Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/1036Download as PDF
Last Updated on 11 Jul 2019

Author: Andreas Victor Walser

CAPInv. 1036: to oikoumenikon kai semnotaton synedrion ton linourgon

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Ionia
iii. Site Miletus

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) τὸ οἰκουμενικὸν καὶ σεμνότατον συνέδριον τῶν λινουργῶν (Milet VI.2 939 ll. 11-12)
ii. Full name (transliterated) to oikoumenikon kai semnotaton synedrion ton linourgon

III. DATE

i. Date(s) l. ii (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Geographical:οἰκουμενικός, oikoumenikos
Professional:λινουργοί, linourgoi, ("linen weavers")
iii. Descriptive terms συνέδριον, synedrion
Note The synedrion is qualified as οἰκουμενικόν, oikoumenikon. This is a highly unusual epithet for a professional association and typically used only for athletes' associations.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Milet VI.2 939
Note L. Robert, Hellenica 11/12, 1960, 476-479; Günther 1986: 316-20; SEG 36, 1051; Milet VI.2 939; Dittmann-Schöne 2001: 166-7 no. II.5.1; Harland 2014: no. 134.
Online Resources SEG 36, 1051
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorary inscription. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) White marble statue base, moulding on top, built with two connecting blocks.
ii. Source(s) provenance From the theater; according to the inscription, the statue base was set up in the proscenium.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities The association honors the athlete M. Aurelius Thelymitres, a member of a prominent Milesian family (cf. Milet VI.3, p. 222) who was pythioneikes, kapetolioneikes and periodoneikes. Even though as a successful athlete he was freed from all civic duties, Thelymitres has been a benefactor of his patris and has sponsored part of the (re-)construction of the proscenium of the theater. No specific benefactions for the association are mentioned.

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction The person honored by the linen workers is honored as well by two other Milesian professional associations and also by the Council and the People of Miletus (Milet VI.3 1367-70; Günther 1986).

XII. NOTES

i. Comments As several topos-inscriptions show, about 20 seats in the theater were reserved for Thelymitres and his family. Since the seats seem to have been located not very prominently, van Nijf (1997: 223) suggests that they may have been intended for Thelymitres' dependents; "these dependents may have been the very associations that erected the honorific statues for him." This is highly specultative with little basis in fact (cf. Dittmann-Schöne 2001: 166).
iii. Bibliography Dittmann-Schöne, I. (2001), Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. Regensburg.
Günther, W. (1986), 'Ehrungen für einen milesischen Periodoniken', in H. Kalcyk, B. Gullath and A. Graeber (eds.), Studien zur Alten Geschichte, FS S. Lauffer, Vol. 1, Rome: 315-28.
Van Nijf, O. M. (1997), The Civic World of Professional Associations in the Roman East. Amsterdam.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The terminology (synedrion) and the professional character suggests a private association.