Судлаачид Хар тэнгисийн эрэг дээрх эртний Фанагориа хотын боомтоос МЭӨ I зууны дунд үед хамаарах, Мөтридат VI Евпатор хааны флотын байлдааны хөлөг онгоцны туурийг илрүүлжээ.
ОХУ-ын Хар тэнгисийн эрэг орчмын Фанагориа хотын эртний боомтын газраас олдсон энэхүү хөлөг онгоцны их бие нь 1.5 метрийн зузаан элс, лаг дор хадгалагдан үлдсэн байна. Археологичид эхлээд уг олдворыг худалдааны хөлөг гэж таамаглаж байсан ч хожим нь Мөтридат VI Евпатор хааны сүлд бүхий хүрэл хошуу (рам) олсноор энэ нь цэргийн зориулалттай хөлөг болох нь тогтоогджээ. Нүүрстөрөгчийн он цаг тогтоох шинжилгээгээр уг хөлөг МЭӨ I зууны дунд үед хамаарч байгаа нь Оросын усан хилээс олдсон хамгийн эртний байлдааны хөлөг болж байна.
Kurchatov Institute-ийн эрдэмтдийн хийсэн шинжилгээгээр хөлөг онгоцны их биеийг галд тэсвэртэй болгохын тулд шавар, малын үс, ноос, өөх тос зэрэг хольцоор доторлосон нь тогтоогдсон байна. Мөн хөлөг онгоцны гадна талыг далайн хорхой болон нялцгай биетнээс хамгаалах зорилгоор зэвсэгт хүхрийн эрдэс, лав, нарсны давирхай бүхий тусгай будгаар бүржээ. Хөлөг онгоцны хадаасыг зэврэлтэд тэсвэртэй зэс болон түүний хайлшаар хийсэн нь эртний Понтын улс тэнгисийн цэргийн флотоо олон арван жилийн турш өндөр түвшинд бэлэн байлгаж байсныг гэрчилж байна.
Түүхийн эх сурвалжид тэмдэглэснээр, МЭӨ 63 онд Фанагориа хотод Мөтридат хааны эсрэг бослого гарч, хааны хүүхдүүд олзлогдсон үйл явдал болсон байна. Судлаачид энэхүү хөлөг онгоц нь тухайн үеийн зэвсэгт мөргөлдөөний үеэр живсэн байх магадлалтай гэж үзэж байгаа юм. Фанагориа хотоос өмнө нь Мөтридат хааны хатан Хипсикратиагийн дурсгалын хөшөө олдож байсан нь уг бүс нутаг эртний түүхийн чухал баримтуудыг хадгалсаар байгааг илтгэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Divers exploring the old harbor of Phanagoria, an ancient Greek city on Russia’s Black Sea coast, found the wooden hull of a ship under more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) of sand, silt and shells. Archaeologists first took it for a later merchant vessel.
Two years later, about 1.5 meters from its bow, they found a bronze ram about a meter (3 feet) long. It carried a crescent and a five-rayed star, the royal emblem of Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus and one of the Roman Republic’s most persistent enemies.
The ship lay in what is now Taman Bay, beside the city’s main pier. Radiocarbon dating of its wood places it in the middle of the 1st century BC. Researchers identify it as a fast warship from Mithridates’ fleet, and describe it as the oldest warship found in Russian waters.
Laboratory studies of the hull have since shown how carefully it was built and kept up. The latest, from Moscow’s Kurchatov Institute, analyzed its metal fittings and found that its nails were made of copper and copper alloys.
Inside the hull, the scientists also found a feather, most likely from a crane.
The Ship Went Down During a Revolt in 63 BC
The remains measure nearly 16 meters (52 feet) long and 2.7 meters (9 feet) wide, and the port side survives up to the top rail. The slender shape, together with the ram, marked it as a military vessel.
The team now describes it as a unireme, a fast sailing and rowing ship with a single row of oars. When the ram was announced in 2014, the expedition’s sponsor, the Volnoe Delo Foundation, had called it a bireme, a ship with two levels of oars. The later scientific work does not repeat that label.
Why the ship sank at the city’s main pier, and was never raised or broken up, points to a specific crisis. The Roman historian Appian describes an uprising at Phanagoria against Mithridates in 63 BC, during which the king’s children were captured and a flotilla was sent from his capital, Panticapaeum, to free them. The researchers believe the ship went down during that fighting.
The 2014 announcement said the ship was burned by the rebels. “Phanagoria reveals its secrets year by year,” said Vladimir Kuznetsov, who led the Phanagoria expedition, when the ram was announced.
Clay Stuffed With Wool and Feathers Lined the Hull
A 2024 analysis of the hull’s coatings, led by E. A. Greshnikov of the Kurchatov Institute, found that every inner surface of the planks and frame had been plastered with clay 1 to 2 centimeters thick, and up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) thick near the keel. Mixed into the clay were hairs from sheep, horses and goats, scraps of skin, pork fat and the feather.
The seams between the planks had first been packed with tarred bundles of wool. The clay then covered them, holding them in place and sealing the hull. Ancient writers including Vitruvius and Vegetius describe clay mixed with hair as a fire-resistant material, and the team argues it protected a warship from fire, whether accidental or from incendiary missiles.
The outside of the hull carried a different recipe. Traces of an orange-red coating turned out to be realgar, an arsenic sulfide mineral, mixed with beeswax and pine resin. The researchers say the sulfur-rich mixture would have slowed the growth of marine mollusks on the hull and protected the wood from shipworms, which bore into submerged timber.
The wood itself showed many repairs, made with a wide range of tree species, including some that grow in the Mediterranean. The authors conclude that Pontus had the means to maintain its navy in good condition for decades.
The Nails Were Copper and the Ram Was Bronze
The newest study, published in the Russian journal Rossiiskie Nanotekhnologii, turned to the metal. The Kurchatov team, with Olkhovskiy and researchers from the Phanagoria museum-reserve, examined the ship’s nails, a small plate and the ram using electron microscopy, X-ray methods and neutron activation analysis, which identifies elements by the radiation they give off after exposure to neutrons.
The nails were made of copper and copper alloys, the plate of lead and the ram of lead-tin bronze, the authors report in their abstract. They conclude that the Bosporan navy used effective and varied materials and techniques to build and repair its ships, allowing them to stay in service for a long time.
Copper nails resist corrosion in seawater far better than iron. Combined with the arsenic-laced outer coating and the fireproofed interior, the fittings describe a ship built and maintained for long, hard use.
Phanagoria holds another trace of the king’s family. In 2006, the expedition found a marble gravestone inscribed to “Hypsikrates, wife of Mithridates VI,” the masculine form of the name of Hypsikratia, the queen Plutarch said the king called by a man’s name because she fought with a soldier’s courage.
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