At the White Rock

White rock, or Ak-Kaya (Ukrainian Ak-Kaya, Crimean Tat. Aq Qaya, Ak Kaya) is a rock in Crimea.
Sarmatians lived in a cave at the foot of the White Rock in the first centuries of our era. It is believed that she then served as a sanctuary - a kind of temple. Sarmatian tamgas were discovered - generic signs that were carved in stone to assert the right of ownership of this territory. There are many Scythian burial mounds on the plateau. In the Middle Ages, the leader of the richest Tatar family, Shirin, lived at the foot of the Rock. The upper cave is difficult to access: the entrance to it in the form of a round hole is located 52 meters from the bottom and 49 meters from the edge of the cliff. According to one of the legends, Altyn-Teshik was the lair of a werewolf snake, which brought here beauties abducted by it in the area. Another legend says that the cave stretches all the way to Feodosia. And if you believe the third, the robbers supposedly hid a chest with gold here (hence, quite possibly, the name of the cave Altyn Teshik - "golden hole"). The eldest of the family was elected at the White Rock. It was also a springboard for a kind of Crimean "veche" - here gathered Murzas, dissatisfied with the Crimean Khan.

Ak-Kaya was an execution site in the Middle Ages. Bogdan Khmelnitsky also visited the top of the White Rock, before his eyes, prisoners were thrown off the cliff so that the hetman did not hesitate with the ransom. In 1777, the headquarters of Suvorov was located here, and in 1783, on the White Rock plateau, the representatives of the Crimean nobility gathered by Prince Potemkin took an oath of allegiance to Russia.