PHANAGORIA overstruck Pantikapaion PONTUS 140BC Satyr Pan Greek Coin i53600

Item: i53600

Authentic Ancient 

Coin of:

Greek city of 

Bronze 10mm (1.30 grams) Struck circa 140-108 B.C.
Reference: MacDonald 157; SNG BM Black Sea 992-4; SNG Stancomb -.
Head of the satyr Pan right.
Bow and arrow; below ΠΑ (from original overstruck 
coin) instead of ΦA below.

Phanagoria. The chief city of 
Asiatic Bosporus, situate nearly opposite Panticapaeum, the European capital.

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Authenticity.

Phanagoria (Ancient Greek:
Φαναγόρεια Phanagóreia) 
was the largest
ancient Greek
city on the
Taman peninsula
, spread over two plateaus along 
the Asian shore of the
Cimmerian Bosporus
. The city was a large
emporium
for all the traffic between the coast 
of the
Maeotian marshes
and the countries on the 
southern side of the
Caucasus
. It was the Asian capital of the
Bosporan Kingdom
, with
Panticapaeum
being the European capital.
Strabo
described it as a noteworthy city which 
was renowned for its trade. Today the site is located at a short distance to the 
west of Sennoy in
Krasnodar Krai
,
Russia
. Another ancient Greek city,
Hermonassa
, lies 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the 
west, on the shoreline of modern
Taman
.

Ancient history

Phanagoria was founded ca. 543 BC by the

Teian colonists who had to flee
Asia Minor
in consequence of their conflict 
with
Cyrus the Great
. The city took its name after 
one of these colonists, Phanagoras. “The unusual nature of the Taman peninsula 
near Phanagoria, with its ravines, crevices, hills, and low cones of active 
volcanoes, must have impressed the ancient colonists even more than it impresses 
us today”, Ustinova has observed.

In the 5th century BC, the town thrived on the trade with the
Scythians
and
Sindi
. Located on an island in the ancient 
archipelago of Corocondamitis, between the
Black Sea
and the
Palus Maeotis
, Phanagoria covered an area of 75 
hectares (190 acres) of which one third has been submerged by the sea. In the 
early 4th century BC the burgeoning
Bosporan Kingdom
subjugated much of
Sindica
, including the independent polis of 
Phanagoria. The town’s importance increased with the decline of the old capital,
Panticapaeum
, situated on the opposite shore of 
the Bosporus. By the first centuries AD, Phanagoria had emerged as the main 
centre of the kingdom.

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. An inscription found during excavations testifies that Queen
Dynamis
honored
Augustus
as “the emperor, Caesar, son of god, 
the god Augustus, the overseer of every land and sea”. 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.

Middle Ages

By the 7th century, the town had recovered from a century of barbarian 
invasions. It served as the capital of
Great Bulgaria
between 632 and 665 under
Kubrat
and
Batbayan
. After
Asparukh
led the Bulgars westward to the
Danube
, Phanagoria became (at least nominally) 
a
Byzantine
dependency. A
Khazar

tudun
was nonetheless present in the town and
de facto control probably rested in Khazar hands until the defeat of
Georgius Tzul
in 1016. In 704, the deposed 
emperor Justinian II
settled in Phanagoria (then 
governed by the Khazar tudun
Balgatzin
) with his wife Theodora, a sister of 
the Khazar Khagan

Busir Glavan
, before returning to
Constantinople
by way of
Bulgaria
.

In the 10th century, the town seems to have faced an invasion, supposedly by
the Rus
. After that, Phanagoria could not 
compete in significance with neighboring
Tmutarakan
. 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. During the 15th century, it 
was the center of
de Ghisolfi
dominions. Henceforth there has 
been no permanent settlement on the site.

Excavations

The location of Phanagoria was determined in the 18th century, when marble 
statue bases with dedications to
Aphrodite
were discovered there.
Hecataeus
and
Strabo
mention a local sanctuary of Aphrodite 
as the largest in the Pontic region. 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”.

Apart from the ancient city itself, archaeologists have been interested in a 
vast necropolis
, which spreads on three sides around 
Phanagoria. There are thousands of burials, many with cypress or marble 
sarcophagi — an indication of the well-being of the ancient Phanagorians. 
Excavations conducted in the 19th century were for the most part amateurish; as 
many as twelve kurgans
would be razed each season. Some of the 
most intriguing finds were unearthed in the 1860s at the Bolshaya Bliznitsa 
tumulus, classed by
Michael Rostovtzeff
as a feminine necropolis 
with three vaults.

One of the royal kurgans near Phanagoria “has a stone stairway leading down 
to a rectangular passageway, the entrance to the burial chamber (3.70 × 3.75 × 
4.70 m). These two areas are covered by an arch showing remains of painted 
decoration. The wall frescos imitate encrusted marble. 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.”
Vladimir Blavatsky
resumed excavations of 
Phanagoria in 1936. Among the recent finds is an inscription indicating that a
synagogue
existed in Phanagoria as early as 
51 AD. Underwater investigation of the site has revealed multiple fragments of 
architectural structures.

Vladimir Putin
took part in
scuba diving
at the archaeological site of 
Phanagoria in the
Taman Bay
on 11 August 2011.

Trivia

Phanagoria Island
in the
Zed Islands
group off
Livingston Island
,
Antarctica
is named after Phanagoria.