Charax
- a fortress in the valley of Tempe, now Carisso, Liv. 44, 6, 10.—
- II A town on the Persian Gulf, Plin. 6, 23, 26, § 100; 6, 26, 30, § 124 sq.
(Χάραξ), of Pergamus, an historian and priest. Works Ἑλληνικά and Χρονικά
Charax wrote two large works, the one, in forty books, called Ἑλληνικά, the other named Χρονικά, of which the sixteenth book is quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus (s. v. Ὠρεός). In the former he mentions Augustus Caesar and Nero, which is our only authority for his date. Epigram
Suidas quotes an epigram, beginning εἰμὶ Χάραξ ἱερεὺς γεραρῆς ἀπὸ Περγαμοῦ ἀκρῆς, which gives his country and profession. Assessment
He is frequently referred to by Stephanus Byzantinus. He is mentioned by Euagrius (Hist. Eccl. v. extr.) among those historians who mixed fable with history, and this is confirmed by the anonymous writer of the " De Rebus Incredibilibus" (cc. 15, 16). Further Information
Comp. Vossius, de Hist. Graec. p. 414, ed. Westermann. [G.E.L.C]
CHARAX (Χάραξ: Eth. Χαρακηνός). Stephanus (s. v.) has collected the names of several places called Charax. One is the Charax Alexandri, near Celaenae in Phrygia. Another Charax is the old name of Tralles in Caria;b ut perhaps this is a blunder. A third was a place of great trade (ἐμπόριον) on the Gulf of Nicomedia in Bithynia, and near to Nicomedia. A fourth was in Pontice. The name, applied to a town, ought to mean a stockade or fortified place.
[G.L]CHARAX (Χάραξ, Strab. 17. p. 836; φάραξ, 4.3.14; Κόραξ, Stadiasm. p. 836), a seaport town, belonging to the Carthaginians, at the bottom of the Great Syrtis, very near the frontier of Cyrenaica; whence wine was exported to Cyrenaica, and silphium smuggled in return. (Strab. l. c.) Its position, like that of so many other places on the Great Syrtis, can hardly be determined with certainty. A full discussion of these localities will be found in Barth (Wanderungen, p. 364).
[P.S]Scythian fortress (later, Roman) of the 3d c. B.C. on the Ai-Todor promontory near ancient Chersonesus, not far from modern Yalta. A fortress of the Tauri tribe, it was ringed with thick cyclopean walls of hewn stone. The fort was seized by the Romans in the 1st c. A.D. and made into a military camp. It then acquired a second ring of walls and the area was increased to 1.5 ha.
Houses with walls of stone and brick have been uncovered, and water pipes and mosaic-floored basins (design of cuttlefish) have been found; also, there are ruins of Roman baths (25 x 15 m) and a necropolis of the 3d-4th c. Pottery and other articles are of local manufacture. The Simferopol Museum contains material from this site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYV. D. Blavatskii, “Kharaks,” Materialy po arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomor'ia v antichnuiu epokhu [Materialy i issledovaniia po arkheologii SSSR, No. 19] (1951) 250-91; A. L. Mongait, Archaeology in the USSR, tr.
M. W. Thompson (1961) 203-5. M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁO