Four Bosporan Royal Honor Inscriptions

These four short inscriptions from Pantikapaion belong in the Scythian library as Bosporan royal-context evidence. They preserve the public language around Tiberius Julius Sauromates and his dynastic house: ancestral kingship, Roman friendship, priesthood of the Augusti, benefaction, civic associations, and court officers.

The texts should be handled narrowly. The name Sauromates is important for the Scythian/Sarmatian frontier archive, but these inscriptions do not prove a simple ethnic identity for the king or the Bosporan institutions around him. Their value is source access to compact north Black Sea Greek witnesses from the first and early second centuries AD.

The translations below were made from inspected Greek text captured from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 42-45 / PH182756-PH182759.

Translation

CIRB 42

[The king descended from ancestral kings, Tiber]ius [Julius Rhescuporis, son of] King [of the Bosporus Cotys, son of Aspurgus, pious], friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious, lifelong high priest of the Augusti and benefactor of the fatherland: Tiberius Julius [Sauromates, son of Rhescuporis], set up [his own father and benefactor in] the 390th year.

CIRB 43

[Tiberius Julius Sauromates], son of King [Rhescuporis], friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious: Marcus Ulpius Preimos [set up] his own benefactor, [in] the 394th year.

CIRB 44

[With good] fortune.

[The] king descended from ancestral [kings], great [King Tiberius] Julius [Sau]romates, son of [King] Rhescuporis, friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, pious, lifelong high priest of the Augusti and benefactor of the fatherland and founder: the association of the young Nicaeans honored their founder and benefactor for the sake of piety, under the supervision of Lucius Flavius Epitynchanon, in the 413th year and in the month Loios.

CIRB 45

To the [king] of kings, Tiberius [Julius] Sauromates, son of [King Rhescuporis? ...], and the panel within it, [as] a proof of his virtuous courage, [from his own expenses], Tiberius Julius Thaumastos, the court treasurer, [dedicated it in the ... year].

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.

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 42-45

Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, CIRB 42-45 / PH182756-PH182759. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

CIRB 42

[τὸν ἐκ προγόνων βασιλέων βασιλέα Τιβέ]ρ[ιον]

[Ἰούλιον Ῥησκούποριν υἱὸν βασ]ιλέως Βοσπό-

[ρου Κότυος τοῦ Ἀσπούργου εὐσεβοῦ]ς̣ φιλοκαίσα̣ρα

[καὶ φιλορώμαιον, εὐσεβῆ, ἀρχιερέα] τῶν Σεβαστῶν

[διὰ βίου καὶ εὐεργέτην τῆς πατρί]δ̣ο̣ς Τι(βέριος) ∶ Ἰούλιος

[Σαυρομάτης Ῥησκουπόριδος υἱὸς] τὸν ἴδιον πα-

[τέρα καὶ εὐεργέτην ἀνέστησα ἐν τῶ]ι̣ ∙ ϟ̣∙τʹ ∙ ἔτει.

CIRB 43

[Τιβ(έριον) Ἰούλιον Σαυρομάτην]

[υἱὸν βασιλέως Ῥησκουπόριδ]-

ος, φιλοκαίσαρα καὶ φι[λο]-

ρώμαιον, εὐσεβῆ, Μά[ρκο]-

ς Οὔλπιος Πρεῖμος [τὸ]-

ν ἴδιον εὐεργέτη[ν]

[ἐν] τῶι δϟτ ἔ[τει].

CIRB 44

[ἀγαθῆι] τ̣ύχηι.

[τὸ]ν ἐ̣κ̣ π̣[ρ]ο̣γόνων [βα]σι-

[λέ]ων ∙ βα̣[σιλέα] μέγαν [Τιβέ]-

[ρι]ον ∙ Ἰού[λιον Σαυ]ρομάτ[ην],

υ̣ἱὸν ∙ βα[σιλέως] Ῥησκουπ[ό]-

ριδος, φιλο[κ]αίσαρα καὶ

φιλορώμα[ι]ον ∙ εὐσεβῆ,

ἀρχιερέα τ[ῶ]ν ∙ Σεβαστῶν

δ̣ιὰ βίου ∙ κα[ὶ ε]ὐεργέτην

τ̣ῆς πατρίδος καὶ κτίστην,

Νεικαιέων ∙ νέων ∙ σύνοδος

τὸν ∙ ἑαυτῶν κτίστην ∙ καὶ

εὐεργέτην ∙ εὐσεβείας χάριν,

ἐπιμεληθέντος Λ̣ουκίου ∙ Φλαουί-

ου Ἐπιτυνχάνοντος,

ἐν τῷ ∙ γιυ ∙ ἔτει ∙ καὶ ∙ μηνὶ Λῴῳ.

CIRB 45

[βασι]λεῖ βασιλέων Τιβερ[ίωι Ἰουλ]ίωι Σαυρομάτηι βα[σιλέως Ῥησκουπόριδος? υἱῷ — — — — — —]

[κα]ὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῶι πίνα[κα τεκ]μήριον τῆς ἐναρέ[του? αὐτοῦ εὐψυχίας ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἀναλωμάτων]

[Τιβ]έριος Ἰούλιος Θαυμ[αστὸς ὁ] περὶ αὐλὴν γα[ζοφύλαξ ἀνέθηκεν ἐν τῶι ...ʹ ἔτει?].

Source Colophon

The source texts were inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, North Shore of the Black Sea, Pantikapaion (Kerch): CIRB 42 / PH182756, CIRB 43 / PH182757, CIRB 44 / PH182758, and CIRB 45 / PH182759. PHI dates them respectively to 93 AD?, 97 AD, 117 AD, and 93-124 AD.

The source captures are preserved in the Scythian source archive.

The source texts are damaged and highly restored in places. The English keeps restored material in brackets and leaves the final line of CIRB 45 provisional. CIRB 42 has a first-person verb form in PHI's displayed text; the translation regularizes the sense as a dedicatory statement but should receive epigraphic review before the translation is treated as a final epigraphic edition.

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