Students of the Moscow Theological Academy took part in the excavation of an ancient Greek city-polis of Phanagoria

On June 25, as a part of the archaeological practice, a group of master's degree students of the Biblical Studies and bachelor's degree from the Moscow Theological Academy arrived at the excavations of an ancient Greek city-polis of Phanagoria.

“Phanagoria is an ancient city located on the shores of the Taman Bay (between Sennaya and Primorskiy villages in the Temryuk region). The city has existed for more than 1500 years. Powerful fortress walls surrounded gigantic public buildings, temples, fountains, marble statues and beautiful houses of the Phanagorians.

The period from VI century BC to X century AD saw peak economic development and a thriving culture of Phanagoria. Its name associated with a famous Russian commander A.V. Suvorov. The city was the first capital after the Bulgarians moved across the Danube.

Despite the fact that the scientific research of Phanagoria has been going on for 80 years, the settlement remains poorly studied. The reasons for this lie in its enormous size and the thickness of cultural layers” (according to the Institute of Archeology). 

On the first day, students of the Academy visited the Taman Archaeological Museum, where they got acquainted with the history of the place from the time of first Greek colonies on the coast of the Black Sea.

After lunch, the students went to the Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum, where S.A. Shestakov, a senior researcher, took them round historical monuments from the capitals of the ancient Bosporus kingdom – Panticapaeum such as household items of Greek settlers and artifacts from later eras.

The MThA Press Office/MThA Biblical Studies Department