Tanais, Archaeological site in Rostov region, Russia

Tanais is an archaeological site at the mouth of the Don River containing remains from ancient Greek, Roman, and Sarmatian periods. The grounds feature reconstructed buildings, fortified structures, and an extensive collection of amphorae that have been recovered from various layers of excavation.

Greek settlers from the Cimmerian Bosporus founded Tanais in the first quarter of the 3rd century BC, and it became the northeasternmost permanent settlement of the Hellenistic world. Strabo calls it the common emporion of Asiatic and European nomads. Around 8 BC King Polemon sacked the city for refusing him obedience, burning its western district. Rebuilt walls and a south gate are recorded in a 108 AD building inscription; the city was destroyed again in the mid-3rd and later 4th centuries AD and abandoned in the second half of the 5th.

The city's official name was Emporion, not Tanais: local inscriptions call it τῷ ἐμπορίῳ, and a 1993 decree names the council of the Emporitai. A river god Tanais received worship here, recorded in a thiasos inscription of the 2nd or early 1st century BC. A relief of a horseman in scale armour, signed Tryphon son of Romanus, was set up as a grave stele.

The excavated ground lies on a limestone terrace above the Mertvy Donets, with deep gullies to the east and west and a fall of up to 20 m to the south; a raised wooden walkway follows the edge of the dig. The site sits at the khutor of Nedvigovka, about 30 km west of Rostov-on-Don. Cellars, cisterns and grain pits were cut directly into the shallow bedrock, so watch the uneven floors.

The city's official name was probably not Tanais but Emporion: no inscription from the site uses "Tanais" for the civic community, and a 1993 decree names the council of the Emporitai. A relief slab found here shows a horseman in scale armour with the Greek names Tryphon and Romanos.