Abstract
During the last two decades, buildings of the 4th – 6th centuries have been discovered for the fi rst time in several areas of the elevated part of Tyritace. Studies show that during the Early Byzantine period, the planning of Tyritace was based on the urban estate composed of a residential building and economic complexes located in the courtyard. The sizes of Tyritace estates were relatively small, ca. 150–300 m2. All this indicates that a homogeneous urban population lived here. Excavations provide a picture of a consistent and dynamic development of the ritual culture and religious beliefs of the urban population. The large cult building consisting of two rooms was a kind of urban planning dominant in the central part of the Upper city. Further reconstructions destroyed most of the cult objects from the sanctuary. Hence, it is diffi cult to assert which pagan deities were worshiped there. A small household was discovered next to the sanctuary. Adepts of Judaism lived there, judging by found fragments of amphora walls, on which red menorahs were drawn. The ritual objects and building complexes revealed during excavations testify the majority of Tyritace residents were adepts of the Greek and local Bosporan cults in the fourth and fi fth centuries. At the same time, a small number of adepts of the Judaism and Christianity lived in the town. After the offi cial adoption of Christianity as a state religion in the Bosporan Kingdom in the last third of the fi fth century, the Church began to play a decisive role in the religious worldview and cult life. As a result, the urban Christian community was finally formed in Tyritace. The pagan sanctuary in the central part of the town ceased its functioning, and the Christian three-nave basilica was built in the port area. Since that time, representatives of the clergy, headed by the local bishop, probably became a part of the urban elite.
Keywords
Cimmerian Bosporus, Tyritace, early Byzantine buildings, religion, pagan sanctuary, Judaism, Christian Basilica.
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