Names, Epitaphs, and Manumission Records
This dossier gathers seven short Greek inscriptions in which individual people are named as Sarmatian, Sarmatian by origin, or Sarmatian and Bosporan. Most are brief epitaphs or name-stones; two are western Lokrian manumission records that preserve the names of Sarmatian women freed through sale to a deity.
The texts are small, but they are useful for the Scythian shelf because they move Sarmatian evidence from royal geography into individual lives: Neon, Soteris, Hygylinos, Phrynea, Soso, Andron, and Athano. They should be read as Sarmatian and north Pontic comparative evidence, not as a claim that every Sarmatian witness is simply Scythian.
The English below is translated from the inspected Greek inscription texts printed after the colophon. Broken passages remain visibly broken, and uncertain names are kept cautious.
Translation
Neon the Sarmatian Bosporan
Neon, a Sarmatian and a Bosporan.
Soteris the Sarmatian Woman
Soteris, a good Sarmatian woman.
Hygylinos the Sarmatian
Hygylinos, perhaps, a Sarmatian.
Phrynea, Sarmatian by Origin
When Damokles son of Damostratos was secretary of the sacred envoys at Naupaktos, in the month Laphriaios, Aristeas, Nikandros, and Epilaos, the sons of Xennias, Istorians, sold to Asklepios at Krounoi, for freedom, a female person whose name was Phrynea, Sarmatian by origin, for a price of three thousand in silver. The guarantor according to the law was Damoteles son of Philoxenos, an Istorian. Let Phrynea remain beside Nikandros and Aristeas and Epilaos, doing what is assigned, as long as their father Xenias lives. Witnesses: Epikrates and Apollonios, Naupactians; Xennias, Ioniaios, Damoteles, and Pyrrhanoidas, Istorians.
Soso, Sarmatian by Origin
When Menandros was agonothete, Leukias sold to Athena Ilias, for freedom, a female person whose name was Soso, Sarmatian by origin, for a price of four thousand in silver. Let Soso remain beside Leukias as long as Leukias lives, doing what is assigned. If she does not remain or does not do what is assigned, let Leukias have authority, beating and flaying Soso if she does not do any of the things assigned. But when Leukias dies, let Soso be free. The guarantor according to the law was ... son of Polemarchos. Witnesses: ..., ...tes, Orthodikos, Arist....
Andron the Sarmatian
Krateros set this up for Andron the Sarmatian, his own good man, aged twenty.
Athano the Sarmatian Woman
Athano, a Sarmatian woman.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was prepared for the New Tianmu Anglican Church from seven Ancient Greek inscription records in PHI Greek Inscriptions: IG II² 8430 / PH10832, IG II² 10243 / PH12699, IG II² 10244 / PH12700, IG IX,1² 3:638,3 / PH43510, IG IX,1² 3:679 / PH43577, IG X,2 1 514 / PH137699, IG XII,1 525 / PH139071. The English is a new rendering from the inspected Greek source text printed below.
The two manumission texts preserve harsh legal language around enslaved Sarmatian women and conditional freedom. The translation keeps that structure visible without smoothing it into a modern paraphrase.
Prepared for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Seven Greek Inscriptions Naming Sarmatian People
Ancient Greek source texts from PHI Greek Inscriptions. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
IG II² 8430 / PH10832
1 Νέων
Σαρμάτης
Βοσπορανός.
IG II² 10243 / PH12699
1 Σωτηρὶς
Σαρματὶς
χρηστή.
IG II² 10244 / PH12700
1 Ὑγυλίνων(?)
Σαρμάτης.
IG IX,1² 3:638,3 / PH43510
1 γραμματεύοντος θεαρῶν
ἐν Ναυπάκτοι Δαμοκλέος τοῦ
Δαμοστράτου, μηνὸς Λαφριαίου
ἀπέδοντο Ἀριστέας, Νίκανδρος, Ἐπίλαος
5 οἱ Ξενν̣ία Ἰστώριοι τοῖ Ἀσκλαπιοῖ
τοῖ ἐν Κρουνοῖς σῶμα γυναικεῖον
ἐπ’ ἐλευθερίαι, ἇι ὄνομα Φρυνέα,
τὸ γένος Σαρμάτισσαν, τιμᾶς
ἀργυρίου ΜΜΜ. βεβαιωτὴρ κατὰ
10 τὸν νόμον Δαμοτέλης Φιλοξέ-
νου Ἰστώριος. παραμεινάτω δὲ Φρυ-
νέα παρὰ Νίκανδρον καὶ Ἀριστέαν
⟨καὶ Ἐπί⟩λαον ποιοῦσα τὸ ἐπιτασσόμενον,
ἕως κα ζῇ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῶν Ξενίας(!).
15 μάρτυροι, Ἐπικράτης, Ἀπολλώνι-
ος Ναυπάκτιοι, Ξεννίας, Ἰωνι-
αῖος, Δαμοτέλης, Πυρρανοί-
δας Ἰστώριοι.
IG IX,1² 3:679 / PH43577
1 [ἀγωνοθετέοντος Με]νάνδρου — — —τοῦ δεῖνος ethnicum— — —
[— —, μηνὸς — — ἀ]πέδοτο Λευκί[ας — — — — —]
[τᾶι Ἀθάναι τᾶι Ἰλι]ά̣δι σῶμα γυναι[κεῖον ἐπ’ ἐ]-
[λευθερίαι, ἇι ὄνομα Σ]ω̣σώ, τὸ γένος Σα̣[ρματίν(?)],
5 [τιμᾶς ἀργυρίου Μ]Μ̣ΜΜ̣. παραμινάτω̣ [δὲ Σω]-
[σὼ παρὰ Λευκίαν], ἄχρι οὗ κα ζῇ Λευκία[ς, ποιοῦ]-
[σα τὸ ἐπιτασσό]μ̣ενον· εἰ δὲ μὴ παραμέ[νοι ἢ μὴ]
[ποιοῖ τὸ ἐπιτασσό]μενον, κύριος ἔστω Λευκ̣[ίας]
[τύπτων καὶ δέρ(?)]ων Σωσώ, εἰ μὴ ποιοῖ τι τῶ[ν]
10 [ἐπιτασσομένω]ν Σ̣ω̣σώ· ἐπεὶ δέ κα ἀπο[θάνῃ],
[ἐλευθέρα ἔστω Σωσ]ώ̣. βεβαιωτὴρ κατὰ τὸν ν[ό]-
[μον ․․․c.10․․․] Π̣ολεμάρχου̣. μάρτυροι — — — —
— — —, — — —c.14— — —της, Ὀρθόδικος, Ἀρισ̣[τ— —].
vacat
IG X,2 1 514 / PH137699
1 Κράτερος
Ἄνδρωνι
Σαρμάτῃ,
ἰδίῳ ❦
5 ἀγαθῷ.
ἐτῶν κʹ.
IG XII,1 525 / PH139071
1 Ἀθανὼ
Σαρματίς.
Source Colophon
The source texts were inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions on 2026-05-11 and captured locally under Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/. The local HTML captures are phi_10832_ig_ii2_8430_neon_sarmatian_bosporan_ins26.html, phi_12699_ig_ii2_10243_soteris_sarmatian_ins26.html, phi_12700_ig_ii2_10244_hygylinos_sarmatian_ins26.html, phi_43510_ig_ix_1_2_3_638_3_phrynea_sarmatian_ins26.html, phi_43577_ig_ix_1_2_3_679_soso_sarmatian_ins26.html, phi_137699_ig_x_2_1_514_andron_sarmatian_ins26.html, phi_139071_ig_xii_1_525_athano_sarmatian_ins26.html; matching extracted Greek text files with _source.txt suffix are stored in the same folder.
The records are a mixed epigraphic dossier: Attic epitaphs for Sarmatian or Bosporan-Sarmatian persons, western Lokrian manumission records for Sarmatian women, a Thessalonike epitaph naming Andron the Sarmatian, and a Rhodian name-stone for Athano the Sarmatian woman. PHI's metadata and the visible Greek text are the source base; no modern English translation was used as the translation body.
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