History oth the Crimea. Iphigenia and Putin on Tauris

With the Russian annexation of the Crimea in March 2014, the peninsula has moved into the focus of the German-speaking public. This made evident that even those interested in history often know only little about the past of the peninsula. The present book, which covers the history of the Crimea from ancient times to recent events, is intended to close this gap. The internationally renowned expert on Crimea`s history, Kerstin S. Jobst, describes the complex history of the multi-ethnic and pluri-religious Crimea not only from a political perspective. She also deals with the manifold cultural and historical interdependencies. Thus, the book presents myths and legends about the Crimea, including the subject of "Iphigenia" which is familiar to German-speaking readers, as well as the various peoples for whom the Crimea was a settlement and transit area and who shaped the fate of the peninsula. These included Greek colonists, Eurasian nomads, Crimean Tatars and others. The author shows the importance of the Crimea as a place of early Christianity, but also as a contact zone between different religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam. She also emphasizes the role of the peninsula as a peripheral area of various great powers - the Roman Empire, Byzantium, the Golden Horde, the Ottoman and the Russian Empires. With this overview of 2000 years of Crimea`s history, Kerstin S. Jobst places the most recent events on the peninsula in their historical context and shows how the Crimea has become for the majority of Russians a highly emotionalized space since the first Russian annexation in 1783.