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Short description

These men are the proud citizen-warriors of prosperous Chersonesos, and stand ready as a bulwark of Greek civilization in a land of barbarians.

Description

These men are citizens of Chersonesos who have sworn oaths and taken up arms to defend the city and its territories from its many enemies. They fight in the typical hoplite fashion, with their equipment comprising the dory spear, linothorax and scale cuirasses, large aspis shields, bronze greaves, and konos helmets. These hoplites' equipment is distinctive relative to their mainland counterparts due to their incorporation of scale armour, which would have been introduced to the Black Sea Greeks by the nearby Scythian (and later Sarmatian) tribes through several centuries of extensive trading and conflict. These well-armoured warriors are best used to form a solid shield-wall for the more lightly-armoured ranged units to take cover behind while picking off enemy horse archers. Once the archers have done their work, like all hoplites, these men make for effective cavalry killers in close-combat, and are a solid match against basic infantry.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Chersonesos, its name meaning ‘peninsula’, was founded by Dorian Greek settlers originating from the polis of Herakleia Pontike on the northern coast of Anatolia sometime between the 6th and 5th century BC. The city has been referred to by several names including: Tauric Chersonesos (as the Greeks knew the region of Crimea as the Tauric peninsula, named after the native Taurian peoples), Megarika (after the mother city of Herakleia, Megara), and simply Herakleia in homage to the settlers' city of origin (Strab. 7.4.2). Although it was one of the last colonies to be established on the peninsula, its position, located on a natural harbour, and forming the end point of the shortest route to the northern Black Sea coast from Greece, ensured its prosperity as one of the most important trade hubs in the region from the 4th century BC onwards (Burstein, Chersonesus Between Greece and Scythia (2017), pp. 1-2).

During the late 4th century BC the Chersonesites expelled the native Taurians from the city's surrounding territory and occupied the settlements of Kerkinitis and Kalos Limin situated northwest of the city-state, expanding its territory to encompass the entire western coast of the peninsula (IOSPE 1, 401). Archaeological evidence shows that from this point onwards, the Chersonesites were in more extensive conflict with Scythian raiders, with fortifications in these settlements being repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt over the following centuries. Through contending with frequent Scythian raids, the Chersonesites became thoroughly accustomed with defensive warfare (Burstein (2017), pp. 1-2). These events should also be seen in the context of the expansionist policy of the tyrants of Herakleia Pontike in the 4th century BC, who attempted to oust the Ionian Olbians and Bosporans from the Crimea, but only succeeded in doing so in the west (Saprykin, Chersonesus before Roman domination (1997), pp. 123-126).

It is estimated that around 280 BC, an inscription of an oath taken by citizens upon coming of age was written, demanding resolute loyalty in the defence of the Chersonesite democracy and its territories:

‘I swear by Zeus, Ge, Helios, Parthenos, by Olympic gods and goddesses, and by heroes however so many hold the city, chora, and strongholds of the Chersonesites; I shall uphold the consensus concerning the safekeeping and freedom of the city and the citizens; and I shall betray to no one either Chersonesos, Kerkinitis, Kalos Limen, or any other strongholds or lands that Chersonesites possess or used to possess, neither to an Hellene nor barbarian, but shall preserve them for the people of Chersonesos’ (IOSPE 1, 401).

Despite having to fend off regular nomadic incursions, the Chersonesites would manage to develop extensive districts for commercial agriculture, with the export of grain to Greece and Anatolia contributing to their prosperity (Burstein (2017), pp. 1-2). Chersonesos' independence would approach its end when it formed an alliance with King Pharnakes I of Pontos around the early 2nd century BC in return for a promise of protection against the nearby Scythian Kingdom (Hoyte, ‘The Date of the Alliance’, in: Stolba and Hannestad (eds.), Chronologies (2005), p. 147).

Towards the end of the 2nd century BC Chersonesos would be incorporated into the kingdom of Mithridates VI after the Pontic general Diophantos successfully repelled a major joint Scythian-Sarmatian invasion led by the Scythian king Scilurus at the behest of the Chersonesites (App. Mith. 2). At the conclusion of the Mithridatic wars, however, Chersonesos fell under the dominion of the Bosporan Kingdom, until the Roman Republic under Julius Caesar intervened and granted it its independence (Strab. 7.4.3). The Chersonesites would fend off an attempt at re-subjugation by the Bosporan king Asandros around 44 BC (Strab. 7.4.6). Between 44 and 49 AD, Chersonesos would de-facto fall into the Roman sphere of influence – that is, if they had not become aligned with Rome already when it successfully campaigned against the rebelling client-king of the Bosporan Kingdom: Mithridates III (Tac. 12.5). Numismatic evidence also shows that Chersonesos was given the right to produce an issue of Roman coinage around the same time, presumably as a reward for its support in the war. This factor, along with further evidence showing exclusive use of Roman coinage from the 1st century AD onwards, indicates the city's integration into- and reliance on the vast Roman economy (Bridge, ‘The Coinage of Chersonesus’, in: The Numismatic Chronicle 141 (1981), pp. 183-87). Along with archaeological evidence showing the presence of a permanent Roman garrison from the early 2nd century AD onwards, these factors point at the city likely becoming a client state of Rome after the Bosporan War. Nevertheless, it would remain an important city in the Black Sea and a wealthy trade port for the Roman/Byzantine empire until it was largely ruined by the Tatars in the 13th century, and eventually completely razed by the end of the 14th century (Carter et al., The Chora of Chersonesos (2000), p. 715).