V Nikolaishvili

Archil S. Balakhvantsev

In the course of the 1974 excavations at the Zhinvali cemetery (Dusheti region of the GSSR), burial No. 18 yielded an iron ring inset with a Roman carnelian intaglio of the 1st–2nd cc. AD. It bears the inscription ΒΑΚΟΥΡ ΑΛΑΝΑ, which was made in a more recent time when the artifact was already in Iberia. Paleographic data indicates that the Bakur inscription dates to the end of the 2nd – fi rst quarter of the 3d cc. AD. Even though the letters are Greek, the language is not, since in that case the inscription would have read ΠΑΚΟΡΟΣ ΑΛΑΝΟΣ. The language is hence Alanian, and the artifact is the earliest specimen of Alanian writing that we have. On the one hand the fact gives us a deeper comprehension of the extent to which Hellenic culture and education were present in Iberian society, and on the other hand is another testimony of the important role that ancient Iberia played in the spreading of Classical culture to neighboring territories.