S. Strzheletsky’s Article “Strabo’s Chersonesus” in the Light of Preceding and Following Studies

Abstract. This paper deals with the unpublished article by Stanislav Frantsevich Strzheletsky “Strabo’s Chersonesus” written in 1953. Strzheletsky’s article was the first comprehensive study of the “ancient Chersonesus” (Strab., Geography, VII. 4. 2).
The article cocnsists of two parts, i.e. historiographic and factual, it discusses the results of excavations carried out by Kostsyushko-Valyuzhinich, Pechenkin, Loeper and characterises opinions proposed by scholars as to the “ancient Chersonesus”. Strzheletsky supposes that the “ancient Chersonesus” was a “city”. This point of view was first proposed by Gablitz in 1803 and was later developed by Bertye-Delagard. My paper
critically discusses the historiographic data that pertains to the “ancient Chersonesus” and Strzheletsky’s article. Main attention is paid to fortifying constructions, i.e. walls and towers, particularly to their size and structure. I use those works which were used by Strzheletsky; besides, I use the results of later excavations, namely our excavations near the western fortification wall and excavations carried out by the Heracleian Expedition in the 2000s. It is impossible to use only those works which were mentioned by Strzheletsky because the data obtained by the Heracleian Expedition allows us to make the view of the walls and towers more precise.

Keywords: Strabo’s “ancient Chersonesus”, polis of Chersonesus, archaeology of Northern Black Sea Coast, ancient fortifications.