Despite the fact that the visit to this ancient city at the mouth of the Don River was already 10 months ago, I decided to post a few photos, no matter how much I love the Don region. But first things first
Rostov-on-Don, early June 2011. As usual: photography of the city and on railway, the first vacation on the beaches of Levberdon, night walks around the city ... - beauty! But ... Then I noticed that I had not visited a single sight of the Don region, except for Rostov-on-Don itself. But they are: the city of Azov, the village of Starocherkasskaya - the birthplace of ataman Matvey Platov, and now the museum-reserve, as well as the museum-reserve Tanais - an ancient city (III century BC - V century AD) at the mouth of the river Don. The latter and it was decided to visit.
At 15.10 I already boarded the electric train Rostov - Taganrog. Last year, I already traveled in this direction, though with the aim of swimming in the waters of the Taganrog Bay, and now my goal is the Tanais Museum-Reserve. At 15.30 the train set off. From Rostov to Tanais only an hour on the way, but what places to places. No, in general, the first 20-30 minutes, in principle, nothing special - the usual areas of Rostov with rural-type houses, farms, however, after the Khapra station, the beautiful expanses of the Don River Delta begin.
Safyanovo, Martynovo, Nedvigovka .. and finally the Tanais stopping point. I get off the train and try to find my way. The Tanais Museum-Reserve is located near the Nedvigovka farm, and in which case, there is someone to ask how to get to this ancient city, but I didn’t have to, the very first road led me to the gates of the Museum-Reserve

Entrance to the museum from the side of the railway

A small memo to the visitor of Tanais
And here I am in the territory of the ancient city. After passing through the gate, I almost immediately find myself in the western urban area

A few photos and a little bit from the history of the ancient city.

Actually, walk on the masonry, jump on them, etc. etc. it is impossible, after all, this is the history that the earth has kept for many centuries. Nevertheless, let me take one photo inside, carefully going around the masonry and going down inside the ancient estate

In the last photo, in addition to the ruins, the Dead Donets is clearly visible, one of the branches of the Don River, and then another branch beyond the horizon, after 8-12 kilometers these branches will flow into the waters of the Taganrog Bay
But alas, in 15 minutes the return train to Rostov. The visit to the Tanais Museum-Reserve is over. Finally, a few more words. For a long time, nothing was known about these places, and only during the time of Alexander I did they first learn about it. Excavations near Nedvigovka continued later, but only in 1955 a large expedition was organized, a thorough study of these places was carried out, and in 1961 Tanais was declared a museum-reserve.
To everyone who, by the will of fate, finds himself on the territory of the Don Territory, I certainly recommend visiting here. And when I return to these parts, I will go to another place, which I will definitely tell about visiting.

Reserve "Tanais". Excavation estates. 2007

Tanais is an ancient city at the mouth of the river. Don. In the first centuries A.D. e. belonged to the Bosporan kingdom. It is located about 30 km west of Rostov-on-Don, near the Nedvigovka farm.

The Tanais Reserve is one of the largest archaeological museum-reserves in Russia. The territory of the Tanais reserve has more than 3 thousand hectares and unites an ensemble of historical and cultural monuments of different times and peoples from the Paleolithic era to the monuments of residential and religious architecture of the 19th century. This is the northernmost point of ancient civilization.

Also Tanais is the ancient Greek name of the rivers Don and Seversky Donets.

History of Tanais

The Tanais River and the Greek colony of Tanais, along with other Greek colonies along the northern coast of the Black Sea.

Tanais - Greek colony

Tanais was founded in the III century. BC e. Greeks, immigrants from the Bosporus kingdom, on the right bank of the then main branch of the mouth of the Tanais River - the Dead Donets. For many centuries, Tanais was a major economic, political and cultural center of the Don-Azov region. The Greek geographer Strabo calls it the largest barbarian market after Panticapaeum. Ancient geographers and historians drew the border between Europe and Asia from Tanais. The city gradually acquired features characteristic of the way of life of local tribes. Tanais fought for independence from the Bosporan rulers. In 237 AD e. it was destroyed by the Goths. Restored after 140 years by the Sarmatians, Tanais gradually turned into a center of agricultural and handicraft production, and at the beginning of the 5th century A.D. e. came to a standstill.

Tanais - Italian colony

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Venetians founded the city of Tana in a new place - on the changed main branch of the mouth of the Don, now called the Old Don. Later, control over the city passed to Genoa, who built a Genoese fortress here. In the Polovtsian time, the Tanais colony began to be called Tan for short. In 1395, Tamerlane's troops razed the city to the ground, completely destroying the walls.

Tan = Azov

In the 15th century, the Tan colony was partially restored on the site of the later city of Azov. The dominance of the Genoese came to an end in the autumn of 1475. The Ottoman Turks, having captured all the Genoese fortresses of the Crimea and the Orthodox Crimean Principality of Theodoro, landed troops and captured the Tan colony. The Turks owned the city, finally called Azov, with short breaks from 1475 to 1736, when, as a result of numerous wars, it finally passed to the Russian Empire.

Tanais - river

The ancient Greek cartographer Ptolemy gave the coordinates of the source and mouth of the Tanais, according to which it is exactly the Seversky Donets, brought along the lower reaches of the present Don to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov; thus, the Girgis was considered by him to be a tributary of the Tanais, which was closer to the then civilized world

At the mouth of the Tanais River, not far from its confluence with the Sea of ​​Azov, on the then main channel of the river, two millennia later called the Dead Donets, the Greek colony Tanais was founded.

If you love stories about ancient civilizations that ceased to exist long before our modern and familiar world, you dream of getting in touch with history ancient world and contemplate the ruins of past centuries, which miraculously survived, then you will like visiting the archaeological museum, which is located on the territory of the Rostov region, in the area of ​​Myasnikovsky settlement.

The history of the Don is replete with interesting events and is rich in reserved places. Have you ever heard of Tanais? This museum-reserve can rightly be considered one of the largest in Russian Federation, because his possessions occupy more than three thousand hectares. Here you can see architectural monuments belonging to a variety of historical eras, from the Paleolithic period up to the recent nineteenth century.

The museum-reserve is located on the river called the Dead Donets, although in ancient times this river was called Tanais, for which the museum owes its name to it. The second largest city, which has the same name, was also located here, and the barbarians made their famous markets here.

Not interested in the ruins - Dzhemete private sector by the sea. And there is also something to see around Anapa.

But back to the museum...

Once it was here that the border between Europe and Asia passed, and ancient chroniclers and historians noted that for a visiting wanderer, at the entrance to the city, Asia stretched on the right hand, and Europe scattered its possessions on the left hand.

Tanais was discovered in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but since the architectural monument was not protected for quite a long time after the excavations, the locals gradually began to plunder it, which is why now it has become in some way more scarce. But, starting from the middle of the twentieth century, the Rostov Museum of Local Lore took patronage over the excavations, by this time serious archaeological work can be considered.

In the Rostov region, I would like to talk about our trip to Tanais, an archaeological museum-reserve, one of the largest in Russia. Its territory is more than 3 thousand hectares. Here you can see monuments of different times and different cultures, from the Paleolithic to the 19th century.

Tanais is the northernmost point of ancient civilization. It is located on the river Dead Donets, which at that time was the main channel of the river. There is still no consensus among historians and geographers as to which river at that time was called Tanais - Don, Seversky Donets or Dead Donets. According to the Greek historian and geographer Strabo(c. 64/63 BC - c. 23/24 AD), it was the largest city after Panticapaeum (the capital of the Bosporan kingdom, on the territory of Kerch), a barbarian marketplace. Here was the border between Europe and Asia. Pliny(23-79 AD) wrote: “To the one who enters here, on the left side is Europe, on the right side is Asia”.

Opening of the monument and archaeological excavations

Tanais was discovered in 1823 by a corresponding member of the Paris Academy, Colonel I. A. Stempkovsky (1789-1832). Then the excavations were led by P. M. Leontiev (1822-1874), a professor at Moscow University in the Department of Roman Literature and Antiquity, and from 1867, a historian-orientalist, corresponding member of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in the category of Oriental literature V. G. Tizenhausen (1825-1902). Alas, starting from 1870, for almost 50 years, until the revolution, the monument was practically not protected, and local residents took it away for their own needs.

In 1955, the Nizhne-Donskaya archaeological expedition was formed by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which, together with the Rostov state university and the Rostov Museum of Local Lore began excavations. Four years later, the settlement and the burial ground were declared a protected area. In 1961, one of the first archaeological museum-reserves in Russia was opened here.

Thanks to the research of historians and archaeologists, it was possible to restore the history of ancient Tanais.

History of Tanais

There are three distinct stages in the history of Tanais. First step covers the period from III to I centuries. BC. At that time, the city consisted of three districts: the main territory, the western territory adjacent to it, and the riverine region, the study of which is impossible due to the current development. At the end of the 3rd or the very beginning of the 2nd c. BC. the city was surrounded by a fortress wall. At the end of the 1st century BC. it was destroyed by the Bosporus king Polemon.

Strabo in his "Geography" he left a mean note: “Recently it was destroyed by King Polemon for disobedience”. Polemon was placed on the throne by the Romans in 14 BC. And soon a struggle began with a powerful opposition, which ultimately led to his death in 8 BC. Perhaps Tanais opposed Polemon, for which he was destroyed, though not completely. Only the western part suffered, which was no longer rebuilt. Subsequently, in memory of the restoration of the city, the "Day of Tanais" was celebrated annually.

Second phase The history of Tanais lasted from the 1st to the 3rd centuries. AD At the beginning of the II century, the city turned into a fortress 225x240 m, which was surrounded by a moat 10-13 m wide and up to 7-8 m deep, partially cut into the bedrock. The city becomes an important commercial and cultural center. So, in the basement of a house that belonged to a wealthy merchant, 390 amphorae were found, in which oil was stored. The local population was also engaged in fishing, as evidenced by the premises for the storage and processing of fish. Apparently, live fish from Tanais came to the tables of rich Roman patricians. Crafts actively developed - glass production, jewelry art, pottery, construction, blacksmithing, etc.

Such cult finds have been found, such as an altar, seven clay stamps for imprinting on ritual loaves, etc. However, the names of the gods worshiped by the Tanaites are unknown. It is only known that there was a cult of "God the Highest", which, perhaps, combined the features of the Greek Zeus, the Thracian Sabazius, the Jewish Yahweh and the Christian God-Father.

Despite the fact that in the middle of the 2nd century there was a strong fire in the city, which caused great damage, Tanais continued to be a powerful city.

In the 3rd century, work began to strengthen the defense structures of the city, to protect against warlike nomads. In 237, Tanais was destroyed by an alliance of tribes led by the Goths. Leontiev wrote: “The ruins of the city show that this destruction was the most terrible one can imagine: there was almost no stone left on stone in the city; of very many walls, the lower rows of masonry have been preserved; the towers are destroyed almost to the ground, and the very cellars are covered with the ruins of collapsed buildings ... Fire participated in the ruin, whose traces are visible almost everywhere in the inner part of the city and on the inner side of the city walls and tower; one of the open towers burned on all sides". The surviving inhabitants were taken away by the conquerors.

For more than 100 years, Tanais was empty. Third stage The development of the city falls on the last third of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century. Apparently, the Sarmatians settled in the ruined city. The rubble was dismantled only enough so as not to interfere with moving along the streets. The houses were unsightly, the ceramics were primitive. And at the beginning of the 5th century, the city, which stood for eight centuries, was abandoned by the inhabitants ...

And now - a small photo report about the trip to Tanais. You will be met at the entrance to the archaeological museum stone women. Once upon a time they in large numbers stood all over the steppe, but were destroyed as pagan idols.

Inside the hut is an oven.

A little further away is the vast territory of ancient Tanais. Now archaeologists are constantly working here, every year brings new discoveries.

The ground around was overgrown with thistles. The Dead Donets can be seen in the distance, and on the horizon, in a foggy haze, the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of ​​Azov.

(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "RA -143470-6", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-143470-6", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); ))(this , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");

And then the most interesting thing began: we participated in historical reconstruction. It turned out an unusual mixture of styles and eras: Romans and crusaders, Cumans and Scythians. Unfortunately, the image quality is worse here, because. photos have been scanned.

The helmet turned out to be too big for me and constantly slipped over my eyes.

Tanais. Romans, Cumans, Crusaders...

How to get there and the opening hours of the museum-reserve "Tanais"

• The address: 346813, Rostov region, Myasnikovsky district, h. Nedvigovka.
• Directions: From Rostov-on-Don: Rostov-Taganrog electric train, Tanais stop, Rostov-Sinyavskaya No. 158 and Rostov-Shchedryy No. 158a buses depart from Central Market, stop "Tanais"; 35 km west of Rostov-on-Don.
• Working mode: Daily, without breaks and days off, from 9.00 to 17.00
• Admission: Children - 25 rubles, students - 30 rubles, adults - 40 rubles, foreign citizens - 50 rubles.
• Free entry: Heroes of the USSR and Russia, full cavaliers of the Order of Glory, students educational institutions higher professional education.

PS. Shot on film camera, negatives scanned.

© Site, 2009-2020. Copying and reprinting any materials and photographs from the site site in electronic publications and printed publications prohibited.