Description of the attraction
The ruins of the Sukhumi fortress of Dioscuria are a tourist attraction on the seaside territory of the city of Sukhumi. There are many legends, rumors and opinions about this object. Some call it "Black Sea Atlantis", some - "Sebastopolis" (similar names - Sevastopol, San Sebastian), and some - "Dioscuria". Each name is explicable.
In the VI century. BC NS. on the site of the present capital of Abkhazia there was a colony of the Milesian Greeks Dioscuriada. The name is given in honor of the twins Castor and Polidevka, nicknamed Dioscuri, participants in the Argonauts' campaign to Colchis for the "golden fleece". Found small fragments of antique ceramics testify to the Greeks. Perhaps the ancient Greek settlement was destroyed by the conquerors, perhaps - by a strong earthquake, more likely - it went under water due to a powerful landslide. The remains of an ancient city were found under water at the bottom of the sea next to the embankment. Hence the name "Black Sea Atlantis" originated. The Romans who came here on the site of Dioscuria erected their own city-fortress, giving it the loud name Sebastopolis (in Russian - "Holy City"), which is confirmed by the found remains of the foundations of fortifications of the 1st-4th centuries. n. NS. In the VI century. on the site of Sebastopolis destroyed during the Persian-Byzantine war, ruins were again. From XIII to XV centuries. the Genoese built their trading post and port here. Those who followed in the 18th century. Ottoman Turks built a powerful fortress and named it Sukhum-Kale (“kale” is a fortress).
In the 19th century, after the arrival of Russian troops in Sukhumi, a local garrison was located in the fortress, and then there was a prison here, where even the remains of the cell of the revolutionary S. Ordzhonikidze were preserved. Now, on the site of the former fortress, the restaurant "Dioscuria" is located. Fragments of the former citadel are preserved, but excavations are not carried out.
