The Forrest City times., 1904-01-22
SOUTH RUSSIAN POMPEII.
Walls and Foundations of an Ancient
Greek city Recently Uncovered
by ArcheoiogiSts.

The excavations recently made by NJ.
Formakovsh. under the auspices of the
Russian Archaeological society, on the
site of ancient Olbia, have led, and are
daily leading, to very interesting re-
suits, says the London Standard of re-
cent date. The site of the old Greek
city lies on the southern bank of the
Bong, about midway between Otchakoff
and Nicolaieff. and not far distant, on
the landward side, from the estuary of
the Dnieper.
NJ. Formakovski's researches have,
during the last few weens, laid bare
part of the walls and foundations of
the original city, dating back from the
seventh century b. c.. The masonry is
OF the same archaic description as that
OF the ruins of ancient cities uncovered
in various parts of Greece. Before this
depth was reached the excavators came
upon two different strata of walls and
Easements. bearing inscriptions of the
| fourth and fifth centuries B. C. The
| stone blocks composing the ruins of
| houses. temples. etc, in these upper
| strata are of remarkably exact square
proportions, and excellently dressed.
| The more solid constructive work Is
| however, found in the lowest stratum
that is. in the remains of The original
| city. At this depth there We're unearth
ed, short time ago, a perfectly pre-
served wine cellar. Some 30 huge black
| jars or vases had evidently contained
red wine, now turned to a light pow
th-t A To- ~
valuable antiques in gold. marble and
| ancient pottery is being taken from
| the newly uncovered ruins These are
all sent to the Hermitage at ST. Peters
burg. aud it is stated that, as result
| of the numerous and interesting dis
| coveries expected to be made during
the process of further and comprehen-
sive excavations, a special Olbia sec
| tion will be arranged in the famous
museum in the Russian capital Under
the supervision of NJ Formakovski,
the greatest care is taken to attest the
| genuine nature of the newly found an
tiques. as it was on this site, it will be
remembered, that the spurious tiara
| of Saitapharnes was falsely alleged to
have been discovered.
Olbia ObiopOlis, or Borysthenis. on
the right bank of the Borysthenes, near
! its estuary, was a colony of Miletus,
655 B. c. 1t was the great station for
| Greek trade with the interior, and a
wealthy city from very early time
Inscriptions published in the Corpus
Inscr Grace" volume two, and espec-
tally the famous decree of honor of
| Protogenes, throw much light on its in
ternal history in the few centuries be-
fore and after the Christian era. They
| show it as Greek city maintaining its
| independence with difficulty against ne
barbarians who continually threatened
it; but the Greek life and the Greek
names gradually gave place to Scy-
THAN, the city was finally merged with
the surrounding tribes and it's civiliza-
ton and importance disappeared. 1t
| is commonplace among archaeolo-
! gists to speak of the trade route which
| led across the country to the Northern
sea from Olbia. and find of archaic
Greek coins in Prussia is appealed to
as proof of this contention; but it
| has recently been shown that this find
! of coins was an imposture. Though
it is not improbable that such trade
routes did exist at an early time, it is
| extremely unlikely that the Greek trad
ers used them. The natives brought
down their merchandise to the Greek
colonies, and the trade was there con-
Quoted, not by money, but by barter.
The most interesting point about the
religio of Olbia is the cult of Achilles
Pontarches, the ruler of the sea, diety
who was extensively worshipped along
| the northern coast of the Black sea. He
was evidently god of the native races.
| in whom some analogy of name and
| character caused the Greeks to recog-
nize their hero, Achilles. Hence arose
the legend known already to Pindar,
that Achilles lived on the White Isle
| in the Black sea, god surrounded by
the other heroes. Olba was destroyed
| by the Getae about 1880 B. c.. but re-
vived, and was 1ourishing city when
Dion Chrysostom visited it about 100
| A ID.