A Bosporan Royal Dedication from Pantikapaion

This damaged royal dedication from Pantikapaion belongs in the Scythian library because it gives an inscriptional, Bosporan voice to the frontier world around Scythians and Taurians. The text honors King Aspurgus as ruler over the Bosporus, Theodosia, and several named peoples, and it preserves the claim that he had subdued Scythians and Taurians.

The stone is broken. The English below keeps the losses visible instead of turning the restoration into a smooth political title. The value of the dossier is not a full narrative of Aspurgus' reign, but source access to a compact Greek witness in which Scythians and Taurians appear inside Bosporan royal language.

The translation below was made from the inspected Greek text captured from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 39 / PH182753.

Translation

To great King Aspurgus, friend of Rome, [the ...],

ruling all the Bosporus and Theodosia, and [the Sindoi and Maiotai and Tarpeitai and Toreitai],

the Psesoi also and the Tanaïtai, who subdued the Scythians and [the Taurians ...],

[someone] consecrated [this] to his own savior and benefactor,

in the twenty-sixth year [and in the month ...].

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 translation is a new Good Works rendering from the inspected Greek source text.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: CIRB 39

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 39 / PH182753. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

βασιλεῖ μεγάλωι Ἀσπούργωι φιλορωμαίωι, τῶ[ι — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]

βασιλεύοντι παντὸς Βοσπόρου καὶ Θεοδοσίας κα̣[ὶ Σίνδων καὶ Μαϊτῶν καὶ Ταρπείτων καὶ Τορετῶν]

Ψησῶν τε καὶ Ταναϊτῶν, ὑποτάξαντι Σκύθας κα̣[ὶ Ταύρους — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]

τῶι ἑαυτοῦ σωτῆρι καὶ εὐεργέτηι καθιέρωσε [— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]

ἐν τῶι κτʹ ἔτε̣[ι καὶ μηνὶ — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]

Source Colophon

The source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 39 / PH182753, Pantikapaion (Kerch), dated 23 AD. The source capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive.

PHI's display gives restored ethnic names in brackets after Theodosia and after Scythians. The translation preserves those restorations in brackets and does not infer the lost dedicator's name or the lost object of dedication.

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