Description of the attraction
The ruins of the Kharaks fortress are located in the small resort village of Gaspra on Cape Ai-Todor, on the territory of the Dnepr sanatorium. Charax is a Roman military camp, the largest known Roman fortress in Crimea.
The fortress was one of the fortified points of the Roman troops that appeared in the Crimea in 63-66. The fortress controlled the navigation along the Crimean coast, where the route from Chersonesos and the Bosporus to Trebizond and Sinop passed. In 244, after the invasion of the Goths, the Roman troops were withdrawn from Charax, and the fortress itself was destroyed.
According to archaeological research begun in the 19th century. on the initiative of the Grand Duke A. M. Romanov, who owned the Ai-Todor estate, it was established that the fortress Kharax, which means "fort" in Greek, was erected during the reign of Emperor Vespasian in the 1st century BC on the site of an even earlier settlements of the Taurus. Charax was not only a fortress and a marina, the most important land roads of the Crimean peninsula converged here.
The preserved stamps on the tiles and bricks of the fortress testify to the periods of the military occupation of Kharax. At the end of the 1st century, the garrison of the sailors of the Ravenna squadron was located here, and in the 2nd century, the soldiers of the first Italic legion were located. The last Roman garrison of the fort included the soldiers of the second Claudian legion (at the turn of the 2nd - 3rd centuries).
During excavations near the inner wall of the fortress, archaeologists discovered the ruins of two barracks. A lighthouse was installed at the highest point of the hill. In its place in 1865 a new lighthouse was erected, which is still functioning today. But at the same time, the builders demolished the remains of the praetorium, in which the altar of Jupiter was located. At present, archaeologists in the camp have excavated the foundations of brick and stone houses, as well as a nymph - a cemented reservoir decorated with mosaics in the shape of an octopus, and a water supply made of clay pipes.
The ruins of the Kharax fortress are open to tourists.
