KERTCH.
Approach to Kertch—The Cimmerian Bosphorus—Russian
Conquest of Kertch in 1771—Its rise since 1833—Its
chance of becoming the emporium of trade for the Sea of
Azof—Russian authorities—Ancient church—Kertch, the ancient
Panticapæum—Acropolis—Arm-chair of Mithridates—Allée of
Tumuli on Theodosian road—The Tumulus a sign of Milesian
occupation—Contents of Tumuli on Theodosian road—Etruscan Vases
at Kertch—Burial-places of the Poor—Tomb of the Pigmies—The
Catacombs—The Tombs of the Kings—The Golden Mountain—The
rich discoveries at Kouloba—Description of the contents of
the Tomb—Pillaged by the people—Probably that of Leucon I.,
or Paerisádes I.—The Museum—Myrmékium—Mud Volcanoes—Naphtha
Springs—Cape Akboroun—Nymphæum—Herring fishery—Opouk, the
ancient Kimmericum.
After[226] a long journey across an uninterrupted flat steppe, slight
undulations appear above the horizon on approaching the Cimmerian
Bosphorus, and shortly after this appearance the traveller finds himself
in a principal necropolis of the ancient Milesian city. Immense cones
of earth rise on each side of the road, and ridges of coral rag lying
among these sepulchral monuments, give a grand aspect to this singular
field of death. On arriving at the extremity of the plateau, the view
extends over the whole Bosphorus. On an evening in summer the last rays
of the setting sun tint the cliffs on the Asiatic side, and light up the
triangular sails of a few fishing boats lazily floating down the current.
The outline of the tumuli of Phanagoria becomes distinctly traced on the
blue sky, and, as the sheet of water of the straits gradually assumes the
sombre colouring of evening, the shadow of Cape Akboroun stretches over
the water. These fine effects of light and shade are visible but for a
few moments; the sun descends with tropical quickness below the horizon,
and the uniform tones of the dark twilight envelop the Bosphorus, its
shores, and the solitary barks upon its waters.
Descending from the plateau, the traveller enters the town of Kertch,
which is completely Russianized, of new construction, occupying the
site of the ancient Greek colony of Panticapæum, once the queen city
of the Bosphorus. The straits on which it stands, called the Cimmerian
Bosphorus, leading from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azof,[227] and
separating Europe from Asia, are about eight miles wide, and in parts
so shallow, that they do not admit vessels drawing more than twelve
feet of water, although in the time of Peter the Great, at the taking
of Azof, corvettes of forty guns could pass through them. Kertch is a
corruption of the name Gherséti, which the Turks gave to the fortress
erected here by the Genoese, which was called by the geographers of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Bospro, Vospro, and Pandico. The
Russians took possession of Kertch in 1771, and then 500 or 600 huts
surrounded the Turkish fortress, which was circular. This the Russians at
first strengthened, but afterwards abandoned, because it was completely
commanded from behind.
Yenicáleh, at a few miles distance, was then fortified for the defence
of the straits, and Kertch dwindled away, until, in 1821, the Emperor
Alexander, appreciating its commercial importance, declared it a port
of the empire, and raised it to the rank of a town, with an independent
municipality.[228] Since that time Kertch has slowly increased, although
it has scarcely now as many inhabitants as it had during the occupation
of the Turks; for Peyssonel allowed it, in 1787, from 3000 to 4000 souls.
It is now the chief town of a little government, comprising Yenicáleh
and about 13,000 acres of land, which form the eastern point of the
peninsula; and the whole number of inhabitants in Kertch and Yenicáleh
together is only 2800 souls, living in 680 houses.
[Illustration: PLAN OF PANTICAPÆUM NOW KERTCH, ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE
KINGDOM OF THE BOSPHORUS.
_Published by John Murray Albemarle Sᵗ. 1855._
_Ford & West. Lithʳˢ._]
On the proposition of Prince Woronzof in 1833, the suggestion which
Pallas[229] had made forty years before was acted upon, and Kertch was
declared the place of general quarantine for the Sea of Azof, and since
that time no vessel has been allowed to pass the straits without a clean
bill of health obtained here. The object of the Russian government in
this measure was to do away with all quarantine establishments in the
Azof, which has been effected, and to throw into the hands of natives
the carrying trade between the ports of the Azof and Kertch, which has
not been found so easy of accomplishment. Kertch has not become, as was
expected, the emporium for all the valuable commerce between the Black
Sea and eastern Russia; this still remains in the ports of the Azof; and
Rostof, notwithstanding the difficulty of reaching it with large vessels,
still goes on increasing in importance far more rapidly than Kertch.
Of all the ships that frequent the Azof, by far the greater number are
content to pass a long quarantine at Kertch, and to ascend the sea to
load, although, if Kertch were the emporium, and merchants had large
stores there, ships might arrive at the straits, load at once, and be
off with their cargoes without any quarantine at all.[230] In accounting
for the fact that advantage has not been taken of the great privileges
accorded to Kertch, something is doubtless due to the difficulty of
changing any established course of trade; and merchants who have laid out
capital in establishments at Taganrok and Rostof have, of course, been
unwilling to remove to a new town. There are, however, real advantages
for commerce at the towns of the Azof, which Kertch does not possess.
The trade of that sea is almost entirely confined to exports, and the
merchants at the ports on its shores are nearer to the country which
supplies them, and to their agents who are scattered over it, and with
whom they want to maintain a constant communication, than they would be
at Kertch. At present there is no steam communication in the Azof, and
the means of transit across it must be very much improved before it will
be possible to transfer to its southern extremity the point of rendezvous
between the internal and external commerce. And, again, if Kertch should
become the emporium of trade, a larger capital would be required for
carrying on business there, because stocks would be longer on the road,
and more of them would have to be kept in store. The necessity for a
larger capital is a great objection to the change, because capital is
very scarce in Russia, as in all new or ill-governed countries, so that
even that which is required for the tillage of the ground is supplied by
foreigners, as will afterwards be explained. It is besides doubtful, if
an emporium were established on the Black Sea, whether Kertch is the most
eligible place for it. The merchants generally are in favour of Theodosia
rather than Kertch, because the anchorage at the former place is better,
and the bay of Theodosia does not freeze in winter, like the Bosphorus.
A glance at the map will also show, that a railway might be made, or a
canal cut across the peninsula of Kertch, which at Theodosia is only
forty miles broad, to some point between Arabat and Cape Kazantip, where
the Russians landed their stores last autumn for Sevastopol, and then
the difficulties of the navigation of the Bosphorus would be avoided,
the distance shortened, and the communications would be easier with the
western parts of new Russia.
Kertch, like all Greek colonies, is charmingly situated. A hill, called
the Arm-chair of Mithridates, on the top of which the rock is scooped
out in a peculiar way, rises at a short distance from the shore, and
gently slopes down to the sea. Around this hill was originally built the
old Greek town, and on its sides were once clustered a variety of Greek
temples, crowned on the top by the acropolis, which in Greek cities was
nothing more than the walls surrounding the sacred spot in which was
placed the tutelary deity, upon the safe custody of which the security of
the town was supposed to depend. The Turkish fortress below the hill has
now been cleared away to make room for a handsome open square surrounded
by arcades, from which streets are building in all directions.
I was kindly lodged during my stay here by Mr. Cattley, the English
vice-consul, a son of one of the great Russian merchants of St.
Petersburg, whom I had met at Sevastopol, and who is now the interpreter
to Lord Raglan in the Crimea.
The civil Governor was Prince Herkheolídze, of Georgian extraction; and
the military Governor, whose command extends all down the eastern coast
of the Black Sea, and includes all the fortresses erected against the
Circassians as far as Redout-kalè, was General Budberg, who had been the
aide-de-camp of Marshal Diébitch in the first Turkish and Polish wars,
and who was lately commissioner to the Emperor in the Principalities.
General Budberg was exceedingly polite, but would not allow me a passage
to Redout-kalè, down the eastern coast of the Black Sea, in one of the
Government vessels, which then occasionally plied there, although as soon
as Prince Woronzof came to the Caucasus he made them start at stated
times, and receive passengers at fixed charges, to the great convenience
of travellers and merchants. During the ten days I staid in Kertch I
spent the time very agreeably in visiting the numberless ancient remains
in the neighbourhood, and profiting by the kind hospitality of the
society there.
As I was going to visit a country so little known as the Caucasus, having
obtained leave to take the road along the line of the Kuban, and across
the mountains to Tiflis, I was anxious to obtain every information
in my power, and met with many officers at Kertch who had served in
various parts of the mountains, and were very obliging in satisfying my
curiosity. General Budberg told me of the anthracite which is found in
large quantities on the banks of the Don, and which was found to be, he
said, better than coal for the steamers. He had just been superintending
the experiments which two new English engineers had been making with it,
and they found that a ship could be provided with it for one-third time
longer than with coal, although it required a different arrangement of
some parts of the machinery of the vessels.
I met here several educated Russians, of what I may call the middle
classes, and was pleased to find in the unguarded moments of familiar
conversation a tone of sound good sense in all their remarks, which
I believe fairly represents the general state of feeling through the
country.
Giving generally the fruit of my observations among many classes of
Russians for several years, I believe they think their government a wise
and good one on the whole, although they are not slow to criticise it
in its details. They believe that an iron hand is necessary to keep the
empire together, and that a great destiny is in store for it, and as long
as progress is made, and the Slavonic name upheld, it has always seemed
to me, and I think my opinion has been borne out by recent events, that
they would be willing to rally round their Government, and make every
sacrifice required by it.
Great efforts have been made of late years by the Government to rouse a
national feeling in the people, and for this reason almost insurmountable
obstacles are placed in the way of Russians either leaving Russia, or
having their children educated abroad. As a general rule, to which very
few exceptions are allowed, no Russian can be absent from his country
between the age of twelve years old and twenty-five, or the whole time
during which the character is supposed to be forming; and after the age
of twenty-five a medical certificate is necessary in order to obtain
permission to travel, and a tax of one hundred silver roubles, or about
16_l._, is levied during each year of absence as the price of a passport.
No Russian can be absent more than five years from his country without
ceasing to be a Russian subject, and forfeiting all his property. These
rules were a good deal the subject of conversation while I was at Kertch,
and they seemed generally approved of, on the grounds that young Russians
came back with such very absurd notions after having been to foreign
countries, and that, without understanding what was good in them, they
aped everything that was bad. It was also observed that the revolution
of 1824 originated entirely with the army that had served in Western
Europe, which brought home notions of freedom that were impracticable in
their native country. A constitution it was said was now impossible in
Russia, and so little was the meaning of the term known by the people
when they called out for it at the revolution of 1824, that they thought
“Constitutia”[231] meant the wife of the Grand Duke Constantine, who
resigned his rights to the throne in favour of the late Emperor Nicholas.
The church of Kertch, which formerly stood in the fortress, is a curious
specimen of Byzantine architecture, and the date of its erection engraven
on one of its columns, viz. the year of the world 6225 (757 A.D.), proves
it to be the oldest Byzantine temple now remaining in the Crimea.
The plan of the church is that of a cross with very short transepts, and
a cupola rising in the middle, which lights the centre by eight narrow
windows. The cupola is supported by four short marble columns of the
Corinthian order, and some idea may be formed of the small dimensions of
the church, as the distance between these columns is only twelve feet.
The appearance of the whole is mean and gloomy, and resembles the
churches which may be seen in various parts of Greece. Under the
Justinians and their successors, in the sixth and seventh centuries of
the Christian era, architecture had degenerated, and leaving more and
more the beautiful models of Greece, had changed into a new style suited
to the wants of the Christian ritual, and therefore continually less
like the old Greek edifices. This new style, which took its origin at
Constantinople, was called the Byzantine style, and all the countries
which bordered on the Black Sea adopted it. The cupola was necessary
for the church service, as its light being shed on the table of the
love feast, or the altar, was considered emblematic of the divine light
descending from heaven.
Such was the origin of the Byzantine style, and it was natural that the
Crimea, which was so near Constantinople, should be greatly influenced
by it, and that the traces of it should be everywhere found throughout
the peninsula. There are the remains of such churches at Phanagoria
and Taman, and the churches of Kherson, Aithodor, and Aioudágh, in the
Crimea, are built in the same style. There were several in Kertch, the
remains of which may still be seen.
The marble that was commonly used at this period was white with large
grains, striped with blue bands. Dubois supposes that there was a quarry
of it near Constantinople, and that it was a great manufactory for
church columns and ornaments, which were exported all round the Black
Sea, because it is in all the principal ports that traces of churches
are found, adorned with this marble. It is not found in buildings
erected before the foundation of Constantinople, and the two kinds,
then most usual, were the marble of Paros, of which fragments are found
belonging to all ages, and a streaked marble of blue, or grey, or white,
called “cipolino” by the Italians, the use of which is confined almost
exclusively to the Bosphorus.[232]
The ancient name of Kertch was Panticapæum,[233] and it was one of the
many Milesian colonies founded in the Black Sea, in the seventh century
before Christ. After about half a century of independent existence, it
became the centre of a kingdom the political limits of which varied
considerably. In its palmiest days the territory extended as far north as
the Tanais, while to the west it was bounded on the inland side by the
mountains of Theodosia. This fertile and narrow region was the granary
of Greece, especially of Athens, which drew annually from it a supply
of 400,000 medimni of corn.[234] Although there are no fine buildings,
or even fragments left standing, as at Athens and Rome, to attest the
ancient magnificence of Panticapæum, heaps of brick and pottery and the
foundations of buildings encumber the soil for a considerable distance
round the Hill of Mithridates, and show how great was the extent of the
ancient city.
The acropolis occupied the summit of the Hill of Mithridates, in shape an
irregular polygon, and the ditches and some parts of the walls, the last
in the coarse limestone of Kertch, may still be traced. The fortified
town touched the acropolis in the form of a long square, of which the
acropolis occupied the south-east angle. The wall in its circuit enclosed
only the summit and the northern slope of the Hill of Mithridates. The
southern side seems never to have been fortified, although there are
numerous traces of the foundations of buildings.
It is probable that, in very early times, the bay advanced much further
into the land. Not to speak of the groups of tumuli which seem to mark
the ancient limits of the water, the alluvial nature of the soil, its
low level, which is almost that of the sea, and the absence of all
buildings on this space, make it probable that this ground was formerly
covered by the water. This was the case with all the other bays of the
Bosphorus, and particularly of one to the south of Mount Mithridates,
which formed in ancient times a second port, but is now covered with
a salt-lake, separated from the sea by a bar of sand, which the waves
sometimes overleap in stormy weather.
Thus in ancient times the hill of Panticapæum was bounded on three sides
by the sea. The principal faubourg extended from the mole, the remains of
which are still visible, along the sea-shore to the foot of the mountain,
and as far as the southern port. In the midst of the immense heaps of
ruins which cover the surrounding country, may be traced the principal
streets which ended at the gates of the town, and among them one of the
most distinct is that leading from the port to the acropolis, entering it
at what seems to have been its only gate. This is probably the gate that
is seen on the coins of the king, T. J. Reskóuporis, because it is not
placed in the middle of the wall of the polygon, and the same peculiarity
may be observed on the coins. The street after entering the acropolis,
ascended the hill by a zigzag, until it reached the peak at the top
called the Arm-chair of Mithridates. The base of the peak is hidden
under a mass of ruins, and the whole rock has been carefully hewn. This
is especially the case on the western side, where a niche is excavated,
eight feet wide with steps leading up to it, and evidently intended for
a statue, and this is the work which has given rise to the name of the
“Arm-chair” of Mithridates. This “Arm-chair” is evidently only part of an
ancient edifice in which it was included, the form of which may be traced
by the foundations of the walls.
This edifice had probably a religious destination, as in the excavations
which M. Scassi made at the foot of the rock, he discovered a fine torso
of a colossal statue of Cybele in white marble, which forms one of the
chief ornaments of the museum. There are also friezes and cornices which
came from the same spot. The head of Cybele is found on the coins of some
of the kings,[235] although not on those of the town of Panticapæum, and
Cybele is the same divinity as Astarte, or the Eastern Venus.
The interior of the acropolis, which was 200 yards square, allowed plenty
of room for the erection of two sanctuaries, one to Cybele and the other
to Ceres, and still left space for the lodgings of the priests, and the
garrison, and for a palace for Mithridates the Great, who came here to
die. The acropolis of Athens had not more available room than that of
Panticapæum. The plateau of the Hill enclosed in the walls of the town
was also ornamented with palaces and perhaps temples, for several peaks
of rock have been sculptured like the Arm-chair of Mithridates, and the
inscriptions and medals of Panticapæum show that there was the worship of
several other divinities besides Cybele and Ceres.
There are no signs of aqueducts in the acropolis, but the lower town
was probably supplied with water from two springs at the bottom of the
valley, which now furnish the two principal fountains of Kertch. One is
within the old fortifications, and has been repaired by the Turks with
the fragments of ancient marbles, on one of which is an inscription,
showing it to have belonged to a monument which Sauromates III. raised to
his father Mithridates Eupator (A.D. 162).
The principal gate of the town was turned towards the interior of the
peninsula in the centre of the western wall. It led to Nymphæum and
Theodosia, and the place is easily recognized by the interruption of the
deep ditch which ran along it. At 240 yards from the gate the road which
led to Theodosia reached an allée of tumuli ranged several rows deep on
each side in an irregular manner, and continuing for two-thirds of a
mile. This long series of tombs seems to date in great measure from the
foundation of the town by the Milesians. At a later period the dwellings
of the dead became more extended, and occupied the range of hills in
continuation of Mount Mithridates for six or seven miles in length, and
here are found the tombs of the kings. Tumuli are also found on the
other side of the low plain to the north, where they form three grand
groups, the best known of which is near the modern quarantine. The gate
to the north of the Theodosian gate led to the Greek city of Dia, near
Kamishboroun, and the road crossed the hill through a gentle dip. Along
it were the tombs of the poorer inhabitants, who buried their urns and
cinders around a coral-rag peak, 245 feet above the level of the bay.
Such is a short sketch of the Milesian Panticapæum. Afterwards, as the
bay became filled up, and the low ground between the mountain and the
sea increased, the population descended and left the old site of the
town, until in the fourth century, soon after Kertch became converted
to Christianity, its Kings disappeared, and barbarous hordes destroyed
all the cities of the Bosphorus. The population then became very much
reduced, and the Panticapæum of the Eastern empire was a decayed and
unimportant town.
As soon as there was space enough on the sea-shore, the inhabitants
fortified themselves there; and the Milesian acropolis, on the summit
of the mountain, with its temples and palaces, has ever since served
as a cemetery. This was proved by the excavations which were made for
building a mortuary chapel for Mr. Stempkovsky, who wished to be buried
on the highest point. To the depth of eight or ten feet were found
broken Etruscan pottery, fragments of marble, and building stones with
inscriptions. In the midst of this new soil were a number of tombs,
irregularly placed one on the other, containing stone coffins made of
thin layers of Kertch limestone, filled simply with bones, which proved
them to be Christian.
The Greeks never allowed the dead to be placed near the temples of the
Gods, as their contact was considered pollution. Even close to the
Arm-chair of Mithridates was found a sarcophagus, like those of Inkerman
and Tepekerman, 7½ feet long and 1½ feet broad, and the eastern end, that
of the head, cut in the shape of a semicircle. The tomb was covered with
a great slab, and approached by five steps cut in the southern side of
the rock. The Arm-chair itself was perhaps the apse of a little Christian
chapel.
The enormous quantity of tumuli round Kertch form one of the
distinguishing features of the place—many of them have been opened, and
unfortunately without sufficient care. The tumulus on the shores of the
Bosphorus is essentially Milesian. This is also remarkable on the Asiatic
side, where the towns of the Sindes have no monuments of this kind, while
Phanogoria, Kepos, and Kimmericum, which are known Milesian colonies,
are surrounded by them. The same is the case on the European shore
where Panticapæum, Myrmékium, Porthmium, Nymphæum, Milesian towns, are
distinguishable from a distance by the multitude of their tumuli, while
the other Kimmericum, now Opouk, and Kherson, colonies of Heraclea, and
consequently Dorian, have none. The same is the case with the towns of
the Tauri; except the residence of Skilouros near Simpherópol, which has
a few tumuli near its walls.
It would be curious to inquire what is the reason of the tumulus being
peculiar to the Ionic race. Does it arise from their differing with the
Dorians in their religious ideas respecting the dead? and are the same
facts observable in Greece and other Greek colonies? Must we go back for
an explanation to the origin of the Greek nation, of the Ionians from the
Pelasgians, and of the Dorians from the Hellenes?
The group of tumuli near the Theodosian gate[236] are the most ancient,
as is proved both by the nature of the objects found in them, and by
their worn appearance. Mr. Blaremberg was the first to excavate them in
1824; and he has left in the museum of Kertch a list of the articles
which he found in four, which had not been previously opened.
The head was generally surrounded by leaves of beaten gold, of which
it was the custom to make a crown; and the following is a list of the
articles found in one tomb, which he calls, without any good reason, that
of the wife of King Eúmeles.
1. A bust of Isis in terra cotta.
2. Two doves in terra cotta.
3. A fragment of a Serapis in plaster.
4. A fragment of a large necklace in carbonated silver, finished by two
heads of lions.
5. Ornaments in a vitreous paste imitating glass.
6. Fragments in oxided iron.
7. Two medals in bronze of King Eúmeles (died B.C. 304), having on one
side a head of Apollo, and on the reverse a Priapus before a branch of
myrtle.
8. A pair of golden bracelets, beautifully worked.
9. Two golden ear-rings, with small cupids, ornamented with precious
stones.
10. Two golden rings, with convex green stones.
11. A golden ring, with an engraved stone of Minerva, very fine.
12. A golden pin, with a stone, on which is a butterfly.
13. A silver pin, with an engraved stone, with a head.
14. Four chalcedony ear-drops, and some leaves in beaten gold.
The tumuli near the quarantine are clearly less ancient than those on
the road to Theodosia. They are less worn by time, of more colossal
dimensions, and their interior construction, and the objects contained in
them, show a more advanced state of civilisation. These tumuli were also
crossed by a public road, which branched off on the right to Myrmékium,
and on the left to Porthmium. The greater number contain vaults built of
masonry, instead of excavations in the limestone, and their floor is on
the same level as the ground outside. The arch of the ceiling is formed
by each row of stones projecting more than the one below, until they
almost touch at the top; and there are several tombs in the same tumulus.
On cutting through one, on the new road to Yenicáleh, three tombs were
found. The two first were those of men, as was proved by two swords and
a lance which were found in them, and in the third was a skeleton of a
woman, crowned with leaves of golden laurel.
There were also the following golden ornaments, which evidently belonged
to a lady of high rank. Ear-rings two inches long; a necklace in filigree
an inch broad, with ornaments below like the points of lances; two
fibulæ, four inches long, worked with beads; a large bulla, like the
fastening of a belt, with a head of Mercury upon it. Besides these,
there were many plates of gold, which had fallen from the dress, now
disappeared, on which were embossed vine-leaves and bunches of grapes;
pearls of gold, with little tubes, separated by small enameled flowers,
composed necklaces of various patterns. There were two rings, one very
massive, with a stone having a head upon it, and the other with a stone
cut into the shape of a lion couchant; and there was another representing
two owls. By the side of the body was a gold coin of Philip of Macedon,
a metal mirror, a clay vase two feet high, and a shallow covered vessel
a foot and a half in diameter. At the same time another discovery was
made by chance; by the side of the third tomb a fourth was found, in
which were two large Etruscan urns, and one amphora about the head of the
dead, who was crowned with a crown of golden laurel; with it were two
necklaces, a pair of precious ear-rings, and a coin, all of gold.
It is interesting to find, on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, the
same vases which in Italy are called Etruscan, from the place in which
they were first found. They were soon known, however, not to be peculiar
to Etruria, and Magna Græcia was discovered to be a still more prolific
mine of them. Further researches established the fact, that wherever
Greece had carried her civilisation and her colonies, these vases were
found, and that there was not a spot within those limits, even as far as
the banks of the Kuban and the Sea of Azof, which did not possess this
kind of pottery, manufactured on the spot.
The number of these vases found at Kertch is small, but many were broken
when the tombs were first opened, and fragments of them are scattered
in great quantities all over the ruins of the town. The late Empress
possessed two at Petersburg. General Potier and Prince Volkhonsky each
had one, and a fourth was sold by Count de Betencourt for 160_l._ The
Chevalier Gamba, in his Atlas, gives a drawing of one found at Kertch.
There is a fine series in the museum there, and many private persons in
the Crimea and Odessa possess others.
The following is a short account of the form and destination of these
vases:—[237]
In the East manners and customs have always remained in a singular degree
unchanged, and this remark applies to all the objects of exterior life,
and even to the vases. Each form had its particular destination, and,
when manners do not change, forms likewise remain the same.
The Greeks partook with the East of this stability and uniformity in
their vases. This may be observed from one end of Greece to the other,
and both the fine and coarse vases of Italy are precisely on the same
model as those of the Greek islands and Panticapæum.
They may be divided into two categories—profane and sacred. First, those
for domestic use, or ornaments and offerings, as the _kados_, cups,
bowls, viols, and lacrymatories; and secondly, the sacred or funeral
vases, which formed a distinct kind. The latter are always of the shape
of an urn with two handles, more or less large. The forms of all the
vases are Greek, and, with few exceptions, they are ornamented with
designs upon them.
Of the profane vases, or those for common use, the _kados_ was that one
used for drawing water; and for this all the people of the East, and the
Greeks, had a peculiar form, varying in different countries according as
the pitcher was carried on the head or the shoulder. Rebecca carried it
on her shoulder when she met the servant of Abraham near the fountain of
Charan.[238]
The Greeks gave to this vase the name of _kados_; and with them it had
three handles, of which the one in the middle served to hold it while
water was poured out into smaller vessels, and the other two were to
balance it upon the head. The _kados_ of the Tatars of the Crimea has two
handles, because they carry it on the head, like the Greeks. The Georgian
_kados_ is very broad below, and has only one handle, being carried on
the shoulder. The Armenians use tinned copper vessels ornamented with
designs.
The funeral vases, wide below, with narrow necks, nine to fifteen
inches high, are found in the tombs, always with two handles, and two
compositions painted on them, one on each side, differing both in
execution and the style of the subject. On comparing them with those
found in Italy, they will be seen to be precisely similar, even to the
singular difference in the two compositions which ornament them. The one
is always some scene in private or public life; and the design is elegant
and the execution very careful. The other is a coarse sketch, hastily
done in a rough way, and an eternal repetition of the same personages,
with some variations in the pose, the number of figures, and the emblems
which accompany them.
The personages in the long cloaks are the initiated during some scene
of the mysteries of Ceres Thesmophora, as may be seen by comparing them
with the relief on the altar of that goddess, found in the acropolis of
Panticapæum, where the whole scene is precisely the same. These vases
placed in the tombs must, therefore, be regarded as a kind of certificate
of baptism, to prove that the dead had been initiated into such or such
a grade of the mysteries. As the principal object of these mysteries
was to teach, that there was an Almighty Divinity, punishing vice and
recompensing virtue, the presence of these vases would be a proof of
their faith in this doctrine, by which they hoped to reap eternal
happiness after death. Some of the scenes relate to the mysteries of
Bacchus, as well as Ceres, and the two have an intimate relation with
each other, as they both come from the mysteries of Isis and Osiris.
The essential elements in the mysteries of Ceres are the ample cloak,
or _pallium_, without sleeves, descending to the feet, and was the same
as was used in the mysteries of Eleusis. The initiated, on the vases,
have the head bare, and with some the hair is bound by a narrow white
fillet, which seems worn only by those of superior rank. This fillet has
a little ornament in front, which may be the leaf _persea_, or the little
serpent _knouphis_, the good demon so often seen on the images of Isis
and Osiris. The crown of laurel and myrtle belongs only to an important
personage, perhaps an hierophant. There is also a white stick held in the
right hand, and sometimes the _strigillum_, or scraper. There is also an
altar in the form of a truncated pyramid, and a large branch, and sacred
cakes, _placenta_, oval, round, triangular, or square, placed in baskets,
which were not to be seen by profane eyes. They were generally marked by
one of four mystic signs: 1st, — or ꖌ; 2nd, +, or ⁜, or + +; 3rd, Ϲ,
or Ͽ 4th, ☉ —. These scenes were so completely considered, merely as a
general emblem, that on some vases the figures can hardly be made out;
and the whole care of the artist was devoted to the scenes of life on the
other side of the vase. The subjects chosen go far to prove that they
were manufactured at Panticapæum, for the _griffin_, which was the emblem
of Panticapæum, constantly appears, and various details of Scythian
costume. On one there is a warrior with the Scythian cap; in front the
crest of his horse; behind him the griffin. On another is a Scythian
on horseback, in his costume, covered with little plates of gold,
fighting the griffin. On a third the griffin follows in a procession by
torchlight, and carries on its back a personage with a sacred emblem. On
another is the history of the Amazons, evidently a Panticapæan subject;
for the Sauromatæ, governed by women, were in daily contact with the
Bosphorians; and the Amazons on the vase wear a complete Caucasian
dress, the _bachelik_, or covering for the head, worn still universally
in the Caucasus, of precisely the same form; the narrow trousers, the
Tcherkess coat, the little morocco shoes, without soles,—in short, the
whole Scythian costume is represented on this vase in the dress of the
Amazons, but elegant and coquette, as it would be, if adopted by women.
In the Hamilton vases of Naples[239] there is likewise one scene of three
Amazons fighting three griffins, which may, perhaps, have come from the
Bosphorus.
Three classes of tombs must still be mentioned—those of the poor, the
catacombs, and the tombs of the kings. On going out of the gate leading
to Dia, along the mountain of Mithridates, there is an eminence, which a
gentleman began to excavate. His labours, however, seemed to end in the
solid rock, below a mass of amphoræ, which contained the cinders of the
poor population. At last he remarked a sepulchral slab, and, lifting
it up, found the entrance to a funeral cavern. This was built with an
Egyptian roof,[240] and had been despoiled of everything precious, but
was still most interesting, from a suite of small pictures drawn on the
wall below the commencement of the roof, about a foot high, representing
the war of the cranes and the pigmies. In one place there is seen a
pigmy, armed with lance and shield, struggling against a crane; in
another place he is overthrown by his desperate adversary; in another he
is attacking him by the tail, and the crane is turning round to punish
him; in another he is running away, or defending himself with his hands
and feet against the terrible pecks of his enemy; while another pigmy is
wrestling with a crane, and succeeds in vanquishing it by pressing its
neck. The roof was ornamented with garlands and arabesques to suit the
pictures, and at the end of the cavern are two peacocks drinking from
the same vase,[241] and a winged genius, with a basket of flowers in his
hand, is over the entrance door. Unfortunately, soon after this tomb was
discovered, it was completely defaced by visitors.
The catacombs are among the tumuli on the road to Theodosia, and are deep
excavations 15 or 20 feet deep, 7 or 8 feet long, and 2½ feet broad, and,
on descending and entering by an arched door, large subterranean chambers
are found, cut in the white calcareous clay, with niches all around for
the bodies. Some remains of coffins are to be found, and the whole is
probably a Christian work.
The last group of tumuli to be mentioned are those of the kings, at what
was called the Golden Mountain. After following the old road to Theodosia
for two miles, Mount Mithridates is seen to offer a passage across it by
a narrow valley. The mountain rises again directly, and continues in a
north-west direction to the Sea of Azof. This continuation is called the
Golden Mountain. An enormous tumulus, which rises above the road, where
it passes between the hills, seems to announce a more powerful race than
that which raised the tombs of the plain. On the crest of the mountain,
at 323 feet above the level of the sea, rises the tumulus, in the form
of a cone, 100 feet high and 150 feet in diameter, different from those
of the neighbourhood, because it is walled from top to bottom like a
Cyclopean monument. It is cased on its exterior, like the Pyramids,
with large blocks of Kertch stone, cubes of three or four feet, placed
without cement or mortar. This monument, almost unique of its kind from
its size, was a tomb, and from all times had been the object of a number
of mysterious legends. The Tatar, Turk, and more ancient traditions,
spoke of immense treasures hidden in this tomb, which was known by the
name of Altun Obo, or the Golden Mountain. It was even added that, on
each feast of St. John, a virgin was seen on the summit of the tumulus,
waiting for him whom she had chosen to share with her the treasures of
the Cyclopean monument. It may be observed that there is the same style
of legend from the north to the south of Europe, and this of the Golden
Mountain is similar to that, which the Tatars relate of the Kisiltach
rock, the Lithuanians of the golden table buried in the swamps of Vokroi,
and the Rughians of the stone of the Virgin at Stubenkammer.[242] The
tradition existed that there was an entrance to the tomb, which the
Tatars had often tried to find, without success. It was not until 1832
that Mr. Kareiche carefully sought for it, and employed thirty-five men
for fifteen days in attacking the tumulus from the south-west. At last
he had the good fortune to find the entrance to a gallery, by which he
penetrated without obstacle to the centre of the tumulus. The gallery
was constructed of layers of worked stone, without cement, and was 60
feet long, 10 feet high—taking in the Egyptian roof, and three or four
feet broad. Arrived at the end, M. Kareiche found himself on the edge of
a precipice which opened before him. He saw with astonishment that the
centre of the tomb was formed of a circular tower 25 feet high and 20
feet in diameter. The floor of this construction was 10 feet below the
floor of the gallery, and the vaulted roof was composed of four rows of
advancing stones.
At length M. Kareiche perceived that he could descend into the tomb by
stones placed at distances in the side, and was hastening to reap the
treasures promised in the legend, when to his stupefaction he perceived
that the tomb was empty. On the ground was a large square stone, on which
a sarcophagus might have been deposited, and half way up the wall was a
large empty niche. He searched in vain to penetrate further, supposing
that the tower was only a well to arrive at other hidden caverns: nothing
indicated any passage, or any loose stone, and it is still an enigma what
was the object of this expensive and magnificent monument, the rival
of the pyramids. The tower is not in the centre of the tumulus, and it
is possible that there may be other interior chambers. The distance
between the interior tower and the exterior Cyclopean wall is filled with
fragments of stone from the fine quarries in the neighbourhood.[243]
The modern Greek legend made this the tomb of Mithridates, although it is
well known that he was buried at Sinope, and Souvorof, deceived by this
account, is said to have made a pilgrimage to this tumulus as the tomb of
the great king, and to have knelt and shed tears here.
This tumulus is placed exactly at the spot where the two branches of the
long rampart meet, which extends from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azof.
It is visible, extending from the foot of the tumulus to the gorge of
Katerles, which opens in a second range of hills parallel to the Golden
Mountain and Mount Mithridates, and the peaks above it are covered with
ruins. To the south the rampart is quite effaced, where the road to
Theodosia crosses it, but beyond it its zigzags are seen as far as the
White Cape, where it of course terminates.
This rampart was probably the ancient boundary of the territory of
Panticapæum, and the primitive kingdom of the Bosphorus, before the
conquest of Nymphæum and Theodosia, which were added to the kingdom, the
first in B.C. 410, and the second about B.C. 390.
Within the rampart, at 150 paces to the east, near Kertch, there is
another monument of the same kind as the other, but unfinished. It
consists of a circular esplanade, 500 paces round and 166 in diameter,
with an exterior covering of Cyclopean masonry, built of worked stones,
3 feet long and high. There are five layers of these; but it seems to
have been the intention of the builders to raise a monument like the one
before mentioned. Perhaps a revolution, or the death of the prince who
was building his own monument, like the kings of Egypt, caused the works
to be abandoned. Several ranges of enormous stones between this and the
first monument indicate ancient walls of houses, and adjoining these are
traces of ancient gardens, while on the slope of the mountain, in the
midst of the ruins near the Khouter Scassi, there is a fine well in good
preservation, cased with wrought stone and full of water. This seems
extraordinary in the midst of a country now so dry, desert, and devoid of
wood; but proves that in the time of Panticapæum the general aspect of
the land was very different, since country houses and trees existed where
there are now only wild rocks.
The view from the summit of the hill, and still more so from the top of
the tumulus, is magnificent, and extends as far as the rock of Opouk, the
ancient Kimmericum, which is 24 miles distant. To the north it extends
over several pretty country houses, situated at the foot of the mountain.
That of M. de Scassi is a real Italian _villa_, surrounded by gardens and
orchards, where the proprietor has planted 30,000 plants of vines and
more than 2000 fruit-trees, which he imported from France. There is in
the park the ash and the elm, and the red pine of the Caucasus. There are
several small tumuli around; but a detailed description must now be given
of the great discovery of all, which was made by accident.
There is a spur of the Golden Mountain running south, called by the
Tatars _Kouloba_,[244] or the hill of cinders, beyond the ancient
rampart, and four miles from Kertch. Near it is a tumulus 165 feet in
diameter, and some soldiers, carrying away stones from it, discovered an
interior construction. They soon arrived at a vestibule, 6 feet square,
turned to the north, covered by an Egyptian roof of three rows of stones,
which they were obliged to remove in order to penetrate further, because
this roof was supported by beams reduced to dust. At the end of the
vestibule was a door, 8 feet 10 inches high and 5 feet 9 inches wide,
closed half way up by large wrought stones, and above by those of the
common size. Large pieces of wood formed the covering, but the beams
were reduced to dust, and the stones which closed the entrance supported
the upper part, which threatened soon to fall. This difficulty was soon
removed, and two _savans_, Mr. Dubrux and Dr. Lang, were commissioned by
the governor to enter alone and take an inventory of the contents. An
immense crowd besieged the approaches, which were guarded by soldiers,
while the commissioners entered the funeral dwelling of one who had
evidently been an important personage.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ROYAL TOMB OF KOULOBA, NEAR KERTCH.
From Dubois’ Atlas. 1 archine = 28 inches.
A. Vestibule.
B. Tomb of king.
C. Bones of the King.
D. Bones of the Queen.
1. Heap of sharp flints.
2. Arms and whip of king.
3. Five statuettes in electrum.
4. Attendant of the king.
5. Bones of a horse, with greaves and helmet.
6. Hundreds of arrow-heads.
7. Two large lances.
8. Queen’s golden vase.
9. _Crater_ in silver.
10. Second crater.
11. Amphoræ, containing wine of Thasos.
12. Bronze vase.
13. Silver-gilt plate.
14. Bronze saucepans, with mutton bones.]
The tomb was almost square, measuring 15 feet from east to west, and 14
feet from north to south, and the entrance-door was not in the centre
of the wall. The walls were built of hewn stones, each 3 feet long and
2 feet high. Five rows of stones raised it to 7 feet 8 inches, and
then began the spring of the Egyptian arch, formed by seven rows of
advancing stones, the front row advancing 5 inches and the upper rows
6 or 8 inches, so that at the top there only remained a space 2 feet
square, filled by a single stone: the tomb was thus 16 feet high. At 10
feet 10 inches above the pavement began the wooden ceiling, which had
fallen, when the beams which supported it gave way. The floor had a stone
pavement, and the principal place was occupied by a sarcophagus formed
of a case of yew wood, 8 feet 9 inches long and 10 inches high, and was
joined by thick beams, on which the outward planks were fitted. The side
facing the interior of the tomb was open, and the interior was divided
into two parts by a plank. In one of the compartments, larger than the
other and nearest to the wall, was extended the body of a man of great
stature. The thigh bone was 17½ inches long, and the skull extremely
thick. On his brow were the remains of a _mitra_, or Persian cap, of
which the top is more narrow than the base. Two plates of gold ornamented
the top and the bottom: the one below was 1½ inches broad, ornamented
with festoons and griffins, the emblem of Panticapæum, and was of less
careful workmanship than the upper plate, ornamented with figures,
leaves, and arabesques. Around the neck was a grand necklace in massive
gold, of beautiful workmanship, in the form of an open ring, and twisted
like a cord, with the extremities passing one over the other. At each
end was a Scythian on horseback, and the extremities were for a distance
of 2 inches enameled with blue and green. Similar ones have frequently
been found of copper, and rarely of any other metal, in the tombs of the
north, and, among others, in those of the ancient Lithuanians.
The arms were extended on each side of the body, and on the right arm,
above the elbow, was a circle or bracelet in gold, an inch broad, and
adorned with reliefs. Below the elbows were two other bracelets in
electrum,[245] 1½ inches broad. A third pair of open bracelets in fine
gold encircled the wrists, and finished in Persian winged sphinxes, the
claws of which held the thick thread of gold which served to close the
bracelet when it was passed on the wrist. The workmanship was very fine,
and their thickness about half an inch. At the feet of the king were a
multitude of little sharp flints piled up. In Scythian mourning it was a
custom to tear the face and the rest of the body with such instruments,
and they were then placed in the tombs as a mark of grief; some bodies
found in a tumulus near Simpherópol were covered with them. In the
narrower compartment of the sarcophagus were placed the gods and arms of
the king—first there was his iron sword, the handle of which, covered
with leaves of gold, was adorned with figures of hares and foxes embossed
on the gold. Beside the sword lay the Tcherkess or Cossack whip (called
_nogaik_), adorned with a leaf of gold, and above it was the shield in
fine gold. The thickness of the latter was about that of a five-franc
piece, and its shape showed that it was principally a protection for the
shoulder, and fitted to the arm. It was 8½ inches long and 7½ broad, and
its weight was 1½ lbs. of fine gold. The _umbo_ or centre of the shield
was surrounded by a simple circular fillet, and one with the egg pattern,
leaving an interval of 3½ lines, on which were chiselled dolphins and
other fishes. The rest of the shield was divided into twelve compartments
by a fillet, and was covered with masques imitating the head of Medusa,
alternating with faces with pointed beards, and flies and heads of
seahorses.
The bow and its wooden case[246] were reduced to dust, and there only
remained the plate, in _electrum_, which ornamented the quiver. It was
adorned with embossed work, representing a wild goat seized by a tiger,
and a deer attacked in front by the griffin of Panticapæum, and behind
by the lion of Phanagoria. The deer was the emblem of the town of Diana,
which was Kherson. A seahorse filled the wider part of the plate, and a
masque the other extremity. Above the tail of the tiger was written the
Greek word ΠΟΡΝΑΧΟ, engraven on the metal. Some suppose this to mean
Pharnáces the son of Mithridates, whose tomb this may be, but Dubois
considers it the name of the artist, which, under the more recent form,
ΦΑΡΝΑΚΟϹ, frequently recurs in the inscriptions of Sindika, now Anapa.
Among these arms was found one boot in bronze, and the fellow was on the
right of the king, opposite the head. In the same compartment, and near
the head of the king, were found, in the exterior angle, five statuettes
in _electrum_. One figure represented two Scythians embracing one
another, and tightly holding a horn, probably filled with hydromel. The
horn is like those which all the statues, or _babas_, so often found in
one part of Southern Russia, hold with both hands. Another figure holds
a purse in its right hand, and a strange instrument in the left, and is
like a Celtic Mercury. There was likewise the Scythian Hercules among
these divinities. Their costume recalled the Slavonic and Tatar dress,
and particularly the tunic of sheepskin, which the Tatars call _toun_ or
_teretoun_, the Russians _touloup_, and the Poles _kozuch_, which was
the Scythian garment found in the most ancient monuments. The fleece is
turned inwards, or the garment is only edged with fur, and it is found of
all lengths, from the short Tatar tunic, and the Slavonic _katskaveika_,
to the long sheepskin gown of the Russian peasant. These different kinds
are all visible in the different dresses of the figures of this tomb,
where may be recognized the real Lithuanian _sermedje_ and the Tcherkess
_tchok_.
[Illustration: 1. Ornament found in the Tomb of Kouloba.
2. Electrum Vase for perfumes, found near the Queen’s remains. See page
282.
3. Embossed Work running round the Vase.]
Thus was arranged the sarcophagus of the king, and around it, on the
pavement, were the objects which completed the furniture of the tomb, in
which nothing had been forgotten which could contribute to the material
wants of life. At his feet a kind hand had placed three large cauldrons
of molten bronze. Two were oval or oblong, and one was spherical, and all
reposed on a cylindrical foot, of which the base spread out into three
hooks to fix it on the soil. These three vases had been often on the
fire and used for cooking; there was a thick coat of suet still on them,
and the interior was filled with mutton bones.[247]
There was another oblong vase, near the door, filled in the same
manner. After the kitchen of the king came his provision of wine, and
his drinking-cups. The wine was contained in four clay amphoræ, placed
upright against the wall on the right. On the handle of one was inscribed
ΘΑΣΙ, and below ΑΡΕΤΩΝ, and in the midst was a fish. These then were
filled with wine of Thasos, which, to judge by the quantity of amphoræ
found in the tombs, bearing this name, was the favourite kind of wine.
Two large _crateres_ were naturally placed near the amphoræ, because the
Scythians always drank wine mixed with water. The first, the nearest
to the door, was of silver, nearly eighteen inches in diameter, and
contained four drinking cups in silver, two of which were of beautiful
workmanship, particularly the one which terminates below in the head of
a ram. The second _crater_ in bronze contained also four silver drinking
cups, the largest of which is ornamented with chiseled work gilt, on
which may be recognised the birds and fish of the Black Sea and the
Cimmerian Bosphorus. On the right is a duck plunging and seizing a fish;
under it swims a _labra_ and a sturgeon, and further on a cormorant with
extended wings is seizing while flying a small fish. On another is a
combat of a wild boar about to yield under the claws of a lion.
On the right is a _toura_[248] of the Caucasus, brought to the ground by
two griffins of Panticapæum. On the left the deer of Kherson suffers the
same fate, being torn by a lion, while a female leopard, with open mouth,
is about to seize it by the throat. In the part which the wild-boar, the
deer, and the toura play in the midst of griffins and lions, there is a
manifest design. The lion of Phanagoria and the griffin of Panticapæum
are not always represented as victorious without intention, while the
deer of Kherson, the toura of the Caucasus, and the wild-boar of the
Kuban, are always vanquished by them.
Beyond the drinking-cups were the arsenal of the king, composed of two
lances and several bundles of arrows, laid along the wall. The last had
triangular points in bronze, with three barbs, to prevent their being
drawn out of the flesh, and are similar to those found in Scythian
monuments in Southern Russia. Between the arrows and the sarcophagus
there appeared a second skeleton, laid on the pavement, and much covered
with earth, but adorned so richly that it was impossible not to recognise
the wife of the king, who thus accompanied him to his last resting-place.
She was laid in the same direction as the king, and wore on her forehead
a mitre like him, with a plate in electrum terminating it, which showed
a skilful workman. Four women, in Greek costume, sit in the midst of
garlands of _lotuses_, the stalks of which form seats and backs. Four
masques of lions formed on each side the means by which the plate was
attached to the mitre. On the bottom the mitre was bordered by a diadem
of gold, adorned all round with small enameled rosettes. The queen bore
on her neck, like the king, a grand necklace with the ends moveable, and,
instead of horsemen, the extremities were formed of couchant lions. She
had on besides another necklace of gold filigree, to which were suspended
small chains, supporting little bottles of fine gold. Five medallions
of exquisite workmanship, and different sizes, descended on her bosom,
and they were fastened together by small chains and bottles. These were
enameled blue and green, like other objects that have been mentioned.
The two largest of these medallions represented Greek Minervas, but
evidently worked at Panticapæum, because of the chiseled griffins on the
wings of her helmet. The attributes of Minerva, besides the owl and the
winged Pegasus, are the serpents of Medusa, which ought to ornament her
shield, a winged sphinx like that on the bracelets of the king, and a row
of deer’s heads on the viser of the helmet. The arabesque which surrounds
the helmet is also enameled.
At the foot of the skeleton was discovered a magnificent vase in
_electrum_, resembling in form and size those in the second _crater_,
which stands on a foot. It probably contained perfumes, particularly as
some of the little bottles usually called lacrymatories were found, as
in the other tombs. The exquisite chiselings upon it are of the greatest
interest for art and history. (See Plate.) Four groups of figures succeed
each other as episodes in the same history, in which the personage
playing the principal part reappears three times. In the first group,
beginning from left to right, he is seated, the two hands and the head
leaning on the lance, listening attentively to the report of a warrior.
The king is known by the royal band round his head, perhaps the very one
which is placed in the tomb. His costume is completely Scythian: he has
the narrow trousers, the boots, and the _tchok_ which has been described.
The warrior who makes the report is also a Scythian, kneeling before
him, dressed as on the Etruscan vases, and armed with lance and buckler.
Neither the one nor the other has the warlike quiver; their hair is long,
and spread over their shoulders; but the bearer of the despatch has no
diadem; he wears only the _bachelik_ of the Caucasus, or the Phrygian
bonnet, or rather the Lithuanian bonnet, which has for many centuries
remained the same. The next figure turns its back to the messenger, and,
kneeling on one knee, is much occupied in bending a bow, which may be
that of the king, for this warrior has his own by his side. They are
preparing for war. This war then takes place; and next are depicted the
fruits of it, for the king has been badly wounded. He is recognised in
the half sitting, half kneeling, figure, from whom the Scythian _magus_
is extracting a tooth from the left side of the jaw. On examining the
skull of the king, deposited in the museum, it may be seen that the lower
jaw presents the marks of a wound, with a fracture which has carried away
several teeth; for the two large teeth are wanting, and a third, shorter
than the others, has been attacked by a disease which has made the jaw
swell.
A fourth episode represents the king wounded in the leg; a warrior is
fomenting it with bandages. In this place the trousers and a part of the
_tchok_ are covered with something that looks like embroidery. These
are the little golden and electrum scales sewn on the garments. Strabo
says that the Aorses, on the banks of the Tanais, wear gold on their
garments.[249] These little scales are embossed, pierced with holes at
the sides to sew them on, and represent an infinity of subjects. This
tomb furnishes some very rich examples of them.
On attentively examining the interior when it was first opened, it was
perceived that at the foot of the walls were heaped up an infinity
of these little plates. The walls showed signs of having had pegs of
wood fixed in them, to which were suspended the rich wardrobe of these
great personages. The clothes had fallen, and nothing was found but
a mass of dust, mixed with these little plates, which were carefully
collected. The greater number were in the form of triangles or roses, of
different sizes, without any relief; on others were fine heads of women
or divinities, and figures of griffins, lions, hares, foxes, and other
animals. One of them, with the figure of a woman upon it, proves that if
the men of that period wore the Caucasian dress, the same was the case
with the women, whose long veil or _tchadra_ seems just the same as that
which the Caucasian women still wear. The robe is flowing. One of the
women bears in her hand a goblet, and in the other a key. Another little
plate represents two Scythian archers, back to back, ready to shoot their
arrows. Two others represent Scythian hunters on horseback, pursuing a
hare. In the left hand they hold the reins, and in the right the javelin.
By the side of the body of the queen were found two golden bracelets with
bas-reliefs in two ranges, that is to say, six figures on each bracelet,
the breadth of which is three and half inches. Around the head were
disposed six knives, with handles of ivory, the blades of which were
like surgical instruments. A seventh knife had a handle of gold, and
reliefs upon it. A bronze mirror, with a handle of gold, ornamented with
a griffin pursuing a deer, in relief, was also one of the objects which
surrounded the queen.
According to the Scythian customs, the queen must have been strangled
before being placed in the tomb of her husband; and the same cruel laws
required the presence of the king’s servant. He was found accordingly
stretched across the tomb, along the southern wall, and round him were
many plates of gold. His helmet and greaves, in silver, very much
oxidised, were laid with the bones of a horse in an excavation two feet
square, which occupied the south-east corner of the tomb. Among the
things which were taken out of the cavern were several highly-worked
pieces of wood, which belonged to musical instruments, the only thing
wanting to complete the whole establishment. Several of the pieces showed
designs executed with an engraver’s point, of exquisite workmanship.
There was a chariot, a woman holding a helmet in her hand, a slave with a
large bowl giving drink to a horse, some women seated, and other designs.
If all the objects which adorned the inside of the tomb bear the stamp
of Scythian ideas and the customs and usages of that nation, the same
cannot be said of the ornaments and pictures of the sarcophagus of yew
wood, which presents in perfect preservation paintings on wood, which
have resisted upwards of twenty centuries. These paintings covered the
pannels of the sarcophagus. The principal subject is entirely Greek,
and proves that if they buried a king surrounded by Scythian luxury,
Greek artists were employed at his interment. Two Victories, mounted
on chariots, turned one against the other, filled the extremity of the
picture, of which seven Greek figures, in different positions, occupied
the centre, three women and four men. A goose and a swan are mixed with
these figures, all represented as very agitated, running, gesticulating,
with expressions of joy, which is justified by the approach of the two
triumphal cars. The chariots are drawn by four white horses, two of which
are spotted. On the frieze, which surrounded the pannel above, the artist
has represented warriors drawing the bow.
When the tomb was opened, the savans deputed for the purpose were busy
in making a plan and putting down the position of each object which
they found. This occupied the whole day, while two soldiers guarded the
entrance. These gentlemen in the evening thought their work was finished,
but for greater precaution the sentinels kept at their post, with orders
to let no one pass. The crowd which visited the tomb during the night
from curiosity was so great, that the sentinels could not keep it back.
The people penetrated into the tomb, examined everything, and then were
discovered the little plates of gold which covered the pavement.
While they were thus occupied in examining and disputing about the
smallest spoils, some persons perceived that the tomb resounded as if
there was something hollow underneath. Raising the stones of the hollow
square in the corner, they discovered a second tomb below much richer
than the first, and from this the masses of gold were drawn which for
several years afterwards were in circulation at Kertch. There was not a
Greek woman there who did not retain some relic of this great discovery,
especially in the form of ear-rings. It was said that no less than 120
lbs. weight of gold jewellery were extracted from these tombs, of which
the Government obtained about 15 lbs., and the rest was dispersed. In
this pillage the people acted in the most barbarous manner: they tore
the objects from one another, and chopped up the most precious with the
hatchet. Such was the fate of the golden shield of the lower tomb, part
of which the Government bought back piece by piece for the weight of the
gold. On one of the pieces recovered there is a Greek woman, like a Fury,
with her long hair blown by a tempest, bearing in her hands a lance and
torch: wolves, of which one carries a _labrus_ in its mouth, surround her
and complete the picture of this terrible divinity. The tomb is probably
anterior in date to the reign of Mithridates, both from the style of the
ornaments and various minor circumstances. The letter 𐅃 (P) is often
repeated on the reliefs, and is written with one side shorter than the
other, a form which quite disappears before the time of Mithridates
the Great. It is so written on the great vase in electrum, which is of
extraordinary enigmatical shape, representing a deer lying down, while on
its sides are chiselled a griffin, a ram, like the one of Jupiter Ammon,
a lion, and a dog turning its head, all of which appear on the most
ancient medals of Panticapæum. Again the two medallions of Minerva, with
her attributes, of exquisite workmanship, must have been made at a time
when the kings of the Bosphorus were proud of their alliance with Athens,
and of being citizens of that city, as were Leucon, Paerisádes I., and
Eúmeles. At a later period the connexion ceased between the Bosphorus and
Athens. There is, besides, no sign of the influence of Rome in any part
of the tomb. Its construction is very ancient, and the idea of propping
the ceiling with posts is not found in any more recent tombs.
The Scythian costume also was much in vogue under the Leuconides, as
most of the figures on the vases wear it. We might indeed expect at that
period to find the Scythian manners and costumes by the side of the Greek
worship. The Scythians who had invaded Central Asia, destroyed by the
stratagem of Cyaxares in 605 B.C., returned in small number, hoping to
re-enter upon the territory which they had abandoned on the shores of the
Bosphorus; but they were opposed by the children of their wives and their
slaves, during the long absence of their husbands. Repulsed on every
side, they renounced the idea of crossing the Cimmerian Bosphorus; and
making the circuit of the Sea of Azof, they thought to force the rebels
in their retreat in the peninsula of Kertch. They passed the Isthmus
of Perecop and the Crimea; but their slaves were beforehand with them,
and raised a rampart of earth from the Sea of Azof to the Tauric chain.
The Scythians in despair are said to have then had recourse to their
whips, when from old recollections the slaves ran away, and the Scythians
re-entered on the possession of their domains, which their Sindic slaves
cultivated for them. The Sindes of the peninsula of Kertch were then the
ancient inhabitants of the peninsula and of the island of Taman, a race
mixed with Mæotes and the remains of the Kimmerian population, while the
aristocrats of the country were the Scythians, who levied tributes upon
them.
It was among this Sinde people, governed by Scythians, that the Milesians
came to found the colonies of Panticapæum, Nymphæum, Theodosia,
Phanagoria, Kepos, and others, sixty years after the return of the
Scythians. These colonies depended at first directly on the metropolis,
paying a tribute for their establishment on foreign soil. Their commerce
and industry enriched them and increased their population, and they
then took up an independent position, and thus Panticapæum was governed
by its proper _archianactides_, who remained at the head of the
municipality from 480 to 438 B.C. But by the side of those magistrates
there existed in the Bosphorus of Europe, as well as in that of Asia,
an indigenous Scythian or Mætic power, whose ambition it was to conquer
the Greek towns. In 437 B.C. a certain Spartocus seized on Panticapæum,
and replaced the _archianactides_. Not to offend the Greeks, whom a
royal title would have frightened, he called himself _archon_ of the
Bosphorus (_i. e._ Panticapæum and Phanagoria), while he took the title
of _king_ of the countries which surrounded the colonies, and which
were his patrimony. The colonies preserved their municipal forms (which
resembled the Swiss municipalities and the imperial towns in Germany)
during 402 years, until Asander took the title of king of the Bosphorus
in 36 B.C. Under the first Archon and his successor Seleucus, the rampart
of the Golden Mountain was the limit of the territory of Panticapæum and
Nymphæum; and the latter colony was in the power of Athens. The treachery
of a certain Gelo, the maternal grandfather of Demosthenes, opened the
gates of Nymphæum to Spartocus II., B.C. 410, and the Athenians were
dispossessed.[250]
Satyrus I. (B.C. 407), son of Spartocus II., was nevertheless a great
friend of Athens. He increased the kingdom on the Asiatic side, and,
having been killed at the siege of Theodosia, Strabo says that the
tumulus of Koukóuoba was raised in his honour.
Leucon I., son of Satyrus (reigned 393-353 B.C.), was made a citizen of
Athens, and took Theodosia, to which he left its municipal administration.
Paerisádes I. (349 B.C.) son of Leucon, increased the power of the
Bosphorus, by his successful wars in the Crimea and in Asia; and one part
of the Tauric chain and the valleys of the Caucasus obeyed him. There is
a medal of Kherson, with his effigy on one side and a Diana on the other,
that makes it probable that he also took Kherson, although there is no
mention of this fact in history.[251]
Diodorus relates the tragic history of three sons of Paerisádes—Satyrus,
Eúmeles, and Prýtanas—who all died a violent death. Satyrus, the eldest,
trying to appease the revolt of Eúmeles in Asia, was wounded in the
arm, and died the next night. The body, it is said, was brought to
Panticapæum, and buried with magnificence in the tomb of his ancestors.
Thus we have mention of a family burial-place.
Dubois thinks that the king found in the tomb was either Leucon or
Paerisádes I., on account of the allegories on the reliefs. Unfortunately
the contents of the lower tomb were never investigated, so that the only
thing that can be considered certain is that they belonged to the dynasty
of the Leuconides, from the emblems, the allegorical scenes, the form of
the letters, and the architecture.
The value and abundance of the remains of antiquity found at Kertch
naturally required a Museum, which has been built by the government on
the Hill of Mithridates. It is an exact copy of the Temple of Theseus at
Athens, with a flight of steps leading up to it, and has a good effect
overlooking the sea. Situated, as is Kertch, on the confines of Scythia,
the Caucasus, the Sauromatæ, and other nations little known, it would
require a very experienced antiquarian to arrange the contents of the
museum; but, unfortunately, none such are to be found there, and its
precious contents are thrown pell-mell, and daily plundered. When Dubois
visited the Museum in 1832, there were three very curious skulls in it,
with remarkably high foreheads, found in a very ancient tumulus near
Yenicáleh, which probably belonged to the ancient Kimmerians. The only
perfect skull had disappeared a few months afterwards, having been sold
by the conservator for 100 francs to a stranger, who fortunately destined
it for the museum of Munich, where it will be preserved.
The quarantine is about three miles distant from Kertch, and within its
boundary are the ruins of Myrmékium, the highest part of which is on a
little promontory overlooking the sea. Here, to hoist a flagstaff, some
sailors made a hole in the rock, and were surprised to find the mast
suddenly run down a considerable distance. On examining the ground they
found that there was a tomb underneath, which had, however, been opened,
and nothing remained in it but a very fine sarcophagus, ornamented with
bas-reliefs, which had been dragged towards the entrance, and then left
mutilated.
Yenicáleh is at the point of the peninsula, about seven miles from Kertch
to the north-east, and its castle was built by the Turks to command
the passage of the Bosphorus: it is inhabited by a few Greeks, who are
occupied in the fishery for turbot. Two ranges of hills, with coral-rag
peaks, cross the peninsula of Kertch, and terminate at the Bosphorus—the
one at Yenicáleh, and the other a little higher up; on one is built the
castle of Yenicáleh, and on the other the lighthouse. Between them was
formerly a bay, which is now a salt lake, closed by a bar of sand.
Higher up the valley, ranged in an amphitheatre, are many different kinds
of springs, and the celebrated mud volcanoes. The springs and the mud
volcanoes have their principal seat in the formations of the foliated
clay and the white chalk; and starting from the west, near the Khouter
Khronevi, the series begins by a sulphurous spring rising at the foot
of a limestone peak, and the sulphur is seen floating on the water.
There are other springs in the neighbourhood, which seem to take their
origin in the midst of a black, bituminous, brilliant mud, which when
stirred sends forth a strong smell of hydrogenetted sulphur. The cattle
are very fond of this water. To the east are pure springs, which supply
the aqueduct of Yenicáleh; and near the lighthouse are the springs of
naphtha and the mud volcanoes. These have continually been in activity
for a very long period of time. The principal crater, which seems the
patriarch of all this volcanic formation, is a tumulus completely
isolated, of 500 feet in diameter and 35 feet in height. Its summit
presents a depression of 6 feet, filled by a pond of mud and water, 70
feet long and 35 feet wide. The mud is grey and thick, and gives out a
strong smell of sulphur and bitumen. Here and there on the thick mud are
liquid spots, whence bubbles of hydrogen gas rise, of a foot in diameter,
and sometimes they burst into fire, and the volcano is in a blaze. When
this violent commotion happens, the mud flows on all sides over the
borders; but in ordinary times it escapes in a little steam. Naphtha
springs, of 14° temperature, rise at 150 paces from the crater, in the
midst of a fine black mud, from a stream of water which passes near the
tumulus. They have a very strange appearance, and seem like the chimneys
of the infernal regions, as the crust of the soil is pierced with black
holes surmounted by little cones, from whence the mud and gas bubble up
together. The whole soil around trembles when walked upon, and one fears
to sink into the bowels of the earth.
To complete our view of the peninsula of Kertch, I will now follow the
coast line to the south of Kertch by Nymphæum and Kimmericum to Theodosia.
At Cape Akboroun, or the white cape, there are two groups of tumuli. One
group has seven of enormous size. The other extends along a ridge which
joins the southern spur of the Golden Mountain. Near the last there is
a high cliff, with a depression beyond it, which has the appearance of
an immense theatre overlooking the sea. This was the site of the old
quarantine, and was originally covered with vineyards, whence it received
its old Greek name of Ambeláki, from _ampelos_, a vine. There is here
a rich mine of phosphated iron, where the fossils published by M. de
Verneuil are found in great quantities. From the colour of the soil, this
cape is called Kamish Boroun, the blue cape, in opposition to Ak Boroun,
the white cape.
Between the iron mine and a country house of the same name as the cape
are the ruins of Dia, which occupied the extreme southern point of the
entrance of the _ancient_ gulf of Nymphæum, now the Lake of Tchourbach,
for the flow of the current of the Bosphorus has closed the entrance of
the gulf, and no less than four lakes bordered with sand occupy its site.
Their formation is recent, and up to 1830 merchant vessels of Kertch used
to come and winter in the northernmost lake. Since then a bar of sand
has closed the port; for, owing to the zigzag shape of the Bosphorus,
it may be seen that the long bar of sand, called that of the South, in
increasing, has driven the current to the European coast, and against the
southern point of the bay of Nymphæum, which presented itself like a spur
to catch the sand.
The ancient town of Nymphæum occupied exactly this southern point; but to
visit it, it is necessary to go round the gulf, at the end of which is
the village of Tchourbach, and the country-house of M. Gourief. There is
salt on the lake, but its naphthous nature prevents its being used for
salting purposes; and in the whole peninsula there is only the salt of
Tchokrak which is perfectly pure.
Following a little rivulet which runs into the lake of Tchourbach, the
rocks increase in height, and an ancient road leads to the summit of one
of them, on which are the ruins of a large square castle, surrounded by
a wall almost buried under the turf. There was a deep ditch outside, and
there are no tumuli round it, but many tombs cut in the rock. It is about
eight miles from Kertch, and may be the Tyrictaca of Ptolemy. Nymphæum
is four miles from Tchourbach, and the road, which appears to be the
ancient Greek road, leads to it amidst coral-rag peaks and a profusion of
tumuli.
On the angle between the ancient gulf and the Bosphorus was situated the
town, built on a kind of platform. The rampart is easily traced, and the
faubourgs were around the metropolis. There are large masses of ruins
everywhere, and the soil is several feet deep in broken pottery, much
of which is Etruscan. At about one-third of a mile from the town the
tumuli begin, and encircle it in great numbers; but nothing valuable has
been found here, as at Panticapæum. The excellent port, of which Strabo
speaks, is of course filled up, but three roads leading down to it from
the town may still be seen. A small colony of Russians is established
at the foot of the Acropolis, on the side of the Bosphorus; and here
are wells of excellent water, which date from the time of Nymphæum. The
colony is employed in the herring fishery, as masses of these fish come
close to the shore: at a single haul 50,000 have sometimes been caught.
In 1833 the government brought here from Holland a master-salter to
teach the art of salting and curing them. According to his account the
herrings of the Black Sea are not inferior to those of Holland; but those
of Kamish Boroun are fatter and more delicate than those of the Danube.
The fishery lasts from 15th October to the 15th of March, and as many as
two millions of herrings are yearly caught here.[252] Very possibly the
Greeks also carried on this commerce, for their mother country drew from
the Bosphorus their largest supplies of salt-fish.
Nymphæum was founded at the same time as Panticapæum, and fell into the
power of the Athenians in the time of Pericles. It was betrayed into the
hands of the Bosphorians in B.C. 410. In the time of Mithridates it was
still a strong place, where he lodged the greater part of his army which
he destined for his grand expedition by the Danube and the Alps against
the Romans. Nymphæum afterwards rapidly decayed, and in the time of Pliny
existed only as a name.
Takil-boroun, the promontory at the entrance of the Black Sea, where
there is the lighthouse, was probably the site of Akra, another Greek
town, mentioned by Strabo.
At thirty miles from Kertch, on the coast of the Black Sea, is Opouk, a
Tatar village at the extremity of the fine roadstead which is defended by
Cape Elkenkáleh from the north and east winds. Here a volcanic effort has
raised the horizontal tertiary limestone of the peninsula of Kertch, and
lifted the fragments to different heights, without very much disturbing
their horizontal position. The largest is the hill of Opouk, about
two-thirds of a mile long. The surface is raised about fifty feet above a
chaotic mass of rocks below, which descend like steps to the sea, forming
on one side Cape Elkenkáleh, which closes the western entrance to the bay
of Opouk, and on the other side a similar cape which marks the entrance
of another ancient gulf, now closed by a bar of sand. Here in very
ancient times a numerous population was established, taking advantage
of the strong and advantageous position, where the rocks advanced like
a magnificent mole between two fine ports. Although the eastern one is
filled up, the western one still affords a safe and convenient anchorage
for vessels of war, which are here completely sheltered from northern and
westerly winds. At a short distance from the shore are two rocky islands,
called Karavi, and by these the place is identified as the ancient
_Kimmericum_.[253] Like all the towns of the peninsula of Kertch, it was
almost desert in the time of Strabo, and at a later period was called
Kibernicus. The south-east extremity of the rock was the acropolis, cut
off from the plain by a wall 200 feet long and 9 feet thick. The corner
of this wall touched on a construction of extreme solidity. The walls of
it, about 50 feet square and 12 feet thick, and a ditch cut in the living
rock, separated it from the exterior town. There are ruins and grottoes
all around, and there is a block cut into the form of a pedestal, on
which stood the statue of a divinity. There is likewise a well cut in the
rock, and a great deal of pottery. A great gate communicated from the
acropolis to the town. The most populous part was that to the south-east,
and numberless remains of houses may here be traced. There were also
exterior fortifications, and a polygonal wall defended the whole of the
peninsula between the bay and the gulf, embracing a space of about four
square miles. Thus there were two castles and two ports, and probably
villas and gardens, within the circuit of the wall. An excellent fountain
of water, which never fails, is the only thing which interrupts the
solitude that reigns in this vast assemblage of ruins. There is not
a single tumulus to be seen, probably because, as has been observed,
Kimmericum was not a Milesian city. The Genoese are supposed to have
carried away the remains of Kimmericum, in order to build Caffa.[254]
Opouk is twenty miles from the post station of Arghin.