A surge in development associated with Black Sea tourism has provided numerous opportunities for excavations in the ancient Greek city of Apollonia Pontica. Matthew Symonds talked to Margarit Damyanov about how the results are revolutionising our knowledge of this major site.
Haunted by Ostrogothic and Hunnic raids, Panticapaeum still survived as a Byzantine citadel. It lived through a succession of Khazar and Slavic lordships to become the modern city of Kerch, now once more trying to persist through a precarious situation in the current war in Ukraine.
The photograph shows the 1935 Basilica, named after the year it was excavated and believed to date to the 6th century AD.