Pantikapaion (Ancient Greek: Παντικάπαιον Pantikapaion, from Scythian *Pantikapa 'fish-path'; Latin: Panticapaeum) was an ancient Greek city on the eastern shore of Crimea, which the Greeks called Taurica. The city lay on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, and was founded by Milesians in the late 7th or early 6th century BC, on a hill later named Mount Mithridat. Its ruins now lie in the modern city of Kerch.
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Panticapaeum in the context of Phanagoria
Phanagoria (Ancient Greek: Φαναγόρεια, romanized: Phanagóreia; Russian: Фанагория, romanized: Fanagoriya) was the largest ancient Greek city on the Taman peninsula, spread over two plateaus along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus.
The city was a large emporium for all the traffic between the coast of the Maeotian marshes and the countries on the southern side of the Caucasus. It was the eastern capital of the Bosporan Kingdom, with Panticapaeum being the western capital. Strabo described it as a noteworthy city which was renowned for its trade. It was briefly a Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese while a medieval Genoese colony under the name Matrega, it remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
Panticapaeum in the context of Prytaneion
A prytaneion (Ancient Greek: Πρυτανεῖον, Latin: prytanēum) was the seat of the prytaneis (executive), and so the seat of government in ancient Greece. The term is used to describe any of a range of ancient structures where officials met (normally relating to the government of a city), but the term is also used to refer to the building where the officials and winners of the Olympic Games met at Olympia. The prytaneion normally stood in the centre of the city, in the agora.
In general in ancient Greece, each state, city or village possessed its own central hearth and sacred fire, the prytaneion, representing the unity and vitality of the community. The fire was kept alight continuously, tended by the king or members of his family. The building in which this fire was kept was the prytaneion, and the chieftain (the king or prytanis) probably made it his residence. The building contained the holy fire of Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, and symbol of the life of the city.
Panticapaeum in the context of Spartocid dynasty
The Spartocids (Greek: Σπαρτοκίδαι) or Spartocidae was the name of a Hellenized Thracian dynasty that ruled the Hellenistic Kingdom of Bosporus between the years 438–108 BC. They had usurped the former dynasty, the Archaeanactids, who were tyrants of Panticapaeum from 480 to 438 BC. The throne of the Bosporan Kingdom was usurped by Spartokos I in 438 BC, after whom the dynasty is named.
Spartokos's descendants would continue to rule the Bosporus until 108 BC, in which it was briefly conquered by the invading Scythians led by Saumacus and subsequently ruled by the Mithridatic and Tiberian-Julian dynasties. The dynasty continued to repeat the names of succeeding princes, with the final Spartokos being named Spartokos V. The dynasty also had intermarriages, notably the marriage of Komosarye and Paerisades I. The most famous known ruler is Leukon I, who expanded the kingdom beyond its boundaries, resisted the Scythians, and ruled for 40 years.