Two Short Inscriptions from Pantikapaion

These two small dedications from Pantikapaion belong in the Scythian library because they preserve the Bosporan court's own inscriptional memory of victories connected with the Scythians.

Both texts are broken, and the first depends heavily on restored royal titulature. The English below keeps the losses visible instead of smoothing the stones into a continuous royal proclamation.

The translations below were made from inspected Greek texts captured from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 32 / PH182746 and CIRB 33 / PH182747.

Translation

1. Sauromatus and the Victory from the Scythians

For [the king sprung from ancestral kings], [the great] king of [the Bosporus], Sauromatus, friend of Caesar [and friend of Rome], pious, for the victory [from the Scythians], Parthenokles and [Preimos?] and Antimachos, the men set over [...], [dedicated this] to the victory-bearing gods, [in the ... year], [on the ... day] of Gorpiaios.

2. Kottios and the Victory from the Scythians

For the king of kings, Tiberius Julius Kottios, friend of Caesar and friend of Rome, and [benefactor] of the fatherland, for the victory [from the Scythians], Tryphon son of Apollonios, navarch, [dedicated this] in the 420th year, on the twenty-seventh day of the month Daisios.

Colophon

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

🌲

Source Text: CIRB 32 and CIRB 33

Ancient Greek source texts from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 32 / PH182746 and CIRB 33 / PH182747. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

CIRB 32

ὑπ̣[ὲρ τοῦ ἐκ προγόνων βα]-

 σιλέω̣[ν — — — μεγάλου βα]-

 σιλέως Β[οσπόρου Σαυρομάτου]

 φιλοκαίσαρος̣ [καὶ φιλορωμαίου],

 εὐσεβοῦς νείκ[ης τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν Σκυ]-

 θῶν, Παρθενοκ[λῆς καὶ Πρεῖμος? καὶ]

 Ἀντίμαχος οἱ ἐπ[ὶ — — — — — — — —]

 θεοῖς νεικηφόροις. [ἐν τῶι ․․․ʹ ἔτει].

            Γορπ[ιαίου ․․ʹ].

CIRB 33

[ὑπ]ὲρ̣ βασιλέως [βασιλέ]ων

Τιβερίου Ἰουλίου Κόττι[ος]

φιλοκαίσ[αρος καὶ φ]ι[λ]ορωμα[ί]ου

τοῦ καὶ̣ [εὐεργέτου τῆ]ς πατρίδος

νείκης [τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν Σκ]υ̣θῶν

   Τρύ[φω]ν ∙ Ἀπ[ο]λλωνίου

 ναύαρ[χο]ς ∙ ἐν ∙ τῷ ∙ κυʹ

 ἔτει ∙ καὶ μηνὶ ∙ Δαεισίῳ κζʹ.

Source Colophon

The first source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 32 / PH182746, Pantikapaion (Kerch), dated 93-124 AD, with PHI noting IosPE II 26 and SEG 50:708. The source capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive.

The second source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 33 / PH182747, Pantikapaion (Kerch), dated 123 AD, with PHI noting IosPE II 27. The source capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive.

The phrase νείκης τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν Σκυθῶν is rendered here as "victory from the Scythians," preserving the Greek's compact genitive relation. Another epigraphic rendering may choose smoother English such as "victory over the Scythians," but this edition keeps the source relation close.

🌲