Phanagoria

Phanagoria was the largest ancient Greek city on the Taman Peninsula, spread over two plateaus along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus [1]. 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 [1]. It was the eastern capital of the Bosporan Kingdom, with Panticapaeum being the western capital [1]. Phanagoria was founded ca. 543 BC by the Teian colonists who had to flee Asia Minor in consequence of their conflict with the Persian king Cyrus the Great [1]. The city took its name after one of these colonists, Phanagoras [1]. In the early 4th century BC the burgeoning Bosporan Kingdom subjugated much of Sindica, including the independent polis of Phanagoria [1]. The location of Phanagoria was identified in the 18th century, when marble statue bases with dedications to Aphrodite were discovered there [1]. Hecataeus and Strabo mention a local sanctuary of Aphrodite as the largest in the Pontic region [1].