Olbia Between Sarmatian War and the Kings of Aorsia

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A Fragment from SEG 46:947[1]

This fragmentary honorific decree from Olbia, found at Mangup in Crimea, belongs to the Scythian shelf as Sarmatian and Bosporan frontier evidence. The surviving and restored lines remember civic danger, Sarmatian war pressure, embassies to Roman Moesia, and a further embassy to the greatest kings of Aorsia.

The inscription should be handled cautiously. The Aorsi are not "Scythians" in a blunt identity sense; they belong to the wider Sarmatian and north Pontic steppe world that later Greek and Roman witnesses often treat beside Scythian, Sauromatian, Alan, and Bosporan materials.

The translation below is an excerpt from the inspected Greek text of PHI Greek Inscriptions, SEG 46:947[1] / PH340269, with PH340268 used as a control.

Translation

[...] with hopes for the fatherland. For when [the Sarmatians had joined together and] the war arose, this man happened to be serving as ambassador in the province of Mysia, [setting before the governor] what he had foreseen about great and urgent affairs.

He asked for the things for which he had been sent. Showing himself well-disposed and good, he fulfilled the place of offices, alliance, and security; and, [after restoring] the courage and active strength of the fatherland, he returned to the city for all of us [...]

[...] at once. And he also served as ambassador to Oumanos [and to so-and-so and so-and-so], the greatest kings of Aorsia [...]

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 SEG 46:947[1] / PH340269 was used as the translation base, with SEG 46:947 / PH340268 checked as a parallel source-control record.

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: SEG 46:947[1]

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, SEG 46:947[1] / PH340269. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

[— — — — — — ἀλλὰ τῆς μεγάλης προσό]δου τῇ πατρίδι ἐλπίσιν· συνραγέντων γὰρ

[τῶν Σαρματῶν γενομένου τε τοῦ π]ολέμου ἔτυχεν οὗτος πρεσβεύων ἐν ἐ-

[παρχείῳ Μυσίᾳ, τῷ τε ἡγεμόνι(?) ἐμφανίζ]ων ἃ περὶ μεγάλων καὶ ἐπειγόντων πρα-

[γμάτων πρόειδεν, τοιαῦτα ἠξίωσ]εν, ἐφ’ ἃ ἦν ἀπεσταλμένος, εὔνουν κἀ-

[γαθὸν ἑατὸν παρέχων εἰς ἀξιώματ]α καὶ συμμαχίας τόπον ἐπλήρωσεν

[καὶ ἀσφαλείας, δι’ ὃ ἀποκαταστήσα]ς τὴν τῆς πατρίδος ἀνδρείαν καὶ ἐν-

[έργειαν — — — — — — — — — — — —]ς τὴν πόλιν ὑπέστρεψεν πᾶσιν ἡμεῖν

[— — — — — — — — (?)παραχρῆ]μα, ἐπρέσβευσεν δὲ καὶ πρὸς Ουμανον

[καὶ τὸν δεῖνα καὶ τὸν δεῖνα] τοὺς μεγίστους τῆς Ἀορσίας βασιλέ-

[ας — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]

Source Colophon

The source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, SEG 46:947[1] / PH340269, an honorific decree on a white marble stele from Olbia, found at Mangup in Crimea, dated by PHI to ca. 60 AD and tied to MAIET 5 (1996), pp. 35-59, Ju. G. Vinogradov per litteras to SEG, and Année Épigraphique (1996) 1357. The source capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive.

PHI Greek Inscriptions SEG 46:947 / PH340268 was also inspected as a parallel control; it has a slightly different restoration in the Aorsian embassy line, including Ουμαβιον(?) where PH340269 gives Ουμανον. The control capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive.

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