240 The Imperial Government
PlautiusSilvanusAelianus,hadtointervenetoliftthesiegeofChersonesus,
‘‘which is beyond the Borysthenes (the River Dniepr),’’ by the king of the
Scythians.^37 Thereisnothinginthetextoftheinscriptiontosuggestthatthe
Bosporankingdomplayedanypart.
Allthemore,therefore,themajorGreekcitiesaroundthenorth-westcor-
neroftheEuxine,namelyOlbiaatthemouthoftheRiverHypanis(theBug),
andTyrasontheRiverTyras(theDniestr),insofarastheybelongedtoany
widerpolitical-militarysystem,weregraduallydrawnintotheorbitofthe
governorsoftheprovinceofMoesia.Thissituationisreflectedforinstance
intheinscriptionrecordingthat‘‘thecityoftheOlbiopolitai’’haddedicated
abath-houseonbehalfofSeptimiusSeverus,andallhishouse,inthegover-
norshipofCosconiusGentianus.^38 Butalthoughthereareoccasionalreflec-
tionsofthepresenceofRomansoldiersinthisarea,therewasnothingresem-
blingaRomanmilitaryoccupationofthenorth-westcorneroftheBlackSea
coast,andtheBosporankingdom,inspiteofitsestablishedrelationofdiplo-
maticdependenceonRome,remainedremarkablyisolated,bothgeographi-
cally and strategically. For in the opposite direction also, south-eastwards
roundtheeastcoastoftheBlackSea,was‘‘thedominionoftheRomans,’’as
weearliersawArrianreporting,some400kilometresfromBosporanterri-
tory,namelyatDioscuriasorSebastopolis,wheretherewasaRomanfort.^39
Even if very soon after Arrian’s report a Roman fort was established at
Pityous,another75kilometresnorth-eastwardsupthecoast,andalthough
aswesaw,ArrianregardedthepoliticalcircumstancesoftheBosporanking-
domasbeingofgreatconcerntoHadrian,theexposureandisolationofthe
Bosporankingdommakeitssurvivalandrelativestabilityremarkable.
Intermsofourevidence,whatisequallyremarkableistheextensivecor-
pusofGreekinscriptionsfromthekingdom,over1,300beingknownsofar,
ofwhichnearly900comefromPanticapaeumanditsneighbourhood.^40 The
inscriptionsoftheimperialperiodhintatthecomplexityofthecommunal,
political,andadministrativestructureofthekingdom,illustratetheformal
statusandpublichonoursofthekings,andvividlyrepresentthepresencein
BosporanpublicvocabularyoftheRomanemperors,ofthewiderstructure
oftheEmpire,andofthecitiesofAnatolia,aboveallthoseoftheRoman
provinceofPontusandBithynia,throughandtowhichwehavealreadyseen
- Seetextton.22.
- B.Latyschev,Inscriptiones Antiquae Orae Septentrionalis Ponti EuxiniI^2 ,1916,no.174
(IGRI,no.834).
39.Textton.27above.Arrian,Periplus,10,3–4;17,1–2;seenowD.Braund,Georgia in
Antiquity(1994),193–94. - SeeV.Struve,Corpus Inscriptionum Regni Bosporani(CIRB)(1965).