Abstract
The criticisms of S.Yu. Saprykin on the reconstruction of two inscriptions from Phanagoria published by N.V. Zavoykina in 2018 are discussed in the article. The fi rst inscription is a dedication to Zeus Uranius and Soteros set by a certain son of Mastos, the son of Maeous, the governor of the royal residence according to a vow in AD 128 or 129. It is carved on the outside of the marble cult bowl, it is presumably a perriereterium. S.Yu. Saprykin believes that the marble fragments belong to a city nymphaeum and also offers a new reconstruction of 1–2 lines of the inscription. The author gives a number of counterarguments to Saprykin’s corrections. It is shown in the article that there is no reason to believe that the marble fragments belong to a city nymphaeum because a reconstructed size of the cult bowl is quite small for a city water basin. It could contain no more than 5 liters of water. Also, there is no reason to think that the inscription was put by a certain son whose name ends in -demos according to a vow to an unknown deity with the epiclesis of Soteros. As the result the author corrects the 2 line of the dedicated inscription and gives its new reading: v. Δηὶ v. Ο[ὐρανίωι | κ]αὶ Σωτῆρι ε[ὐξάμενος ἀνέθηκα ὁ δεῖνα] | [Μασ?]τοῦ Μαέους το[ῦ ἐπὶ τῆς βασ]ιλείας |4 [ἐν] τῶι Ε Κ Υ΄ ἔτ[ει καὶ μη]νὶ Γορπιαίου.
The second inscription is a graffi to of a private character mentioned of Nyse and dated to the Late Archaic time. It is incised of a sherd of a black-ware small vase bottom. According to the photograph of S.Yu. Saprykin proposes new additions to letters and sights in the inscription and believes that the graffi to may be the spell of Nysa not Nyse. The analysis of his corrections and the comparison of his reading with the graffi to de visu led the author to conclude that the reconstruction proposed by Saprykin in a number of places does not fi nd support in the graffi to: for new letters and a sign of interconnection Saprykin accepts all kinds of damage and erosion of the black-were surface of the ostracon.
Keywords
Cimmerian Bosporus, Phanagoria, inscriptions, graffi ti, the Late Archaic Time, the Roman time.
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