Democratic Chersonese

@ПАНОРАМА
Iryna Pustynnikova(www.castles.com.ua)

How was democracy born in Ukraine? From the first Constitution? From the Ukrainian National Republic? From the Cossack assemblies? Dig deeper: the first democratic republic on the territory of our country appeared in the 5th century B. C. It was founded by Greeks on the Heraclea peninsula. Does it sound ancient? However, it is alive today on the territory of modern Sevastopol, Crimea!

Everything is simple with the name of this colony city: it was located on a peninsula, and peninsula in Greek is ‘Chersonesos’. Its politics were also simple: the ruling body of the state was a public assembly, so called agora. Its history is less simple: Chersonese was at war almost all the time. Mostly, others fought against it. Scythians were particularly annoying in the 2nd century B. C., so Chersonese called for help from the regiments of king Mithridates VI Eupator Dionysius of Pontus. The Scythians were defeated as a result of this military alliance, but Chersonese also lost its independence. The city became part of Bosporan Kingdom and was governed by Rome, having turned into a colonial outpost in the Northern Black Sea Region. Only legends remembered the former freedom.
The most famous of them is about Gykia, the daughter of governor Lamachos. The Bosporan monarch Asander could not sleep because of the treasures of Chersonese. The monarch tried a ruse: he offered Lamachos to marry Gykia to his son. However, residents of Chersonese set a condition: Gykia’s husband could not leave the territory of Chersonese. He had to agree. When Lamachos died two years later, Asander’s son was not elected the new archon, but a respectable native of the city: Zifa. Gykia gave a feast in memory of her father, which was attended by people from all the districts. Asander then developed a new plan. Each year, he sent one hundred warriors to the feast in Chersonese with presents for Gykia, but they actually stayed in the city hiding in the cellar of Gykia’s house. During Lamachos’ third memorial feast, two hundred Bosporan warriors were waiting for a signal to attack the city. One of Gykia’s servants dropped her spinning wheel, bent down to look for it and saw the armed warriors in the cellar. So Gykia realised her husband’s treason. She did not cancel the feast but asked residents of Chersonese to wait for her signal. When the Bosporan prince fell asleep, Gykia ordered to set her house on fire. All the Bosporan warriors died, and the grateful residents of Chersonese erected two statues in honour of their rescuer.
Unfortunately these two statues of Gykia do not remain, but Chersonese itself had a long life. The strong high walls of Chersonese protected it from its enemies. The city survived other political turmoil of the Black Sea region for almost one millennium, in the Vth century it became part of the Byzantine Empire, and in the IXth century it even became one of its administrative regions. Theatres and ancient churches disappeared; even the name of the city was changed: Byzantines called it Chersonese, and Slavs called it Korsun. Eventually, both names remained on the map of Ukraine, but were given to other cities, and the original name was covered with dust for centuries, but finally revived as the National Historic and Archaeological Reserve “Chersonese of Tavria” (or Taurica) which was named among the seven wonders of Ukraine last year.
Slavs also wanted to conquer Chersonese. Kyiv Prince Volodymyr was angry when Byzantium did not fulfil the conditions of its treaty with Kyiv Rus and, in 988, he started a campaign against Chersonese and conquered the city after a nine months siege. It was in a Chersonese basilica that Prince Volodymyr the Great converted to Christianity.
All Chersonese wanted was to remain a peaceful commercial city and port. Fabrics, oil and weapon were shipped here from the south, while corn and domestic animals came from the north. And only the new masters of the Black Sea in the 13th century, Genoese merchants, were not interested in Chersonese. The city withstood one attack by nomads, but a second attack wiped it off from the face of the earth and from the maps. In the middle of the 15th century, the life of the previously mighty city stopped.
Excavations on the site of the dead city near the Quarantine bay started only in 1827. The year can be considered the rebirth of Chersonese.
Today, five archaeology sites and 11 architectural monuments form the Reserve: the remnants of Chersonese city, the necropolis at Quarantine bay, the medieval fortresses Calamita and Cembalo in the towns of Inkerman and Balaklava, both located within the limits of Sevastopol, and antique manors. Probably the most impressive sight is the Zenon tower which was the largest for several centuries. In the reserve, there is a wonderful collection of epigraphic mementoes, among which is the famous oath of residents of Chersonese (3rd century B. C.). The collection of the museum includes over 200 thousand exhibits of Byzantine and ancient cultures.
Thousands of tourists come here annually to walk along the main alley of the city, to see the ruins of the theatre, the marble columns of old churches, the remnants of mighty walls and towers of the Roman citadel. Here there were noisy city districts, potter’s workshop… The silhouette of the colonnade looks familiar: it once decorated our one hryvnia banknote. Very democratic, indeed!

USEFUL INFORMATION

National Reserve “Chersonese of Tavria” is located within Sevastopol (Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 1 Drevnia Str., tel.: +38 0692 24 1415).
Official website of the reserve: www.chersonesos.org/?p=index&l=eng
To book an excursion, please call: +38 0692 24 1301, +38 0692 23 1561.
Entrance is UAH10.

GETTING THERE
Ukraine International offers up to two flights a day from Kyiv to Simferopol, as well as non-stop flights from Berlin to Simferopol and from Frankfurt to Simferopol.
For more information, call us in Kyiv at +380 44 581 5050.
KyivStar, MTC, Life:) and Beeline cellular service subscribers can dial 566. The call costs UAH 1 per minute for KyivStar and Life:) subscribers, UAH 0,95 per minute for Beeline subscribers and is billed as a call to a city phone for MTC subscribers.