On May 20-21, 1999, the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the VII Readings dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of V. D. Blavatsky, Doctor of Art History, Professor, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Architecture, one of the largest antiquarians of our country in the XX century. The readings were attended by ancient historians (archaeologists, historians, art historians) from Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

In their opening remarks, R. M. Munchaev, Director of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and G. M. Bongard - Levin, President of the Russian Association of Antiquaries, noted the broad and multifaceted work of V. D. Blavatsky, his great erudition, and the highest personal authority. scientific progress. The topics of the reports presented at the conference concerned the problems of studying the archeology, history and culture of ancient cities and states of the Mediterranean, Black Sea region and Central Asia.

The first day of the conference was entirely devoted to plenary reports. The meeting was chaired by G. A. Koshelenko and A. A. Maslennikov.

V.I. Kuzishchin (Moscow) in his report "Society and power in Tauric Chersonesus" analyzed the system of relations between society and state power on the example of ancient Chersonesus. The researcher emphasized that the long-term and dignified existence of a small polis on the far outskirts of the Greek world, among fierce and hostile barbarians, was made possible by finding an optimal balance in relations between society, government and nature. G. A. Koshelenko and V. A. Gaibov (Moscow) presented their joint report " On one of the directions of the Great Silk Road " They devoted themselves to the history of one of the sections of this route during the Hellenistic, Parthian and early Sasanian times, namely, the section of the route connecting Western Iran with Bactria and the eastern countries. In the report of V. D. Kuznetsov (Moscow) " The Bosporus Polis (the Archaic era)", attention was drawn to the problem of identifying polis among the Black Sea (specifically Bosporan) settlements. The author considers the complexity and ambiguity of solving the problem on the example of one of the largest and most important Bosporan cities - Phanagoria. Melev (Nizhny Novgorod) in his report "Bosporus under the rule of Mithridates and Pharnaces" suggested that the available archaeological materials, combined with data from a number of written sources, allow us to draw quite definite conclusions about the issue of the Bosporus ' withdrawal from the rule of Mithridates and about the Bosporan uprising against Mithridates during the preparation of his last campaign to the Caucasus. Roman A. A. Maslennikov (Moscow) in his report "New developments in the study of the Bosporan Ramparts" touched upon the history of military affairs and ancient fortification on the example of the so-called Tiritak rampart. According to him, recent surveys and work on it, as well as an analysis of a number of archival documents, allow us, albeit in a very cautious form, to doubt its ancient origin. The topic of the report of V. P. Tolstikov (Moscow) is " Panticapaea Acropolis (On the problem of localization of the northern and western borders)". The author noted that significant progress has been made in solving this fundamental issue: the materials obtained during the latest excavations allow us to localize for the first time a section of the northern front of the acropolis defense at the beginning of the 5th century BC. It is also possible to map out the western route of the Hellenistic acropolis fortifications, its direction and length, which indicates that the acropolis of the Bosporus capital occupied a much larger area than previously assumed. The significance of Menander's comedies as a historical source was shown in the report "Menander on the East"by L. P. Marinovich (Moscow). The Early Hellenistic East found in his work a vivid and, due to the specifics of the genre, a peculiar reflection. Menander

page 196

He is aware that serious events are taking place in the East, and new political institutions are emerging there. At the same time, for him, it is the periphery of the world in which he and his characters live. The East is primarily regions where there is a continuous struggle, where soldiers are constantly needed. A young, energetic and courageous citizen of the polis can go there and, having acquired wealth, return home to continue their usual life here, succeed in their native polis. Use the new world to preserve the old-this is how Menander, his characters and, presumably, his audience perceive the East in the early Hellenistic era. In the report "On the chronology of Bosporan coins in the Mithridatic period (110/109-63 BC)" N. A. Frolova (Moscow) made an attempt to clarify the chronology of issues of Bosporan coins made of silver and copper, noting in the Bosporan coinage the features peculiar to the Pontic coinage. M. V. Skrzhinskaya (Kiev) in the report "Citizens of Bosporus and Olbia at the Panathenaic Festivals" presented several inscriptions and painted vases related to the Panathenaea, the main holiday of the Athenians, as the subject of its research. Based on their analysis, she came to the conclusion that the monuments of applied art and inscriptions indicate a good knowledge of the celebration of the Panathenaean by the Bosporan Greeks, who could either directly participate in the celebration, or represent their states in embassies, as well as be present as spectators. In the report of A. A. Zavoikin (Moscow) "Athens-Bosporus - Pontic Heraclea (from Pericles to Clearchus)", evidence was given indicating that the process of forming a territorial Bosporan state under the auspices of the Spartokids was influenced by foreign political circumstances - the pressure of the Athenian arche, the resistance of Pontic Heraclea, and the position of Persia. (Moscow) in the report "Early Medieval Hermonass" presented archaeological data - red-lacquer ceramics, the capital of a marble column of the fifth century AD and part of a limestone relief, indicating links with Byzantium. SL. Solovyov (St. Petersburg) in the report "Cult symbols of Apollo on bronze weights from Berezan" considered a group of objects related to the Ancient World. with the cult of Apollo, discovered during excavations on the island of Berezan. The objects look like trapezoidal bars of metal with relief images on both sides, in general, they date back to the second half of the VI century BC. The author's interpretation of the plots of images on these objects from Berezan once again testifies in favor of defining their functions as weight weights, which probably confirmed their compliance with the monetary systems of Borysthenes and Olbia with their entire appearance. In addition to these reports, the following reports were presented, but, for various reasons, were not read: M. V. Rusyaeva (Kiev) "The Golden crest from the Solokha mound", a joint report by S. D. Kryzhitsky and V. V. Krapivin (Kiev) "The main results of the excavations of Olbia in 1994-1998", as well as a report by A. V. Porotov V. Gorlovi, V. A. Gaibova (Moscow), K. Muller and E. Fouache (Paris) "Archaeological and paleographic study of the Taman Peninsula".

On the second day of the conference, the work continued in three sections: "History and archeology of the Northern Black Sea Region", "History and archeology of Ancient Greece and Rome" and "History and Archeology of the East".

At the session of the section "History and Archeology of the Northern Black Sea region" (chairs - E.M. Alekseeva, I. T. Kruglikova), a number of reports were heard. V. P. Yaylenko (Moscow) in the report "The ghost of the Bosporan Satyr in Olbia and the shadows of Olviopolites and Mithridatic soldiers in the Western Crimea: a commentary on epigraphic visions" outlined his thoughts on Satire V. V. Nazarov (Kiev) in his report "On the military affairs of the Olviopolites (structure of the land Army)" analyzed the data describing the Olviopolite land army during the entire period of the Polis ' existence as an independent state entity. O. A. Ruchinskaya in his report "On the military affairs of the Olviopolites (structure of the land army)"On the issue of socio-cultural development of ancient cities of the Northern and Western Black Sea region " on the basis of epigraphic materials considered the problems of the relationship between the individual and the civil community. In general, according to the author, individual freedom in the Northern Black Sea cities was limited by an extensive system of prohibitions and incentives. "Fortification of the Rud settlement" is the topic of the report by M. A. Romanovskaya (Moscow). In it, she presented the results of the research of the monument conducted by the expedition under her leadership in 1969-1976. According to the author, the described defensive structures existed from the XI century BC to the turn of the 1st - 11th centuries AD, when the ancient settlement, apparently, was captured by the Romans. A. M. Butyagin (St. Petersburg) in his report "On the question of the genesis of earthen housing construction in the Northern Black Sea region" noted that the widespread use of earthen buildings in the Northern Black Sea region This type of housing construction is one of the characteristic features of colonization of the Northern Black Sea region. According to his idea, the Greek and forest-steppe barbarian traditions developed in parallel, the Greek colonists bring with them their own tradition of earthen house-building, as evidenced by the passage of Pausanias about the polis of Panopea. V. Ya. Savel (Sevastopol) in his report presented the results of archaeological research conducted on the territory of modern Balaklava in 1992-1996. Their result was the discovery of a part of the building from nine rooms, possibly interpreted as a barracks, and the remains of the Roman temple of Jupiter. Ryzhov (Sevastopol) in the report "Early Byzantine time complexes from the excavations of the KHB quarter in the Northern region of Chersonesos" based on the results of the analysis of archaeological material found in the complexes of the specified time, an attempt was made to clarify the date and scale of construction activities,

page 197

developed in the city in the VI-VII centuries AD. The complexes discovered in the KHB quarter indicate a radical restructuring of the quarter not earlier than the end of the VI-beginning of the VII century AD. V. G. Zubarev (Tula) in his report "The Heraclea Peninsula and the problem of Strabo's "old" Chersonese (According to ancient written sources)" compared the reports of written sources and the positions of various researchers. According to him, both Strabo's and Pliny's data clearly point to the area of the Heraclea Peninsula between Cape Fiolent and Balaklava Bay, where the ruins of the "old" Chersonese were probably located. D. V. Grigoriev (Krasnoyarsk) in his report " Problems of the military history of the Bosporus I-the first third of the third century AD in Russian historiography"I tried to identify possible stages in the development of Russian historiography on this issue based on the peculiarities of the source base. The first stage, according to the author, is characterized by the predominance of written, narrative and epigraphic sources in research, and during the second stage, archaeological materials obtained as a result of excavations in the Eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula are rapidly introduced into scientific circulation. Bezrukoe (Moscow) in his report "Seven-fold mounds (On the problem of chronology and ethnic interpretation)" paid special attention to the analysis of the burial inventory of the specified complex, on the basis of which he suggested that it is impossible to classify Seven-fold mounds as monuments of the Sindh, since the material culture of the latter remains unclear. Rather, we can talk about a separate Scythian family, whose sacred center was this corner of the Kuban region. In the joint report of M. G. Abramzon (Magnitogorsk), N. A. Frolova and Yu. V. Gorlov (Moscow) " Hoard of silver coins of the VI-IV centuries BC from the Taman Museum (preliminary report)" coins from a hoard discovered in 1948 in the village of Peresyp, Temryuksky district of the Krasnodar Territory, were presented. The treasure consists of 54 silver coins and two lead ingots. According to the researchers, the main core of the treasure consists of early silver Panticapaean coins - anepigraphic and with the legends TTANTI or APOL. Further analysis of the weight data of the coins of the Taman hoard and their comparison with the weights of coins from the N. A. case. In his report "Comparative characteristics of antique imports in amphorae in the IV century BC on the territory of the Northern Black Sea region", G. A. Lomgpadze (Moscow) mentioned the amphora container as one of the most developed items in the complex. sources of ancient archeology. The aim of the study was to try to establish similarities and differences in the composition of importers and in the dynamics of trade relations for different regions of the Northern Black Sea region in the IV century BC. "The head of an archaic statue from the vicinity of Phanagoria" is the topic of the report by E. A. Savostina (Moscow). In her opinion, this monument is the earliest example of sculpture made by Bosporan masters in the traditions of the Eastern Greek school, and the first known image of Athena in the Bosporus. Parimov (Moscow) in his report "On the issue of sea level off the coast of the Taman Peninsula in ancient times", based on the results of underwater surveys and excavations in the area of Phanagoria and Hermonassa, Patraeus, in the area of Cape Tuzla and Cape Panagia, concluded that the sea level off the coast of the Taman Peninsula during this period was lower V. N. Taskaev (Moscow) in his report "Underwater research of Patreia" presented the main groups of monuments of underwater archeology discovered since 1991 : ceramic complexes, architectural and construction remains, hydraulic structures, stone foundations of buildings and stone ruins. A. A. Nikonov and N. I. Vinokurov (Moscow) in their report "Towards substantiation of the seismic cause of total destruction in the Bosporus in the mid - second half of the third century AD", based on the traces of seismic impacts of a destructive nature identified in various Bosporus monuments, using a special archeoseismic technique, the earthquake strength was preliminarily estimated at 9-10 points. Trebeleva (Moscow) in her report "On the problem of the existence of the Tauric Limes" considered the historiography of this issue and, taking into account the archaeological data, came to the conclusion that the Roman defensive structures in Taurica can be called limes only conditionally, since they differ significantly from the classical Danube and Rhenish Limes.

At the meeting of the section " History and Archeology of Ancient Greece and Rome "(Chairman G. T. Zalyubovina) A number of reports were presented: A. A. Molchanov (Moscow) in the report "The dual Vanact-Lavaget model and the Institute of Co-government in Greece II millennium BC" focused on the analysis of linear writing documents from the palace archives of Knossos and Pylos on this problem. G. T. Zalyubovina (Moscow) in the report "Sin bloodshed in ancient Greece: purification and redemption (myths, legends, history)", exploring one of the types of sacrifices - cleansing sacrifices and rites, pointed out that it is not entirely correct to use the phrase "cleansing and redemptive sacrifices", but it is better to use "cleansing sacrifices" and "means of redemption". Bezruchenko (Moscow) in his report "On some features of the tactics of the armies of ancient polis" considered the question of the origin of the phalanx and identified three of its variants - Greek, Macedonian and Roman. Analysis of the nature of the wars of the Roman Polis allowed the researcher to determine the reasons that led to the need to abandon the traditional phalanx and revise its tactical orders. Krykin (Moscow) devoted his report "Paleobalkan Thracian society and the ancient world" to the evolution of the language that characterizes the degree of contact

page 198

or the isolation of an ethnic group. The Thracian civilization in many respects did not resemble the ancient one, so, according to the speaker, comparing its institutions and customs with examples from the life of classical Greeks is not convincing. A. A. Nemirovsky (Moscow) in the report " The ancient tradition of the migrations of the Balkans to Asia Minor in the XIII-XII centuries BC and archaeological data"Comparing the information from written sources and archaeological materials, I came to the conclusion that the quality of the ancient historical tradition is good, which allows us to conduct a synthesized reconstruction of the history of the Balkans and Anatolia at the end of the second millennium according to legendary and archaeological data.

The following reports were also presented, but for various reasons were not read: I. E. Surikov (Moscow) " The Athenian Megacles and Eretria (On the interpretation of an ostracon)", N. I. Solovyanov (Krasnoyarsk) "The Roman Army and the Priesthood", and L. I. Davydova's report (St. Petersburg) "Greek and Greek History".Roman sculpture of Caria and Pamphylia (To characterize the features of the style)".

At the meeting of the section "History and Archeology of the East" (chairman - S.V. Novikov), seven reports were heard: K. Abdullayev (Samarkand) in the report "Kasbi (Kesbi) - Kazbion-Aspion (On the localization of Greek satrapies)" focused on the problem of geographical localization of the toponyms " Aspion "and"Turiva". Based on a comparison of the ancient written tradition and archaeological sources, he expressed the opinion that"the name of three points located within the same region goes back to Turin, which in ancient times may have been the satrapy of Turiva mentioned by Strabo." A. S. Balakhvantsev and A. A. Nemirovsky (Moscow) in their joint report "The Dakhs from Darius to Arshak: narrative tradition and archaeological aspect" came to the following conclusions: the ethnic history of the Dakhs can be traced back to the end of the VI century BC, when they entered the Russian Empire. in the power of the Achaemenids (their probable localization for this time is Chach). In the fifth and early fourth centuries BC, the Dakhs moved to the Amu Darya, settling in Western Sogdiana. Around 300 BC. most of the Dakhs move to the Sarakamysh region and live there until the turn of the eras and later, although some of them (Aparns, the ancestors of the Parthians) almost immediately leave there for Kopet-Dag. S. B. Bolelov (Moscow) in the report " On the issue of standardization of Central Asian ceramics in ancient times (Based on the materials of Kalaly-Gyr 2 in Left-bank Khorezm)"he analyzed the ceramic production in Khorezm of the IV-I1 centuries BC and drew attention to the clear standardization of handicraft products, which allowed him to assume the existence of a unit of volume in the specified period on the territory of Khorezm, which was taken into account by potters in the manufacture of certain types of vessels, and the use of generally accepted volume measures indicates, in M. S. Gadzhiev (Makhachkala) in his report "From the history of agriculture in Caucasian Albania", comparing the data of the ancient written tradition (Strabo) and the archaeological data obtained during the study of Derbent and other monuments of Albania, tried to answer the question about the possible nature of such an important branch of the economy of the early city centers of Dagestan and the Caucasus as a whole Albania, as agriculture. Topic of the report: T. K. Mkrtycheva (Moscow) and D. V. Rusanova (Tashkent) - "The second Buddhist Temple on Dalverzin-tepe (DT-25): the history of functioning". The authors believe that a comprehensive analysis of this temple allows us to make some additions to the history of Central Asian Buddhism: first, the crisis of the Kushan state did not cause the decline of Buddhism in Bactria-Tokharistan, and, secondly, local rulers continued to support Buddhism in the Kushan-Sasanian period. In the report "Omarkala hoard and some problems of late Kush coinage", he presented nine coins from this hoard. The existence of hoards of the Omarkalinsky type, which include only Late Kushan coins, confirms, in his opinion, the conclusion about the sequential minting of the mentioned coins. N. V. Sokolov's report "Shiva on the coins of the Great Kushans" (Moscow) considered the problems associated with the use of the image of the Indian god Shiva on the coins of the Kushan kings - Vima Kadfiz, Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva. The author made an assumption about the spread of the cult of the god Shiva, which is not connected or has little connection with the Brahmin culture, among the inhabitants of some regions of the Kushan state, which, taking into account some features of this religious trend, could be the reason for the popularity of this god among the Kushan rulers.

Summing up the meetings, A. M. Maslennikov thanked all the participants of the readings who made presentations. T. V. Blavatsky expressed her gratitude to the employees who were directly involved in the organization and work of the readings.

Permanent link to this publication: