Perinthos, the largest city-state on the northern coast of the Propontis, maintained its position as part of the traditional athletic games world of the Eastern Mediterranean, just as it had in the centuries before Christ, both during the Roman Empire and when it was the capital of the province of Thrace. The epigram was erected in memory of a young athlete, Doras, who was trained by his father to compete at the Perinthos gymnasium and died shortly thereafter. It is dated to the early 3rd century AD.