International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Aleksandr Aibabin
V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, 
History and Archaeology of the Crimea Research Centre, Simferopol, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
Fortresses of Gothia in the Crimea in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries
The earliest references to Crimean Gothia occur in written sources from the second half of 
the eighth and ninth centuries. Protocols of the Ecumenical Council VII (Nicaea II) of 787 AD are 
signed by Monk Cyril, on behalf of the Bishop of Gothia. Created between 815 and 842, the Vita 
of St. John of Gothia states that an anonymous Bishop of Gothia participated in the iconoclastic 
council of 754. The same Vita, discussing an anti-Khazar rebellion that happened between 785 
and 787, mentions Gothia’s main fortress of Doros and mountain passes (kleisourai), the Master 
of Gothia, and the archontes of its fortresses. In a Theodore of Stoudios’ letter written in 808, the 
author, resenting the oikonomos who married Constantine VI to his second wife reversion to 
clergy, writes about Gothia and its klimata. A description of the same event in the Vita of Patriarch 
Nikephoros mentions the klimata of Taurica. The Vita of Theodore of Stoudios, written down after 
868 by Monk Michael, mentions a ruler of Gothia. Fourteenth-century Miracles of St. Eugenios of 
Trebizond knows Cherson and local klimata of Gothia. Notitia 3, which was compiled between 803 
and 805, contains a list of bishoprics in the Patriarchate of Constantinople, where, under no. 37, is 
the province of Gothia governed by a metropolitan, having his see in Doros.

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One may see that the sources apply the name of “Gothia” to a mountainous region in vicinity 
of Cherson called Dory, which was occupied by the Khazars in the early eighth century and was 
governed from Doros, located in the plateau of Mangup, and nameless fortresses. Most likely, the 
latter were the “forts of the tribes residing near” Cherson (“in castris gentium ibidem adjacentium”), 
as mentioned by a scholia to the Vita of Euprepios (died in 655) and Theodore (died in 667), which 
was a part of Anastasios the Librarian’s Collectanea from the ninth century. Perhaps these “forts 
of the tribes” are identifiable with fortresses atop the plateaus of Eski-Kermen, Bakla, and possibly 
Chufut-Kale, which were constructed by Byzantine engineers in the late sixth century.
In the words of the author of the Vita of Saint John of Gothia, a Khazar khagan installed a 
Khazar troop in Doros. Bishop John of Gothia and the Master of the Gothia, his archontes and the 
population rebelled, expelled Khazars from Doros, and occupied the mountain passes. Obviously, 
the rulers of Gothia rebelled against the Khazars after 784 and prior to the Ecumenical Council VII 
(Nicaea II) convoked in 787. The Khazars suppressed the uprising and forgave the Master of Gothia 
and the archontes of fortresses. However, the Khazars ordered fortification walls of the fortress atop 
Eski-Kermen plateau to be covered with soil.
It was spring 841 when Byzantium, taking advantage of the establishment an alliance with the 
Khazars, decided to return the klimata of Gothia under its power. Emperor Theophilos ordered a 
new theme to be established in the South-West Crimea with its centre in Cherson, which was called 
the “theme of the Klimata” by the Taktikon of Uspenskij. Other regions of the Crimea remained 
under the Khazars’ control. Perhaps the creation of the theme was related with a reconstruction of 
the citadel of Bakla and defences of Mangup, and the building of a new fortress in the Bel’bek river 
valley, at the high plateau of Siuiren’ at Maloe Sadovoe village. 
This research has been financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, project 
no 15-31-10123 “The Crimean Goths in the Region of Dory (Mid-Third to Seventh Centuries)”.