Some Considerations on an Extinct Strait, the Sindian Bosporus

Surikov Igor E.

As a result of researches conducted by the group of D. Zhuravlev and U. Schlotzhauer, by now there can be no serious doubts as regards the existence in antiquity, to the east of the Cimmerian Bosporus, of the other strait connecting the Black Sea and the Azov Sea. However, the name given to the strait by the scholars cited – the Kuban Bosporus –does not seem quite felicitous to me. I would offer another one: the Sindian Bosporus, as it separated the future Taman Peninsula (then a large island) from Sindica, as the Cimmerian Bosporus separated Taman from Cimmeria. Maybe «the Sindian crack» mentioned in a fragment of Hipponax (the 6th century BC.) has to do exactly with the strait in question. Greek colonization of the Bosporus region in the sixth century went two ways: through the Cimmerian Bosporus and through the above-mentioned more eastern strait. But later the fate of the two sets of colonies appeared quite different. Colonies on the Cimmerian Bosporus flourished and created the Bosporan Kingdom; colonies on the Sindian Bosporus degraded, and their names are even absent from our narrative sources. I think the main reason is that the Sindian Bosporus ceased to be navigable for sea ships already in the Classical period and not in the Hellenistic one.

Keywords: historical geography of the Northern Black Sea region, straits, islands, Bosporus, colonization, Taman Peninsula.
References:
  1. Belenkij D.B. 1998: Prognoz lokalizacii gavani Nimfeja na osnove paleomorfologicheskoj rekonstrukcii beregovoj linii // PIFK. 5, 27–37.
  2. Blavatskij V.D. 1985: Antichnaja arheologija i istorija. M.
  3. Vnukov S.Yu., Porotov A.V., Pushkarev P.Ju., Kel'terbaum D. 2008: Arheologo-paleogeograficheskie issledovanija Semibratnego gorodishha. Zadachi i metody issledovanija // DB. 12, 1, 129–147.
  4. Garbuzov G.P., Zavojkin A.A. 2011: Osvoenie grekami zemel' Tamanskogo poluostrova v poslednej chetverti VI – pervoj polovine V v. do n.je. // Antichnyj mir i arheologija. 15, 194–222.
  5. Garbuzov G.P., Zavojkin A.A. 2012: Sel'skaja territorija centrov Aziatskogo Bospora v period avtonomii (vtoraja polovina VI–V v. do n.je.) i v sostave derzhavy Spartokidov (IV – nachalo III v. do n.je.) // DB. 16, 114–149.
  6. Garbuzov G.P., Zavojkin A.A., Strokin V.L., Sudarev N.I. 2011: Osvoenie grekami Tamanskogo p-ova v VI–V vv. do n.je. // DB. 15, 90–172.
  7. Gorlov Yu.V. 2007: K izucheniju sel'skoj okrugi Fanagorii // DB. 11, 86–105.
  8. Gorlov Yu.V., Porotov A.V., Janina T.A., Fuash Je., Mjuller K. 2002: K voprosu ob istoriko-geograficheskoj situacii na Tamanskom poluostrove v period grecheskoj kolonizacii // PIFK. 12, 248–257.
  9. Zhuravlev D.V., Shlotcauer U. 2011: Grecheskaja kolonizacija vostochnoj chasti Tamanskogo poluostrova // Scripta antiqua. 1, 252–293.
  10. Zhuravlev D.V., Shlotcauer U., Kamelina G.A., Kel'terbaum D. 2010: Poselenie Strelka 2 na Tamanskom poluostrove (Predvaritel'naja informacija) // DB. 14, 162–183.
  11. Zavojkin A.A. 2009: O «bol'shih» i «malyh» bosporskih gorodah // DB. 13, 176–205.
  12. Zavojkin A.A. 2011: O kul'turnom sloe poselenij Tamanskogo poluostrova VI–V vv. do n.je. // Grecheskie i varvarskie pamjatniki Severnogo Prichernomor'ja: Opyt metodiki rossijskih i ukrainskih polevyh issledovanij / N.A. Gavriljuk, A.A. Maslennikov, A.A. Zavojkin (red.). M., 18–39.
  13. Zavojkin A.A., Garbuzov G.P. 2010: O pervom jetape osvoenija grekami Tamanskogo poluostrova // DB. 14, 184–219.
  14. Paromov Ja.M. 2006: Tamanskij poluostrov v ranneantichnoe vremja (VI–V vv. do n.je.) // DB. 10, 365–383.
  15. Surikov I.E. 2009: «Hersones iznachal'nyj» ili «predhersonesskoe poselenie»? // Studia historica. 9, 185–201.
  16. Tohtasjev S.R. 2002: SINDIKA // Tamanskaja starina. 4, 10–32.
  17. Yaylenko V.P. 2011: Indoarii – kimmerijcy – tavry: Severnoe Prichernomor'e VIII–VII vv. do n.je. v mifologicheskoj tradicii i onomastike // DB. 15, 411–454.
  18. Brückner H., Kelterbaum D., Marunchak O., Porotov A., Vött A. 2010: The Holocene Sea Level Story since 7500 BP – Lessons from the Eastern Mediterranean, the Black and the Azov Seas // Quaternary International. 2010. 225, 2, 160–179.
  19. Kelterbaum D., Brückner H., Porotov A., Schlotzhauer U., Zhuravlev D. 2011: Geoarchaeology of Taman Peninsula (Kerch Strait, South-West Russia) – the Example of the Ancient Greek Settlement of Golubitskaya 2 // Die Erde. 143, 3, 235–258.