Tyritakē

Tyritáke (Greek: Τυριτάκη) was an ancient Greek town of the Bosporan Kingdom, situated in the eastern part of Crimea, about 11 km to the south from Panticapaeum. It is tentatively identified with the ruins in the Kerch district of Kamysh-Burun (Arshintsevo), on the shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus. There are only few short mentions about Tyritake in ancient literary sources (Stephan of Byzantion, Ethnika 642, 12; Pseudo - Aelius Herodianus, De prosodia catholica 315.12; Claudius Ptolemaius, Geography 3.6.3.2; Ps. Arrian, Periplous Ponti Euxini 50,9 and Caius Plinius Secundus, NH 4, 86-87 who names the city as Dia). First serious excavations, started in 1932 (headed by J. Marti) and have been followed in 1946-1957 by great Bosporan Expedition headed by prof. V. Gaidukievich. In 70-s and 80-s the territory of Tyritake was excavated by expedition of the Kerch Museum headed by D. Kirilin and O. Shevelev and since 2000 started big project "Bosporan City Tyritake" directed by prof. V. Zin'ko. In 2008 joined the project Polish Archaeological Mission Tyritake of National Museum in Warsaw with Alfred Twardecki as director. All these archaeological projects allowed to establish that the colony, founded about the mid-6th century BC, specialized in crafts and viticulture. In the first centuries AD, fishing and wine production became the economical mainstay of the town. Tyritake was sacked by the Goths in the 3rd century AD and again in the 4th century AD by the Huns, but a settlement on the site continued into the Middle Ages.

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