With one of the buried, archaeologists found a coin that the ancient Greeks put into the mouth of a dead man so that he would pay the mythical character Charon with it for transporting his soul to the afterlife.
An archaeological expedition of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered burials of the Hellenistic period in Kerch. With one of the buried, a coin was found, which, according to the mythology of the ancient Greeks, had to be given for the transition to the kingdom of the dead, the head of the expedition, Sergei Soloviev, told TASS.
"In the southwestern necropolis of the city of Parthenius, which was part of the Bosporus kingdom, burials of the Hellenistic period were discovered. A whole, intact human skeleton was found in one of the burials. An interesting detail is that a small coin was found next to the skull," Soloviev said.
He clarified that, in accordance with the Greek funeral rite, such a coin should be placed in the mouth of the dead. It was believed that he would pay Charon with it, a mythical character who transported the souls of the dead across the river Letu to the afterlife.
According to him, the found coin will help to more accurately date the burial. It is already clear that it belongs to the III-II centuries BC, but, probably, after cleaning and studying it, it will be possible to name a more accurate burial time. "In addition, an anthropomorphic tombstone (in the form of a human figure) was found in the lining of this grave. But this is a secondary use - we believe it was taken from another grave destroyed in those days," the scientist added.
The expedition conducts archaeological work on the monuments of the Bosporus Kingdom: the settlement and the southwestern necropolis of the ancient city of Parthenia. These objects fall into the zone of laying a water conduit in the suburb of Kerch.
On both sides of the Kerch Strait more than 2.5 thousand years ago, Greek settlers founded the ancient state - the Bosporus kingdom. The capital of the Bosporus was Panticapaeum (now Kerch is located there), large cities - Phanagoria, Hermonassa (the modern city of Taman) on the Taman Peninsula; Feodosia, Tiritaka, Nympheus - on the Crimean peninsula; Gorgippia (modern city of Anapa). The city of Parfeny was located on the northeastern tip of the Kerch Peninsula. It was founded in the second half of the 6th century. BC next to Panticapaeum.