Marble basins with inscriptions from Gorgippeia
Authors: Завойкина Н. В. , Новичихин А. М. 
Published: October 2023

Two marble vessels preserving fragmentary are published in the article. The first is a perirranterion from accidental finds in Gorgippia (fig. 1). It is dated back to the Roman time. On its rim has been carved the inscription: vac. Θ̣ – 10 – ΩΣ vac. N – 4/5 – Ν̣ΙΟΥ (fig. 2.1, 2.2). The authors have proposed its reconstruction as “θ[εῷ ὑψίστῳ? Ἔρ]ως Ν[ουμη]νίου, – to the Supreme God Eros, son of Noumenios (has dedicated)”. Eros, son of Numenios, is known in the dedication to Poseidon of the thiasos of naukleroi from Gorgippia (CIRB 1134) in the reign of Sauromates II (AD 173/4–210/11). He was a merchant and navigator, a wealthy citizen of Gorgippia. This observation makes it possible to date the perirranterion to 170s – 210s AD. The reading of θ[εῷ ὑψίστῳ] is suggested on the basis of the size of the gap, the popularity of the cult of this deity in Bosporos in the first centuries AD, and because the Supreme God is known as a protector from some dangers at sea. The photograph of the Gorgippian perirranterion was published as an analogy for the reconstruction of the Phanagorian perirranterion in 2018 [Завойкина 2018, 109]. There were no parameters of it and characteristics of the state of its inscription in the article. However, S.Yu. Saprykin has suggested reading the inscription on the Gorgippian perirranterion only on the basis of the photograph [Сапрыкин 2019, 152–153]. He did not carry out an autopsy of the inscription. As a result of this attitude to the new source, the researcher has offered the reading with some erroneous. So, Saprykin saw the letters […]ΕΦΑΝ […]ΙΟΥ in the donor’s name on the photograph instead of the letters […]ΩΣ vac.  N – 4/5 – Ν̣ΙΟΥ, which were clearly visible in the autopsy. Not knowing the parameters of the inscription (the height of the letters, the distance between them, the length of the gaps between the letters) led Saprykin to a purely speculative reasoning about the possible name of a deity in the dedication. Only a small fragment of upper part (a rim) of the second marble vessel has survived (fig. 2.3, 2.3a). It was found in the course of archaeological investigation in Gorgippia in 1968. Three letters has cut on its outer side -? – ΗΜΩ̣ -? -. The fragment is dated to the last quarter of II – the first third of III centuries AD. The authors has come to the conclusion that the fragment resembles the perirranterion from Phanagoria, and the letters may belong to the donor’s name or patronymic in -ημων. Also it is considered a new restoration of the dedicatory inscription, carving on the perirranterion from Phanagoria, which was proposed by F. V. Shelov-Kovedyaev. Some errors, shortcomings and remarks made by S.Yu. Saprykin concerning to the reading of the inscription were disassembled earlier [Завойкина 2020, 61–68]. F. V. Shelov-Kovedyaev has not taken into account the diameter of the perirranterion, the size of the letters in the inscription and the distance between them in his reconstruction. As a result, the inscription takes more than 50 sm at max. outer diameter of the Phanagorian perirranterion 42 sm.