Chronology: how old is Odessa and what's its name?

The story of the city of Odessa is probably one of the most blatant historical lies we can spot. I stumbled into this entire story via a monument to Napoleon as First Consul. The monument is located on the island of Corsica.

• Napoleon as First Consul in Place Foch in Ajaccio
• The statue of Napoleon as First Consul

The Google image searching algorithm suggested a few similar images, with a monument to Duke of Richelieu being one of them.

• Monument to the Duke de Richelieu in Odessa
• Monument to Duke de Richelieu
• Ivan Martos's statue of the Duke of Richelieu in Odessa

Never mind that de Richelieu (1766 - 1822) and Napoleon (1769 - 1821) are wearing our regular ancient Roman stuff.

Apparently the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, and the monument to Duke of Richelieu were made by the same person, Ivan Martos. While trying to figure things out the following article came on my radar.

• Plagiarism or provocation? Odessa Duke hides a sword in a "narrow" toga, and in Corsica - almost the same Napoleon.
  • That was some interesting reading.

Odessa is currently a Ukrainian city. Naturally, it was interesting to figure out why they have a monument dedicated to some French dude. There it goes. Armand-Emmanuel Sophie Septimanie de Vignerot du Plessis, 5th Duke of Richelieu and Fronsac, was a prominent French statesman during the Bourbon Restoration. He was known by the courtesy title of Count of Chinon until 1788, then Duke of Fronsac until 1791, when he succeeded his father as Duke of Richelieu.

• He was born in Paris, the son of Antoine de Vignerot du Plessis, 4th Duke of Richelieu, and of his wife, Adélaïde de Hautefort. His father was the son and heir of King Louis XV of France's favourite, Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, 3rd Duke of Richelieu (1696–1788).

As a royalist, during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, he served as a ranking officer in the Russian Imperial Army, achieving the grade of major general. In the Russian army, he achieved the rank of Major General but later resigned his commission after what he considered an unwarranted reprimand by Catherine's successor, Czar Paul I.

• His prospects brightened, however, after Paul was murdered in 1801.
• The new Russian emperor, Czar Alexander I, was one of his friends.
• The erasure of Richelieu's name from the list of prohibited émigrés who could not legally return to France, which Richelieu on his own had previously been unable to secure from Napoleon Bonaparte, was accorded on the request of Alexander's new imperial government, and in 1803 Alexander appointed him Governor of Odessa.
• Two years later, he became Governor-general of a large swathe of land recently conquered from the Ottoman Empire and called New Russia, which included the territories of Chersonese, Ekaterinoslav and the Crimea.
  • That's a huge chunk of land.
• He commanded a division in the Turkish War of 1806–1807, and was engaged in frequent expeditions to the Caucasus.
• Richelieu played a role during Ottoman plague epidemic which hit Odessa in the autumn 1812.
• In the eleven years of his administration, Odessa greatly increased in size and importance, eventually becoming the third largest city in the empire by population.
• The grateful Odessites erected a bronze monument to him in 1828.
• These are the famous Odessa Steps, crowned by a statue of Richelieu.
• Following the Bourbon Restoration (1814), he returned to his homeland and was twice Prime Minister of France.

KD: So, our French national Duke de Richelie could return to France in 1803, but instead he became the Governor of Russian Odessa, and Governor-general of New Russia? By the way, this Governor-general means the following:

• Governor-general in modern usage, is the title of an office-holder appointed to represent the monarch of a sovereign state in the governing of an independent realm as a viceroy.
• Governors-general have also previously been appointed in respect of major colonial states or other territories held by either a monarchy or republic.

Instances like this could answer questions like this:Viceroy of Muscovy... What colony? Who was he?

• Russia or Muscovy?

How old is Odessa in reality? Let's see if we can answer this question. Let's start with the narrative. Odessa is the third most populous city of Ukraine. Odessa is sometimes called the "pearl of the Black Sea", the "South Capital", "The Humour Capital" and "Southern Palmyra".

• Before the Tsarist establishment of Odessa, an ancient Greek settlement existed at its location.
• A more recent Tatar settlement was also founded at the location by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea in 1440 that was named after him as Khadjibey.
  • Khadjibey was a fortress and a haven by the Gulf of Odessa, in the location of the modern city of Odessa.
• After a period of Lithuanian Grand Duchy control, Hacibey and surroundings became part of the domain of the Ottomans in 1529 and remained there until the empire's defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1792.
• In 1794, the city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Russian empress Catherine the Great.

The Name "Odessa":

• The city was named in compliance with the Greek Plan of Catherine the Great.
  • The Greek Plan was an early solution to the Eastern Question which was advanced by Catherine the Great in the early 1780s
  • It envisaged the partition of the Ottoman Empire between the Russian and Habsburg Empires followed by the restoration of the Eastern Roman Empire centered in Constantinople.
  • OMG: this is such a baloney induced mambo-jumbo.
• It was named after the ancient Greek city of Odessos, which was mistakenly believed to have been located here.
  • Lie #1: "ancient Greek"
  • Lie #2: "mistakenly believed"
• Odessa is located in between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia, different from the ancient Odessos's location further west along the coast, which is at present day Varna, Bulgaria.

Odessa is probably one of the most beautiful cities I've never been to. These are older (19th century) photographs, so I'm not sure how many of the "ancient" buildings survived the carnage of our self-destructing civilization.
Odessa was the site of a large Greek settlement no later than the middle of the 6th century BC (a necropolis from the 5th–3rd centuries BC has long been known in this area). Some scholars believe it to have been a trade settlement established by the Greek city of Histria. Whether the Bay of Odessa is the ancient "Port of the Histrians" cannot yet be considered a settled question based on the available evidence.

• What is a "large" Greek settlement? Was it a camping tent, 50 camping tents, a village, a town or a small city?
• If it was a small city, why don't you historians just call it a small city then?

In the Middle Ages (5th to the late 15th centuries) successive rulers of the Odessa region included various nomadic tribes (Petchenegs, Cumans), the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Ottoman Empire.

• Since middle of the 13th century the city's territory belonged to the Golden Horde domain.
• On Italian navigational maps of 14th century on the place of Odessa is indicated the castle of Ginestra, at the time the center of a colony of the Republic of Genoa (more Gazaria).
• At times when the Northern Black Sea littoral was controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, there existed a settlement of Kachibei which at first was mentioned in 1415. By middle of 15th century the settlement was depopulated.

During the reign of Khan Hacı I Giray of Crimea (1441–1466), the Khanate was endangered by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks and, in search of allies, the khan agreed to cede the area to Lithuania.

• The site of present-day Odessa was then a fortress known as Khadjibey.
• "Khadzhibey" by Gennady Ladyzhensky, 1899 (he sure knew what it looked like out there)
• Plan of the fortress, 1784

Khadjibey came under direct control of the Ottoman Empire after 1529 as part of a region known as Yedisan after one of Nogay Hordes, and was administered in the Ottoman Silistra (Özi) Eyalet, Sanjak of Özi.

• In the mid-18th century, the Ottomans rebuilt the fortress at Khadjibey (also was known Hocabey), which was named Yeni Dünya (literally "New World").

The sleepy fishing village that Odessa (whatever that means) had witnessed a sea-change in its fortunes when the wealthy magnate and future Voivode of Kyiv (1791), Antoni Protazy Potocki, established trade routes through the port for the Polish Black Sea Trading Company and set up the infrastructure in the 1780s.

• During the Russian-Turkish War of 1787–1792, on 25 September 1789, a detachment of the Russian forces, including Zaporozhian Cossacks under Alexander Suvorov and Ivan Gudovich, took Khadjibey and Yeni Dünya for the Russian Empire.
  • Suvorov and Cossacks... was he their Ataman?
  • Suvorov, Yermak, Pugachev, Razin and the Siberian War
• One section of the troops came under command of a Spaniard in Russian service, Major General José de Ribas (known in Russia as Osip Mikhailovich Deribas); today, the main street in Odessa, Deribasivska Street, is named after him.
  • What kind of baloney is that? Spaniard José Pascual Domingo de Ribas y Boyons was known as Osip Mikhailovich Deribas. Say what?
• Russia formally gained possession of the Sanjak of Özi (Ochacov Oblast) as a result of the Treaty of Jassy in 1792 and it became a part of Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty.
  • Viceroyalty again... were those colonization type conquests?
• The newly acquired Ochakov Oblast was promised to the Cossacks by the Russian government for resettlement.
• The commander of the land forces in Ochakiv Oblast was appointed Graf (Count) Suvorov-Rymnikskiy.
  • Right... who else?

The city of Odessa, founded by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, centers on the site of the Turkish fortress Khadzhibei, which was occupied by a Russian Army in 1789.

• The Flemish engineer working for the empress, François Sainte de Wollant recommended the area of Khadzhibei fortress as the site for the region's basic port: it had an ice-free harbor, breakwaters could be cheaply constructed that would render the harbor safe and it would have the capacity to accommodate large fleets.
• In 1794 Catherine approved the founding of the new port-city and invested the first money in constructing the city.

Appreciate the BS when you see it: However, adjacent to the new official locality, a Moldavian colony already existed, which by the end of the 18th century was an independent settlement named Moldavanka.

• Some local historians consider that the settlement predates Odessa by about thirty years and assert that the locality was founded by Moldavians who came to build the fortress of Yeni Dunia for the Ottomans and eventually settled in the area in the late 1760s, right next to the settlement of Khadjibey (since 1795 Odessa proper), on what later became the Primorsky Boulevard.
• Another version posits that the settlement appeared after Odessa itself was founded, as a settlement of Moldavians, Greeks and Albanians fleeing the Ottoman yoke.

Odessa narrative based summary: The city of Odessa was established in 1794.

• Prior to it there was a fort and some Moldavian settlement there. Moldavians were not really smart back then, otherwise they would have never established a settlement right next to a constantly attacked fort. ​
• Oh, and some ancient Greeks had a colony there, gazillion of years ago. ​
• This ancient Greek colony was called Odessos. Sure enough, they wrote it down for us to inherit the name.​

The Age of Odessa: 227 years old in 2021.
We will need this "settlement" for what follows. Ochakiv also known as Ochakov is a small city in Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine.

• Ochakiv (founded in 1492, right?)

We will need the location of the mouth of this river. The Dnieper is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth-longest river in Europe, after Volga, Danube and Ural. The total length is approximately 2,200 km (1,400 mi). Historically, the river was an important barrier, dividing Ukraine into right and left banks.

• In antiquity, the river was known to the Greeks as the Borysthenes and was part of the Amber Road.​
• The Dnieper River​

Important: The river of Dnieper is the river of Borysthenes. (Ancient Greeks wrote it down, and we found the records, lol)

In a way (and time frame) similar to the Indus river, the river of Dnieper changed its course. This major change did not happen thousands of years ago. We are talking between 1600 and 1800. Pay attention to Borysthenes and Dnieper river as we go through the maps.

I assume this is the "ancient Greek" colony of "Odessos" we are seeing on the below older maps. Of course, the information presented on these 17th century maps is not "ancient". Certain things do not change. Their lies have a pattern.

• Remember: Borysthenes River = Dnieper River

As far as I understand, our Borysthenes river ceased to exist, and turned into two rivers:

• The Bog river​
• The Nieper river aka the Dnieper river​

You can also see that the city of Ordessus turned into the city of Oczakow.

• This Oczakow (Ordessus) is not the city of Ochakiv.

I believe the narrative really wants us to thinks that Oczakow and Ochakiv were one and the same. Here is what I think those reasons are:

• Siege of Ochakov (1737)
• Siege of Ochakov (1788)

The narrative needs to figure out what they had at Ochakov-Ochakiv, a city, or a fortress.

• 1737: The siege of Ochakov (1737) was a siege during the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39) in which the Russian army, led by Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, captured the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov. It took place in 1737.
  • LOL: Russian army, led by Burkhard Christoph von Münnich. They had no Russians in Russia?
• 1788: The second siege of Ochakov (now Ochakiv, Ukraine) was one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792).
  • In 1788, Russian forces led by Prince Grigory Potemkin and General Alexander Suvorov besieged the city, held by Ottoman troops commanded by Hasan Pasha.
  • The Russian victory was celebrated in a famous ode by Gavrila Derzhavin, and in a Te Deum by Giuseppe Sarti.

KD: Ordessus is Oczakow is Odessa (imho). It was conquered during the so-called Russian-Turkish War of 1787–1792.

• The city of Odessa was established in 1794, but it was not... it was already there.

As you can see, by 1815 the city of Odessa was firmly plated on a map. The Dnieper river moved to "Square #2".

• Actually Odessa was (in mass) present from about the narrative dates, but maps between 1650s and 1800 are somewhat weird. ​
• Please take a look for yourselves.​

Considering that Ochakiv-Ochakov name is not present on the above 1815 map. I will add one where it is present. Methinks, it's fairly obvious that:

• Odessa = Oczakow​
• Oczakow ≠ Ochakiv/Ochakov​

Now, when we (somewhat) established via maps that there was already a city at the current location of Odessa, let's see if these observations can be confirmed by older texts.

• Examining older texts, it's important to remember that they are full of lies too. ​
• Fortunately for us, it is much harder to lie when your contemporaries are still alive.​

Wanna see where our historical establishment moved the river of Ordessus? Check this out:

• The Argeș is a river in Southern Romania, a left tributary of the Danube.​
• The river is believed to be the same as Ὀρδησσός Ordessus, a name mentioned by Ancient Greek historian Herodotus.​

Vytautas the Great (c. 1350-1430) aka Witold Kiejstutowicz, Witold Aleksander, Witold Wielki, Vitovt, Alexander Vitoldus, Wythaws or Wythawt.

• Vytautas - Wikipedia​
• A history of Ukraine. The Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogita​

Ochakiv, Ochakov, Oczakow, Ochmatow, Okhmativ... this is getting somewhat comical. Now we have a village of Okhmativ (population of about 800 inhabitants). It (or its vicinity) was the site of two large battles in the 17th century:

• Battle of Ochmatów (1644)​
• Battle of Okhmativ (1655)​

Something tells me that all four of these events were one and the same:

• Siege of Ochakov (1737)
• Siege of Ochakov (1788)

I would call the below text a partial historical BS. Herodotus and Pliny are being talked about, like they were some ancients, but that's besides the point. What we see here is the river Bog falling into Dnieper near Oczakow. Scroll up to the 1607 map, and take a look.

Below we can see what an adjusted for its time narrative looks like. I guess stuff like this was alright for 1803. This makes the Ochakiv fortress ~2,485 years old. That's some durable construction materials right there.

Books summary: There are tons of books mentioning Oczakow on Google Ngram Viewer. There are a few where some minimal info was published about Ordessus. I did not search for other spelling versions. I have not seen Oczakow being described as some humongous city. At the same time I did not see any description of the "settlement" at all. I have no idea what the difference between a town and a city was back then.

• Books do appear to confirm that Oczakow was located where today's Odessa is located.​
• Books do mention a fortress with one or two towns right next to it.​

In addition to variously dated maps and texts, we have some illustrations of Oczakow. Unfortunately, all of them pertain to the Siege of 1788. Per the narrative, the Ochakiv fortress was supposed to be somewhere here.

• I cannot save a single photograph of anything pertaining to this particular fortress to save my life.
• If you can find something, please share.

Anyways, here are the images we have:

• The capture of Ochakov by Prince Grigory Potemkin on December 17, 1788​
• Source​

• The Siege of the Fortress Ochakov on December 1788.
• Source

• Victory of Ochakiv in December 1788 by January Suchodolski (1797-1895)
• Source

• The battle of Ochakov. Engraving by A. Bartsch. 1792.
• Source

• Field Marshal G.A. Potemkin receives a captive Turkish Pasha after the capture of Ochakov in December 1788.
  • Fragment of an engraving (I'd love to see the entire thing)
• Source

This is one humongous "Ochakov" in the background.

• The Siege of Ochakov by Francesco Casanova. ​
• Source​

On the images above we see a decent size town or city. Now compare to the below two images. I believe they suit the current narrative much better.

• Siege & assault of the fortress Ochakiv, June 1787 - 17.12.1787, engraving, circa 1810.​
  • I thought it happened in 1788​
• Source​

• Naval battle between the Russian and Ottoman fleets on June 22, 1788.
• Source

KD: On the top drawings of Oczakow, we can clearly see that a pretty large star city or town is being attacked. We are supposed to believe that it was today's Ochakiv. I think it was today's Odessa getting attacked and conquered.

Some Odessa facts:

• 1794 - Odessa founded by decree of Catherine II of Russia
• 1795 - Population: 2,250
• 1802 - Population: 9,000
• 1812 - Plague
• 1814 - Population: 25,000
• 1838 - Plague
• 1850 - Population: 100,000
• Source: History of Odessa

Considering that the entire city of Odessa in 1810 had to have about 20,000 citizens, I was simply unable to ignore this interesting story. I live in a town of about 100k, and it was founded in the 19th century. We do not have anything even remotely close to either one of the two Odessa buildings I'm about to show you.

• The first Odessa Opera House was opened in 1810 and destroyed by fire in 1873.​
  • Them nasty 1871 Chicago sparks finally made it to Odessa...
• Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater​
• History of Odessa Opera House​

This is what this Opera House looked like in 1873 (allegedly) after it was destroyed by fire.

• On the night of 2 January 1873, the building was gutted by fire.

Here comes the replacement. The modern building was constructed by Fellner & Helmer in neo-baroque (Vienna Baroque) style and opened in 1887.

• A fund raising campaign began immediately.
• The city announced an international contest for the best theatre design.
• Forty designs were submitted, but none was chosen.
• Finally, the project was drafted along the lines of Dresden Semperoper built in 1878, with its nontraditional foyer following the curvatures of auditorium.
• Two Viennese architects, Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer began to construct the larger replacement in 1883.
• The foundation stone was laid on 16 September 1884.
• On 1 October 1887 the theatre was completed.
• The architecture of the luxurious audience hall follows the late French rococo style. ​
• The unique acoustics of the horseshoe-designed hall allows performers to deliver even a whisper-low tone of voice from the stage to any part of the hall.​

Fellner & Helmer architects, lol sure why not. Please take a look at their wiki pages for some amazing info:

• Ferdinand Fellner​
• Hermann Helmer​

Now check out their Fellner & Helmer wiki page for some additional pertinent information, and... to see an incomplete two page list of what they built. Isn't it something?

• Anyways, I just figured it was a fun TIL to share.
  • By the way... check out their library.

I'm not gonna elaborate on the chronology issues. I do understand that the contents of the below chart are confusing and look ridiculous. For those who want to get a better idea, here is where you can get it:

• Chronology: how old is America?​
• Our timeline could be much shorter than we think...​
• Suvorov, Yermak, Pugachev, Razin and the Siberian War​

KD's Summary: Something is not right about Odessa and its history, that's my opinion. I think it's quite probable that Odessa is a bit older than we are being told. In this case we would have something like this:

• Ordessus is Oczakow
• Oczakow is Odessa
• Oczakow is not Ochakiv, its Odessa.