Yevpatoria

Yevpatoria or Eupatoria (Ukrainian: Євпато́рія, Yevpatoriya, Russian: Евпато́рия, Yevpatoriya, Crimean Tatar: Kezlev, Turkish: Gözleve, Armenian: Եվպատորիա - Yevpatoria; Greek: Εὐπατορία, Κερκινίτις - Eupatoria, Kerkinitis, "Little Jerusalem") is a city of regional significance in Crimea, a territory disputed between Ukraine (as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea) and Russia (as the Republic of Crimea) since the March 2014 Crimean status referendum. Yevpatoria serves as the administrative center of Yevpatoria municipality, one of the districts (raions) into which Crimea is divided. Population: 105,719 (2014 Census).

History

The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis (Κερκινίτις), was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC. Along with the rest of Crimea, Kerkinitis was part of the dominions of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, from whose cognomen, Eupator, the city's modern name derives.

From roughly the 7th through the 10th centuries AD, Yevpatoriya was a Khazar settlement; its name in Khazar language was probably Güzliev (literally "beautiful house"). It was later subject to the Cumans (Kipchaks), the Mongols and the Crimean Khanate. During this period the city was called Kezlev by Crimean Tatars and Gözleve by Ottomans. The Russian medieval name Kozlov is a Russification of the Crimean Tatar name.

Eupatoria (Pontus)

Eupatoria or Magnopolis was a Hellenistic city in the Kingdom of Pontus. The city was founded by Mithridates VI Eupator just south of where the Lycus flows into the Iris, the west end of the fertile valley of Phanaroea.

Eupatoria was the crossing-point of two great roads through the Pontus: the east-west from Armenia Minor to Bithynia; and the north-south from Amisus to Caesarea Mazaca. The east-west road followed the valley of the Lycus from Armenia Minor to Phanaroea; it continued over the mountains into the Destek to Laodicea Pontica (modern Ladik), the Halys (Kızılırmak) and the Amnias (Gökırmak) through Paphlagonia to Bithynia; the north-south road went from Amisus (modern Samsun) up the Iris to Amaseia (Amasya), Zela (Zile), up to the Anatolian Plateau and Caesarea Mazaca (Kayseri).

Pompey refounded the city under the name Magnopolis and extended its territory to include the western Phanaroean plain.

Strabo visited the city.

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