hradates the Great, and used the Pontic era (starting from 297 B.C.)
introduced by him, regularly placing dates upon their coins and
inscriptions. Hence we know their names and dates fairly well, though
scarcely any events of their reigns are recorded. Their kingdom covered
the eastern half of the Crimea and the Taman peninsula, and extended
along the east coast of the Sea of Azov to Tanais at the mouth of the
Don, a great mart for trade with the interior. They carried on a
perpetual war with the native tribes, and in this were supported by
their Roman suzerains, who even lent the assistance of garrison and
fleet. At times rival kings of some other race arose and probably
produced some disorganization. At one of these periods (A.D. 255) the
Goths and Borani were enabled to seize Bosporan shipping and raid the
shores of Asia Minor. With the last coin of the last Rhescuporis, A.D.
341, materials for a connected history of the Bosporus Cimmerius come to
an end. The kingdom probably succumbed to the Huns established in the
neighbourhood. In later times it seems in some sort to have been revived
under Byzantine protection, and from time to time Byzantine officers
built fortresses and exercised authority at Bosporus, which was
constituted an archbishopric. They also held Ta Matarcha on the Asiatic
side of the strait, a town which in the 10th and 11th centuries became
the seat of the Russian principality of Tmutarakan, which in its turn
gave place to Tatar domination.

The Bosporan kingdom is interesting as the first Hellenistic state, the
first, that is to say, in which a mixed population adopted the Greek
language and civilization. It depended for its prosperity upon the
export of wheat, fish and slaves, and this commerce supported a class
whose wealth and vulgarity are exemplified by the contents of the
numerous tombs to which reference has been made. In later times a Jewish
element was added to the population, and under its influence were
developed in all the cities of the kingdom, especially Tanais, societies
of "worshippers of the highest God," apparently professing a monotheism
which without being distinctively Jewish or Christian was purer than any
found among the inhabitants of the Empire.

We possess a large series of coins of Panticapaeum and other cities from
the 5th century B.C. The gold _staters_ of Panticapaeum bearing Pan's
head and a griffin are specially remarkable for their weight and fine
workmanship. We h