' Schiltberger aus Miinchen— /Vtrr %n den Orknt, &c.; vim ihm leihst gtseknA(», xxxvi. In 1642 Cluinlin counted 4,000 houses, 3,zoo of which were inh>bilcil lij Mohomedans.
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and hospitably entertained by the Genoese.' Athanasius Nikitin of Tver, also passed through CalTa on his return from India, in 1470; * and we have the account of another traveller, Anibrc^io Contarini, Venetian ambassador to Persia, who severely censured the intemperance indulged in at the court of John III. at Moscow, from which city he went to Caffa, on his way to Mingrelia and Georgia.
Independently of the bishop of the Latin Church, an episcopate established by pope John XXII., there was a bishop of the Gregorian Armenians who formed a considerable proportion of the population of Caffa,' and a bishop of the Greek Church. These various communities of Christians had their cathedrals, churches, and convents, the Jews and Mahomedans their synagc^ues and mosques; and yet of so much lustre, how little is now left!
The episcopal church erected in the fourteenth century, converted into a mosque during Turkish domination, and now restored to a Christian temple, is remarkable from having an oriental dome in combination with a steeple tower. Another ancient church is for the service of Roman Catholics, and a thh^ is the Armenian church of the Archangels. The church of Sourp Sarghis, in close imitation of the style of architecture in Armenia, is of very ancient date, an edifice covered with numberless inscriptions and crosses, and having a handsome porch.
From a once formidable fort by the seaside, at the north end of the town, may be traced, upon careful examination, a ditch and the foundations of eight or perhaps ten towers, that were connected with each other by a wall which encircled the city to the east end as far as the citadel, where is now the quarantine ground.
' De Lannoji, Vtyages rt Amhaaades, SiC p. 42.
* Karamsin, vi. p. 456, and note 31.
* Alter Ihe conquMt of their country by the Horde, 1262, there was an exodus of Ameniant to Aslrahan and Kazan; many o( them emigrated to the Ciimea.
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At an angle of the latter fortification, still stands the tower that was erected at the personal cost of pope Clement VI. in 1348, a3 is recorded in an inscription that has been removed from its walk to the museum,
ANNIS MILLE DEI TRECENTIS OTTO QUADRENI MENSSE
MA'i FUIT OCTAVA LUCE PATENTE MACNI PONTIFICIS CLEUEMTIS
CRACIA DATA CKUCIS IN AUGMENTUM, HEC TURRIS HEDIFICATA.
INNICIUN SUMPSIT. FUNDATA PRESTITE. VHESU E(EST)MALIS IS
STRAGEN. CUNCTIS LAUDENQUE SUPERNl PRESULEM ERMIRIUH
TU(N)C CONSULEM E(SS)EPATEBAT nomine MONDINUN. QUENXHS (CHRISTVSJVK
ERE REGEBAT PROTEGAT UANC DEUS. CUIUS VOCABULO TUTA
ERIT LAUDENQUE. SUAM CONTINUO PUTA.'
Clement's tower is the farthest from the sea on an elevated site, and was intended as a defence gainst enemies from the west side.
Although the inscription is much worn and difficult to decipher, the year at the first line is fairly distinct and reads more like 1308 than 1348, the date assigned by M. Jui^ievitz. The pontificate of Clement V. lasted from 1305 to 1316, and Caffa was raised to a bishop's see in 1318; some doubts being generally entertained as to the correct reading, it appears more probable that a bishop should be appointed to the city after measures were taken for its defence than before; in which case the tower would have been erected by pope Clement V.
The museum is an incongruous building on a hill overlooking the tpwn. In the collection of antiquities are numerous coins of the Pontus and of the Milesian colonies on the shores of the Black Sea, specimens of ancient pottery, and inscriptions and
' From an article by Prof. JurElevili in Zafysfy Odtis. iibsktch,, 1875, xi. p. 401. I am indebted to M. Verebrou&soff of Theodosia, for a pbott^raph of (be slab.
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armorial bearings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries from the walls of Caffa, Attached to the museum is a mortuarychapel to the memory of General Katlareffsky, a distinguished Russian officer.
During the excavations that were conducted at Theodosia a few years ago, objects that may unhesitatingly be classed among the choicest specimens of the goldsmith's art in ancient Greece, that have yet been brought to light, were found in a small barrow near the citadel; they include a necklace and pair of earrings in gold of exquisite workmanship, the subject upon each earring, in high relief, being a representation of Victory in a quadriga. These gems of art are at the Hermitage.