Sea connecting, sea dividing - sea life giving, sea lethal. The role of the sea in the life of the people of Crimean Cherson in the late antique and early Byzantine periods

0448368 - SLÚ 2016 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Čechová, Martina
Sea connecting, sea dividing - sea life giving, sea lethal. The role of the sea in the life of the people of Crimean Cherson in the late antique and early Byzantine periods.
SKYLLIS. Zeitschirft für Unterwasserarchäologie. Roč. 13, č. 2 (2014), s. 233-239. ISSN 1436-3372
Institutional support: RVO:68378017
Keywords : Crimean Cherson * Black Sea * Middle Ages * socioeconomy * trade
Subject RIV: AB - History

Sea always played a significant role in the lives of the people of Cherson – of the city located at the edge of the classical world. The sea separated Cherson from the Empire; Crimea was considered as a distant territory, suitable for exiling inconvenient persons. On the other hand, concerning an enemy attack to the Byzantine Empire from the north, the distance from Crimea to Constantinople was uncomfortably short. Furthermore, the sea provided people of Cherson with food, which helped to develop the city; the position at the sea supported the local economy in this way. Nor the social aspect of living on the other (“barbarian”) coast of the Black Sea should be missed. In my paper I will summarize how the sea influenced policy, economy and social life of the inhabitants of Cherson and I will describe certain peculiarity of the city given by the specific “overseas” location of Cherson in relation to the Byzantine Empire.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0250091