On 17 November 2005 the State Hermitage hosted sessions of "The Bosporan Phenomenon," a scholarly conference organized jointly by the State Hermitage and the Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Conferences on "The Bosporan Phenomenon" have been held since 1998 and are devoted to study of the Bosporan Kingdom, the largest state of the Ancient World in the Northern Black Sea Littoral, which existed for more than 1000 years (V century B.C. - VI century A.D.). In ancient times the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) was considered to be the frontier between Europe and Asia. The Bosporan Kingdom, which arose in the course of Magna Grecia colonization through unification of Greek city colonies located on both sides of the straits, was divided accordingly into a European part (Eastern Crimea) and an Asian part (Taman Peninsula).

Archeological investigations of the Bosporan Kingdom began in the first quarter of the 19th century soon after these lands were joined to Russia as a result of the Russo-Turkish wars of the 18th century. Investigations were conducted during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries and provided very interesting material: for example, a large part of the Gold Room in the Treasure Gallery of the State Hermitage consists of precious objects found on the territory of the Bosporan Kingdom. Major archeological schools were formed and their traditions are maintained to this day.

The special interest in the Bosporan Kingdom is due not only to the fact that this was a rather large and long lasting political entity. More than anywhere else on the Black Sea Littoral, this is where two civilizations interacted: Greek civilization, whose bearers were Greek colonists; and the barbarians, a changing variety of peoples who squeezed one another out in succession as they made their nomadic migrations across the Northern Black Sea Littoral (Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns). The consequence of this centuries-long co-existence was what we call the "Bosporan phenomenon" - one of the most complex and interesting puzzles of ancient history.

Following the collapse of the USSR, the European part of the Bosporan Kingdom (Eastern Crimea) was now on the territory of the Ukraine, while the Asiatic part (Taman Peninsula) was on the territory of Russia. Colleagues in archeology from Russia and the Ukraine now faced the task of preserving their common scholarly schools and the tradition of studying these ancient city-colonies (Olvia, Hersones) and the Bosporan Kingdom. Thanks to joint efforts, they succeeded. Many Russian expeditions have been working all these years in the Ukraine: the State Hermitage, Institute of the History of Material Culture, State Museum of the History of Religion, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results of work by Russian and Ukrainian colleagues are discussed at scholarly conferences which are conducted annually in Kerch and once every 18 months in St Petersburg.

During the period 15-18 November 2005, the State Museum of the History of Religion and the State Hermitage were hosts to the 6th Conference on "The Bosporan Phenomenon: the Issue of the Correlation between Written and Archeological Sources." Among the conference participants were archeologists, historians and philologists specializing in the Classics from Russia, the Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, and Great Britain.

The Organizing Committee of the Conference expresses its deep gratitude to the sponsoring foundations which provided financial assistance enabling them to prepare the collected materials of the conference for publication (Free Europe Foundation) and to arrange for the travel to the conference of our foreign colleagues (Cimmerid and Demeter Foundations).

This conference took place during the year marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. It is dedicated to the memory of the archeologists, historians, and linguists who lived during that terrible and trying period.

The publishing house of the State Hermitage issued a 450-page collection of the texts of reports by conference participants in time for the conference opening.