Pantikapaion Honours for Sauromates and Rhescuporis — Four Bosporan Royal Inscriptions

Four Bosporan Royal Inscriptions from Pantikapaion

These four Greek inscriptions come from Pantikapaion, the capital city of the Bosporan kingdom at modern Kerch. They belong to the second and early third centuries AD, in the reigns of Tiberius Julius Sauromates and Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis.

The texts are formal, dynastic, and sometimes fragmentary. They preserve the Bosporan king's friendship with Caesar and Rome, royal benefaction language, a civic embassy from Prusa by Hypios, and the old north Pontic formula of rule over the whole Bosporus and the peoples around it.

The translation below is made from the inspected Ancient Greek inscription texts printed after the colophon. Damaged and restored portions are kept visible, and the names Sauromates and Rhescuporis are treated as Bosporan royal evidence rather than as simple ethnic labels.

Translation

1. Sauromates Honors Marcus Aurelius

The emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, his own benefactor and benefactor of his kingdom, Tiberius Julius, king Sauromates, friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious, set up, in the 498th year.

2. Rhescuporis Honored by Prusa by Hypios

In good fortune.

King Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis, descended from kings, son of the great king Sauromates, friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious: the city of the Prusians by Hypios honored its own benefactor through the ambassadors Marcus Aurelius Marcianus Ameinias, member of the common council, and Aurelius Philippianus Proclus, in the 520th year and in the month Deios, on the first day.

3. Rhescuporis for Sauromates

King Tiberius Julius Sauromates, Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis, king of the whole Bosporus and of the surrounding peoples, friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious, [honored or set up].

4. Sauromates and the Royal Gift

[...] of great [...].

[...] of king Sauromates [...].

[...] being present with [...].

[...] of friendship [...] from the king.

By gift, [perhaps one hundred] draught oxen; the man obtained great glory.

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 source records are PHI Greek Inscriptions PH182767, PH182770, PH182771, and PH182772, all from Pantikapaion on the north shore of the Black Sea.

The inscriptions are Bosporan royal-context evidence. They show how the dynasty presented Sauromates and Rhescuporis in Greek civic and imperial language, but they should not be flattened into a claim that the Bosporan royal house was simply Scythian or Sarmatian.

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

🌲

Source Text: Four Greek Royal Inscriptions from Pantikapaion

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, records PH182767, PH182770, PH182771, and PH182772. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

1. CIRB 52 / PH182767

Αὐτοκράτορα Καίσα-

ρα Μ(ᾶρκον) Αὐρήλιον Ἀντω-

νεῖνον Σεβαστόν, τὸν

ἴδιον καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βα-

σιλείας εὐεργέτην, Τιβ(έριος)

Ἰούλιος βασιλεὺς Σαυρο-

μάτης φιλόκαισαρ καὶ

φιλορώμαιος, εὐσεβὴς

ἀνέστησα ❦ ἐν τῶι ∙ ηϟυ ∙

2. CIRB 55 / PH182770

ἀγαθῆι τύχηι.

τὸν ἐκ βασιλέων βασιλέ-

α Τιβέριον Ἰούλιον

Ῥησκούποριν, υἱὸν

μεγάλου βασιλέως

Σαυρομάτου, φιλο-

καίσαρα καὶ φιλορώμα[ι]-

ον, εὐσεβῆ {ι}, ἡ Προυσιέων

πόλις τῆς πρὸς Ὕπιον τὸν

ἑαυτῆς εὐεργέτην, διὰ

πρεσβευτῶν Μάρκου Α[ὐ]-

[ρ]ηλίου Μαρκιανοῦ Ἀμ[ε]ι-

νία κοινοβούλου καὶ Αὐ-

ρηλίου Φιλιππιανοῦ Πρ[ό]-

κλου ἐν τῶι κφ ἔτει κ[αὶ]

μηνὶ Δείωι ❦ α. ❦

3. CIRB 56 / PH182771

Τιβέριον Ἰούλιον βασιλέ[α Σαυρομάτην Τιβέ]-

ριος Ἰούλιος βασιλεὺς το[ῦ σύμπαντος Βοσ]-

πόρου καὶ τῶν πέριξ ἐθ̣[νῶν Ῥησκούπορις φιλό]-

[καισα]ρ καὶ φιλορώ[μαιος, εὐσεβής].

4. CIRB 57 / PH182772

[— — — — — — — — — — — — —]

[— — — — — — μεγ]άλων ὡσ[— —]

[— — βασιλέως Σ]<α>υρομάτου

[— — — — — — — σ]υνπαρόν-

[τ— — — — — — —]στον τῆς φι-

[λίας? — — π]αρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως

[δωρεᾷ ἑκατὸν?] βόας ὑποζυγίους,

[μεγάλης δ]όξης ὁ ἀνὴρ ἔτυχεν.

Source Colophon

PH182767 is described by PHI as CIRB 52 from Pantikapaion, dated 201 AD and cross-referenced as IosPE II 34. PH182770 is CIRB 55 from Pantikapaion, dated 223 AD and cross-referenced as IosPE II 43. PH182771 is CIRB 56 from Pantikapaion, dated 210-227 AD. PH182772 is CIRB 57 from Pantikapaion, dated 173-211 AD and cross-referenced as IosPE IV 406.

The ancient Greek inscription texts were inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions before translation. The ancient source words are presented for verification; modern apparatus and database presentation are not reproduced as the translated body.

🌲