A Short Bosporan Epitaph from Pantikapaion

This small Bosporan epitaph preserves only a farewell formula, but its names make it useful for the Scythian shelf. Pothe is named as the son of Skilurus at Pantikapaion, the Bosporan city where Scythian, Greek, and steppe-Iranian histories repeatedly meet.

The inscription should be handled with restraint. The name Skilurus here may be an ordinary personal name borne by Pothe's father; the line by itself does not prove royal descent from the famous Scythian king. Its value is source access: a compact Greek witness preserving the name inside the Bosporan epigraphic record.

The translation below was made from the inspected Greek text captured from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 763 / PH183494.

Translation

Pothe, son of Skilurus, farewell.

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 was used as the source text, with the local HTML capture 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.

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Source Text: CIRB 763

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 763 / PH183494. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

Πόθε υἱ<ὲ> Σκιλού-

ρου, χαῖρε.

Source Colophon

The source text was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 763 / PH183494, Pantikapaion (Kerch), probably second century AD, with PHI noting IosPE IV 333. The source capture is preserved in the Scythian source archive. The Greek preserves the addressed vocative form Πόθε; this edition keeps Pothe rather than silently normalizing the name.

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