Greek paganism survives in Crimea/Bosporan revival

The Bosporan Kingdom was a Hellenic kingdom in modern Crimea, which was established in the 5th century BC, became a Roman client kingdom upon the rise of Rome, and eventually was destroyed by the Huns after many years of raids by the Germanic tribes and other steppe peoples.

One thing which the Bosporan Kingdom represents is an island of Hellenic culture in the wilderness, perhaps akin to Cyrenaica in a sense. But unlike Cyrenaica, the Bosporan Kingdom's land in Crimea is relatively easy to secure--just conquer the peninsula up until the Isthmus of Perekop, and keep both that and the Syvash (which can be crossed in the winter, as in the Russian Civil War) guarded well enough. This could mean the Bosporan Kingdom could survive almost indefinitely.

I've made a couple of posts about this:

Regarding the last holdouts of Greek polytheism:

If any place did, it would be the Bosporan Kingdom, since they were basically at the fringe of the Greco-Roman world. Tweak a few things in the internal politics and culture there and they could be a good holdout of paganism before they inevitably have to convert to receive help from the Eastern Romans against the steppe hordes. Or if they can somehow come out on top against the steppe hordes (fortify the isthmus of Perekop plus any other crossing of the Sivash?), convert because of trade advantages. Since their cultural outlook is south across the Black Sea to an increasingly Christian world, I wouldn't give them much extra time. But it's possible TTL that the last Greco-Roman pagans would be Bosporan Greeks than Maniots.

Regarding the contacts of a 9th century Bosporan Kingdom's contacts with pagan Slavs and other non-Christian states.

Could work. But they'd probably get Christianised eventually. Would be interesting if holdouts lasted in the mountains for a few centuries--not entirely implausible, given Crimea's historic diversity of ethnic groups.

And thinking of that, assuming history goes a similar course and we have Italian trading cities making colonies in Crimea and the Renaissance and all that, these last pagans might become the subject of much interest. Maybe wild tales of Ancient Greece living on and fantastic temples. Or just derision at a bunch of superstitious peasants. Probably the former at first, and then the latter, especially when they find out these 14th/15th century Greek pagans differ too much from Ancient Greece. It most certainly will, since their faith would have elements of the Scythian, Turkic, and Christian religions.

I've made more posts, if you search "Bosporan" and look for my username, but these are two of the more detailed posts I've made. My overall thought is that a Bosporan state which can hold the entirety of Crimea and fortify the Isthmus of Perekop, with a secondary thought to the Syvash, can hold out on Crimea. This would also entail assimilating the Scythians and other peoples on the Crimean steppe into Bosporan Greek culture--which is doable, but will leave its mark on the Greek paganism of the later Bosporan kingdom, as the state already had heavy Scythian influence.

How do we get the Bosporan Kingdom to evolve in this manner yet get a similar world? I suppose we need them to beg Rome for assistance against the barbarians and get the Romans to establish a new frontier for them. In some way, Roman aid would be essential for helping the Bosporan Kingdom, since I'm imagining a wank of the late Bosporan kingdom. Maybe Nero's short annexation of the Bosporan Kingdom sticks for a bit longer, but the kingdom is restored in the late 2nd century or so? I mean, Caligula annexed the Mauretanian client kingdom at the fringe of Rome, and kept it. From there, strong rulers with Roman aid push the boundary to the Isthmus of Perekop and the Syvash and hold/fortify it again barbarians. Other territories under the control of the Bosporan Kingdom outside of Crimea are less essential. The native peoples there adopt culture gradually over the years.

So I suppose in Late Antiquity, the kingdom refuses to convert to Christianity, even if it has a brief flirtation with such. Perhaps some pagan scholars forced to leave the Roman Empire end up going to its cities, but this isn't a given. Although the Bosporan Kingdom defeats certain groups like the Huns, it eventually succumbs to steppe nomads, but these steppe nomads assimilate into (pagan) Greek culture and become a Turkic (it almost certainly will be) ruling class over a majority Greek-speaking, Greek-cultured, population. And it's very worth noting that these Greeks could easily have more of a link to Antiquity's Greeks than Byzantium.

Now in OTL, Byzantium held southern Crimea, south of the mountains. Byzantium is always a threat to this pagan state. With the Khazars or another strong steppe power, they can ignore the Byzantines, and the same goes with an alliance with the Russians. But at some point, at latest, the 11th century, even the Bosporan Greeks will be forced to convert to Christianity.

Which leaves us with the remnants of paganism. With such a developed civilisation, there would be monuments and temples to paganism which would become churches. But the peasants would not convert to Christianity for many years. Pagan holdouts could last until the Renaissance, where there could be remnants of Greek paganism somewhere in Crimea for Western European traders with their romanticism of Ancient Rome/Ancient Greece to find. This could be in the mountains of Crimea, which is very close to the port cities which Genoa OTL established colonies in.

So as I mentioned in my post which I quoted, what might the influence of this Bosporan Kingdom and its legacy be on the history of Europe and beyond? Even if it's only a few peasants who genuinely follow the gods of Ancient Greece, in a way which is in reality "tainted" by Scythian/Sarmatian/Turkic ways, how might this effect the perception of Greek paganism in Europe?
 
So are "my" Bosporans destined to fall before Greek fire and Byzantium's force, or would they survive and be more incorporated into Kievan Rus's sphere as "their" link to Greek Christianity? What Tmutarakan might end up TTL is interesting.

Does a Bosporan revival in Late Antiquity make sense, and resisting Christianity and subduing steppe tribes (by controlling all of Crimea and thus the Isthmus of Perekop), can it continue the age of paganism longer and keep the memory of Zeus and his associates fresh?
 
What POD is this? Does this circumvent Islam? This is very important for what I will say regarding this.

We can just assume a POD in Late Antiquity, late 3rd century, which reinvigorates the Bosporan Kingdom. Islam may be butterflied, but Arab expansions will probably not. The biggest threats to the Bosporans are further steppe invasions and the Byzantines trying to assert influence (since the southern part of Crimea tended to be controlled by those from Anatolia throughout history, but needn't automatically be)
 

Deleted member 97083

Greek paganism was viewed fondly as a source of stories in Europe. However, if there were actual living pagans, they would be seen as heathen corruptions and the Greco-Roman legacy would be seen in a much more restricted light in the West.
 
Greek paganism was viewed fondly as a source of stories in Europe. However, if there were actual living pagans, they would be seen as heathen corruptions and the Greco-Roman legacy would be seen in a much more restricted light in the West.

Oh yeah, there's massive amounts of artwork of Greco-Roman scenes from the Renaissance and later. But could we get the same "we hate pagans, but love all of Antiquity's works" dissonance even with some superstitious peasants in the Crimean mountains? Or would we still get all of the love of Greek paganism the Renaissance had, while the actual Greek pagans are just viewed as "superstitious Scythian peasants with no idea of the real Greece"? It seems that scholarship and understanding of Ancient Greek religion is bound to be heavily influenced by this.
 
First, Hellenism (among other names), second, it (the Faith) didn't die out to begin with, pockets of majority survived in Greece and elsewhere into the 10th and 11th centuries CE, after which it can still be found in continuously as a minority, prior to eventually going into hiding to avoid more rounds of outright murder by their 'tolerant' 'forgiving' Nazarene neighbors. I admit I find the idea of a majority Hellenic nation post-Christendom to be fascinating, though more out of bias than anything.
 
We can just assume a POD in Late Antiquity, late 3rd century, which reinvigorates the Bosporan Kingdom. Islam may be butterflied, but Arab expansions will probably not. The biggest threats to the Bosporans are further steppe invasions and the Byzantines trying to assert influence (since the southern part of Crimea tended to be controlled by those from Anatolia throughout history, but needn't automatically be)

Well that is not true. The Umayyads were until the Pechenegs and Kyevian Rus, the greatest threat to the Khazars and any remnants of both the Huns, Alani and Scythians in the region. Umayyad power and later Abbasid power stretched deep into the Pontic steppe and at the height of conflict, campaigned near Crimea/Bospora. This mind you, was the Muslim counterattack against the Khazar invasion of Iraq and the attack on Mosul-Ninewah. Any state in the Pontic steppe, will need to counter the Islamic caliphate to its south or be its benefactor.

Also, none of what the Greeks do, will counter the arrival of both the Khazars, Avars, Huns, Pechenegs, Cumans, etc... Sure they can defend the narrow pass between the peninsula, but defenses always collapse eventually.
 
Though the thread is about Greek Paganism surviving in Crimea / Bosporan (and am already aware of monotheistic streams of Hellenic religion existiing in OTL), how likely would it have been for ATL surviving Greek Pagans in Crimea / Bosporan to over time gradually trend towards a more uniquely Hellenic form of monotheism / semi-monotheism?
 
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