Cherson

   Byzantine port-city at the southwestern end of the Crimea (q.v.) that provided an important link to northern barbarian peoples, especially in terms of trade (e.g., furs, slaves, wax, honey, salted fish) and diplomacy. Its stout fortifications (rebuilt by Zeno and Justinian I [qq.v.]) and a deep natural harbor played a crucial role in relations with the Khazars and Kievan Rus (qq.v.). For example, Vladimir I (q.v.) may have been baptized in Cherson, and certainly clergy from Cherson played an important role in staffing Vladimir I's new church. It also was a place of exile for two important personages, Pope Martin I and Justinian II (qq.v.), and a place of refuge for monks fleeing Iconoclasm (q.v.). Theophilos created the theme (q.v.) of Cherson, guarded by a fortress called Sarkel (q.v.). After the Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204, Cherson fell under the sway of the Empire of Trebizond (q.v.); its commercial importance declined when Genoa (q.v.) established trading colonies in the Crimea.