To the Discussion on the Time When the Byzantine Castle Was Built a Top of Mangup

Abstract

The current hypothesis states that the large Byzantine castle was constructed at Mangup-Doros in the last years of Emperor Justinian I (527–565). It was put up by A. G. Gertsen as early as 1990. The reason was the results of archaeological researches conducted at the site. The accounts of written and epigraphic sources form chronological markers: the absence of data on this castle in Procopius of Caesarea’s treatise De aedificiis, and a slab fragment featuring a building inscription of Justinian I. However, recently A. I. Aibabin proposed a different chronology of the construction of the castle atop of the Mangup plateau, in the last quarter of the sixth century, or under Emperor Maurice (582–602), after 590. The main arguments for the re-dating of fortification buildings atop of Mangup were the same account of Procopius of Caesarea and the absence among the excavated materials of archaeological complexes narrowly dated to the age of Justinian I and related to the construction of fortress walls. If it was the case, one has to admit the accidental nature of the building inscription of Justinian I in the territory of the castle. As the said interpretation is certainly disputable and at the same time extraordinary importance for the current stage of research of the history of the South-Western Crimea in the Early Middle Ages, the given article re-examines in detail the main arguments of the traditional interpretation of the chronology of the buildings of the Mangup castle, supplemented with the results of its most recent excavations. From the analysis of the sources undertaken there are reasons to date the construction of the Byzantine castle atop of Mangup to 550–565. Moreover, of particular importance for these conclusions are the materials of many-year-long archaeological researches on the site. Generally, they indicate that the building of strong fortifications around the plateau of Mangup in the middle and the early second half of the sixth century was accompanied with no less large-scale development of the space inside the castle walls.