Ilurat

a fortified settlement dating from the first-third centuries A.D. (the ruins are located 17 km southwest of the city of Kerchi) on the territory of the Bosporan State. Ilurat was an important strongpoint on the approaches to Panticapaeum. Excavations (beginning in 1948) revealed massive defense walls, towers, gates, streets, and residential quarters. Stock raising and farming were the principal occupations of the people. The houses had storage areas, pits for preserving grain, and rooms for housing cattle. Farming implements were found along with handicrafts, including modeled pottery. The population apparently consisted primarily of the highly Hellenized aboriginal population of the eastern Crimea. Ilurat was destroyed in the 260’s, when the Goths and Borans invaded the area.