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Map of the ancient Bosporus Kingdom.
Overview
The Bosporus Kingdom encompassed the coastal
areas of the eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula where the straights of Kerch (the
Cimmerian Bosporus) connect the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. Homer characterized the
early Cimmerian inhabitants of this region as living in a country of darkness that was
situated on the northern edge of the populated world.
Between the eighth and sixth centuries BCE, several Greek
cities were founded in the region, apparently with the permission of the Scythians, the
successors to the Cimmerians. The largest and most important of these cities was the
Milesian colony of Panticapaeum (modern Kerch), located on the eastern tip of the Crimea,
on the western side of the straits of Kerch. Among the colonies established on the eastern
side of the straits (the Taman Peninsula) were Phanagoria and Gorgippia.
Evidence for a Jewish presence in the Bosporus emerges around
the turn of the era, though scholars remain unsure of the region from which the Jews
migrated. The evidence for synagogues in the Bosporus Kingdom consists of a series of
manumission inscriptions, which appear at Panticapaeum, Phanagoria and Gorgippia, the
earliest dating to 18 CE. The manumissions routinely took place in the synagogues, with
the released slave or slaves sometimes being placed under the guardianship of the Jewish
congregation and sometimes being required to attend the synagogue as a condition of the
release.
Note: The abbreviation CIRB stands for the compendium, Corpus
Inscriptionum Regni Bosporani, while CIJ represents the standard compilation, Corpus
Inscriptionum Judaicarum. There are several other inscriptions available from this
region; the examples listed are merely the ones for which I have photographs. All
translations are mine.
CIRB 71 (=CIJ 1.683a). Date: I CE. This inscription, like several other of the
manumission inscriptions from the Bosporus, suggests that in some cases freed slaves were
essentially required to become God-fearers as a condition of their release. Normally,
release ceremonies took place in pagan temples. The Temple of Apollo at Delphi, for
example, provides us with over a thousand manumission inscriptions. In the Bosporus, the
synagogue functioned similarly for Jews. Translation:
I free in the synagogue Elpias, my household slave, so that he
will be undisturbed and unassailable by any of my heirs, on condition that he show
diligence towards the synagogue under the guardianship of the congregation of the
Jews, and reveres God.
CIRB 70 (=CIJ 1.683). Date: 81 CE. While this inscription dates to slightly after our
period, the wording is so similar to pre-70 inscriptions that there is no danger of
anachronism. The requirement that the released slaves show "devotion and
diligence" toward the synagogue suggests the sacrality of the edifice. This
inscription also demonstrates the participation of a woman (Chreste) within synagogue
ritual. Translation:
In the reign of King Tiberius Julius Rescuporis, friend of Caesar and
friend of the Romans, pious, in the year 377, the twelfth of the month of Pereitios, I
Chreste, former wife of Drusus, release in the synagogue, my home-bred slave Heraclas,
free, once and for all, according to my vow, who is to be undisturbed and unharmed by all
of my heirs, and who may go wherever he desires, unhindered, as I have vowed, except that
he show devotion and diligence toward the synagogue with the
agreement both of my heirs Heraclides and Heliconias and also under the joint guardianship
of the congregation of the Jews
CIRB 985 (=CIJ 1.691). Date: 16 CE. This poorly preserved inscription is the earliest
of the extant synagogue inscriptions from the Bosporus. Translation:
In the reign of King Aspourgus, friend of the Romans, in the year 313,
the seventh day of the month of Daisios, Phodakos, son of Pothon, dedicates his home-bred
slave, Dionysios, and Longiona (?) [in the synagogue], . . . devotion and diligence
[toward the synagogue ]
Date: 51 CE. This inscription was only uncovered in 1989. Its wording provides the
basis for the reconstruction of CIRB 985, above. Translation:
Under the reign of King Cotys, in the year 348 on the first of the
month of Xandikos: Sogos (and) Anos, sons of Psycharios (state that) Karsandanos and
Karagos and Metroteimos were released in the synagogue, and are unassailable and cannot be
hindered except that they show diligence and devotion toward the synagogue, under the
joint guardianship of the congregation of the Jews.
CIRB 1123 (=CIJ 1.690). Date: 41 CE. The formula "by Zeus, Ge, Helios" in
this inscription, while startling, is probably not an indication of religious syncretism,
but simply a legal formula required in Gorgippia. Translation:
To God Most High, almighty and blessed, in the reign of King
Mithridates, friend of [the emperor?] and friend of the homeland, in the year 338, in the
month of Deios, I, Pothos, son of Strabonos, dedicated in the synagogue according
to my vow, my homebred slave, named Chrysa, so that she will be free from harm and
undisturbed by all my heirs, by Zeus, Ge, Helios
CIRB 1124 (=CIJ 1.690b). This very fragmentary inscription may record the release of
Jewish slaves. Because the synagogue is not specifically mentioned in the extant lines, it
is not known for certain whether the release took place in the synagogue or in a pagan
temple. Translation:
In the reign of King Cotys, friend of the emperor and friend of the Romans, pious, in
the year 356 in the month . . . [Philot]eimos, son of Gadeis . . . of his wife, [according
to her vow] . . . and of the wife of . . . Callistheneia, set free [her home-bred slave]
with his wife . . . [being] Jews . . .
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