On dating and textual criticism of the newly published private letters and curse inscriptions from the Bosporus

Abstract

There are investigated 7 published at the last time inscriptions – 4 private letters and 3 curse inscriptions. Two letters have originated from the Taman peninsula (№ 1, 2), one by one from Myrmekion (№ 3), Pantikapaeum (№ 4); all 3 curse inscriptions are from Pantikapaeum (№ 5–7). The author gives more precise dates of the inscriptions: he supports publisher’s dates only in № 1 and № 7, the rest inscriptions he regards as more recent. He proposes many textual corrections, and gives some sufficiently another interpretation of the inscriptions in question.

Keywords

• the bosporus
• 4th – 3rd centuries bc
• the private letters
• the curse inscriptions
• dating
• textual criticism
• interpretation