Tanais

Tanais 

an ancient city at the mouth of the Don River, which the Greeks called the Tanais.

Founded in the early third century B.C. by Greeks from the Bosporan state, Tanais was situated on the site of the present-day settlement of Nedvigovka, Miasnikovskii Raion, Rostov Oblast. It was an important center of trade between the Greeks of the Bosporus and the nomads of the Azov and Don steppes. At the end of the first century B.C., it was destroyed by the Bosporan king Polemon, but it was rebuilt shortly thereafter. The city flourished from the second century A.D. to the first half of the third century. In the 240’s, Tanais was destroyed by tribes belonging to a union led by the Goths. Rebuilt in the second half of the fourth century, Tanais was a minor town; it survived until the early fifth century.

The first archaeological excavations of the ancient city and its burial grounds were conducted in the mid-19th century; regular excavations, directed by D. B. Shelov, were begun in 1955. In 1961 a museum and archaeological preserve were established on the site of Tanais.

REFERENCES

Knipovich. T. N. Tanais. Moscow-Leningrad, 1949.
Shelov, D. B. Tanais i Nizhnii Don v III-I vv. do n. e. Moscow, 1970.
Shelov, D. B. Tanais i Nizhnii Don v pervye veka n. e. Moscow, 1972.

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Tanais 

the ancient Greek name for the Don River. The city of Tanais was located at the mouth.

From the seventh century B.C, Tanais was a trade route connecting the eastern and northeastern regions of Scythia with Greek cities on the Black Sea. In antiquity, Tanais was considered the boundary between Europe and Asia; it also separated the lands of the Scythian and Sarmatian tribes. An earlier name for Tanais, according to Plutarch, was “Amazon River.”