Chersonesus Salt Lakes

Chersonesus Taurica

SalinaChersonesus Taurica (free city, Roman protectorate) · Sevastopol, CrimeaBuilt 400 BCE

About

Strabo described a lagoon of saltworks above the gulf beside this Greek colony on Crimea's southwestern tip, and the orator Dio Chrysostom wrote of vast pans supplying salt to Greeks and Scythians alike. Rome took the city under its protection from the late Republic onward and, under Vespasian, garrisoned nearby Charax to guard the Bosporan trade routes its salt exports moved along. By 117 CE the city stood as a free but Roman-protected hub for Black Sea salt and grain shipping.

What happened here

Shallow pans are cut into the flats behind a beach or a lagoon and filled at high tide through a gate. The water is walked through a sequence of pans, each shallower and saltier than the last, and the sun does the rest over the summer. In late season the crust is raked into ridges, left to drain, then carried off in baskets. The work is hot, glaring and hard on the feet, and it is done by contracted labour on a short season. Salt preserves fish and meat, cures hides and pays part of the state's revenue, so the pans are regulated and often leased from the state. A salina needs sun, wind and a tide, and it shuts down entirely when it rains.