Abstract
The author compares the results of the analysis of the latest materials with those obtained earlier in the course of many years of work by the Bosporan (Panticapaean) Archaeological Mission of the Pushkin Museum at the New Upper Mithridates (NUM) excavation site located on the acropolis of Panticapaeum, as well as at the Central (N) and Central-Northern (SN) sites on the territory of the Western Plateau. An analysis of the state of construction objects on the northwestern outskirts of the NUM, as well as the features of their reconstructions, indicates that their main goal was to revive the line of fortifications along a significant segment of the route of the early defensive wall, which was destroyed approximately in the middle of the 6th century BC and did not restore. The monumental multi-chamber complex MK D-11, erected on a rocky foundation, served as a fortification. The revealed collapses of its outer wall, traces of a fire in the room, numerous arrowheads of the Scythian type in the collapses of the adobe masonry of the wall indicate that the hastily fortified acropolis of Panticapaeum, which previously had no walls (!), was attacked by the Royal Scythians between 480 and 475 BC. Previously, it was assumed that after the destruction of the community center on the Western Plateau by the nomads, it was fortified and turned into a defensive foothold. The main part of the inhabitants took refuge on the Upper Plateau, where the urban temenos with the temple of Apollo was located. Today, there is reason to believe that the finds of “Scythian animal style” items in the layers of the first half of the 5th century BC on the acropolis of Panticapaeum indicate that the Scythians gained access to the territory of Panticapaean acropolis and the temenos. The hypothesis of symmachy led by Panticapaeum is hardly relevant.
Keywords
Panticapaeum, acropolis, Upper Plateau, Western Plateau, multi-chamber complex, fortifications, temenos, Bosporan symmachy, the Royal Scythians, “Scythian animal style” items, sphagion.
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