Description of the attraction
The history of the Taman settlement of Hermonassa is more than 2600 years old. Initially, at this place back in the 6th century BC. was a colony of the ancient Greek city of Mitelene. The city was named after Hermonassus. Hermonassa, together with Phanagoria, were part of the Bosporus state. The city stood for almost eight centuries, and then it was destroyed by nomadic tribes. Some part of the Taman settlement went under water.
Several meters of the cultural layer left over from the settlement began to be explored in 1912, thanks to which many interesting facts about the Sindo-Meotian and Greek population were discovered. Most likely, the city was destroyed in the middle of the 3rd century AD, after the raid of the Germanic tribes. At that time, the city was the largest on the entire Taman Peninsula. At different times, different owners called it in their own way, for example, the Greeks gave it the name Tamatarch or Matarch, the Khazars - Samkushkh, the Slavs - Tmutarakan, Italians - Matrega, and the Turks - Taman.
Despite the fact that the medieval layers were not studied very well, data on the population of the settlement and its trade relations were obtained. Most of the locals were fishing, growing grapes, keeping livestock and doing handicrafts.
In 1978 the Taman settlement was declared a nature reserve. Its main feature is the thickness of the cultural layer, sometimes reaching 15 m. At present, the Hermonassa settlement is open to the public. Some of its excavations have been museumified and are now available for inspection by visitors. The museum of the village of Taman presents the richest collections of antiquities that tell about the distant past of this glorious city.
