DIOSCURIAS
later SEBASTOPOLIS (Sukhuini) Colchis.
A Greek city, covered over by the modern town. It was probably founded by Miletos ca. 540
B.C. on the site of an earlier native settlement dating from
the 2d millennium (
Strab. 9.2.16,17; Plin.
HN 6.5).
From the 6th-5th c. the population was both indigenous
and Greek. The section inhabited by the Greeks was
destroyed by the sea. The city flourished in the 4th-3d
c.; its decline coincided with its conquest by Mithridates
Eupator in the late 2d c. B.C. A century later the city was
conquered by Rome under whom it became a fortified
center, and its economy revived. Its decline in the 4th-5th c. was accompanied by the withdrawal of Roman
troops, growing pressure from the Las state of Caucasus,
and possibly a Hunnic raid.
Most of the remains date from Hellenistic times or
later. Aside from the Roman fortress, of which a section still stands, there seem to have been no prominent
monuments. Among articles imported in the 6th-5th c.
are Greek wares (in particular, Attic bowls with a black
glaze), and amphorae from Thasos and Chios; Attic
bowls of the 5th-4th c.; stamped amphorae of the 4th c.
and amphorae from Sinope and Herakleia of the 4th-3d
c. Local wares were produced, especially in the 4th-3d c.
The city minted its own coins in the 3d c. B.C. Attic
coins of the 5th-4th c. have been found as well as
Hellenistic coins of the Kolchian king Saulakos. Among
the few sculptures is a funerary stele of 430-420 of
Ionian origin with a relief depicting a seated woman
surrounded by her family.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. M. Trapš, “Nekotorye itogi arkheologicheskogo issledovaniia Sukhumi v 1951-1953
gg.,”
SovArkh 23 (1955) 206-27; L. A. Shervashidze & L. N. Solov'ev, “Issledovanie drevnego Sebastopolisa,”
SovArkh (1960) 3.171-79; V. A. Lekvinadze, “Oboronitel'nye sooruzheniia Sebastopolisa,”
SovArkh (1966)
1.203-10; I. B. Brašinskij, “Recherches soviétiques sur
les monuments antiques des régions de la Mer Noire,”
Eirene 7 (1968) 114-15; M. P. Inadze,
Prichernomorskie goroda drevnei Kolkhidy (1968); G. A. Lordkipanidze,
K istorii drevnei Kolkhidy (1970).
M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁO
