Phanagoria

543 BC by the Teian colonists who had to flee Asia Minor in consequence of their conflict with the Persian king Cyrus the Great.

The town's importance increased with the decline of the old capital, Panticapaeum, situated on the opposite shore of the Crimean strait, or Cimmerian Bosporus.

[citation needed] During the Mithridatic Wars, the town allied with the Roman Republic and withstood a siege by the army of Pharnaces II of Pontus.

It was at Phanagoria that the insurrection broke out against Mithridates VI of Pontus, shortly before his death; and his sons, who held the citadel, were obliged to surrender to the insurgents.

[3] The loyalty to Rome allowed Phanagoria to maintain a dominant position in the region until the 4th century, when it was sacked and destroyed by the invading Huns.

[citation needed] In the late Middle Ages the town of Matrega was built on its ruins; the site was part of a network of Genoese possessions along the northern Black Sea coast.

It is vacant, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank : The location of Phanagoria was determined in the 18th century, when marble statue bases with dedications to Aphrodite were discovered there.

[4] Archaeological exploration of the site started in 1822, when "soldiers dug into a large barrow, making rich discoveries of gold and silver objects, many unique, which they divided up between themselves".

On either side of the entrance to the tomb long stone boxes contain four horse burials along with rich grave gifts; saddlery and harnesses of gold and gilded bronze.

[8] In 2023, archaeologists announced "the discovery of one of the world’s oldest synagogues and, according to analysis of fragments found at the site, it likely stood for over half a millennium after being constructed around the beginning of the first century BCE."

[9] Over the past year, archaeologists have concluded that the synagogue was part of a Jewish quarter located in an area intersected by major streets and surrounded by residential homes and structures such as a vineyard, a garden, and a water network.

A terracotta vessel in the shape of a sphinx , 5th century BC. One of 26 similar pieces discovered in a feminine necropolis (" Demeter 's priestess") near Phanagoria. On exhibit at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg .
Phanagoria and other ancient Greek colonies along the north coast of the Black Sea, 8th to 3rd century BC
Pottery vessel in the shape of Aphrodite inside a shell; from Attica , Classical Greece , discovered in the Phanagoria cemetery, Taman Peninsula ( Bosporan Kingdom , southern Russia ), 1st quarter of 4th century BC, Hermitage Museum , Saint Petersburg .