Nikonion
Greek settlement, probably a colony of Istria, on the E shore of the Dniester liman near Odessa (Ps. Skyl. 68). It was founded in the mid 6th c. B.C. The settlement, 4 ha in area, was burned in the mid 4th c. B.C., after which it became an agricultural village. In the 2d c. B.C. it was destroyed by a natural disaster but recovered and existed into the 4th c. A.D. It imported mainly Attic wares from the 6th-4th c. along with some rare specimens of wares from Corinth and Chios. Coins of Istria predominate from the 5th-4th c. and, sporadically, coins of Olbia (6th-5th c.) and Tiras (4th c. B.C.). Particularly noteworthy are some stamped amphorae from Thasos, Chersonesus, Herakleia and Sinope. Terracottas (Ionian, 6th c.; Attic, 5th c.) are predominantly figurines of Demeter and Aphrodite. From the 1st c. A.D. imported articles disappeared, being replaced by those of local manufacture. The Odessa Museum contains material from the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. S. Sinitsyn, “Raskopki gorodishche vozle s. Roksolany Beliaevskogo raiona Odesskoi oblasti v 1957-1961 gg.,” Materialy po arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomor'ia 5 (1966) 5-56; P. O. Karyshkovskii, “K voprosu o drevnem nazvanii Roksolanskogo gorodishcha,” Materialy po arkheologii Severnogo Prichernomor'ia 5 (1966) 149-62; I. B. Braşinskij, “Recherches soviétiques sur les monuments antiques des régions de la Mer Noire,” Eirene 7 (1968) 84.
M. L. BERNHARD & Z. SZTETYŁŁO