Defensive installations of the north-eastern part of the european bosporus

Due to its position, the north-eastern part of the kerch peninsula was not only a link between the Due to its geographical position, the north-eastern part of the kerch peninsula was not only a link between the asiatic and european bosporus, but also an intersection point of the transport and shipping routes which used to connect the mediterranean and the ancient centres of the northern black sea region ancient with trading posts and the barbarian periphery of the azov and lower don regions. One of the ancient crossing places of the cimmerian bosporus was here, at the narrowest part of the strait. Controlling and securing this part of the peninsula was of vital concern throughout bosporan history.

Thanks to its location, the most significant fortress within the european bosporus’s defensive system in the 5th-1st centuries bc was porthmion, as the character of the site shows. Construction of the earliest walls dates back to the first half of the 5th century bc. Naturally, it was not the only defensive installation in the region. Another settlement – parthenion – was situated 1.5 km to its south. This possibly dates back to the end of the 6th-beginning of the 5th century bc. We can form no judgment about its defensive structures in the present stage of research. Routes connecting panticapaeum and other towns of european bosporus with the crossing were secured by means of minor fortresses (such as a settlement on cape zmeinyi) and fortified homesteads disposed latitudinally. Apparently, a route for nomadic migrations ran through here in the early period (5th-3rd centuries bc). The structures here were used as defensive focuses or lines of deep defence in case of nomadic aggression, or functioned to constrain it.

In the 1st century bc relations with the barbarian tribes and the military-political situation on the bosporus underwent dramatic change. Pontic practices introduced by mithridates vi eupator and maintained by his successors exerted a profound influence on the bosporan system of defence. A mixed frontal-focal system was created, the major principle of which was combination of uninterrupted defensive lines represented by earthworks with watchtowers and minor forts along their course together with fortified settlements on the king’s chora. Evidently, the so-called minor bosporan towns were included in the new system, which can be deduced from the reconstruction and reinforcement of their defensive walls in the 1st century bc-1st century ad. The newly created defence system was meant not only to secure the state’s borders from foreign aggression, but also to counterbalance possible separatism by individual poleis.

Thus, a strong fortification system was constructed on the european bosporus by the end of the 1st century bc, which became an integral part of the royal fortification system on the bosporan chora.

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