Martina Cechová
Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague
Martina Čechová, Ph.D. works as an executive editor of Byzantinoslavica – Revue internationale des études byzantines and as a scientific researcher in the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague. She has been working in the Department of Paleoslovenic and Byzantine Studies since 2012.
After finishing her undergraduate studies in Classical Archeology at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Prague in 2008, she completed her Ph.D. in 2015 under the guidance of Vladimír Vavřínek. During her studies, Martina was awarded by several scholarships (e.g. One-month Pre-Doc Scholarship in Dumbarton Oaks in 2011, one-year long research scholarship awarded by DAAD at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz in 2011–2012). At that time she also took part in two campaigns of the Centre for Underwater Archeology of the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev, held in the Crimea.
Her research focuses on the territory of the northern Black Sea area in late Antiquity and early/middle Byzantine period. In particular, she deals with the city of Cherson in the Crimea and its political and economic importance for the Byzantine Empire. Furthermore, she is interested in trade contacts between the northern Black Sea and other parts of the ancient/medieval world and also in architectural development of cities in the periods of late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
She has written several articles mainly on the economy of Crimean Cherson and participated in many scientific conferences and workshops. She is also a member of Ceraneum – Waldemar Ceran Research Centre for the History and Culture of the Mediterranean Area and South-East Europe.
Cherson in the Crimea and the Byzantine Empire
(early – middle Byzantine period)
Ancient Greek town of Crimean Cherson was a significant element of the northern Black Sea area already in Antiquity, long before it became a part of the Byzantine Empire. Soon enough, Cherson happened to be the northernmost territory under the Byzantine rule, a border town, important from the political, diplomatic and economic point of view. Its relationship with Constantinople was not always positive though; it was rather ambivalent time to time.
In the paper I will introduce Cherson, its most important town buildings and its economy; then I will describe the most intriguing events of the period given, with particular focus on the relationship with Constantinople.