the colony of Kerkinitida and constructing numerous fortifications. In 2013, Chersonesus was listed as a World Heritage Site. Kerkinitida is the earliest colony in northwestern Taurica, located near present-day Yevpatoria. It was founded around the turn of the 6th-5th centuries BC, possibly by Dorians of Heraclea Pontica, or by another unknown Ionian city-state. Until the middle of 4th century BC the city was a small independent city–state, before being incorporated into the city-state of Chersonesos. In the 2nd century BC Kerkinitida was captured by the Scythians, but later retaken in the second campaign of Diophantus. According to archeological finds, the city lasted until around the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. In 2016, archaeologists discovered parts of an ancient Greek fortress near the village of Gornostaevka. In 2018, archaeologists discovered a previously unknown ancient Greek settlement of the 4th-3rd centuries BC near the town of Baherove. According to the researchers, the settlement was called Manitra. On the territory of the settlement the remains of a rectangular tower were discovered and near the settlement an unplundered necropolis. In mythology According to Greek mythology, Crimea is the place to which Iphigeneia was sent after the goddess Artemis rescued her from the human sacrifice her father was about to perform. Artemis swept the young princess off to the peninsula, where she became a priestess at her temple. Here, she was forced by the Taurian king Thoas to perform human sacrifices on any foreigners who came ashore. According to other historians, the Tauri were known for their savage rituals and piracy and were also the earliest indigenous peoples of the peninsula. 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 also Colonies in antiquity Greek diaspora Greeks in Russia and the Soviet Union Greeks in Ukraine History of Crimea Roman Crimea References External links The Roman site at Charax Lost Roman City Taurica High resolution zoom-able Image of an antique map of the region Taurica History Coins of Olbia: Essay of Monetary Circulation of the North-western Black Sea Region in Antique Epoch. Киев, 1988. . Coinage and Monetary Circulation in Olbia (6th century B.C. – 4th century A.D.) Odessa (2003). . The City of Tyras. A Historical and Archaeological Essay. Одесса: Polis-Press, 1994).. Underwater Archaeological Expedition on Ancient Town Akra in 2012 (Eastern Crimea) - Kyiv