A Bosporan Dedication from the Sindian Frontier

This short Greek dedication comes from Phanagoria on the Asian side of the Cimmerian Bosporus. It belongs with the Scythian shelf because it preserves the sacred and political language of the north Black Sea contact zone: Aphrodite Ourania of Apatouros, King Pairisades, Bosporos, Theodosia, the Sindi, and the Maeotians all stand in a five-line inscription.

The text should be read beside Strabo's notice of Aphrodite Apatouros and beside the other Bosporan inscriptions in the shelf. It is not a Scythian ethnic statement. Its value is as primary evidence for a Greek cult title and Bosporan royal formula in the same frontier world that Greek, Sindian, Maeotian, Sarmatian, and Scythian sources share.

The translation below was made from the inspected Ancient Greek text of PHI Greek Inscriptions record PH183704 / CIRB 971.

Translation

Apollodoros, son of Phanagores, dedicated this to Aphrodite Ourania, mistress of Apatouros, when Pairisades was archon of Bosporos and Theodosia and king over the Sindi and all the Maeotians.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the Ancient Greek inscription text printed below. The English is a new rendering from the Greek. PHI Greek Inscriptions was used as the source text, with the local HTML capture retained for verification.

The inscription is included for Bosporan, Sindian, Maeotian, and north Black Sea cult context. It should not be used as a broad identity claim about any one people.

Prepared for the Good Works Library of the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: CIRB 971 / PH183704

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 971 / PH183704. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

1 Ἀπ[ολλ]όδ̣ω̣[ρ]ος Φαναγόρεω [ἀ]νέθηκεν
Ἀφροδίτηι Οὐρανίηι Ἀπατούρο μεδεούση[ι]
ἄρχοντος Παιρισάδεος Βοσπόρου καὶ
Θευδοσίης καὶ βασιλεύοντος Σίνδων καὶ
5 Μαϊτῶν πάντων.

Source Colophon

The source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 971 / PH183704, identified by PHI as N. Black Sea — Phanagoria — 349-310 BC — IosPE IV 418. The local source capture and extraction are preserved in the Scythian source archive as phi_183704_cirb_971_ins12.html and phi_183704_cirb_971_ins12_source.txt.

PHI prints restored letters in brackets in line 1 and line 2. This translation renders Φαναγόρεω as a patronymic, "son of Phanagores," and Ἀπατούρο μεδεούσηι as "mistress of Apatouros." The dating formula is left as a Bosporan royal formula rather than expanded into a historical narrative.

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