Sudak (Ukrainian and Russian: ; ; ; sometimes spelled Sudac or Sudagh) is a city, multiple former Eastern Orthodox bishopric and double Latin Catholic titular see. It is of regional significance in Crimea, a territory recognized by most countries as part of Ukraine but annexed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea. Sudak serves as the administrative center of Sudak Municipality, one of the regions Crimea is divided into. It is situated to the west of Feodosia (the nearest railway station) and to the east of Simferopol, the republic's capital. Population:

A city of antiquity, today it is a popular resort, best known for its Genoese fortress, the best preserved on the northern shore of the Black Sea.

History

left|thumb|300px|Map of the [[Khazar Khaganate and surrounding states, c. 820 CE. Area of direct Khazar control shown in dark blue, sphere of influence in purple. Other boundaries shown in dark red.]]

Foundation and early Middle Ages

The date and circumstances of the city's foundation are uncertain. The first written reference to the city dates to the 7th century (in the Ravenna Cosmography), but later local tradition places its foundation in 212 CE, and archaeological evidence supports its foundation in Roman times. The city was in all likelihood founded by the Alans, as its name in Greek sources, Sougdaia is a cognate of the adjective sugda ("pure, holy") or derives from the word sugded/sogdad in the Ossetian language.

In the early Middle Ages, the city appears to have been under very loose Byzantine control, like other cities in the region.

By the mid-11th century, Sougdaia had returned to Byzantine control, probably following the defeat of the Khazar warlord Georgius Tzul in 1016. An inscription of 1059 mentions Leo Aliates, "strategos of Cherson and Sougdaia".

thumb|300px|left|Crimea in the middle of the 15th century

Under Tatar rule, the city was governed by the notables of the city and the 18 villages surrounding it. In the Greek sources they are mentioned by the Byzantine title sebastos, while the Latin sources use the Latinized Greek term proti ("first men").

Notable people

  • Zlata Ognevich (born 1986), Ukrainian singer
  • Nikolai Ziber (1844-1888), Ukrainian economist

See also

  • Gazaria (Genoese colonies) - the name for Genoese communities in Crimea
  • List of Catholic dioceses in Ukraine
  • Roman Crimea
  • Krasnokam‘yanka - Qızıltaş - Krasnokamyenka

References

Sources

  • Vus, Oleh; Sorochan, Serhiy. Early Byzantine Burgs on the Coast of the Taurica and the European Bosporus (regarding the Question of the Military Presence of the Romans in the South-Eastern Crimea in the 4th—6th centuries) 2021. https://www.academia.edu/86219660/Early_Byzantine_Burgs_on_the_Coast_of_the_Taurica_and_the_European_Bosporus_regarding_the_Question_of_the_Military_Presence_of_the_Romans_in_the_South_Eastern_Crimea_in_the_4th_6th_centuries_
  • Vus, Oleh. Defense doctrine of Byzantium in the Northern Black Sea region: engineering defense of Taurika and the Bosphorus in the late 4th — early 7th centuries. 2010. https://www.academia.edu/85524504/Defense_doctrine_of_Byzantium_in_the_Northern_Black_Sea_region_engineering_defense_of_Taurika_and_the_Bosphorus_in_the_late_4th_early_7th_centuries
  • Sugdea, Surozh, Soldaia in History and Culture of the Ruthenian Ukraine - Scientific conference materials, Kiev-Sudaq, 2002 (prints only)
  • Sugdea Collection, Kiev-Sudaq (Академпериодика, 2004)
  • Miscellaneous publications by A. Yu. Vinogradov
  • Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 428
  • Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. I, coll. 1229-1232
  • Daniele Farlati-Jacopo Coleti, Illyricum Sacrum, vol. VIII, Venice 1819, p. 126
  • Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 1, p. 457; vol. 2, p. 240
  • (Библиотека Якова Кротова)
  • GCatholic Soldaia
  • GCatholic Sugdaea
  • History and monuments of Sudak
  • Monastery of St. Stephen of Surozh
  • The murder of the Jews of Sudak during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.