In Antiquity

Athenaion
Al'ma-Kermen
Bulganak
Gurzufskoye Sedlo
Dandake
"Ancient Chersonesos"of Strabo
"Another Harbor of the Chersonesites"
Eupatorion
Kalos Limen
Kara-tobe
Kerkinitis
Kermen-kyr
Kermenchik
Ktenous
Lagyra
Lampas
Napites
Neapolis
Palakion
Roman strongholds
The Sanctuary on the Isthmus of the Saki Lake
Symbolon Limen
"Walls"
Ust'-Al'ma
Chabaioi
Charax

In the Middle Ages

Ancient Greek and Roman writers informed that the closest neighbors of the Chersonites were the Taurians and Scythians, and, later on, Sarmatians and Alans. Inscriptions on stone are another source of data about the towns and villages in vicinity of Chersonesos. It is known that in the 3rd century B. C. Kerkinitis and Kalos Limen (literally "Beautiful Harbor") were parts of Chersonesos state, and that the fortresses called Palakion, Chabaioi, Neapolis, and Napites were Scythian. Bloodthirsty Taurians used to wait in ambush in the "Harbor of Symbols," Symbolon Limen, until they were pushed away from that place by civilized newcomers, the Hellenes. The Romans built their forts and military camps around Chersonesos. Not so long ago, archaeologists discovered one Roman camp in the area of present Balaklava.

We know only names of some settlements and are still not able to connect them with specific archaeological sites. If one is optimistic about this aspect, it means that more discoveries are waiting for us in this way.

One can insist on the Taurians are the worst-known of all the tribes that encircled the Greek settlers. Apart from the piracy which make them famous in the time of Herodotus, they seem to have no noteworthy features. The Greeks left behind them no such biased and careful descriptions of this tribe as they did for the Scythians. Nowadays archaeologists are trying to fill in the gap in our knowledge which is left by the haughty Hellenes. You can read all what the scholars know now in the chapter "The Taurians" from Igor Khrapunov's book on the ethnic history of the Crimea, which you can hardly find in bookshops.