Not so long ago, in an article devoted to new epigraphic materials from the Tauric Chersonesus, E. I. Solomonik published a photo of a fragment of marble page 112 plates with the remains of a badly damaged inscription. The text of the fragment is reproduced by the author as follows(1): The palaeography of the inscription is closest to such Chersonesian documents as the decree in honor of the ambassador Mithridates Eupator (IOSPE. I(2). 349; NEPH II. 110), decree in honor of Diophantus (IOSPE. I(2). 352), an inscription commemorating the capture of Kalos Limen (IOSPE. I(2). 353) and an inscription mentioning the fortress of Napit (NEPH II. 1). It will be enough to point out the following features of the letter that unite the listed monuments: alpha is not closed at the top with a broken transverse gasta, pi with a shortened second leg, kappa with short legs, omicron in the form of a small circle, omega is elongated with side dashes in the form of separate triangles. In general, the font style indicates the second half of the second century BC - the most intense period of the Scythian-Chersonesian wars, which ended, as is known, around 110 BC with the transition of the polis under the rule of the Pontic king Mithridates Eupator (Strabo. VII. 3. 17; 4. 3, 7; IOSPE. I(2). 352). (1) Solomonik E. I. Greek inscriptions of Chersonese / / VDI. 1996. N 4. p. 44. page 113 (2) Nilsson М.P. Griechische Feste von religioser Bedeutung mit Ausschluss der Attischen. Lpz, 1906. S. 392-394. Ср. Burkert W. Griechische Religion. Stuttgart, 1977. S. 247 with reference to: Siska N. De Mercurio ceterisque deis ad artem gymnasticam pertinentibus. Diss. Halle, 1933 (non vidi). (3) The contest was preceded by a sacrifice in the palaestra (Plat Lys. 206e). (4) Hipparchs may have played a certain role in the conduct of the Hermae. Cf. the Athenian decree in honor of a certain person who performed the duties of Hipparchus, where the Hermae are also mentioned(IG. II (2). 895). (5) The office ... Read more