Античная древность и средние века (Oct 2018)
Byzantine Cherson and Catherine the Great
Abstract
This article analyses the history of searches for Byzantine city of Cherson (or orsun’ of us’ sources) in relation to Empress Catherine II of ussia’s undertakings both as a politician and a historian. When the residents abandoned the Byzantine city in the midfifteenth century, its location was forgotten. Russian and Ukrainian book orms remembered orsun’ as the place here Prince Vladimir of Kiev was baptized in the late tenth century, giving little importance to its location. This matter, ho ever, got particular value in relation to ussia’s military and diplomatic achievements in the northern Black Sea area in the second half of the eighteenth century. Apart from academic interest, the question as of political importance. ussia’s state ideology used Vladimir’s baptism in Cherson as an argument for its claim for the southern lands. Besides, Catherine viewed Vladimir as her predecessor who completes a similar historical mission of ussia’s introduction into civilization. Travelers and armchair researchers supplied several variants of localization of the Byzantine city in the Crimean Peninsula and outside. The latter version, which placed Cherson at the lower Dnieper, was initially recognized by the Empress. However, the annexation of the Crimea in 1783 induced the practical search for Cherson in the peninsula. This job has been done by Archbishop Eugenios Boulgaris, Lieutenant Colonel Baldani, and scholar Carl Hablitz, who collected arguments for the location of the ruins in the south-western extremity of the Crimea, near the construction of modern Sevastopol. Ironically, by the end of Catherine’s reign, her empire appeared to include two more cities that inherited the name of the Byzantine fortress. Yet before the annexation of the Crimea, a new city established at the lower Dnieper as named “Cherson”. And, after the second partition of Poland, Catherine received the Cossack city of orsun’ in Cherkassy area.
