SEMENOVKA
Bosporus.
A Bosporan agricultural settlement on the N shore of the Kerch peninsula
3 km N of the modern village of Semenovka. Founded
in the late 3d-early 2d c. B.C., the site was destroyed in
the second half of the 3d c. A.D. probably during the
Gothic raid of 267. By the late 3d-early 4th c. life
had resumed on a small area of the original settlement.
The village included a small hill and the surrounding
coastal lowlands. Walls were constructed around the hilltop in the late 1st c. B.C.-1st c. A.D. and then rebuilt in the
1st c., when towers were added. Excavations have shown
that within the citadel three streets ran parallel to the
main E-W avenue and were connected with it by alleys.
This irregular rectangular street pattern created blocks
of residential homes with adjacent walls—ca. 90 rooms
as well as courtyards have been uncovered. All the
houses had stone walls and there are traces of wall paintings from dwellings of the 1st c. B.C.-1st c. A.D. Many homes of the 3d c. A.D. were two-storied with living quarters on the second floor.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. T. Kruglikova, “Poselenie u derevni
Semenovki,”
KSIA 83 (1961) 73-82; id., “Itogi semiletnikh raskopok poseleniia u d. Semenovki,”
KSIA 95
(1963) 43-51; id., “Nekropol' poseleniia u der. Semenovki,”
SovArkh (1969) 1.98-119; id., “Raskopki
poseleniia u der. Semenovki,”
Poseleniia i mogil'niki Kerchenskogo poluostrova nachala n.e. [Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, No. 155] (1970) 4-81.
T. S. NOONAN
