A Warrior descended into Hades
Journal: Ancient World and Archaeology
Year: 2025

A fortuitous find in 1978 on the 2nd Mitridatskaya Street in Kerch is a verse epitaph of an unknown (his name has not survived) defender of the walls of Panticapaeum against Scythian aggression in the first quarter of the Vth century BC. The text reads κεῖμαι/ἐν τῶι δὲ χ/ωρίωι Ἀΐδα' εἰν ..., which can be translated as “in this fortress I lie, staying in Hades’ confines”. The inscription points simultaneously to the location of the physical remains and the immortal soul of the deceased.