Taurica
Taurica (, ) also known as
Tauris,
Taurida,
Tauric Chersonese, and
Chersonesus Taurica was the name of
Crimea in
Antiquity.
The Greeks named the region after its inhabitants, the
Tauri. As the Tauri inhabited only mountainous regions of southern Crimea at first the name Tauris was used only to this southern part, but later it was extended to name the whole peninsula.Sometimes Taurica is referred to as
Tauric Chersonese or
Chersonesus Taurica. This name is Greek for the "Tauric peninsula" (
Chersonese literally means "peninsula"). This variant of the name should not be confused with the city of
Chersonesos.
According to
Greek legends, Tauris is the place to which
Iphigeneia was sent after
Artemis rescued her from the human sacrifice her
father was about to perform. The goddess swept the young princess off to Tauris where she became a priestess at the
Temple of Artemis. Here, she was forced by the Taurian king Thoas to perform human sacrifices on any foreigners who came ashore.
See the plot of Iphigeneia in Tauris for more details.Taurica was inhabited by a variety of peoples. The inland regions were inhabited by
Scythians and the mountainous south coast by the Tauri, an offshoot of the
Cimmerians. Greek settlers inhabited a number of colonies along the coast of the peninsula, notably the city of
Chersonesos near modern
Sevastopol.
In the
2nd century BC eastern part of Taurica became part of the
Bosporan Kingdom, before being incorporated into the
Roman Empire in the
1st century BC.
The land of Tauris and its rumored customs of killing Greeks are also described by
Herodotus in his
histories, Book IV, 99-100 and 103.
See History of Crimea for more details.Taurica was eventually renamed by the
Crimean Tatars, from whose
language the Crimea's modern name derives. The word "Crimea" comes from the Crimean Tatar name
Qırım, via
Greek Krimeia (Κριμαια).
See Name of Crimea for more details.After the annexation of Crimea in
1783 Russian authorities made an attempt to revive the ancient name, and former lands of the Crimean Khanate were organized into
Taurida Governorate. But this name was used only in the official documents and "Crimea" remained a common name for the country.
Following the
1917 October Revolution, Taurida governatory was reformed as the
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic (
Russian: Советская Социалистическая Республика Тавриды -
Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika Tavridy) briefly in early
1918 before being overrun by the
World War I Central Powers. After the reassertion of
Soviet control in
1921, the governatory was divided between the peninsular
Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic under the
Russian SFSR and the mainland portions which accrued to the
Ukrainian SSR.
See Taurida Governorate for more details.Since 1921 the name Taurida has no official status in Crimea and is used almost only in histocical context. However some institutions of the republic still use it, e.g. Taurida National University (the main university in Crimea).
