Tanais Tablets


The Tanais Tablets are two tablets dated late 2nd-3rd century AD, and written in Greek from the city of Tanais, in the proximity of modern Rostov-on-Don, Russia. At the time, Tanais was composed of a mixed Greek,
Cimmerians, Goths and Sarmatian population. The tablets are public inscriptions which commemorate renovation works in the city. One of the tablets, Tanais Tablet A, is damaged and is not fully reconstructed. The other one, Tanais Tablet B, is fully preserved and is dated to 220 AD.
The tablets were discovered by Russian archaeologist Pavel Mikhailovich Leontjev in 1853 and are today kept in the lapidary of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The tablets are considered important for the early Croatian history.

Significance

Among the names on the tablets are those of three men: Horoúathos, Horoáthos, and Horóathos. Those names scholars interpret as anthroponyms of the Croatian ethnonym Hrvat. The ethnonym Hrvat is generally considered to be of Iranian origin, and that can be traced to the Tanais Tablets. The Tanais Tablet B mentions Horoathos as the son of Sandarz who is the archons of the Tanaisians, which is a Scytho-Sarmatian name, and scholars view this as an indication that early Croats could have been at that time Sarmatians or mixed tribe of Alans and Crimean Goths who became Slavicized in the following centuries.

Research history

The tablets were discovered by the Russian archeologist Pavel Mihajlovič Leontjev in September 1853. Mostly international scholars wrote about the tablets, while of Croatian scholars Stjepan Krizin Sakač, Dominik Mandić and Radoslav Katičić. However, during the time of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavian scholars avoided discussing them, or mainly wrote about them in a superficial way and misinterpreted, and sometimes malicious manner, for example, Miroslav Krleža saw the connection as "historical lunacy", while Nada Klaić ignored and only mentioned them for the criticizing of the Iranian-Caucasian theory of the Croatian ethnogenesis. The open debate only followed after the collapse of Yugoslav Communism.
First who connected the tablets personal names with Croatian ethnonym was A. L. Pogodin in 1902, while first who considered such a thesis and Iranian origin was Konstantin Josef Jireček in 1911. Some scholars use this tablets only to explain the etymology, and not necessarily the ethnogenesis.
However, whether the early Croats have been Slavs who taken the name of Iranian origin or were ruled by Sarmatian elite caste, or were Slavicized Sarmatians, the remote Irano-Sarmatian elements or influences on the Croatian ethnogenesis cannot be entirely excluded. Still, the secure connection of those three personal names with the Croatian ethnonym, or ethnic identity, is rather difficult without more evidence.

Tanais Tablet A

The Tablet A is the larger and older inscription, dated to 175-211 AD, and which originates from the time when king Tiberius Julius Sauromates II ruled the Bosporan Kingdom. The marble tablet probably sustained heavy damage even before the excavation. Thirty-two lines from thirty fragments were saved from the inscription. The public inscription mentions the king, the synod, or devotional assembly, the leadership of the devotional assembly, and its regular members, which were slightly less than forty. The fourth line ends by mentioning of the father of the devotional assembly, Horoúathos, who is referred to by name in the fifth line, and amongst others an unknown male who is said to be the son of Horoáthos is also cited. The inscription ends with the date, from which is saved only the appellation of the Greek-Macedonian month, which corresponds to either July or August.
Greek original:

ΘΕΩι ΥΨΙΣΤΩι. ΆΓΑΘΗι ΤΥΧΗι.
ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΤΙΒ ΙΟΥΛ ΣΑΥΡΟΜΑΤΟΥ
ΦΙΛΟΚΑΙΣΑΡΙ ΦΙΛΟΩΜΑΙΟΥ, ΕΥΣΕΒΟΥΣ, Η ΣΥΝΟΔΟΣ
Η ΠΕΡΙ ΙΝΟΔΟΥ
ΧΟΡΟΥΑΘ-----Ο — ΚΑΙ ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΩΝ ΆΡΔΑ ΚΟΝ
ΥΝΕΓΔΗΜΑΓΟΝ ΔΙΑΙΝ ΚΕΡΔΩΝΑΚΟΥ ΚΑΙ
ΑΡΑΦΙΛΑΓΑΘΟ------ΙΟΝ ΦΟΡΓΑΒΑΚ ΚΑΙ ΝΙΣ-
ΑΡΧΗΝ ΔΗΜΗΤΛΛΩΝΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΓΥΜ------ΦΑΔΙΝΑ------
ΜΥΡ----------ΜΑΣΤΟΫ------------
ΠΟ------------ΟΣ ΆΡΔΑ------
50 ΦΙΔ----------ΝΟΣ ΧΑΡΙ-
ΡΑΘΙ--------------------------
ΈΝ ΤΝΙ ΛΩ-----

English translation:
God the Supreme. May it be with fortune!
In the time of the reign of king Tiberius Julius Sauromates, Friend of Caesar and of the people of Rome, Pious. The devotional assembly with the priest Julius, the son of Rhalchades, at the head, and the father of the devotional assembly Horuato, and the gathered devotional assembly, with Ardarak, the son of ynegdemus, and the noble Diaion, the son of Kerdonak and the very noble ion, the son of Forgabak, and the leader of the youth Demetrius, the son of Apollonius, and the gymnasium instructor Basilides, the son of Theonicus, and Atta, the son of Heraclius, a friend of the devotional assembly. And the remaining members: Ardarakos, the son of Zia-on, Demetrius, the son of on, Leimanus, the son of Phidas dach?, the son of an, Asklepiades the son of Valerius. odan, the son of Demetrius, Menestratus, the son of Lyciscus, ikachus, Diophantus, the son of Deius, Poplius din, Heraclius, the son of Epigon, Iardo, the son of Demetrius, Aphrodisius, the son of Chryserotus, danos, the son of Apollonius, Philip n, Kaloys, the son of Athenius, Kopharnos ryphon, the son of Andromenes, o , the son of Horoath, Theotimus, the son of Psycharion, dibal, the son of Far, Euios, the
son of Rodon, clius, the son of At-tod ymmachus, the son of Sa, kos philo oranon, the son of Be, Radam, the son of , the son of Phadina Myr, the son of , the son of Mastoy poos, the son of Ardarak, Fidn, Chari, - rathi in Lo

Tanais Tablet B

The Tablet B is the smaller inscription, dated to 220 AD. This inscription is younger, which is apparent as is mentioned Tiberius Julius Rhescuporis II, the son of Sauromates II. The inscription sustained less damage, it is broken into four parts, and is relatively readable. On it are engraved twenty lines in Greek monumental capitals. Cited in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth lines, along with the names of their fathers, are the four leaders of the city of Tanais at the time when this monument was erected. The monument was erected because of the renovation of the central square in the city of Tanais.
Greek original:
ΑΓΑΘΗΙ ΤΥΧΗΙ.
ΕΠΙ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙ ΡΗΣΚΟΥΠΟΡΙΔΙ, ΥΙΩ
ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΑΥΡΟΜΑΤΟΥ, ΚΑ
ΖΗΝΩΝ ΦΑΝΝΕΩΣ ΠΡΕΣΒΕΥΤΗ ΒΑ-
ΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΡΗΣΚΟΥΠΟΡΙΔΟΣ, ΚΑΙ ΧΟ-
ΦΑΡΝΟΥ ΣΑΝΔΑΡΖΙΟΥ, ΒΑΒΟΣ ΒΑΙΟ-
ΡΑΣΠΟΥ, ΝΙΒΛΟΒΩΡΟΣ ΔΟΣΥΜΟΞΑΡ–
ΘΟΥ, ΧΟΡΟΑΘΟΣ ΣΑΝΔΑΡΖΙΟΥ ΑΡΧΟΝ–
ΤΕΣ ΤΑΝΑΕΙΤΩΝ, ΧΟΦΡΑΖΜΟΣ ΦΟΡΓΑ-
ΒΑΚΟΥ, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΔΗΣ ΘΕΟΝΕΙΚΟΥ ΕΛ-
ΛΗΝΑΡΧΗΣ ΕΞΑΡΤΙΣΑΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΓΟΡΑΝ
ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΙΔΙΩΝ ΑΝΑΛΩΜΑΤΩΝ ΑΠΕΚΑ–
ΤΕΣΤΗΣΑ ΤΗ ΠΟΛΕΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΜΠΟ-
ΡΟΙΣ ΔΙΑ ΕΠΙΜΕΛΗΤΩΝ ΖΗΝΩΝΟΣ ΦΑΕΩΣ, ΦΑΡΝΟΞΑΡΘΟΥ ΤΑΥΡΕΟΥ,
ΦΑΛΔΑΡΑΝΟΥ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ
ΧΙΤΕΚΤΟΝΩΝ ΔΙΟΦΑΝΤΟΥ ΝΕ-
ΟΠΟΛΟΥ ΚΑ ΑΥΡΗΛΙΟΥ ΑΝΤΩΝΕ-
ΝΟΥ, ΝΑΥΑΚΟΣ ΜΕΥΑΚΟΥ.
EΝ ΤΩ ΖΙΦ'.
English translation:
May it be with fortune!
In the time of king Rhescuporis, the son of the great king Sauromates, and Zenon, the son of Phannes, emissary of king Rhescuporis, and Hopharnas, the son of Sandarzios, Babos, the son of Baioraspes, Nibloboros, the son of Dosymoxarthos, Horoathos, the son of Sandarz, the archons of the Tanaisians, Hophrazmos, the son of Phorgabakos, Basilides, the son of Theoneicus, the hellenarch. Prepared by the council at their own expense once again renovate for the city and for the merchants, through the supervision of Zenon, the son of Phannes, Pharnoxarthos, the son of Taureus, Phaldaranos, the son of Apollonius, and the architect Diophantus, the son of Neopolus and Aurelius, the son of Antoninus, Nauakos, the son of Meuakos.
The year 517.