О начале исследования Херсонеса Таврического [On the Beginning of Study of Chersonesus Taurica]

Вестник древней истории. 2014. № 2. С. 151–162.

Zedgenidze A.

On the Beginning of Study of Chersonesus Taurica

Zedgenidze A.A.

           

The scholarly significance of Chersonesus lies primarily in the fact that its agricultural territory, the chora, was uniquely well preserved until very recently (up to the beginning of the 1990s). In Chersonesus we can therefore study both the city and its chora, i.e. the ancient state in its entirety. In this sense Chersonesus serves as an archaeological epitome, a model of a Greek city-state. An important component in the study of chora is putting its archaeological remains on a map or plan. Maps of the Herakleian Peninsula drawn in 1786 under the supervision of Karl Hablitz are the main result of the initial period of study of Chersonesus. These maps are prominent examples of scientific documentation and serve as an important historical source. One of them was first published by Metropolitan Evgeny (Bolkhovitinov). The date indicated on the map, 1786, marks the beginning of exploration of Chersonesus. Up to the present time it has been associated with the excavations carried out in 1827 by the marine officer K. Kruze. However, the year 1827 marks the beginning of archaeological excavations in Chersonesus, while 1786 should be regarded as the date when general research on Chersonesus began.

Keywords: античный полис, ancient polis, historiography of Chersonesus Taurica, Херсонес Таврический, классическая археология, history of archaeology, Grigory Potemkin, Karl Hablitz, Metropolitan Evgeny (Bolkhovitinov), история археологии, полис и хора, Григорий Потемкин, Карл Габлиц, Митрополит Евгений (Болховитинов)