Charax

Chărax, ăcis, f., = Χάραξ,

• a fortress in the valley of Tempe, now Carisso, Liv. 44, 6, 10.—
• II A town on the Persian Gulf, Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 100; 6, 26, 30, § 124 sq.

Charax, acis, f. (χάραξ, Pfahl, Palisade; dah. verschanzter, befestigter Ort, Feste), I) eine von Alexander dem Gr. gegründete Stadt in Susiana (in der nach ihr benannten Landsch. Characēne, Χαρακηνή), Geburtsort des Periegeten Dionysius u. des Geschichtschreibers Isidorus, Plin. 6, 138 sqq. – Dav. Characēnus, ī, m. (Χαρακηνός), aus Charax, der Charazener, Isidorus Ch.; bes. Plur. Characēni, ōrum, m. (Χαρακηνοί), die Einw. von Charax od. von Charazene, die Charazener, Plin. – II) eine Befestigung an der schmalsten Stelle des reizenden Tales Tempe in Thessalien, j. Carisso, Liv. 44, 6, 10 (wo griech. Akk. -ca).

Chărax, ăcis, f. , Charax [ville de la Susiane] : Plin. 6, 138 || forteresse de la Thessalie : Liv. 44, 6, 10.

CHARAX

CHARAX(Χάραξ: Eth. Χαρακηνός). Stephanus (s. v.) has collected the names of several places called Charax. One is the Charax Alexandri, near Celaenae in Phrygia. Another Charax is the old name of Tralles in Caria;but perhaps this is a blunder. A third was a place of great trade (ἐμπόριον) on the Gulf of Nicomedia in Bithynia, and near to Nicomedia. A fourth was in Pontice. The name, applied to a town, ought to mean a stockade or fortified place.

[G.L]

CHARAX

CHARAX(Χάραξ, Strab. 17. p. 836; φάραξ, 4.3.14; Κόραξ, Stadiasm. p. 836), a seaport town, belonging to the Carthaginians, at the bottom of the Great Syrtis, very near the frontier of Cyrenaica; whence wine was exported to Cyrenaica, and silphiumsmuggled in return. (Strab. l. c.) Its position, like that of so many other places on the Great Syrtis, can hardly be determined with certainty. A full discussion of these localities will be found in Barth ( Wanderungen, p. 364).

[P.S]

CHARAX Crimea.

Scythian fortress (later, Roman) of the 3d c. B.C. on the Ai-Todor promontory near ancient Chersonesus, not far from modern Yalta. A fortress of the Tauri tribe, it was ringed with thick cyclopean walls of hewn stone. The fort was seized by the Romans in the 1st c. A.D. and made into a military camp. It then acquired a second ring of walls and the area was increased to 1.5 ha.

Houses with walls of stone and brick have been uncovered, and water pipes and mosaic-floored basins (design of cuttlefish) have been found; also, there are ruins of Roman baths (25 x 15 m) and a necropolis of the 3d-4th c. Pottery and other articles are of local manufacture. The Simferopol Museum contains material from this site.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

V. D. Blavatskii, “Kharaks,” Materialy po arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomor'ia v antichnuiu epokhu [Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, No. 19] (1951) 250-91; A. L. Mongait, Archaeology in the USSR, tr.

M. W. Thompson (1961) 203-5. M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁO