Thiasos and Council Inscriptions from the Bosporan Frontier
These two Greek inscriptions come from Tanais, the trading city near the mouth of the Don. They belong to the early second century AD, in the reign of the Bosporan king Tiberius Julius Sauromates.
The first text is a thiasos list dated to 104 AD. It names the king, the month Apellaios, a Tanais festival day, the priest, association officers, and the remaining members. The second is a damaged civic decree from roughly the same reign, preserving the council of Tanais on the Bosporus and a broken honorific formula for the son of Mathianes.
The translation below is made from the inspected Ancient Greek inscription texts printed after the colophon. The name Sauromates is treated here as Bosporan royal evidence, not as a simple ethnic label, and the broken decree is translated cautiously where the stone is fragmentary.
Translation
1. The Day of Tanais and the Thiasos
When King Tiberius Sauromates, friend of Caesar and friend of the Romans, [...] pious, was reigning, in the 401st year, while they were celebrating the [...] day of Tanais in the month Apellaios, on the eleventh day, around the priest Xenon son of Eros, and the synagogos Gaios son of Chariton, and the lover of the good Nikostratos the Second, and the assistant lover of the good Euporos son of Makaros, and the rest of the thiasos members:
Metrophanes son of Alexandros,
Herakleides son of Papas,
[K]alligenes son of Theoneikos,
Dadas son of Theoneikos,
Thorax son of Gasteis,
Eros son of Zenobios,
Boidas son of Apollonios,
Sousas son of Papas,
Attas son of Diophantos,
Ariston son of Deios,
Mastous son of Papias,
[Th]eagenes son of Metrophanes,
[Euk?]rates son of Psycharion.
2. Decree for the Son of Mathianes
[Under] King [Sauromates(?)], friend of Caesar and [friend of the Romans], pious, the presidents of the council [of Tanais] on the Bosporus said:
Since [the man], born of Mathianes, the [child(?) of parents] and fosterers [...], equal [...], and now, having helped the king [to restore] the ancestral [land] and the [boundaries of the city ...].
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 PH184000 / CIRB 1259 and PH339768 / SEG 45:1023, both from Tanais on the north Black Sea frontier.
The two inscriptions are useful because they show Tanais civic and association life under the Bosporan king Sauromates: priestly and thiasos offices, the local Tanais day, the council of Tanais on the Bosporus, and a damaged public honor formula. They should not be used as proof of a simple ethnic identity for the Bosporan royal house or the Tanais community.
Compiled and translated for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Two Greek Inscriptions from Tanais
Ancient Greek source text from PHI Greek Inscriptions, records PH184000, PH339527, and PH339768. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
1. CIRB 1259 / PH184000
βασιλεύοντος βασιλ[έ]-
ως Τιβερίου Σαυρομάτου
φιλοκαίσαρος καὶ φιλο-
ρωμαίου, 〚․4-5․〛 εὐσε-
βοῦς, ἔτους αυʹ ἄ[γ]οντες θ[․]
ἡμέραν Τανάϊδος μηνὶ Ἀ̣-
πελλαίου αιʹ περὶ <ἱε>ρέα Ξένων
Ἔρωτος καὶ συναγωγὸν Γάϊον̣
Χαρίτωνος καὶ φιλάγαθο[ν]
Νεικόστρατον βʹ καὶ παρ[α]-
φιλάγαθον Εὔπορον Μακά[ρ]-
ου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν θιεσειτῶν
Μητροφάνης Ἀλεξάνδρου̣,
Ἡρακλείδης Πάβα,
[Κ]α̣λ̣λ̣ι̣γένης Θεονείκου,
Δάδας Θεονείκου,
Θώραξ Γάστει,
Ἔρως Ζηνοβίου,
Βοΐδας Ἀπολλωνίου̣,
Σούσας Πάβα,
Ἄττας Διοφάντου,
Ἀρίστων Δείου,
Μαστοῦς Παπία,
[Θ]εαγένης Μητροφάνου,
[Εὐκ?]ρ̣άτης Ψυχαρίωνος.
1a. SEG 43:516 / PH339527, Parallel for CIRB 1259 Line 5
... εὐσε-
βοῦς, ἔτους αυʹ ἄγοντες θι[οῦ]
2. SEG 45:1023 / PH339768
vac. βα[σι]λέω̣[ς Σαυρομάτου(?) vacat]
φιλοκαίσαρος καὶ [φιλορωμαίου εὐσε]-
βοῦς, πρόεδροι βουλῆς [Τανάϊδος τῆς]
κατὰ Βόσ[π]ορον εἶπαν· ἐ[πειδὴ ὁ δεῖνα]
Μαθιανου γεννηθεὶς ὁ π̣[αῖς(?) γονέων]
καὶ τροφέ[ων ․․․․․]․ ἴσων ν̣[ῦν δὲ τῷ]
βασιλεῖ β̣[οηθήσας τ]ὴ̣ν̣ πάτρ[ιον γῆν]
καὶ τοὺς [ὅρους τῆς πόλεως ἀποκατα]-
σ[τῆναι(?) — — — — — — — — — — —]
[— — — — — — — — — — — — — — —]
Source Colophon
PH184000 is described by PHI as CIRB 1259 from Tanais, dated 104 AD, with PH339527 / SEG 43:516 as a parallel for line 5. PH339768 is described by PHI as SEG 45:1023 from Tanais, dated 93-123 AD, an honorific decree for the son of Mathianes, from a marble fragment broken to the right and below.
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.
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