Yevpatoria - History

History

The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis (Κερκινίτης), was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC. Along with the rest of Crimea, Kerkinitis was part of the dominions of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, from whose cognomen, Eupator, the city's modern name derives.

From roughly the 7th through the 10th centuries AD Yevpatoriya was a Khazar settlement; its name in Khazar language was probably Güzliev (literally "beautiful house"). It was later subject to the Cumans (Kipchaks), the Mongols and the Crimean Khanate. During this period the city was called Kezlev by Crimean Tatars and Gözleve by Ottomans. The Russian medieval name Kozlov is a Russification of the Crimean Tatar name.

For a short period between 1478 and 1485, the city was administrated by the Ottoman Empire. Afterwards it became an important urban center of the Crimean Khanate. In 1783, with the whole Crimea, Kezlev was captured by the Russian Empire. Its name was officially changed to Evpatoriya ("Евпатория"- city named after Eupator Dionysius) in 1784. The city was briefly occupied in 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War, when it was the site of the Battle of Eupatoria. Adam Mickiewicz visited the town in 1825 and wrote one of his Crimean Sonnets here; it was later translated into Russian by Mikhail Lermontov.

The 400 year old Juma Jami mosque is one of the many designed or built by the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. 35-metre minarets rose on the flanks of the building. The mosque was of great state significance. It was here that a ceremony of the declaration of rights of the Crimean Khans was held at their enthronement. Only after that they went to their capital, the city of Bakhchisarai.

After the annexation of the Crimea by Russia Yevpatoriya became a residence of the spiritual ruler of the Karaites, the Gakham. In this connection here a complex of two praying houses was built under the supervision of the Rabovich brothers, in which forms of the Renaissance and Moslem architecture entwined in a most unusual manner. The ensemble organically incorporates three courtyards. The entrance to it is marked by the gates, built in 1900, which look like a refined triumphal arch.