Argotos, Skilurus' House, Ditagoia, Khodarz, Kalos Limen, and Demeter
The five source texts below are small in surviving words but large in historical consequence: they move the Scythian shelf from Greek stories about Scythians into inscriptions from Scythian royal, frontier, and cultic settings.
The dossier gathers royal verse, a dedication by Skilurus' daughter, a Kalos Limen war decree, an Achilles-name fragment from Neapolis, and a Demeter altar fragment. Together they show Scythian royal, Bosporan, Chersonesite, and Greek civic worlds meeting in stone.
The translation below is from the inspected Ancient Greek inscription texts printed below, with PHI Greek Inscriptions, IOSPE, and the Zaytsev/Solomonik Neapolis publication tradition used as source controls. Where the stone is broken, the English keeps the break visible instead of smoothing the restored reading into certainty.
Translation
1. The Argotos Heroon Verse
This stone tomb of much-boasting Argotos was set up by the ruler of horse-pasturing Scythia.
He left longing among noble men [...] for the sake of goodwill toward the Greeks.
Having labored much [...], against Thracians and Maeotians [...], he tamed [...]
He raised sixty sons and as many daughters [...] the wise son [...]
Why it matters: this is the royal-poetic face of late Scythian Neapolis. A Greek verse inscription in the palace-heroon idiom names Scythia as a horse-rich realm and sets Argotos in the world of kinship, war, Greek friendship, and dynastic abundance. IOSPE III 600 also provides a public English translation; this rendering is included for comparison and shelf completeness.
2. Senamotis, Daughter of Skilurus, Dedicates to Ditagoia
For King Pairisades the third, son of King Pairisades of the Bosporus, Senamotis, wife of Herakleides and daughter of King Skilurus, dedicated the sacrificial table to Ditagoia.
Why it matters: this is one of the strongest inscriptional bridges between the Scythian royal house and Bosporan Greek religion. It names Skilurus' daughter, her Bosporan marriage, and the otherwise rare goddess Ditagoia.
3. The Kalos Limen Decree Fragment
[...] having defeated the Scythians in battle [...]
[...] of the fatherland. And it was granted to them also each year [...]
[...] that they be crowned, and that the symmnamones make the proclamation: "The people crowns [...]
[...] those who recovered the places around Kalos Limen." And this decree [...]
[...] is to be inscribed on a stele of white stone and set in the pronaos of the Parthenos.
These things were resolved by the council and the people, when Agelas son of Lagorinos was king [...]
Why it matters: the famous Diophantos decree already has English translations. This smaller parallel fragment is more obscure. It preserves the same war-world in miniature: Scythians defeated, Kalos Limen recovered, civic memory cut into stone, and the goddess Parthenos as the sacred place where the decree was to stand.
4. Achilles, Khodarz, and Ompsalakos at Scythian Neapolis
[Achil]les, son of Khodarz [...]
[...] of Ompsalakos [...]
Why it matters: the text is badly broken, but the names matter. Khodarz and Ompsalakos belong to the Iranian or steppe onomastic atmosphere of Scythian Neapolis, and the fragment keeps Achilles inside the royal/palace inscription field rather than only in Olbian civic dedications.
5. The Demeter and Eumenes Altar Fragment
[D]emeter. Eumenes [...]
Why it matters: the fragment is only a spark, but it belongs in the same Neapolis cult landscape as the Argotos heroon, the Rhodian cult dedications, Achilles, and the royal inscriptions. IOSPE III 598 reads this as a dedication to Demeter by Eumenes and also provides a public English translation.
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. Existing Russian translations, PHI records, IOSPE records, and open scholarly summaries were used only as controls for source identification, damage, context, and date.
This dossier gathers rare and fragmentary inscriptional witnesses. Existing public IOSPE English renderings were located for the Argotos heroon verse and the Demeter/Eumenes altar; the remaining inscriptions are presented with cautious damaged-text rendering.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Five Greek Inscriptions from Scythian Neapolis, Pantikapaion, and Chersonesos
Ancient Greek source texts inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, IOSPE, and the Zaytsev/Solomonik publication tradition for Scythian Neapolis. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
1. Argotos Heroon Verse
Λαΐνεο̣ν τόδε σῆ̣μα μεγαυχ[ήτοι]ο̣ ἔ[στησεν]
[Ἀ]ργότο̣υ ὁ Σκυθίης κοίρ̣α̣νος ἱππο̣βό̣[του]·
[αἰ]ζ̣η̣οῖς δὲ λιπόντα̣ ποθὴν προσ[---]..ς
[εἵ]νεκεν Ἑλλάνων στέργε φιλο[φροσύνης?]·
[π]ο̣λλὰ δὲ Ι̣.[.].Π̣[---] κ̣αμὼ[v]
Θ̣ρ̣αικῶν Μαιω[τῶν τ' ---]Ο̣Π̣...[.] δά[μασεν ?]
υ̣ἱε̣ῖ̣ς δ̣' [ἑξήκο]ν̣τ̣α̣ κ̣ό̣[ρ]α̣ς ἴσα̣ς τ̣ε.[---]
θ̣[ρ]ε̣ψ[--- πι]νυτοῦ παιδὸς ΙΔ[---]
2. Senamotis and Ditagoia
ὑπὲρ̣ [τοῦ(?)] β̣α̣σ̣ιλέως̣ [τρὶ]ς̣ [Πα]ι̣ρ̣ι̣σ̣ά̣δ̣ο̣υ̣ [το]ῦ̣ [υἱο]ῦ̣ βασ̣ιλέως̣
[Βοσπόρου(?)] Παιρισάδ̣ο̣υ̣ Σ̣ε̣να̣μωτ̣ις Ἡρακλείδου γυνή,
βασιλέως δὲ Σκιλούρ[ο]υ θυγάτηρ ἀνέθηκεν τὴν τράπεζαν Διθαγοιαι.
3. Kalos Limen Decree Fragment
[— — — — — — — — — — — — — — νικάσαν]τες παρατάξει Σκύθας καὶ σα․[․]
[— — — — — — — — — — — — — — τᾶς πατ]ρίδος· δεδόσθαι δ' αὐτοῖς καὶ καθ' ἕτο[ς]
[στεφανοῦσθαι — — — — καὶ τοὺς συμμνάμ]ονας π[οεῖ]σθαι τὸ κάρυγμα· "ὁ δᾶμος
[στεφανοῖ — — — — ἀνακτασαμένους? τοὺ]ς κατὰ Καλὸν λι[μένα] τόπο[υ]ς". τὸ δὲ ψ[ά]-
[φισμα τοῦτο ἀναγράψαι εἰς στάλαν λευκ]οῦ λίθου κ[αὶ θέμεν εἰς τ]ὸ π[ρ]όναον τᾶ[ς]
[Παρθένου. ταῦτ' ἔδοξε βουλᾶι καὶ δάμωι βασιλεύοντος Ἀγέλα τοῦ] Λαγορίνο[υ]
4. Achilles, Khodarz, and Ompsalakos
[Ἀχιλ]λεὺς Χωδ[άρζου — —]
[— — Ὀμ]ψαλάκου [— — —]
5. Demeter and Eumenes Altar Fragment
[Δ]ή̣μητρι Εὐμέν̣[ης]
Source Colophon
The Argotos heroon verse was inspected from IOSPE III 600, with its EpiDoc XML captured locally, and compared against the Vinogradov/Zaytsev restored tradition. IOSPE III 600 includes an existing public English translation by Irene Polinskaya; this dossier's English is a new Good Works rendering for comparison and shelf completeness.
The Senamotis/Ditagoia dedication was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, SEG 37:674 / SEG 47:1193, PH339182, Pantikapaion, ca. 140-111 BCE.
The Kalos Limen decree fragment was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, IosPE I² 353 / SEG 52:736, PH184548, Chersonesos, ca. 107 BCE.
The Achilles/Khodarz fragment was inspected from PHI Greek Inscriptions, SEG 3:605 / IosPE I² 669, PH338185, Neapolis Skythika.
The Demeter and Eumenes altar fragment was inspected from IOSPE III 598, with its EpiDoc XML captured locally. IOSPE III 598 includes an existing public English translation by Irene Polinskaya; this entry is included for comparison and shelf completeness.
The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Greek. Where public IOSPE English renderings exist, they are named above as controls.
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