The Dog Tag of the Spartan Warrior
by V.D. Osipov Ph.D.
(The full version of this article is in Russian)
The well-preserved text (See Fig. 1) consists of 7 lines written in Greek letters on the front side (plate, platform) of the item, as well as four Greek letters inscribed on its edge (tavern, rim).
After three decades of research into this text, the author of this article has no doubt that this product is not a ring, but a dog tag of a Spartan warrior. The text contains detailed information about of the wearer, namely bearing:
- name, the soldier's name
- patronymic, surname
- place of residence, place of birth
- religion (confession), religious affiliation
religious preference
- belonging to a tribe
- belonging to a military unit. unit indication of the legion of which the recruit was part
The text is basically understandable to a Slavic speaker (Slavonian, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.) without translation. You just need to look at it carefully and correctly separate one word from another.
TEXT ON THE FRONT SIDE OF THE PRODUCT
;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;
;;;
SIGNS ON THE SIDE, ON THE RIM OF THE PRODUCT
;;;;
THE SAME TEXT AFTER SEPARATING A WORD FROM A WORD
(Fragments that are read twice are highlighted in blue)
;;; ;; ;;;;; ;;
;;;;;; ;;;
;;;;;;;;;
;;;;; ; ;;;
;;;;;;; ;; ;;; ;
;;;;;;; ;
;;;
THE SAME TEXT, BUT REWRITTEN IN CYRILLIC LETTERS
ÐÎË ÈÑ ÔÅÍÅß ÑÍ
ÅÐÅÍÅß ÔÈË
ÔÅÀÍÉÑÊÂÀ
ÂÀÐÀÆÅß À ÄÎÌ
ÀÄÎÌÅßÍ ÒÈ ËÅÆ Ó
ÏÒÀÌÈÉÅ Å
ÐÀÆ
ÐÎË ÈÇ ÔÅÍÅß ÑÛÍ ÅÐÅÍÅß
ÔÈËÀ ÔÅÎÍÈÉÑÊÎÃÎ (áîãèíè Ñåìåëû) ÂÎÐÎÆÅß (æðåöà). À ÄÎÌ ÎÄÎÌÀÍÒÎÂ, ×ÒÎ ËÅÆÈÒ Â ÏÎÒÀÌÈÈ, ÅÑÒÜ ÑÈ˨Í.
ÐÅÒÐÀ ÅÑÒÜ ÑÎÊÐÎÂÈÙÅ ÓÌÀ
ÝËÔÀ
Translation of the full text into English
ROL FROM PHENEOS SON OF ERENEI
PHILUS OF THEONIAN’S (of the goddess Semele) PRIEST. AND THE HOUSE OF ODOMANTS THAT LIES IN POTAMIA IS STRONG.
Acrostic
PETPA ; ;PAZE ;MA
RETRA IS THE PRASE OF THE MIND
Word on the edge
ELFA (female name)