Dioscurias
DIOSCU´RIAS (Διοσκωρίας, Steph. B.; Ptol. 5.10; Isid. Orig. xvi.; Διοσκουρίς, Scyl. p. 22), one of the numerous colonies of Miletus, at the E. extremity of the Euxine (Arrian, Peripl. pp. 10, 18) on the mouth of the river Anthemus, to the N. of Colchis (Plin. Nat. 6.5). It was situated 100 M.P. (Plin. l. c.) or 790 stadia to the NW. of the Phasis, and 2260 stadia from Trapezus (Arrian, l. c.). The wild tribes of the interior, whose barbarous idiom was unintelligible to one another, made this their great trading place. The Greeks were so astonished at the multiplicity of languages which they encountered, and the want of skilful interpreters was so Strongly felt, that some asserted that 70 different tongues were spoken in the market of Dioscurias. (Strab. 11. p. 497.) Timosthenes, the historian, had exaggerated the amount to 300, but Pliny (l.c.), who quotes him, contents himself by saying that the traders required 130 interpreters. (Comp. Gibbon, vol. 4. p. 102.) In B.C. 66, when Mithridates was compelled to plunge into the heart of Colchis from the pursuit of Pompeius, he crossed the Phasis and took up his winter quarters at Dioscurias, where he collected additional troops and a small fleet. (Appian, Mithr. 101.) Upon or near the spot to which the twin sons of Leda gave their name (Mela, 1.19.5; comp. Ammian. 22.8.24) the Romans built SEBASTOPOLIS(Steph. B.; Procop. B.G. 4.4), which was deserted in the time of Pliny (l. c.) but was afterwards garrisoned by Justinian (Procop. Aed. 3.7). The SOTERIOPOLIS (Const. Porph. de Adm. Imp. 100.42) of later times has been identified with it. The position of this place must be looked for near the roadstead of Isksuria. Chardin (Trav. pt. i. pp. 77, 108) described the coast as uninhabited except by the Mengrelians, who come to traffic on the same spot as their Colchian ancestors, and set up their tents or booths of boughs. For a curious coin of Dioscurias, which, from the antiquity of its workmanship, is inferred to be older than the age of Mithridates, see Rasche, vol. ii. pt. 1. p. 318.
[E.B.J](Διοσκουριάς). A maritime town of Colchis at the mouth of the small river Charus. It was afterwards called Sebastopolis, and was, in the earliest ages, the port most frequented in Colchis by distant as well as neighbouring nations speaking different languages—a circumstance that still distinguishes Iskuriah, which name is only a corruption of the ancient one.
A Greek city, covered over by the modern town. It was probably founded by Miletos ca. 540 B.C. on the site of an earlier native settlement dating from the 2d millennium (Strab. 9.2.16,17; Plin. HN 6.5). From the 6th-5th c. the population was both indigenous and Greek. The section inhabited by the Greeks was destroyed by the sea. The city flourished in the 4th-3d c.; its decline coincided with its conquest by Mithridates Eupator in the late 2d c. B.C. A century later the city was conquered by Rome under whom it became a fortified center, and its economy revived. Its decline in the 4th-5th c. was accompanied by the withdrawal of Roman troops, growing pressure from the Las state of Caucasus, and possibly a Hunnic raid.
Most of the remains date from Hellenistic times or later. Aside from the Roman fortress, of which a section still stands, there seem to have been no prominent monuments. Among articles imported in the 6th-5th c. are Greek wares (in particular, Attic bowls with a black glaze), and amphorae from Thasos and Chios; Attic bowls of the 5th-4th c.; stamped amphorae of the 4th c. and amphorae from Sinope and Herakleia of the 4th-3d c. Local wares were produced, especially in the 4th-3d c.
The city minted its own coins in the 3d c. B.C. Attic coins of the 5th-4th c. have been found as well as Hellenistic coins of the Kolchian king Saulakos. Among the few sculptures is a funerary stele of 430-420 of Ionian origin with a relief depicting a seated woman surrounded by her family.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. M. Trapš, “Nekotorye itogi arkheologicheskogo issledovaniia Sukhumi v 1951-1953 gg.,” SovArkh 23 (1955) 206-27; L. A. Shervashidze & L. N. Solov'ev, “Issledovanie drevnego Sebastopolisa,” SovArkh (1960) 3.171-79; V. A. Lekvinadze, “Oboronitel'nye sooruzheniia Sebastopolisa,” SovArkh (1966) 1.203-10; I. B. Brašinskij, “Recherches soviétiques sur les monuments antiques des régions de la Mer Noire,” Eirene 7 (1968) 114-15; M. P. Inadze, Prichernomorskie goroda drevnei Kolkhidy (1968); G. A. Lordkipanidze, K istorii drevnei Kolkhidy (1970).
M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁO