Crimean History Pt. 1: Iphigenia among the Tauri

Here there have always been terrors

Ruins of Panticapaeum, Kersh, Ukraine. courtesy Wikimedia Commons

When they first settled the land they called Chersonesos Tauri, the Greeks were just beginning their explorations of the áxeinos Pontos, the Inhospitable Sea.

Winds off the Russian steppes churn the Black Sea’s waters into high waves, with no islands to break the swells. Frequently those …