatures in it exist only to a depth of 200 meters. Below the water is too saturated with hydrogen sulfide. During the Crimean earthquake of 1927, high columns of fire were observed in the Black Sea near Sevastopol: hydrogen sulfide was burning, rising to the surface.
Catch phrase
In 63 BC. e. Pontic king Pharnacs Eupator from Kerch with an army went to the territory of present-day Turkey to fight the Roman Empire. His army was defeated by Gaius Julius Caesar, after which he sent a victorious report to Rome: "I came - I saw - I won."
Title "Crimean"
Only two people were honored to add the title "Crimean" to their names. The first is Prince Vasily Dolgorukov-Krymsky, commander of the 2nd Russian army, which occupied Crimea in 1771 (in honor of this, the Dolgorukovsky obelisk was erected in Simferopol). The second is Major General Yakov Slashchev-Krymsky, the military leader of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, who in the winter of 1919/1920. in heavy battles with units of the Red Army, they managed to defend Perekop, prolonging the existence of the White Crimea for almost a year. The title was awarded to him personally by Baron Wrangel.
Black Death
The largest plague epidemic in history, which destroyed about a third of the population of Europe, came to the West through Feodosia. In 1346, the city, which then belonged to the Genoese, was besieged by the Tatar-Mongols of Khan Janibek. When a plague broke out in their army, which was brought by troops returning from East China, the khan ordered to throw corpses into the city by catapults, where an epidemic also broke out. The Genoese fleeing from Feodosia brought the plague to Europe - and its gloomy march across Europe began. It is believed that up to 75 million people could have died.
History over the centuries
The only Crimean city that has retained its name from ancient times is Feodosia. Founded in the VI century. BC e. Greek colonists. Then it consistently belonged to the Alans, Byzantines, Khazars, Genoese, Tatars, Turks. It was assigned different names, but after the annexation of the Crimea to Russia, in 1804, the original name was returned to Feodosia.
In 1386, the area of Feodosia was 70 hectares - some scholars believe that it was the largest city in Eastern Europe. By the way, in 1896 the 26-year-old wrestler Ivan Poddubny made his debut here in the tent circus.
Sources: Central Museum of Taurida, Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum, Feodosia Museum of Local Lore.