Home | Contacts | |||||||||||||
History | Excavations | Museum | Preserve | City | Chora | Outlying areas |
In Antiquity |
One of the most mysterious settlements of the ancient Crimea, Lagyra is mentioned in the "Geography" by Claudios Ptolemaios (II century AD), who located Lagyra in the area between Charax and Theodosia (Ptolem. Geogr. 3. 6. 2). Scholars have hypothesized that Lagyra was placed somewhere in the south coast of Crimea in the area of modern Livadiya (to the east from Yalta). It is interesting that, although no settlement of the ancient epoch is discovered in Livadiya, A. L. Berthier de Lagarde uncovered an ancient sanctuary relatively not fare from this place, on the territory of present Yalta. Not so long ago another similar sanctuary was unearthed fare to the east, at Gurzufskoye Sedlo mountain pass. At both sites, the Hellenes (seamen who were sailing along the coast?) made rich sacrifices including various precious items. Further to the east, near the present village of Vesyoloye ("Jolly") in Sudak administrative region there is a well-preserved and recently excavated settlement of Kutlak - it probably is a remain of the most eastern fortress of the Kingdom of Bosporus.
This way, although the Hellenes periodically visited the seacoast of Taurica (Crimea) between Charax and Theodosia and left few outstanding sites the, the search and localization of Lagyra seems to be a topic for the future studies.
© N. Khrapunov.
|