Countless are the cases in which we have considered a cultural work finally completed and rejected any temptation to engage in it. The echo reached my ears that the Thracian inscription on the gold ring from Ezerovo had long been deciphered, and I didn't even look at the many photos of it on the Internet - they would hardly ever let me see the original. But a few days ago, in a friendly conversation, the "Thracian name Rolistene" appearing in the inscription on the ring was mentioned, with all the respect we owe to an actual historical person. And this prompted me to deal with the inscription.
According to the researchers so far, the fallen Thracian aristocrat Rolisthenes is the one on whose finger his loving wife - Nerenea Tiltea - placed the golden ring with the significant dedication: "Rolistenes, I, Nerenea Tiltea...", repeated like a mantra. It sounds like a real musical phrase.
Rolisten is a name that has always seemed strange to me. It is not mentioned anywhere, except "in the inscription from Ezerovo". Yes, the name Stenel is known, and from "Iliad" the name of the Trojan Sthenelaus, killed by Patroclus, is also known. Mythology has preserved the name Steno ("the collar") of one of the grai, sisters of the Gorgons. About a Thracian king named Rolles (Role), who was a Roman ally during the Thracian campaign of Marcus Crassus, Dion Cassius reports in Book 51 of his "Roman History". N. Yonkov - Vladikin claims to have read the name of the mythical Phrygian "Emperor Role" in two of the inscriptions carved on the facade of the famous so-called "Tomb of Midas". But the combination "Rolisten" it really sounds implausible - it would mean "Round-walled". And intrigued, I decided to look at the photos of the inscription on the ring on the Internet.
It is very difficult to read an ancient inscription on a ring from a photo, but I had no other choice. I stared at the sign, and...nowhere did I notice "ROLLED" as a proper name of a Thracian man.
Something even more heretical - I couldn't even see the obligatory "Nerenea Tiltea" in the inscription.
That is why I very clearly read the word "RING" - "ROLES"
Since the ring from Ezerovo is a relic of world importance and is well known in our country not only to specialists, I will not describe either the history of the find or its general appearance. I will dwell only on the inscription on the plate of the ring. It consists of seven lines on which the text consisting of 61 letters is located:
I quote according to the lines:
ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕΑΣΝ
ΕΡΕΝΕΑΤ.ΙΛ
ΤΕΑΝΕΣΚΟΑ
ΡΑΖΕΑΔΟΜ
ΕΑΝΤ.ΙΛΕΖΥ
Π.ΤΑΜΙΗΕ
ΡΑΖ
The letter combination of the seventh line is actually part of a word, the rest of which is carried over onto the edge of the ring:
ΗΛΤΑ
Since the ring was discovered, the inscription on it has always been the subject of great attention. Scholars are aware that the inscription is in the Thracian language. There are over twenty known attempts to read it. I'll take a look at just three of them.
In his book "The Thracians and their language", published in 1977, Academician Vl. Georgiev, based on earlier research by D. Dechev, offers two incomplete interpretations of the inscription, as follows:
ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕ ΑΣ(Ν?) ΝΕΡΕ (Ε?) ΝΕΑ Τ(Ι) ΙΛΤΕΑ ΝΗΣΚΟ Α ΡΑΖΕΑ ΔΟ ΜΕΑΝ ΤΙΛΕΖΥΠΤΑΜ ΙΗ ΕΡΑΖ ΗΛΤΑ
Translation:
Rolistene, I, your young wife, the chosen one, die beside my blessed one, who raised the children.
or:
ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕ ΑΣ(Ν?) ΝΕΡΕΝΕΑ ΤΙΛΤΕΑ ΝΗΣΚΟ Α ΡΑΖΕΑ ΔΟ ΜΕΑΝ ΤΙΛΕΖΥΠΤΑΜ ΙΗ ΕΡΑΖ ΗΛΤΑ
Translation:
"Rolistene, I, Nerenea Tiltea, die beside my blessed one, whom the children raised.
The following interpretation, which marks progress, according to researchers (although I do not agree with such a definition), belongs to Emil Zhivkov and was published in the magazine "Avitochol" in 2002. According to archaeologist Andrei Kiryakov, Mr. Zhivkov is " made a breakthrough" , as (I quote) "separate the part in the middle part of the text - "Do mean ti lie", i.e. Beside me you lie, which is very convincing and matches the idea of the funerary nature of the inscription."
Andrei Kiryakov states this in his article "What is written on the ring from Ezerovo, from the 5th century BC", published in 2019 in the magazine "Zaveti" and in his personal blog where he also offers his own reading of the inscription:
"ROLISTENE I NERENEA TILTEA NYESKO A RACEA TO MJEAN YOU HEAL REMEMBER HER HE RACHEL TA".
And it continues:
"Here I am quite inclined to see the verb "racha" - i.e. wish, love, etc. At any rate, after a hundred years of various attempts and interpretations, the main work has already been done, and it may be hoped that the final step in reading the text may soon be taken.
This is the penultimate reading of the inscription on the Ezerovo ring.
The last one, which dates from 01/25/2022, is mine, published by the site fakti.bg. Here I offer it in its final form (published in the books "Blood tax" and "The name Bulgaria and the ethnonym Bulgarians")
In my opinion, the proper names Rolistene and Nerenea Tiltea are completely fabricated. Such names do not exist in the inscription. Why did it happen like this? Because, unfortunately, the previous researchers of the ring did not correctly recognize the parts of speech, did not understand what the verbs were - the first thing that must be revealed in any decipherment. And also - because they read the inscription as "continuous", without taking into account the deliberate points in it, without explaining either their meaning or the meaning of the little " empty field" to the left (for the observer), nor the placement of the letters. They have taken for clumsiness and mistakes, what the engraver has specially cut and in which he has put a certain meaning.
"The Tile" - the field of the inscription - has a slightly oval, almost round shape. In its upper part, in the form of a wreath, is engraved a text reading "ROLIΣTENEAΣΝ". On the left (for the observer), at the beginning of the fourth line of the inscription, there are letters separated from the entire text by an empty field. The engraver did not do this by accident - it means that the syllable RA at the beginning of the fourth line should be read separately, as part of a vertically written word beginning in the third line with the initial letter T, and not be included in the general reading of the text in the middle. On the far right (for the observer) there is also a vertical text that starts from the second sigma in the inscription ΡΟΛIΣTENEAΣΝ and continues to the bottom, including the letters EN on the penultimate line.
As I mentioned, the last "three letter word" at the bottom in the middle of the text - РАЗ - is actually just part of a word that has been transferred to the edge of the ring - NLTA. This has also been noted by previous interpreters of the inscription.
There are scratches, defects, traces of metal processing on the tile. But special points made on purpose by the engraver are also visible. Precisely in order to separate the accidental defects from the intentional dot marks, the researcher needs to study the original ring, but, as I stated, I do not have that opportunity. The points, which I am sure are deliberately placed, I will note when reading the words themselves. It is clearly seen that there is a special point at the letter T, with which the verbs end and the word TIΛ written in two places. After the letter P on the penultimate line to the right and before T, with which the word TAMI begins, there is also a purposely placed dot. I consider this dot after a certain letter to be a sign that the letter should be repeated in the reading of the next word - this is a way to save space. The second letter "sigma" in the opening word ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕΑΣΝ, looks rough, bold - as if the engraver had made some mistake and the cutter had made a correction. This is not so - "sigma" is bolded on purpose to indicate that it starts the rightmost vertical text.
In the inscription there are verbs that are recognizable by their endings: - EAT for 3 l. unit. and - EAΝT - for 3 l. m.h.
Something particularly important - the letter combination that ends the "word" ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕΝΕΑΣΝ - ΝΕΑΣΝ - can also be seen in the tombstone from Kölmen " - in variant ΝΥΑΣΝ. This makes me think that the given "ending" is a traditional funeral formula. But maybe this letter combination means "us" - pronoun in 1l. pl.h.
And now I will present my reading in its entirety:
ΡΟΛΙΣΤΕ ΝΕΑΣΝ ERENEATES. YOUΛ THEA NHΣ KOA TRAEP ZEA DOMAIN. YOUΛ. ΛEZYT. THERE S NAMY EH РAZHLTA
Here is my interpretation word for word:
ROΛIΣTE - RING (ROLLER, CIRCLE, WHEEL, RING)
ΝΕΑΣΝ - FOR US (or FUNERAL FORMULA WHICH WE SEE IN THE VARIANT "ΝΥΑΣΝ" IN THE INSCRIPTION BY KÖLMEN).
ERENEATE. - REVENGE
TIΛ - BODIES
THEA - TIA
ΝΕΣ - DOWN ( LOW, IN THE GRAVE )
KOA - WHICH
TRAEP (the text on the left, vertically from the third line down) - TRAP, GROB
ZEA - THIS ONE
DOMEANT. - RESIDENCE
TIΛ - BODIES
LEZYТ - LYING
THERE - THERE
Σ NAMY (the rightmost text, vertically, along with the second "fixed" sigma) - WITH (FOR, BECAUSE OF) US
EN - E
DIFFERENTIAL - DEFEAT, CURSE, CURSE
In its entirety, the inscription on the ring from Ezerovo reads as follows:
THE RING FOR US ( ΝΕΑΣΝ - formula ) REVENGE. THOSE BODIES BELOW THAT DWELL IN THIS PIT, THE BODIES (yes) LIE THERE. WITH (FOR, BECAUSE OF) US IS THE DEFEAT (curse).
Previous researchers correctly found the verb "lying", but it, in my opinion, is not singular, but plural - "lying". As for the word "low" they discovered, I believe it is two words - "nis" ( below, in the grave ) and "who" - part of "koa" - "which". "Razelta" read as " the plague", " the curse"
As can be seen from my reading, the Ezerovo ring was not a gift of love from the grieving wife Nerenea Tiltea, but a talisman against grave desecrations. The whole concept of its purpose has been changed.
Looking at the text, I noticed that it may contain other "vertical" - hidden words. But its occult meaning is still understandable.
The story with Rolisten and Nerenea Tiltea, comfortably living in trachology for at least six decades, reminds me of the tragicomic plot of "Lieutenant Tsite" of Yuri Tinyanov. With the present reading, these romantic shadows have melted into the rosy mist from which they sprang.
By the way, taking a look at the copies of two inscriptions carved on the facade of the majestic "monument" or "tomb of Midas", in Phrygia - in the present-day village of Yazalikia, Eskisehir County, present-day Turkey, I found neither the name Rolle nor the title "emperor" at all. In my opinion, the spectacular relic called the "Tomb of Midas" it has all the marks of a monument of Atlantean antiquity and is very similar to the so-called "portals of the gods" in Peru and in the Saudi desert. Its facade is " decorated" with strange figures in which the cross predominates. I would liken these "braids" on some kind of map - maybe a maze? Undoubtedly, the inscriptions were added in an era later than the construction of the facility.
"The Immortal Emperor Role" it will probably turn out to be a dream, but the King Rolle(s) mentioned by Dion Cassius is a reality. However, this is not a name, but a nickname - THE ROUND, THE ROLLING WHEEL - Fat. No one who leaves this world and is laid in the grave by his loved ones, is not sent to his last journey with his nickname - but with his first name. In the case of the ring from Ezerovo, the name of the buried Thracian remains unknown.