Ceramic altars from the North-West Crimea and the cult of nymphs in the North Black Sea region

The paper reviews the sites, which provide evidence of the cult of nymphsamong the population of the North Black Sea coastal area in the 3rd century BC - firstcenturies AD. Two diminutive altars from Chaika (Fig. 1) and Kara-Tobe (Fig. 2),which are Late Scythian settlements, reproduce a motif of nymphs’ circle dance. Forcomparison, reliefs from Bosporus with the same motif are noted for a more realistic styleof representation (Fig. 3, 1). A diminutive votive relief from Chersonese demonstratesan extreme degree of primitivism in representation of this motif (Fig. 3, 2). Thesereproductions of the same motif, so distinct in style and the period when it was depicted,demonstrate its stability in religious concepts of the population living in the North BlackSea coastal area. The presence of this motif on small altars coming from the so-called LateScythian sites is another manifestation of a high level of Hellenization of the NorthwestCrimea in the Late Hellenistic period.