What peoples lived in Crimea. Change of peoples who inhabited Crimea over the last millennia

The unique geographical location and amazing nature of the Crimean peninsula allowed it to become home to many peoples who succeeded each other or lived side by side throughout human history. Farmers found fertile lands here, nomadic pastoralists found vast mountain and lowland pastures, merchants and merchants were attracted by convenient sea harbors at the intersection of great trade routes. Therefore, the national composition of the Crimean population has almost always been - and still remains - diverse.

First inhabitants

The most ancient sites of primitive people discovered by archaeologists on the peninsula date back to the Early Paleolithic, their age is about 300 thousand years.
The first people to inhabit the Crimea, whose name was preserved in the Assyrian, Greek and Jewish chronicles, were the Cimmerians - tribes of Indo-European origin who came to Crimea, apparently from the steppes, about five thousand years ago. This warlike people is referred to in the Bible as the “people of Gomer.” From its name, according to some versions, came the Georgian word “gmiri” - “hero”, and the Russian “idol”.

The Cimmerians inhabited mainly the valleys, and the Taurian tribes lived in the mountains at that time. Their ethnicity is unclear: probably this Greek name was a collective name for a group of different, possibly unrelated tribes, some of whom were descendants of the primitive people who inhabited the Crimea since the Early Paleolithic, and some of whom were newcomers from other places.

The first reliable archaeological evidence indicating the development of the steppe part of Crimea by Scythian nomads dates back to the 7th century BC. Representatives Caucasian(their language belonged to the group of Indo-European languages), the Scythians dominated Asia and Europe for several hundred years, but then were defeated and expelled from part of their lands. By the beginning of our era, the Scythians almost completely mixed with the Taurian tribes, and the people began to be called “Tauroscythians.”

Greeks and Romans

Civilization in Crimea in the 8th-6th centuries BC. brought by the Hellenes (Greeks) - the impoverished, landless younger sons of aristocrats who wandered across the sea. They founded city-polises: Panticapaeum and Tiritaka, Chersonesos Tauride, Kerkinitida (now Kerch, Sevastopol, Evpatoria, respectively), Feodosia - this city retained its Greek name.

Approximately 300 years before new era Scythian settlements were swept away by the Sarmatian invasion from the east. Unfortified Greek villages were apparently also destroyed, leaving only fortified cities. The Greeks who live in Crimea today do not descend from the first Hellenic colonizers, they are predominantly descendants of the soldiers of the Greek battalion that participated in the Crimean War and then settled near Balaklava.

In the first century BC. Crimea is captured by the Romans and Thracians, and it becomes the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire. The Romans built the fortresses of Aluston and Gurzuvit (today's Alushta and Gurzuf). In the 5th century, Crimea was “inherited” from the Eastern Roman Empire to Byzantium.

Middle Ages

During the early Middle Ages, the Crimea was simultaneously or alternately inhabited by the Goths, Huns, Khazars, Pechenegs, Jews (who gave rise to the Karaites and Crimeans), and many other peoples; during the same period, the Slavs briefly appeared here for the first time.

In the XII-XV centuries, Crimea was explored by Italian merchants - Genoese, Pisans, Venetians. Their contribution to the formation of the ethnic composition of the population of the peninsula turned out to be very significant: Crimeans still have Italian surnames.

Turkic peoples

At the beginning of the 13th century, Crimea was captured by the army of Genghis Khan, and it became an ulus of the Golden Horde. Then, from 1475, after the fall of the Tatar-Mongol state, Crimean Khanate becomes subordinate to the Ottoman Empire. The main population of Crimea during this period was Turkic, it was then that the Crimean Tatar ethnic group was formed from the descendants of the Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Tatars, Khazars, for a long time- more three centuries- which was the most numerous on the peninsula.

Slavs

After the peninsula entered the Russian Empire in 1783 most Tatars and Turks leave the peninsula, moving to Turkey, and Crimea is increasingly populated by Slavs, mainly Russians and Ukrainians. Around the same time, the number of Ashkenazi Jews began to increase. The ethnic composition is increasingly approaching the modern one.

Today, representatives of 125 nationalities live in Crimea, of which 70 are considered major: that is, at least one family of this nationality lives in both rural and urban areas - at least one man and one woman - and at least 5% of representatives of this ethnic group consider his language as their mother tongue.

The most numerous people are Russians (58% of the population), followed by Ukrainians (24%), Crimean Tatars (12%), Belarusians (about 1.5%). Less than 1% of the population - but quite large groups - are Tatars, Armenians, Jews, Moldovans, Poles, Azerbaijanis.

Thus, Crimea has always been and remains multinational. And no matter how difficult the relations between some peoples sometimes may be, there should be enough space for everyone on this small peninsula.

For a long time, the peoples living on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula participated in the formation of ethnic societies. These processes lasted for centuries. In BC, this area was inhabited by the Tauri, nomadic Cimmerian, Scythian and Sarmatian tribes. In the Middle Ages, the Greeks, Tatars, Alans, Goths, and Turks left their mark. The Tatar-Mongols, intertwined with the Greeks and Cumans, formed the core of an ethnic group called the Crimean Tatars, which represented the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries. After the conquest of Crimea, from 1783 there was a gradual resettlement of Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and Jews to these lands.

By our time, a modern multinational community of peoples has emerged. This ethnic symbiosis includes representatives of about 125 nationalities. The largest groups are Russians (65%), Ukrainians (16%) and Crimean Tatars (12%). Taking into account this population structure in Crimea, three languages ​​are used and enshrined at the legislative level as state languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Other nationalities are not so widely represented, but they all have their place in the national palette and influence the culture of this region. According to census statistics, 2.3 million people permanently reside in Crimea (including the city of Sevastopol). The Russian language is the most widespread and is used in all spheres of life, and is also universal for interethnic communication.

Russians

The representation of the Russian people in Crimea has been quite significant since ancient times. During the period of the Crimean Khanate, captives from Rus', Russian diplomats, merchants, and monks stayed there. They were part of the local population for centuries and after the conquest of Crimea they remained there as Russian subjects. Mass settlement of Russian people began after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. The settlers were military personnel who received preferences from the state for calling their relatives for permanent residence on the peninsula. Widows and unmarried girls came to start families. An additional impetus was the departure of the Crimean Tatars to the territory of modern Turkey and the liberation of fertile lands for the settlers to start a new life. Russian migration to Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. The favorable climate and nature of the southern coast attracted many tourists for treatment and recreation. It was at this time that magnificent palaces began to appear for reigning and influential persons, which today act as attractions and places of pilgrimage for vacationers. The result of these processes was the predominance of the Russian ethnic group in Crimea at the beginning of the last century.

Ukrainians

After revolutions and wars in Russia in the 20-30s, Ukrainians also began to move to Crimea. The mass resettlement of Little Russians began after the annexation of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. In fulfillment of government plans, settlers from the western regions of Ukraine, officials and employees flocked to the collective farms of the Crimean region.

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars are the third largest ethnic group on the Crimean Peninsula. These are a people of complex and dramatic fate, an ethno-cocktail of mixing different nations, formed over several centuries. The emergence of a special Turkic ethnic group was facilitated by living in a separate area, the predominance of Islam and a common language. Initially, the Tatars lived in the steppe Crimea, but the spread of Islam expanded their zone of influence. They were joined by residents of the mountainous regions and the southern coast, who accepted the new religion. The annexation of Crimea to Russia contributed to the outflow of indigenous residents from the peninsula, and the resettlement Slavic peoples reduced the share of Tatars in the population. Another dramatic exodus of the Crimean Tatars occurred during their deportation from Crimea in 1944. But at the end of the twentieth century, the reverse process of the Tatars returning to their historical land began and in recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of this ethnic group. The main population density of the Crimean Tatars is in the countryside in the steppe part of the peninsula.

Other peoples

In addition to these three large peoples, the territory of Crimea is home to a large number of medium and small ethnic groups, whose roots are firmly fused with the Crimean land. These are Crimean Greeks, Crimean Armenians, Jews, Karaites and Crimeans, Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Moldovans, Poles, Germans, Bulgarians. Crimea is a multinational, multilingual and professing many religions peninsula, so small in area and so large in warmth and friendship.

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Our Motherland - Crimea
...There is no other country within Russia that has lived such a long and such an intense historical life, participating in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all centuries of its existence...
M. A. Voloshin

The Crimean peninsula is "the natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographical location and unique natural conditions since ancient times
was the crossroads of many sea transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, it connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar Empire
and played a significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabited Europe, Asia and China.

Science claims that approximately 250 thousand years ago man first appeared on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula. And from that time, in different historical eras, various tribes and peoples lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, and state formations of different structures existed.

Many of us have had to deal with the names “Tavrika”, “Tavrida”, which were and continue to be used in relation to Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names has a direct relation to the people, who can rightfully be considered Crimean aborigines, since their entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" translates as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called it this way local residents, since they had a cult of the bull. It was suggested that the Crimean highlanders called themselves some unknown word, consonant with Greek word"bulls". The Greeks called the mountain system in Asia Minor Taurus. Having mastered the Crimea, the Hellenes, by analogy with Asia Minor, named the Crimean Mountains Taurus. The people who lived in them (Taurs), as well as the peninsula (Tavrika) on which they were located, got their name from the mountains.

Ancient sources brought to us scant information about the ancient inhabitants of Crimea - the Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians. Ancient authors call the Tauris the main population of Crimea, especially the mountainous part. The most ancient people recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennia BC, and some scientists consider the Tauri to be their direct descendants. Around VII-VI centuries. BC the Cimmerians were supplanted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were supplanted by the Sarmatians, while the remnants of first the Cimmerian, then the Taurus and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they preserve their ethnocultural identity for a long time. Around 722 BC e. The Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in Crimea on the Salgir River (within the boundaries of modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after this the basis of the population of northwestern Crimea were peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI – V centuries BC. e., when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the coast of Crimea.

The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks occurred gradually. Mostly the sea coast was populated, and in some places the density of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes settlements were in direct line of sight from one another. Ancient cities and settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the most major cities Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Feodosia; in the area Western Crimea- with the main center Chersonesos (Sevastopol).

During the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people appeared in Tavria - the Karaites. Self-name: Karai (one Karaite) and Karailar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym “Karaim” it is more correct to say “Karai”. Their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs are of great interest.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists see the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothills and mountainous Taurica. The settlement of Chufut-Kale was a kind of center.

With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Taurica, a whole series changes. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which underwent great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, and Cumans, Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, the mass migration of Armenians began. At the same time, Italians are actively flocking to the peninsula.

988, the Kiev prince Vladimir and his squad adopted Christianity in Chersonesos. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas the Tmutarakan principality was formed with prince of Kyiv at the head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate and the weakening of the confrontation Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in the Crimea ceased, but trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.

The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. These were merchants and artisans. Mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Construction of the railway in late XIX V. and the development of industry also caused an influx of Russian population.
Now in Crimea live representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities, the main part are Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and share in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , Gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. The small peoples of Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks - are small in number, but still noticeable in culture.

The centuries-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live together!

Anatoly Matyushin
I won't reveal any secrets,
There is no ideal society
If only the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.

Why is the world so restless?
A lot of anger and all kinds of enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment,
We shouldn't end up in trouble.

Taking up arms is not the point,
Grieving for all the oppressed,
Don't try to change others,
Maybe just improve yourself?

In order to improve something,
I would like to convince people
The world would be a little better,
We all just need to be friends together!!

Cimmerians, Tauri, Scythians

Judging by ancient written sources, at the beginning of the Iron Age the Cimmerians lived in the Crimea (information about them is extremely scarce), as well as the Tauri and Scythians, about whom we know a little more. At the same time, the ancient Greeks appeared on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Finally, archaeological sources gave grounds to distinguish the Kizilkoba culture here (Fig. 20). The presence, on the one hand, of written sources, and on the other, of archaeological sources, poses a difficult task for researchers: which group of archaeological materials should be associated with certain tribes mentioned by ancient authors? As a result of comprehensive research, Taurus and Scythian antiquities were clearly identified. The situation is worse with the Cimmerians, who were a legendary, mysterious people already in the time of Herodotus (5th century BC).

The issue with the Kizilkobin residents is also complicated. If this is one of the peoples known to ancient authors, then which one? How can we confidently reconcile the meager, often contradictory evidence of antiquity and the abundant archaeological material? Some researchers see the Kizilkobins as Cimmerians, others as early Taurians, and still others distinguish them as an independent culture. Let’s leave the “Cimmerian version” aside for now and see what were the grounds for equating the Kizilkobins with the Taurians.

It turned out that, along with monuments like Kizil-Koba, in the same years and in the same territory (mountain and foothill Crimea), Taurian burial grounds - “stone boxes” - were studied. A certain similarity was traced between the Taurus and Kizilkobin materials. Based on this, in 1926 G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky expressed the idea that the Kizilkobin culture belongs to the Tauri. He did not specifically study the Kizilkobin culture, limiting himself to only the most general considerations, but since then the idea has been established among researchers that the Kizilkobin culture should mean the early Taurians. In the post-war period, works appeared that contained data about the Kizilkobin culture and the Taurians, considered issues of periodization, etc., but none of them aimed to fully substantiate the connection between the Kizilkobin people and the Taurians, taking into account new archaeological sources 27, 45.

True, already in the 30-40s, some scientists (V.N. Dyakov 15, 16, S.A. Semenov-Zuser 40) expressed doubts about the legitimacy of such conclusions. In 1962, after new research in the Kizilkobinsky tract (excavations were carried out by A. A. Shchepinsky and O. I. Dombrovsky), in the area of ​​the Simferopol reservoir (A. D. Stolyar, A. A. Shchepinsky and others), near the village Druzhny, in the Tash-Dzhargan tract and near Maryino near Simferopol, in the valley of the Kacha River and other places (A.A. Shchepinsky), the author of this book came to a similar judgment, supported by massive archaeological material. 8, 47. In April 1968, at the session of the History Department of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the plenum of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the author made a report “On the Kizilkobin culture and Taurians in the Crimea,” in which he substantiated his point of view: the Tauri and Kizilkobin people are representatives different cultures Early Iron Age. Excavations in 1969, 1970 and subsequent years showed clearly that the conclusion is correct: the Taurian and Kizilkoba monuments do not belong to different stages of the same culture, but to two independent cultures 48, 49. This forced some researchers who supported the identification of the Taurians with the Kizilkobins to reconsider their positions 23, 24.

New material little by little accumulated, excavations made it possible to clarify something, to doubt something. Therefore, in 1977, the author of this book again returned to the “Kizilkobin theme” and published a detailed argumentation of the positions he had expressed earlier: the Kizilkobins and Taurians are different tribes, although they lived in the same historical era, lived next door, partly even on the same territory 50.

But, of course, much remains controversial and unclear. How to correlate archaeological data, in other words, the remains of material culture, with the information about local Crimean tribes contained in the works of ancient authors? To answer this question, we will try to understand what is remarkable about each of these peoples (Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians), what the ancient Greeks say about them and what archaeological materials testify to (Fig. 20).

Cimmerians

For the south of the European part of the USSR this is ancient tribes, about which we know from ancient written sources. Information about the Cimmerians is contained in Homer's "Odyssey" (IX - early VIII centuries BC), Assyrian "Cuneiform" (VIII-VII centuries BC), in Herodotus' "History" (V century BC) AD), Strabo (1st century BC - 1st century AD) and other ancient authors. From these reports it follows that the Cimmerians are the most ancient aborigines of the Northern Black Sea region and the Northwestern Caucasus. They lived here even before the arrival of the Scythians. The boundaries of their settlement are the northern shores of the Black Sea and from the mouth of the Danube to Chisinau, Kyiv, Kharkov, Novocherkassk, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk. Later, these tribes appeared in Asia Minor, and by the 6th century. BC e. leaving the historical arena.

According to a number of researchers, the name “Cimmerians” is a collective name. The Cimmerians are associated with many cultures of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages - Catacomb and Timber in the south of Ukraine, Koban in the Caucasus, Kizilkobin and Taurus in the Crimea, Hallstatt in the Danube region and others. Crimea, in particular the Kerch Peninsula, occupies a special place in resolving this issue. It is with him that the most reliable and most frequently encountered information about the Cimmerians is associated: “Cimmerian region”, “Cimmerian Bosporus”, “city of Cimmeric”, “Mount Cimmeric”, etc.

The material culture of the Cimmerians is characterized by archaeological sites of two main types - burials and settlements. Burials, as a rule, took place under small mounds in ground, often undercut, graves. The burial ceremony is on the back in an extended position or with the legs slightly bent at the knees. Settlements consisting of above-ground stone buildings for residential and commercial purposes were located on elevated areas near springs fresh water. Household utensils are represented mainly by molded vessels - bowls, bowls, pots, etc.

Large flat-bottomed vessels for storing food with a high narrow neck, convex sides and a black or brownish-gray polished surface are distinguished. The decoration of the vessels is characterized by a low relief ridge or a simple carved geometric pattern. During excavations, bone and small bronze objects are found - awls, piercings, jewelry, as well as occasionally iron objects - swords, knives, arrowheads. In Crimea, monuments of the Cimmerian period are known on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Sivash region, on Tarkhankut and in the foothills area. In the area of ​​the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, including on the yailas and South Coast characteristic Cimmerian monuments of the X-VIII centuries. BC e. not found. Apparently, this is explained by the fact that at that time other tribes lived here - the Taurians.

Taurus

Regarding this people, the earliest and most complete information is provided by the “father of history” Herodotus. He visited the northern shores of the Black Sea, including Taurida, 60-70 years after the Persian king Darius I came here, so one can rely on his testimony about that time. From Herodotus’ message it follows: when Darius I went to war against the Scythians, the latter, seeing that they alone could not cope with the enemies, turned to neighboring tribes, including the Tauri, for help. The Taurus replied: “If you had not previously offended the Persians and started a war with them, then we would have considered your request correct and would have willingly helped you. However, without our help, you invaded the land of the Persians and owned it as long as the deity allowed it. Now this same deity is on their side, and the Persians want to take revenge on you in the same way. Even then we did not offend these people in any way and now we will not be the first to be at enmity with them.”

Who were the Taurians and where did they live?

Herodotus draws the southern border of their country near the city of Kerkinitis (now Evpatoria). “From here,” he writes, “comes a mountainous country, lying along the same sea. It extends into Pontus and is inhabited by tribes of the Taurians up to the so-called Rocky Chersonesos.” Strabo, who lived in the 1st century, had the same localization of the Taurus possessions. BC BC: the Taurus coast stretches from the Bay of Symbols (Balaklava) to Feodosia. Thus, according to ancient sources, the Tauri are the inhabitants of the mountainous Crimea and the Southern Coast.

The most striking monuments of the Tauri are their burial grounds made of stone boxes, usually located on hills. They are often surrounded by cromlechs or rectangular fences. Mound embankments are not typical for them, but bedding or coverings made of stone with earth are well known. Burials (single or collective) were made on the back (earlier) or on the side (later) with legs tightly tucked in, the head usually facing east, north-east, north.

The inventory of Taurus burials is molded ceramics, simple and polished, sometimes with relief ridges, very rarely with simple carved ornaments. During excavations, items made of stone, bone, bronze, and, less commonly, iron are also found (Fig. 19).

Judging by archaeological excavations, supported by written sources, the period of residence of this people is approximately from the 10th to 9th centuries. BC e. to the 3rd century BC e., and possibly later - until the early Middle Ages.

We divide the history of the Tauri into three periods.

Taurus of the early, pre-antique period (end of the 10th - first half of the 5th century BC). This stage of their history is characterized by the disintegration of the tribal system. The basis of the economy was cattle breeding and agriculture (obviously, mainly hoeing). All products received from these sectors of the economy went to the internal needs of society. A comprehensive study of the known Taurus monuments, as well as numerous calculations based on them, give reason to believe that the number of Tauris in this period hardly exceeded 5-6 thousand people.

Taurus of the developed, ancient period (second half of the 5th-3rd centuries BC). At this time there is a transition from tribe to class society. In addition to the widespread introduction of metal (bronze and iron), there was also a significant increase in labor productivity, the establishment of close trade contacts (exchange) with the surrounding peoples - the Scythians and, in particular, the Greeks. Hence the abundance of imported items found during excavations. The basis of the economy of the developed period was the breeding of large and small cattle, and, to a lesser extent, agriculture (obviously, because part of the Tauri’s possessions suitable for farming were occupied by tribes of the Kizilkoba culture, pressed from the north by the Scythians). The Taurus population at that time was 15-20 thousand people.

The Tauri of the late period (2nd century BC - 5th century AD) have been almost unstudied archaeologically. It is known that in the 1st century. BC e. they, together with the Scythians, become allies of Mithridates in the fight against Rome. The turn and the first centuries of our era, apparently, should be considered as the agony of the Taurus world. Archaeological monuments of this period in the mountainous Crimea can be called Tauro-Scythian, and the population - Tauro-Scythians. After the early medieval invasion of the Goths and then the Huns, the Tauri were no longer known as an independent people.

Scythians

The ancients report about them under this name. written sources, they themselves called themselves chipped. In the Northern Black Sea region, including Crimea, these warlike nomadic tribes appeared in the 7th century. BC e. Having ousted the Cimmerians, the Scythians first penetrated the Kerch Peninsula and the lowland Crimea, and then into its foothills. In the second half of the 4th century. BC e. they seep into the ancestral Taurus and Kizilkobin lands and, having switched to a sedentary lifestyle, create in the 3rd century. BC e. a fairly large state entity with the capital Naples (now the territory of Simferopol).

The Scythian monuments are numerous and varied: fortifications, shelters, settlements, burial structures (initially mounds, later extensive moundless necropolises with ground graves). Burials are characterized by an extended burial ritual. The accompanying inventory of the mounds includes molded unornamented vessels, weapons (bronze, iron or bone arrowheads, short swords - akinaki, spears, knives, scaly shells). Bronze objects and jewelry made in the so-called Scythian “animal style” are often found.

These are the main, leading features of the Cimmerian, Taurian and Scythian tribes who lived in the Crimea at the same time as the tribes of the Kizilkobin culture, the existence of which we know from archaeological sources.

Now let's compare the data. Let's start with the Kizilkobins and Taurians, first of all with their dishes, the most typical and widespread equipment archaeological sites this time. A comparison (see Fig. 18 and Fig. 19) eloquently suggests that the Kizilkoba dishes are significantly different from the Taurus ones. In the first case, it is often decorated with a typical for this culture ornament of carved or grooved lines combined with indentations; in the second, it is usually not ornamented.

This indisputable archaeological fact seemed unconvincing until the mid-60s. More evidence was needed. In addition, the scientific material was missing very important links. Indeed, the irony of fate: the source of knowledge about the Taurians is burial grounds (no settlements!), and about the Kizilkobins - settlements (no burial grounds!). Excavations over the past fifteen years have largely clarified the picture. It was established, for example, that in the foothills, mountainous Crimea and on the southern coast there are many settlements where molded unornamented ceramics of the 8th-3rd centuries were found. BC e., completely similar to the ceramics from the Taurus stone boxes.

It was possible to resolve another puzzling question - about the Kizilkobin burials. Excavations in the Salgir River valley, first in 1954 in the area of ​​the Simferopol reservoir (under the leadership of P. N. Shultz and A. D. Stolyar), and then in the Simferopol suburbs of Maryino and Ukrainka, in the upper reaches of Maly Salgir, in the middle reaches of the Alma and others places (under the leadership of A.A. Shchepinsky - Ed.) showed that the Kizilkobin people buried their dead in small mounds - earthen or made of small stone. Main and secondary (inlet) graves are known, often they are undercut - with stone side burials. In plan, the grave has an elongated oval shape, sometimes with a slight expansion in the head area. Burials - single or paired - were made in an extended (occasionally slightly flexed) position on the back, with arms along the body. The predominant orientation is Western. Funeral inventory - molded ornamented pots, bowls, cups of the Kizilkobin appearance, bronze arrowheads, iron swords, knives, as well as various decorations, lead spindle whorls, bronze mirrors, etc. Most of this kind of burials belong to the VII-V and IV - beginning III centuries BC e., and their range is quite wide: the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula, northern, northwestern and southwestern Crimea, the Kerch Peninsula.

An interesting touch: Kizilkobin ceramics are also found during excavations of the ancient settlements of Nymphaeum, Panticapaeum, Tiritaki, Myrmekia. This is on the Kerch Peninsula. The same picture is at the opposite end of Crimea - on the Tarkhankut Peninsula: Kizilkobin ceramics were discovered during excavations of the ancient settlements "Chaika", Kerkinitida, Chegoltai (Masliny), near the village of Chernomorskoye, near the villages of Severnoye and Popovka.

What are the conclusions from all this? Firstly, the geometric ornament of ceramics - the most expressive sign of the Kizilkobin culture - is clearly not Taurian. Secondly, in Crimea there are burials made in the “Taurian time”, which, in all leading features (type of structure, grave design, funeral rite, orientation of the buried, ceramics) differ from burials in Taurian stone boxes. Thirdly, the distribution area of ​​settlements and burials goes far beyond the boundaries of the original Taurica - the possessions of the Tauri. And, finally, in the same area where Taurus stone boxes were discovered, settlements with ceramics similar to Taurus in appearance are now known.

In a word, all the arguments and conclusions can be reduced to one thing: the Kizilkobins and Taurians are not the same thing, and there is no reason to bring them closer (let alone put an equal sign between them).

The hypothesis that the burials under the burial mounds with Kizilkobin ceramics belong to the early Scythians also does not find confirmation. In Crimea, the earliest Scythian burials appear, judging by excavations, at the end of the 7th century. BC e. on the Kerch Peninsula, and in the foothills of Crimea - only two or three centuries later. Their inventory is also specific, primarily items in the “animal style” characteristic of the Scythians. Back in 1954, archaeologist T.N. Troitskaya perspicaciously noted that in early Scythian times “in the territory of the foothill, mountain and, probably, steppe parts of Crimea, the main population were local tribes, bearers of the Kizilkobin culture.”

So, in the Early Iron Age (V-III centuries BC) three main cultures were widespread in Crimea - Taurus, Kizilkobin and Scythian (Fig. 21). Each of them has its own distinct cultural and historical characteristics, its own type of settlements, burials, ceramics, etc.

The question of the origin and formation of the Taurus and Kizilkoba cultures also deserves attention. Some researchers believe that the basis of the Taurus culture is the culture of the Late Bronze Age of the Central and North Caucasus, in particular, the so-called Koban; according to others, the Taurian culture has one of material origins underground stone boxes from the Bronze Age, which are now commonly associated with the Kemiobin culture. One way or another, the roots of the Taurus, as well as the Kizilkobin, come from the depths of the Bronze Age. But if in the Kemiobins one can see the ancestors of the Taurians, who were pushed aside by steppe newcomers into the mountainous regions of the Crimea, then the Kizilkobins most likely descend from the bearers of the late Catacomb culture (named after the type of burial - catacombs). In the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. these tribes begin to penetrate into the foothills and mountains of Crimea and the southern coast; It is in them that many researchers see the ancient Cimmerians.

Both researchers and readers always strive to get to the bottom of the primary sources: what happened before? and how is this confirmed? Therefore, we will tell you in more detail about the problem of ethnogenesis, i.e., the origin of tribes, revealing all the difficulties that stand in the way of the truth.

The reader already knows: the distant ancestors of the Taurians are most likely the Kemiobins, pushed back by steppe newcomers to the mountainous regions of Crimea. The proof is the signs common to both cultures, Kemiobin and Taurus. Let's call these signs:

megalithic tradition, in other words - the presence of massive stone structures (cromlechs, fences, menhirs, deposits, “stone boxes”);

design of burial structures: “stone boxes”, often trapezoidal in longitudinal and transverse section, pebble backing, etc.;

burial rite: on the back or side with legs bent at the knees;

orientation of the buried person according to the cardinal directions: eastern or northeastern predominates;

collective, apparently ancestral tombs and corpse burnings;

character of the ceramics: molded, polished, unornamented, sometimes with relief ridges (Fig. 22).

Who were the steppe aliens who pushed the Kemiobins into the mountains? Most likely, tribes of the Catacomb culture. However, we must keep in mind that this culture is far from homogeneous. According to the burial ritual and grave goods, three types of burials are clearly distinguished: on the back with the legs bent at the knees, on the back in an extended position, and on the side in a strongly bent position. All of them were committed under the mounds, in the so-called catacombs. Burials of the first type with bent legs are accompanied by unornamented or weakly ornamented vessels, of the second - elongated type - on the contrary, richly ornamented, and of the third - crooked type - with coarse vessels or completely devoid of grave goods.

Catacomb elements are most clearly preserved in elongated burials, which can be traced to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In them, obviously, one should see the proto-Cimmerians - the ancestors of the Kizilkobins.

The fact that the late Catacomb tribes took the most active part in the formation of the Kizilkobin tribes can be judged by the following features common to the Catacombs and Kizilkobins:

the presence of mounds and burial grounds;

the design of grave-catacombs among the catacombs and under-catacombs among the Kizilkobins;

burial ceremony in an extended position on the back;

similar forms of molded vessels;

the presence of ceramics with a similar ornamental motif;

similarity of tools - diamond-shaped stone hammers (Fig. 23).

In this historical reconstruction there is one drawback: between the Kemiobins and Taurians, on the one hand, and the tribes of the Catacomb and Kizilkobin cultures, on the other, there is a time gap of approximately 300-500 years. Of course, there can be no breaks or interruptions in history; there is insufficient knowledge here.

Considering the “silent period” (this is the second half of the 2nd millennium BC), it is permissible to assume that the age of the latest Kemiobin and catacomb monuments is somewhat older by archaeologists, while individual Taurus and Kizilkobin monuments, on the contrary, are rejuvenated. Special studies have shown that those materials that archaeologically date back to the 9th-6th centuries. BC e., according to the radiocarbon method, are determined as XII-VIII centuries. BC e., i.e. 200-300 years older. It should also be taken into account that it was in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In the mounds of the Crimea, as well as throughout the south of Ukraine, small stone boxes appear, similar in design and inventory, on the one hand, to the Kemiobin, and on the other, to the Early Taurian. It is possible that they fill the missing link.

Finally, several things are associated with the same “silent period” in Crimea. archaeological cultures- the so-called multi-roll ceramics (1600-1400 BC), early Timber (1500-1400 BC) and late Timber ceramics, in the materials of which the monuments of Sabatinovsky (1400-1150 BC) stand out .) and Belozersk (1150-900 BC) types. In our opinion, the most convincing point of view is that of those researchers who believe that the Sabatinovskaya culture is formed on the basis of the culture of multi-roll ceramics and that its bearers were part of the Cimmerian tribal union.

It is difficult to speak about that distant time with complete confidence: it was like this or that. I have to add: perhaps, apparently. In any case, the formation and development of the Kizilkobin and Taurus cultures went (apparently!) on two parallel paths. One of them presumably ran along the line “Kemiobins - Tauris”, the other along the line “Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins”.

As the reader already knows, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. The Cimmerians inhabited the lowland Crimea and, mainly, the Kerch Peninsula. The Tauri lived in the foothills, mountains and on the southern coast at that time. However, in the 7th century. BC e. The situation changed - Scythian nomads appeared in the Crimean steppes, and in the southern and mountainous parts of the peninsula the number of Kizilkobins increased. These are the archaeological data. They are quite consistent with the legend transmitted by Herodotus: " Nomadic tribes Scythians lived in Asia. When the Massagetae (also nomads - Ed.) drove them out of there military force, the Scythians crossed the Araks and arrived in the Cimmerian land (the country now inhabited by the Scythians is said to have belonged to the Cimmerians since ancient times). With the approach of the Scythians, the Cimmerians began to hold a council on what they should do in the face of a large enemy army. Opinions were divided - the people were in favor of retreat, but the kings considered it necessary to protect the land from invaders. Having made such a decision (or rather, two opposing decisions - Ed.), the Cimmerians divided into two equal parts and began to fight among themselves. The Cimmerian people buried all those who fell in the fratricidal war near the Tyrsus River. After this, the Cimmerians left their land, and the Scythians who arrived took possession of the deserted country."

It is quite possible that part of these Cimmerians who “left their land” moved to the mountainous Crimea and settled among the Taurus tribes, laying the foundation for a culture that we call conventionally “Kizilkobin”. Perhaps it was precisely this migration of the later Cimmerians that was reflected in Strabo, in his message that in mountainous country The Taurians have Mount Stolovaya and Mount Cimmerick. Be that as it may, there is a point of view shared by many researchers: the Kizilkobins are the late Cimmerians. Or, according to another assumption (in our opinion, more correct), the Kizilkobins are one of the local groups of the late Cimmerians.

It would seem that we can put an end to this. But it's too early. As academician B. A. Rybakov noted back in 1952: “Not a single historical phenomenon in Crimea can be considered in isolation, without connection with the fate of not only the Northern Black Sea region, but the entire Eastern Europe. The history of Crimea is an integral and important part of the history of Eastern Europe" 37, 33.

Traces of the Kizilkobin tribes are not limited to Crimea either. Research has shown that similar monuments, but with their own local features, are also known outside of Crimea. Typical Kizilkobin ceramics on the territory of mainland Ukraine were discovered in the oldest layer of Olbia, on the island of Berezan, near the village of Bolshaya Chernomorka, Nikolaev region, at the Scythian settlement of Kamensky in the Lower Dnieper region.

Burials of the Kizilkoba type are also known here. One of them was discovered in a mound near the village of Chaplinka in the south of the Kherson region, the other - in a mound near the village of Pervokonstantinovka in the same region. Special Interest is caused by the fact that in the North-Western Black Sea region there are burials of the 8th - early 7th centuries. BC e. (and there are quite a lot of them), similar to those in Kizilkobin: catacombs and ground graves, burials in an elongated position with a predominant western orientation, ceramics with carved geometric patterns.

Cimmerian burials in catacombs and underground burial structures, completely similar to those in Kizilkobin, are now known in the vast territory of the south of our country - in the Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Volgograd regions, in the Stavropol Territory, as well as in the Astrakhan and Saratov regions. The distribution area of ​​monuments of this kind coincides with the distribution area of ​​the Catacomb culture. There are numerous analogues of Kizilkoba ceramics in the North Caucasus. These are finds from the upper layer of the Alkhastinsky settlement in the Assinsky gorge, from the Aivazovsky settlement on the Sushka River, and especially from the Zmeiny settlement. Similar ceramics are found in North Caucasian burial grounds. Consequently, as P.N. Shultz wrote in 1952, the Kizilkobin culture does not represent an isolated phenomenon; it has close analogues in a number of elements both in the North Caucasus and in the south of mainland Ukraine (Fig. 24).

It should not be confusing that in certain manifestations of the Kizilkoba culture there are Early Scythian or Taurian elements, or, on the contrary, in the latter - Kizilkoba. This is explained by the surrounding historical situation, in which contacts with the tribes of neighboring cultures are inevitable - the Scythians, Sauromatians, Taurians, and Greeks. One can name a number of cases where the Kizilkobin and Taurus monuments are located in close proximity to each other. There are several such monuments in the area of ​​the Red Caves, including a large settlement in the Zolotoe Yarmo tract on Dolgorukovskaya Yaila. Here, in a small area in one layer (thickness 15 cm), archaeological materials of the Neolithic, Taurus and Kizilkoba appearance lie; Here nearby are the “stone boxes” of the Taurians and the Kizilkobin burial ground. Such a saturation of this section of the yayla with monuments of the Early Iron Age leaves no doubt that at a certain stage the Kizilkobin and Taurus tribes coexisted.

A complex archaeological complex of the Early Iron Age was discovered in 1950 and explored by us in the Tash-Dzhargan tract near Simferopol. And again the same picture - the Taurus and Kizilkobin settlements are nearby. Adjacent to the first of them is a burial ground of Taurus “stone boxes”, near the second there was once a burial ground of small mounds, the burials under them were accompanied by Kizilkobin ceramics.

Close proximity can easily explain the case when individual elements typical of the Kizilkobin culture are found on Taurus monuments, and vice versa. This may also indicate something else - peaceful relations between the tribes.

Outside the Northern Black Sea region, the Sauromats of the Don and Trans-Volga regions are closest to the Kizilkobins: a similar grave design, the same western orientation of the buried, a similar type of pottery ornament. Most likely, there are some connections between the Sauromatians and the Cimmerians.

Material from the Red Caves and numerous analogues beyond them confirm the opinion of those researchers who consider the Cimmerians as a complex phenomenon - a kind of conglomerate of many local pre-Scythian tribes. Obviously, at the dawn of the Early Iron Age, these tribes - the aborigines of the Northern Black Sea region - formed a single Cimmerian cultural and historical region.

In the conditions of the Crimean Peninsula, with its certain geographical isolation, the Cimmerians preserved their traditions longer than in other areas of the Northern Black Sea region. True, in different parts Their fate in Crimea was different. In the steppe regions, the remnants of the disunited Cimmerian tribes (i.e., the Kizilkobins) were forced to enter into close contacts with the Scythians and ancient Greek settlers. They soon assimilated into their environment, which is confirmed by materials from the ancient settlements of Tarkhankut and the Kerch Peninsula.

The late Cimmerian (Kizilkobin) tribes of the mountainous Crimea had a different fate. The Scythians, these typical steppe dwellers, were not attracted to mountainous areas. The Greeks did not want to come here either. The bulk of the population consisted of aboriginal Taurus tribes and, to a much lesser extent, Cimmerian tribes. Consequently, when the flat part of Crimea began to be occupied by the nomadic Scythians, the Cimmerians (aka Kizilkobins) who retreated under their onslaught found favorable soil here in the mountains. Although these tribes came into close contact with the Tauri, they nevertheless retained their traditions and, obviously, a certain independence for a long time.

Ancient peoples in Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians and Scythians

29.02.2012

CIMMERIANS
Cimmerian the tribes occupied the lands from the Dniester to the Don, part of the northern Crimea, the Taman and Kerch peninsulas. The city of Cimmeric was located on the Kerch Peninsula. These tribes were engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture; tools and weapons were made of bronze and iron. The Cimmerian kings with military detachments carried out military campaigns against neighboring camps. They captured prisoners for slavery.

In the 7th century BC Cimmeria collapsed under the onslaught of the more powerful and numerous Scythians. Some Cimmerians went to other lands and dissolved among the peoples of Asia Minor and Persia, some became related to the Scythians and remained in Crimea. There is no clear idea of ​​​​the origin of these people, but based on studies of the language of the Cimmerians, their Indo-Iranian origin is assumed.

BRANDS
Name brands given to the people by the Greeks, presumably in connection with a sacrifice to the Virgin, the supreme goddess of the ancient Crimean settlement. The foot of the main altar of the Virgin, located on Cape Fiolent, was framed by the blood of not only bulls (Taurs), but also people, as ancient authors write: “The Taurians are a numerous people and love a nomadic life in the mountains. In their cruelty they are barbarians and murderers, appeasing their gods with dishonest deeds.”
The Tauris were the first in Crimea to sculpt human sculptures and monumental works of art. These figures were erected on the tops of mounds, surrounded at the base by stone fences.

The Taurus lived in tribes, which later probably united into tribal unions. They were engaged in shepherding, farming and hunting, and the coastal Tauri were also engaged in fishing and sailing. Sometimes they attacked foreign ships - most often Greek. The Tauri did not have slavery, so they killed captives or used them for sacrifice. They were familiar with crafts: pottery, weaving, spinning, bronze casting, making products from bone and stone.
Possessing all the advantages of local residents accustomed to Crimean conditions, the Tauri often made daring forays, attacking the grisons of new fortresses. This is how Ovid describes the everyday life of one of these fortresses: “The sentry from the watchtower will give an alarm signal, we immediately put on our armor with a trembling hand. A ferocious enemy, armed with a bow and arrows soaked in poison, inspects the walls on a heavily breathing horse and, like a predatory wolf carries and drags through pastures and forests a sheep that has not yet made it into the sheepfold, so a hostile barbarian captures anyone he finds in the fields who has not yet been accepted by the fence gate He is either taken prisoner with a block on his neck, or dies from a poisonous arrow.” And it was not for nothing that the entire chain of Roman defense was facing the mountains - danger threatened from there.
They often fought with their northern neighbor - the Scythians, developing a unique tactic: the Tauri, when starting a war, always dug up roads in the rear and, having made them impassable, entered into battle. They did this so that, not being able to escape, they had to either win or die. The Tauri buried those who died in the field in stone boxes made of slabs weighing several tons.

SCYTHIANS

To Crimea Scythians penetrated approximately in the 7th century. BC These were people of 30 tribes who spoke seven dissimilar languages.

Studies of coins with images of Scythians and other objects of that time show that they had thick hair, open, erect eyes, a high forehead, and a narrow and straight nose.
The Scythians quickly appreciated the fertile climate and fertile soil of the peninsula. They developed almost the entire territory of Crimea, except for the waterless steppes, for agriculture and pastoralism. The Scythians raised sheep, pigs, bees, and remained attached to cattle breeding. In addition, the Scythians traded in their grain, wool, honey, wax, and flax.
Oddly enough, the former nomads mastered navigation so skillfully that in that era the Black Sea was called the Scythian Sea.
They brought overseas wines, fabrics, jewelry and other art objects from other countries. The Scythian population was divided into farmers, warriors, merchants, sailors and artisans of various specialties: potters, stonemasons, builders, tanners, foundry workers, blacksmiths, etc.
A unique monument was made - a bronze cauldron, the thickness of which was 6 fingers, and the capacity was 600 amphorae (about 24 thousand liters).
The capital of the Scythians in Crimea was Naples(Greek " new city"). The Scythian name of the city has not been preserved. The walls of Naples at that time reached an enormous thickness - 8-12 meters - and the same height.
Scythia did not know priests - only fortunetellers who did without temples. The Scythians deified the Sun, Moon, stars, natural phenomena - rain, thunder, lightning, and held holidays in honor of the earth and livestock. On high mounds they erected tall statues - “women” as monuments to all their ancestors.

The Scythian state collapsed in the 3rd century. BC under the blows of another warlike people - the Sarmatians.

We bring to the attention of readers of our site an ethno-historical excursion by Igor Dmitrievich Gurov regarding the issue of the rights of a particular nationality to the Crimean peninsula. The article was published in 1992 in the small monthly "Politics", published by the deputy group "Union". However, it still remains relevant, especially now, when, during the period of the most acute political crisis in Ukraine, the issue of broad autonomy for Crimea, which was frozen in the same 1992, is being resolved.

Despite the fact that Kyiv and some Moscow newspapers and television programs today proclaim the Crimean Tatars as the “only indigenous” people of the Crimean peninsula, and the Russian Taurians are portrayed exclusively as invaders and occupiers, Crimea remains Russian.

Let's turn to real historical facts. In ancient times, Crimea was inhabited by tribes of Cimmerians, then Tauris and Scythians. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Greek colonies appear on the coast of Tavria. IN early middle ages The Scythians are replaced by German-speaking Goths (later mixed with the Greeks in the chronicles of the “Greek Gothfins”) and Iranian-speaking Alans (related to modern Ossetians). Then the Slavs also penetrate here. Already in one of the Bosporan inscriptions of the 5th century, the word “ant” is found, which, as is known, Byzantine authors called the Slavs who lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester. And at the very end of the 8th century, the “Life of Stefan of Sourozh” describes in detail the campaign of the Novgorod prince Bravlin to Crimea, after which the active Slavicization of Eastern Crimea began.

Arab sources of the 9th century report on one of the centers of Ancient Rus' - Arsania, which, according to most scientists, was located on the territory of the Azov region, Eastern Crimea and the North Caucasus. This is the so-called Azov, or Black Sea (Tmutarakan) Rus', which was the support base for the campaigns of Russian squads in the 2nd half of the 9th - early 10th centuries. on the Asia Minor coast of the Black Sea. Moreover, the Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, in his story about the retreat of Prince Igor after his unsuccessful campaign against Byzantium in 941, speaks of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Eastern Crimea) as the “homeland of the Russians.”

In the 2nd half of the 9th century. (after the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav and his defeat of the Khazar Kaganate in 965), Azov Rus finally entered the sphere of political influence of Kievan Rus. Later, the Tmutarakan principality was formed here. Under the 980 goal in the "Tale of Bygone Years" the son of Grand Duke Vladimir the Saint is mentioned for the first time - Mstislav the Brave; It is also reported there that his father endowed Mstislav with the Tmutarakan land (which he owned until his death in 1036).

The influence of Rus' is also strengthening in Western Taurida, especially after Prince Vladimir in 988, as a result of a 6-month siege, took the city of Chersonesos, which belonged to the Byzantines, and was baptized there.

The Polovtsian invasion at the end of the 11th century weakened the Russian princes in Taurida. Last time In the chronicles, Tmutarakan is mentioned in 1094, when the prince who ruled here, Oleg Svyatoslavovich (who bore the official title of “Archon of Matrakha, Zikhia and all Khazaria”), in alliance with the Polovtsians, came to Chernigov. And at the beginning of the 13th century, the lands of the former Tmutarakan principality became easy prey for enterprising Genoese.

In 1223, the Mongols made their first raid on Taurica, and by the end of the 13th century, after the defeat of the Kirkel principality created by the Hellenized Alans, the administrative center of the region became the city of Crimea (now Old Crimea), which from 1266 became the seat of the Mongol-Tatar Khan .

After the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), which ended with the defeat of Constantinople, first Venice, and then (from 1261) Genoa were able to establish themselves in the Northern Black Sea region. In 1266, the Genoese bought the city of Cafa (Feodosia) from the Golden Horde and then continued to expand their possessions.

The ethnic composition of the population of Crimea during this period was quite diverse. In the XIII-XV centuries. Greeks, Armenians, Russians, Tatars, Hungarians, Circassians (“Zikhs”) and Jews lived in the Cafe. The Kafa Charter of 1316 mentions Russian, Armenian and Greek churches located in the commercial part of the city, along with Catholic churches and a Tatar mosque. In the 2nd half of the 15th century. it was one of the largest cities in Europe with a population of up to 70 thousand people. (of these, the Genoese made up only about 2 thousand people). In 1365, the Genoese, having secured the support of the Golden Horde khans (to whom they gave huge cash loans and supplied mercenaries), captured the largest Crimean city of Surozh (Sudak), inhabited mainly by Greek and Russian merchants and artisans and maintaining close ties with the Moscow state.

From Russian documents of the 15th century. It is also known about close contacts between the Orthodox principality of Theodoro (another name is the Mangup principality) located in the southwest of Crimea, which arose on the ruins Byzantine Empire, with the Moscow state. For example, the Russian chronicle mentions Prince Stefan Vasilyevich Khovra, who emigrated to Moscow with one of his sons in 1403. Here he became a monk under the name Simon, and his son Gregory founded a monastery named Simonov in honor of his father. His other son, Alexei, ruled the principality of Theodoro at that time. From his grandson - Vladimir Grigorievich Khovrin - came famous Russian families - the Golovins, Tretyakovs, Gryaznys, etc. The connection between Moscow and Theodoro was so close that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was going to marry his son to the daughter of the Theodorite prince Isaac (Isaiko), but This plan was not realized due to the defeat of the Principality of Theodoro by the Turks.

In 1447, the first attack of the Turkish fleet on the shores of Crimea took place. Having captured Cafa in 1475, the Turks disarmed its entire population, and then, according to the anonymous Tuscan author, “On June 7 and 8, all the Wallachians, Poles, Russians, Georgians, Zichs and all other Christian nations, except the Latins, were captured, deprived clothes and partly sold into slavery, partly chained." “Turkova took Kafa and many of the Moscow guests, killed many of them, captured some, and robbed others to pay off the davash,” Russian chronicles report.

Having established their power over the Crimea, the Turks included in the Sultan’s lands only the former Genoese and Greek confluences, which they began to intensively populate with their fellow tribesmen - the Anatolian Ottoman Turks. The remaining areas of the peninsula went to the predominantly steppe Crimean Khanate, which was a vassal state of Turkey.

It is from the Anatolian Ottoman Turks that the so-called origins originate. “South Coast Crimean Tatars”, who determined the ethnic line of modern Crimean Tatars - that is, their culture and literary language. The Crimean Khanate, subordinate to Turkey, in 1557 was replenished with representatives of the Little Nogai Horde, who migrated to the Black Sea region and the Steppe Crimea from the Volga and Caspian Sea. The Crimean and Nogai Tatars lived exclusively by nomadic cattle breeding and predatory raids on neighboring states. The Crimean Tatars themselves spoke in the 17th century. to the envoys of the Turkish Sultan: “But there are more than 100 thousand Tatars who have neither agriculture nor trade. If they do not raid, then how will they live? This is our service to the padishah.” Therefore, twice a year they carried out raids to capture slaves and loot. For example, during the 25 years of the Livonian War (1558-1583), the Crimean Tatars made 21 raids on the Great Russian regions. The poorly protected Little Russian lands suffered even more. From 1605 to 1644 the Tatars carried out at least 75 raids on them. In 1620-1621 they managed to ruin even the distant Duchy of Prussia.

All this forced Russia to take retaliatory measures and fight to eliminate this constant source of aggression in its south. However, this problem was solved only in the 2nd half of the 18th century. During Russian-Turkish war 1769-1774 Russian troops captured Crimea. Fearing retaliatory religious pogroms, most of the indigenous Christian population (Greeks and Armenians), at the suggestion of Catherine II, moved to the area of ​​Mariupol and Nakhichevan, Rostov. In 1783, Crimea was finally annexed to Russia and in 1784 it became part of the newly formed Tauride province. Up to 80 thousand Tatars did not want to stay in Russian Taurida and emigrated to Turkey. In their place, Russia began to attract foreign colonists: Greeks (from Turkish possessions), Armenians, Corsicans, Germans, Bulgarians, Estonians, Czechs, etc. Great Russians and Little Russians began to move here in large numbers.

Another emigration of Tatars and Nogais from Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region (up to 150 thousand people) occurred during Crimean War 1853-1856, when many Tatar murzas and beys supported Turkey.

By 1897, there had been significant changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Taurida: Tatars made up only about 1/3 of the population of the peninsula, while Russians made up over 45 percent. (of which 3/4 are Great Russians and 1/4 are Little Russians), Germans - 5.8 percent, Jews 4.7 percent, Greeks - 3.1 percent, Armenians - 1.5 percent. etc.

After February revolution In 1917, the nationalist pro-Turkish party “Milli Firka” (“national party”) arose among the Crimean Tatars. In turn, the Bolsheviks held a Congress of Soviets and in March 1918 proclaimed the creation of the Taurida SSR. Then the peninsula was occupied by the Germans, and the Millifirka Directory gained power.

At the end of April 1919, the “Crimean Soviet Republic” was created here, but already in June it was liquidated by units of General Denikin’s Volunteer Army.

From that time on, Russian Taurida became the main base of the White Movement. Only on November 16, 1920, Crimea was again captured by the Bolsheviks, knocking out the Russian Army of General Wrangel from the peninsula. At the same time, the Crimean Revolutionary Committee (Krymrevkom) was formed under the leadership of the “internationalists” Bela Kun and Rosalia Zemlyachka. On their instructions, a bloody massacre was organized in Crimea, during which the “fiery revolutionaries” exterminated, according to some information, up to 60 thousand Russian officers and soldiers of the White Army.

On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars published a decree on the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR. At this time, 625 thousand people lived in Crimea, of which Russians made up 321.6 thousand, or 51.5% (including Great Russians - 274.9 thousand, Little Russians - 45.7 thousand, Belarusians - 1 thousand .), Tatars (including Turks and some Gypsies) - 164.2 thousand (25.9%), other nationalities (Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Armenians) - St. 22%.

From the beginning of the 1920s, in the spirit of the Bolshevik-Leninist national policy organizations of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) began to actively pursue a course towards the Turkization of Crimea. Thus, in 1922, 355 schools were opened for the Crimean Tatars, and universities were created with teaching in the Crimean Tatar language. Tatars were appointed to the posts of chairmen of the Crimean Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - Veli Ibraimov and Deren-Ayerly, who pursued a nationalist policy covered by communist phraseology. Only in 1928 were they removed from their posts, but not for nationalism, but for connections with the Trotskyists.

By 1929, as a result of the campaign to disaggregate village councils, their number increased from 143 to 427. At the same time, the number of national village councils almost tripled (these were considered village councils or districts in which the majority of the national population was 60%). In total, 145 Tatar village councils were formed, 45 German, 14 Jewish, 7 Greek, 5 Bulgarian, 2 Armenian, 2 Estonian and only 20 Russian (since the Russians during this period were classified as “great-power chauvinists”, during administrative delimitation it was considered normal to give advantage to others nationalities). A system of special courses for training national personnel at government agencies was also created. A campaign was launched to translate office work and village councils into “national” languages. At the same time, the “anti-religious struggle” - including against Orthodoxy and Islam - continued and intensified.

In the pre-war years, there was a significant increase in population (from 714 thousand in 1926 to 1,126,429 people in 1939). By national composition, the population was distributed in 1939 as follows: Russians - 558,481 people (49.58%), Ukrainians, 154,120 (13.68%), Tatars - 218,179 (19.7%), Germans 65,452 (5.81%) , Jews - 52093 (4.62%), Greeks - 20652 (1.83%), Bulgarians - 15353 (1.36%), Armenians - 12873 (1.14%), others - 29276 (2.6% ).

The Nazis, having occupied Crimea in the fall of 1941, skillfully played on the religious feelings of the Tatars and their dissatisfaction with the militant atheism of the Bolsheviks. The Nazis convened a Muslim congress in Simferopol, at which they formed the Crimean government ("Tatar Committee"), headed by Khan Belal Asanov. During 1941-1942. they formed 10 Crimean Tatar SS battalions, which, together with police self-defense units (created in 203 Tatar villages), numbered over 20 thousand people. Although there were Tatars among the partisans - about 600 people. In punitive operations with the participation of Crimean Tatar units, 86 thousand civilians of Crimea and 47 thousand prisoners of war were exterminated, about 85 thousand more people were deported to Germany.

However, measures of retribution for crimes committed by the Crimean Tatar punitive forces were extended by the Stalinist leadership to the entire Crimean Tatar ethnic group and a number of other Crimean peoples. May 11, 1944 State Committee The USSR Defense Ministry adopted a resolution according to which 191,088 Tatars, 296 Germans, 32 Romanians and 21 Austrians were resettled from Crimea to Central Asia during May 18-19. On June 2, 1944, another GKO resolution followed, according to which 15,040 Greeks, 12,422 Bulgarians and 9,621 Armenians were evicted from Crimea on June 27 and 28. At the same time, foreign nationals living in Crimea were expelled: 1,119 Germans, Italians and Romanians, 3,531 Greeks, 105 Turks and 16 Iranians.

In July 1945, by Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Crimean region within the RSFSR, and on February 19, 1954, N. S. Khrushchev donated Crimea to Radyanskaya Ukraine, apparently in memory of his many years of secretaryship in the Communist Party (b)U .

With the onset of “perestroika,” the Moscow and Kyiv media began to portray the Tatars as the only “indigenous” inhabitants of the peninsula, its “original” owners. Why? The “Organization of the Crimean Tatar National Movement” declared its goal not only to return up to 350 thousand Tatars - natives of sunny Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics to Crimea, but also to create their own “national state” there. To achieve this goal, they convened a kurultai in July 1991 and elected a “majlis” of 33 people. The actions of the OKND, led by the ardent Turkophile Mustafa Dzhamilev, were enthusiastically greeted by the Kyiv “Rukhovite” and former communist leadership, acting on the principle “everyone who is against the damned Muscovites is good.” But why did Dzhamilev need to create his own “national state” in Crimea?

Of course, the thirst for revenge among the Tatar new settlers offended by Stalin is understandable. But still, the OKND gentlemen, who so diligently call for the Turkification of Crimea, should remember their Anatolian and Nogai origins: after all, their true ancestral home is Turkey, Southern Altai and the hot steppes of Xinjiang.

And if you create some kind of “national states” in Taurida, you will have to satisfy the aspirations of the Great Russians, Ukrainians, Karaites, Greeks, and all other indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula. The only real prospect for Crimea is the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic groups living here. Dividing the population into “indigenous” and Russian is a historically untenable and politically dangerous task.

Igor Gurov
Newspaper "Politics", 1992, No. 5

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