Circular inscription on the outer part and lower support of a fifth century Attic vase with black lacquer. The self-designation boreikoi (Βορεικοὶ) for members of this society may relate to the personified North Wind (Βορεάς), but there is also evidence (five graffiti and the present inscription) for a cult of "Apollo Boreas" among Ionian settlers in the northern Black Sea area dating back to the archaic period (VI BCE). See Florina Panait Birzescu, "Apollon Bores/Boreas in den griechischen Koloniestädten des Schwarzmeergebietes," Dacia 54 (2010) 97-105. It may be that the different titles or names mentioned here (Bios, Kosmos, and Phos) were considered attributes or epithets of Apollo Boreas. A connection with Orphic ideas is also possible. Three tiny bone tablets dedicated to Dionysos were discovered in the sanctuary at Olbia, and one of them refers either to Orphic matters or to "Orphics." The themes that appear on these tablets are comparable to the present inscription: one of the tablets includes the words "Life, Death, Life, | Truth," another "Peace, War, | Truth, Falsehood," and the third "Truth, | Body, Soul" (IOlbiaD 94). See M.L. West, "The Orphics of Olbia," ZPE 45 (1982) 17-29. In the so called Orphic hymns from a later era (2nd century CE), Apollo is designated the "light-bringing spirit" (φωσφόρε δαῖμον) who "sees all and brings light to mortals," and he is said to "hold the bounds of the entire cosmos" (ἔχεις δέ τε πείρατα κόσμου παντός; cf. Birzescu 2010, 103-104).