Description : Mangup (Russian: Мангуп, Ukrainian: Мангуп, Crimean Tatar: Mangup) also known as Mangup Kale (kale means "fortress" in Turkish) is a historic fortress in Crimea, located on a plateau about 13 kilometres due east of Sevastopol (ancient Chersones). In early medieval times it was known as Doros (Greek: Δόρος) or Dory (Greek: Δόρυ) by the Byzantines, later it was given the Kipchak name Mangup. According to the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the region of Dory or Doros was settled by those Ostrogoths who refused to follow Theodoric the Great in his invasion of Italy in the 490s, marking the beginning of the Crimean Goths and their homeland, Gothia. Archaeological excavations have demonstrated the establishment of Christian basilicas, fortifications and cave settlements (alongside Mangup also at Eski Kermen etc.) during the 6th century. By the late 7th or early 8th century, a new bishopric, the Metropolis of Doros, was established in the region. Crimean Gothia was conquered by the Khazars in the early 8th century, and later in the 8th century was the center of an unsuccessful Gothic revolt against Khazaria led by Bishop John of Gothia. As a result of the Khazar conquest, the name Dory/Doros disappeared after the 9th century and was replaced by Mangup, first attested ca. 960, although the early medieval name may have survived in a corrupted form in the name of the Principality of Theodoro, which existed in the area in the late Middle Ages. In the mid-10th century, the Crimean Goths were Khazar vassals, before falling under the influence of competing powers: the Kievan Rus and the Kipchak tribal confederacy. The town was severely damaged by an earthquake in the 11th century, yet managed to maintain autonomy during the Mongol conquest of Crimea but was compelled to pay tribute to the Great Khan. In ca. 1223, the towns of Gothia may have been tributary to the Empire of Trebizond, and in the late 13th/early 14th century Mangup became the centre of the Principality of Theodoro, whose ruling elite maintained Byzantine traditions and the use of the Greek language. The ruling dynasty, stemming from the area of Trebizond, was called Gabras (in Greek) or Chowra (in Turkish). In the late 14th century, one branch of the dynasty emigrated to Moscow, where they established the Simonov Monastery. The Khovrins, as they came to be known, were hereditary treasurers of Muscovy. In the 16th century, they changed their name to Golovin.
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