New Data on the Jewish Community in Late Byzantine Chersonese (Crimea)

In 2010 a fragment of a flanged tile with menorah graffiti was found during the excavations of block 45 of medieval Chersonese (Crimea). It dates back to the 2nd half of the 13th – 1st half of the 14th centuries. This archaeological finding gives grounds for a new discussion about the existence of the Jewish community in Chersonese in Byzantine times. The aim of our research is to determine a connection between the manufacture of tiles with Jewish symbols and Jewish community in Chersonese. We have proposed a methodology for the research, carried out a semantic and iconographic analysis of graffiti, localized tile production center where the flanged tile with menorah had been made, and identified other Jewish symbols on the tiles. The ceramic analysis ascertained that flanged tile with the menorah had been made in Chersonese workshops. The technology of tile production (argillous raw material processing) was unchangeable during the entire medieval period. However, Chersonese workshops introduced some shifting changes and variations in the technology of clay processing in the 2nd half of the 13th – 1st half of the 14th centuries. The study of the Mountainous Crimea tile production centers showed that the variability and instability of clay formula in Chersonese was not connected with the relocation of tile makers within the South-Western Crimea in the 2nd half of the 13th – 1st half of the 14th centuries. The analysis of the iconography of the graffiti and organization of the tile-making process showed that graffiti of menorah had an apotropaic meaning. Other relief marks that had been found on chronologically synchronous flanged tiles of the same tile production center had other Jewish symbols. This confirmed our conclusion that representatives of the Jewish community were involved in the tile production

Ancient history · Archaeology · Byzantine architecture · Geography · Judaism · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History

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