Layout
The triangular site of the Greek colony covers the area of fifty
hectares. The lower town (now largerly submerged by the Bug) was occupied chiefly by the dockyards and the houses of artisans. The upper town was a main residential quarter, composed of square blocks and centered on the
agora with temples scattered in the vicinity. The town was ringed by a stone wall with towers. Wasowicz, Aleksandra.
Olbia Pontique et son territoire : l'aménagement de l'espace Paris: Belles-lettres, 1975. OCLC 3035787 .
History
The Greek colony, highly important commercially, endured for a millennium. During the 5th century BCE, when the colony was visited by
Herodotus, it minted distinctive cast bronze
money in the shape of leaping
dolphins.
Odessa Numismatics Museum : Olbian Coins Unusual in shape considering the round coins common in the
Greek world, this form of money is said to have originated from sacrificial tokens used in the
Temple of Apollo.
Martin Litchfield West speculates that early
Greek religion, especially the
Orphic Mysteries, was heavily influenced by
Central Asian
shamanistic practices. A large number of Orphic graffiti unearthed in Olbia seems to testify that the colony was one major point of contact.M.L. West,
The Orphic Poems, 1983, p.146.
After the town adopted a democratic constitution, its relations with Miletus were regulated by a treaty, which allowed both states to coordinate their operations against
Alexander's general
Zopyrion in the 4th century BC. By the end of the 3rd century, the town declined economicallyA board of food commissioners was set up to distribute cereals among the population. and accepted the overlordship of King
Skilurus of
Scythia. It flourished under
Mithridates Eupator but was sacked by the
Getae under
Burebista, a catastrophe which brought Olbia's economic prominence to an abrupt end.
Having lost two thirds of its settled area, Olbia was restored by the Romans, albeit on a small scale and with a large admixture of barbarian population.
Dio of Prusa visited the town and described it in his
Borysthenic Discourse (the town was often called
Borysthenes, after the river). The settlement, incorporated into the province of Lower
Moesia, was eventually abandoned in the 4th century AD, when it was burnt at least twice in the course of the so-called Gothic (or Scythian) wars.
Excavation
The site of Olbia, designated an archaeological reservation, is situated near the village of Parutino in the district of
Ochakov. Before 1902, the site was owned by the Counts Musin-Pushkins, who did not allow any excavations on their estate. Professional excavations were conducted under
Boris Farmakovsky from 1901 to 1915 and from 1924 to 1926. As the site was never reoccupied, archaeological finds (particularly inscriptions and sculpture) proved rich. Today archaeologists are under pressure to explore the site, which is being eroded by the
Black Sea.
Notes
Further reading
- Classical Olbia and the Scythian World: From the Sixth Century BC to the Second Century AD (Proceedings of the British Academy, 142). Edited by David Braund and S.D. Kryzhitskiy. Oxford: Oxford University Press/British Academy, 2007 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-19-726404-1).
- Krapivina, Valentina; Diatroptov, Pavel. "An Inscription of Mithradates VI Eupator's Governor from Olbia", Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia, Vol. 11, Issue 3/4. (2005), pp. 167–180.
External links