Hermonassa

an ancient Greek-Sintican city on the Taman Peninsula that formed in the sixth century B.C. and was part of the Bosporus state.

Hermonassa was located on the site of the present stanitsa (large cossack village) of Taman’ and was the second richest city on the eastern shore of the Bosporus Cimmerius (Kerch strait). Systematic excavations have been conducted since the 1950’s under the leadership of I. B. Zeest; these have led to the discovery at the site of the fortified town of remnants of a marble frieze with representations of giants. The frieze was part of the temple of Aphrodite, which was constructed by local craftsmen. A buried treasure of golden Bosporus coins from the fourth century B.C. was also discovered. The most important find from the burial mound necropolis was a marble sarcophagus from the fourth century B.C., which reproduced the form of a Greek temple. In the first centuries A.D. trade between Bosporus and the Alani tribes was conducted through Hermonassa. In the tenth century the ancient Russian city of Tmutarakan’ arose on the site of Hermonassa.