Yartsev, S. V. On the Question about Formation of the Tanait Community On the Shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus at the Second Half of the IIth Century BC

Abstract: The subject under research is the appearance of Barbarian Tanaits in the civic communityof a Bosporan city Tanaits. Despite the fact that this is quite a popular theme in history, researchers still haven’t come to the same point of view on this phenomenon. All attempts to explain it are usually based on the process of sedentarization or interpretation of Tanaits as forced migrants. According to the author, in order to solve the aforesaid problem, it is necessary to appeal to the overall political and military situation in the Northern Black Sea Region at the second half of the XXth century BC. Thus, the purpose of the present research is to view the origin of Tanaits on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus in term of foreign political aspirations of the Roman Empire and Bosporan Kingdom. In his research the author uses an integrated approach to the sources and particular comparative method and makes a conclusion that the crisis that started in mid II BC in the Northern Black Sea Region and was caused by the migration of nomadic tribes into the region forced Roman people to change their strategy in the above mentioned region. The Roman Empire had to regain their contacts with powerful Sarmatian clans who helped to strengthen the Roman hegemony and return the lost peace to the Northern Black Sea Region. It is the author’s opinion t we should view the phenomenon of Tanaits from this point of view. The main conclusion made by the author is that individual representatives of Barbarian noblemen were gathered to form a civic community that had the same rights as Hellenes and inhabited Tanais in order to coordinate military actions with Sarmatian allies and to infl uence them through cultural expansion. The new hypothesis will defi nitely contribute to the creation of a holistic picture of the history of the Northern Black Sea Region during the Roman period.

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