A Town of Thema Chersonos on the Plateau of Eski-Kermen

In 841, the emperor Theophilus created in Crimea the thema of the five Klimata. After some time, it was called the thema of Klimata of Cherson. In the early 850s the thema changed its name from Klimata to Cherson. According to С. Zuckerman, in Сherson the theme period ended around 1070. According to V. P. Stepanenko, the thema of Cherson continued to exist until the end of the 11th century. Probably, the five Klimata were Kherson and the klimas of neighboring Gothia with fortresses on the atop the plateaux of Eski-Kermen, Bakla, and Chufut-Kale. In the theme period in the city, as well as in other simultaneous Byzantine cities, life is activated. On the plateau of Eski-Kermen, important elements of the defense system were restored, such as towers with loopholes and casemates, carved into the rocky massif of capes, protruding on the eastern and western facades of the mountain, as well as the main gate. The city has retained many elements of the town-planning appearance created in the early Middle Ages: a grid of quarters of regular rectangular shape, the main roadway, laid between the main gate and the central square with a large three-naved basilica. On the rocky surface of a wide (up to 4.8 m) main street, carts are carved deep ruts. The second longitudinal street is traced on the lower terrace between the main street and the western edge of the plateau. Located on both sides of the longitudinal main and parallel streets, rectangular blocks consisted of several estates. The quarters are limited by narrow longitudinal streets up to 2 m wide, laid on the surface of the rock at a right angle to the wide cross streets. In the theme period in the city on Eski-Kermen, as well as in the previous period, there was the residence of the archon of the city and Klima. A representative of the local elite was appointed to this position. The archon obeyed the strait of the Kherson theme. Seals of the Turmarch of Gothia of the end of the 10th – beginning of the 11th century prove the creation in the composition of the theme of Cherson of the Turma of Gothia, which was ruled by a Byzantine officer of the Turmers. The location of the archon’s residence is still not revealed on the plateau