A Decree Fragment for the Maiden

This fragmentary Greek decree comes from Chersonesos on the north shore of the Black Sea. It belongs to the late third or early second century BCE, when the city remembered civic danger, the goddess called the Maiden, neighboring barbarians, and an attack connected with a Sarmatian force.

The surviving lines appear to frame the decree as public gratitude to the Maiden for salvation. Women, children, and free persons are mentioned in the damaged context of a harvest or gathering in the month Dionysios, followed by a sudden hostile movement and danger of capture.

The translation below is made from the inspected Ancient Greek inscription text printed after the colophon. The stone is heavily restored, so the English keeps restored and uncertain phrases visible instead of making the event more certain than the source allows.

Translation

Herakleidas son of Parmenon, being in charge of administration, and the law-guardians Polystratos son of Klem[y...], [Apollon]idas son of Damokles, Heroidas [son of ...], and the treasurer Babon son of Athenaios, [said]:

So that the matters concerning [the sacred things of the Maid]en and the salvation that happened [through the goddess] may be well for the citizens, and so that the people, [rendering] worthy gratitude to her, may be seen to do so:

For already before, [many] times, the people had been saved through her [from the greatest dangers]. And now, when [free persons] had gone out with children and women [for the gathering] in the month Dionysios, and when the neighboring barbarians made an unexpected attack, and when [the force of the] Sarmatians came in, [the free persons] fell into every danger and risked being taken by [the barbarians] and sold into Sarmatia [...]

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 main source record is PHI Greek Inscriptions PH339819 / SEG 47:1168, with PH184538 / IosPE I² 343 inspected as the older linked control record.

The inscription is useful because it is a civic Chersonesite witness to the Maiden, public salvation language, neighboring barbarians, and Sarmatian danger. It should not be treated as a complete narrative of the attack or as a blunt identity claim about Chersonesos, Scythians, or Sarmatians.

Compiled and translated for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Chersonesos Decree Fragment on the Maiden and Sarmatian Danger

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, record PH339819 / SEG 47:1168, with PH184538 / IosPE I² 343 inspected as a linked control. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

SEG 47:1168 / PH339819

Ἡρακλείδας Παρμένοντος ἐπὶ τᾶς διοικήσε[ος]

ἐ̣ὼν κ̣[αὶ νομοφύλ]ακες Πολύστρατος Κλε[μυ]-

τ̣ά̣δ̣α̣(?), [Ἀπολλω]ν̣ίδας(?) Δαμοκλεῖος, Ἡρώιδα̣[ς]

[τοῦ δεῖνος] κ̣α̣ὶ̣ τ̣αμίας Βάβων Ἀθαναί[ου]

[εἶπαν· ὅπως ἂν καλ]ῶς ἔχῃ τοῖς πολίταις τὰ

[ἱερὰ(?) τὰ ποτὶ Παρθ]ένον καὶ τᾶς γενομένας

[σωτηρίας διὰ θεὰν τὰ]ν ἐνδεχομέναν ὁ δᾶ-

[μος ἀποδιδοὺς ἀξί]α̣ν̣ αὐτᾶι φαίνηται χάριν

[πρότερόν τε ἤδη πολ]λ̣ά̣κι σωθεὶς δι’ αὐτὰν

[ἐκ τῶν μεγίστων κινδ]ύ̣ν̣ων καὶ νῦν ἐκπεπο-

[ρευμένων σωμάτων ἐλ]ε̣υ̣θ̣έρων μετὰ τέκνων

[καὶ γυναικῶν ἐπὶ σ]υγκομιδὰν τοῦ Διονυσί-

[ου μηνὸς ἔφοδόν τε π]ο̣ιησαμένων παράλο-

[γον τῶν παροικούν]των βαρβάρων καὶ δυ-

[νάμεος εἰσβαλούσας(?) τᾶς] Σ̣α̣ρματᾶν εἰς πᾶσα[ν]

[περίστασιν ἐμπεσόντα(?) σώματα τὰ ἐ]λ̣εύθερα

[ἐκινδύνευσεν ἁλόντα ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρω]ν̣(?) πρη-

[θῆναι εἰς Σαρματίαν — — — — — — — — — — —]

Source Colophon

PH339819 is described by PHI as SEG 47:1168 from Chersonesos, ca. 280 BCE, a fragment of an honorific decree on a marble stele, with IosPE I² 343 as its linked earlier record. PH184538 / IosPE I² 343 was also inspected; that record preserves a sparser version of the same decree and dates it broadly to ca. 250-200 BCE.

The Ancient Greek inscription text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions before translation. The local source captures are preserved at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/phi_339819_seg_47_1168.html and Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/phi_184538_iospe_i2_343_chersonesos_sarmatians.html. The ancient source words are presented for verification; modern apparatus and database presentation are not reproduced as the translated body.

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