An Archaic Olbian Verse Inscription
This small Olbian inscription belongs in the Scythian source dossier because one inspected PHI record preserves the restored phrase "in Scythian land" for Leoxos son of Molpagores, while later linked PHI witnesses treat the same stone as a memorial for a man lying far from the city.
The text is not secure enough for a broad historical claim. The Scythian phrase belongs to a restoration in IosPE I² 270 / PH184465 and is treated cautiously here. The later IGDOlbia and SEG linked records preserve a different memorial reading that does not keep "Scythian land" in the same place.
The translations below were made from inspected Ancient Greek texts captured from PHI Greek Inscriptions: IosPE I² 270 / PH184465, SEG 3:594 / PH338176, IGDOlbia 44 / PH184108, and SEG 41:619 / PH339358.
Translation
IosPE I² 270 / PH184465
[I set up this stele], to the giver of spoil?, for you far from the city: [in Scythian land], Leoxos son of Molpagores.
On the other face:
[...]
SEG 3:594 / PH338176
[Here I stand as a marker]; and I say that somewhere far from the city, [in Scythia?], lies Leoxos son of Molpagores.
On the other face:
[I am the memorial] of Leoxos son of Molpagores.
IGDOlbia 44 / PH184108 and SEG 41:619 / PH339358
[I stand as a memorial of excellence], and I say that far from the city, [having perished], lies Leoxos son of Molpagores.
On the other face:
[I am the memorial] of Leoxos, [son] of Molpagores.
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. Latyshev's public-domain IosPE I² note was inspected as an older source-control witness for the restored "Scythian land" reading and for the uncertainty around the first line.
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: IosPE I² 270, SEG 3:594, IGDOlbia 44, and SEG 41:619
Ancient Greek source texts from PHI Greek Inscriptions. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
IosPE I² 270 / PH184465
[στήλην τήνδ' ἀνέθ]ηκα, λειωδότι, τῆλε πόλε[ώς σοι]
[ἐν γαίηι Σκυθικῆ]ι Λέωξος ὁ Μολπαγόρ[εω].
[---]ΑΕΙ vac.
[---]#⁷Ω vac.
SEG 3:594 / PH338176
[ἐνθάδε σῆμ' ἕστ]ηκα· λέ[γ]ω δ' ὅτι τῆλε πόλε[ώς που]
[ἐν Σκυθίηι(?) κεῖτ]αι Λέωξος ὁ Μολπαγόρεω.
[μνῆμ]ά εἰ-
[μι Λεώξου τοῦ Μολπαγόρ]εω.
IGDOlbia 44 / PH184108
[μνῆμ' ἀρετῆς ἕστ]ηκα, λέγω δ' ὅτι τῆλε πόλε[ως]
[οὐλόμενος κεῖτ]αι Λέωξος ὁ Μολπαγόρε[ω].
[Λεώξοˉ μνῆμ]ά εἰμ[ι]
[το͂ Μολπαγόρ]εω.
SEG 41:619 / PH339358
[μνῆμ' ἀρετῆς ἕστ]ηκα, λέγω δ' ὅτι τῆλε πόλε[ως πρὸ]
[οὐλόμενος κεῖτ]αι Λέωξος ὁ Μολπαγόρε[ω].
[Λεώξο μνῆμ]ά εἰμ[ι]
[τοῦ Μολπαγόρ]εω.
Source Colophon
The source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions records PH184465, PH338176, PH184108, and PH339358. PHI identifies the stone as an Olbian inscription from the North Shore of the Black Sea and links the records under IosPE I² 270, SEG 3:594, IGDOlbia 44, SEG 41:619, IosPE IV 36, and CEG 1.173. PHI dates the linked records between ca. 490-480 BCE and ca. 475-460 BCE, depending on edition record.
The source captures are preserved in the Scythian source archive. Latyshev's public-domain IosPE I² note was inspected in the public-domain Latyshev IosPE I² text archive, around the IosPE I² 270 entry.
PH184465 preserves the restored phrase [ἐν γαίηι Σκυθικῆ]ι; PH338176 gives [ἐν Σκυθίηι(?) κεῖτ]αι; PH184108 and PH339358 instead print [οὐλόμενος κεῖτ]αι. This dossier therefore presents the variants separately. The rendering "giver of spoil?" for λειωδότι follows the apparent sense of the compound but remains uncertain; Latyshev already marked the word and the wider restoration as doubtful.
🌲