Charax, Crimea

Charax is the largest Roman military settlement excavated in Crimea, established around AD 70 under Emperor Vespasian on Cape Ai-Todor atop an earlier Taurian settlement, about 7 km southwest of Yalta. The fortress featured double defensive walls: an inner semicircular wall approximately 380 m long encircling the upper plateau, and a lower external line extending up to 550 m. Initially garrisoned by a detachment of the Classis Ravennatis, it later hosted units from Legio I Italica and Legio XI Claudia through the 2nd century. Excavations begun in 1896 under Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich yielded Roman denarii spanning Galba to Caracalla, 44 fibulae, and tile stamps of Legio I Italica. The Romans abandoned the site around AD 244 following Gothic invasions.