Kalamita

Kalamita 

a medieval fortress in the Crimea. It was situated on a cliff at the mouth of the Chernaia River, near Sevastopol’. Excavations in 1950 showed that Kalamita was founded in the fifth-sixth centuries to defend the approaches to Chersonesus. The walls were made of large blocks. In the eighth-ninth centuries, a monastery complex was built; cave churches in the precipice (a basilica and baptistry, for example) have been preserved, as well as numerous living quarters (cells), arranged in several tiers. At the beginning of the 15th century, the sovereigns of the Crimean feudal principality of Theodoro built a new fortress to replace the early medieval stronghold that had been destroyed. The new fortress defended the principality’s port against the Genoese colony of Cembalo (modern Balaklava). In 1475, Kalamita was taken by the Turks and named Inkerman. After the 1774 Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji, the fortress lost its significance and fell into ruin.

REFERENCES

Bert’e-Delagard, A. P. “Ostatki drevnikh sooruzhenii v okrestnostiakh Sevastopolia i peshchernye goroda Kryma.” In the collection Zap. Odesskogo obshchestva istorii i drevnostei, vol. 14. Odessa, 1886.
Veimarn, Ei. V. “Arkheolohichni roboty v raioni Inkermana.” Ar-kheolohichnipamHatky URSR, 1963, vol. 13.

A. L. IAKOBSON