Tyras, a colony of Miletus, probably founded about 600 B.C., situated some io m. from the mouth of the Tyras River (Dniester). Of no great importance in early times, in the and century B.C. it fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Getae about 50 B.C. In A.D. 56 it seems to have been restored by the Romans and henceforth formed part of the province of Lower Moesia. There exists a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus. Soon after the time of the latter it was destroyed by the Goths. Its government was in the hands of five archons, a senate, a popular assembly and a registrar. The types of its coins suggest a trade in wheat, wine and fish. The few inscriptions are also mostly concerned with trade. Its remains are scanty, as its site has been covered by the great medieval fortress of Monocastro or Akkerman.
See E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks (Cambridge, 1909); V. V. Latyshev, Inscriptiones Orae Septentrionalis Ponti Euxini, vol. i.
(E. H. M.)
