Iranians and Greeks in South Russia - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

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later, preferred to enter into direct relations with the Greek cities on the
Thracian Bosphorus and the southern shore of the Black Sea,
We do not know much about the history of the great Gothic
state thus established on the shores of the Black Sea, either during its
independent existence, or during the supremacy of the Huns. One
fact however is characteristic. The Goths did not attempt to destroy
the Bosphoran kingdom, and after vanquishing the Sarmatians they
preferred to enter into a kind of alliance with them. We know that
the Bosphoran kingdom continued to exist, perhaps under the rule of
a new dynasty, which was apparently not of German stock but of Sarmatian
origin. We know also that the Alans preserved their independence,
and continued to exist and to rule on the banks of the Kuban
and perhaps of the Don as well. Moreover, the Bosphoran kingdom
maintained its commercial relations with the Roman Empire. The
rich fourth-century graves already mentioned, where among other
objects we notice silver dishes inscribed with the name of the Emperor
Constantius, show that the Bosphoran kings received ' presents
(disguised tribute) from the Roman emperors. The Goths probably
used Panticapaeum, their vassal, as they used Olbia and Tyras, both as
a starting-point for their expeditions against the Roman Empire, and
as a harbour which allowed them to receive goods not only from the
Orient through the Sarmatians, but also from the eastern provinces
of the Roman Empire. The large quantity of objects of Greek
workmanship found both at Panticapaeum and at Ghersonesus in
graves of the fourth and fifth centuries a. d., and the spread of
Christianity in both places at the same epoch, show that the relations
between these cities and the Roman Empire were not always hostile.
We have every ground for supposing, that Ghersonesus never became
subject to the Gothic kings, but was kept and fortified by the Roman
emperors of the fourth century as the last stronghold of Roman
power in the Crimea. An inscription of Valentinian published by
myself, and certain traditions, half legendary and half historical, which
date from the time of Constantine, illustrate the efforts of the Roman
Empire to protect Ghersonesus from Gothic and Bosphoran attacks.
These data show that the period of Gothic domination in Russia was
not simply a period of constant Gothic attacks on the Roman Empire
by land and sea. We may suppose with great probability that the
Goths resumed the threads of the ancient commerce of Russia both
with the Orient and with the Greek world . Like their predecessors , the
Goths formed an exclusively commercial and military state, and this
state lasted for more than two centuries. An important feature of
this new formation was that the Gothic state was not ruled by nomads,
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