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Last Updated on 24 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 676: he hetaireia

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Syria
iii. Site Dura Europos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ἡ ἑταιρεία (Dura-Europos V 418, l. 3)
ii. Full name (transliterated) he hetaireia

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 54 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii. Descriptive terms ἑταιρεία, hetaireia
Note hetaireia: Dura-Europos V, no. 418, l. 3

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Dura-Europos V 418 (AD 54)
Online Resources AGRW ID 23496
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Building inscription in Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Slab of gypsum
ii. Source(s) provenance Temple of Aphlad

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

i. Archaeological remains Low benches around the room may have been used for the meetings of this association (cf. Rostovtzeff 1934: 115).
ii. References to buildings/objects ἀνδρών, andron (l. 4). The term originally means "men's chamber"; "at Dura it is clearly a sanctuary but one probably reserved for men" (Rostovtzeff 1934: 115).

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number 11
ii. Gender Men
Note The names recorded are male names.
v. Relations The 11 subscribers belong to 6 different families.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The "undersigned members of the hetaireia" dedicate the andron to Aphlad, for the welfare of the strategos Seleukos, of themselves and their families.
Deities worshipped Aphlad

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The document is dated to the 20th of Gorpiaios, as is the case - 17 years earlier - with the building inscription of the synetairoi from the temple of Atargatis (CAPInv. 675). The documents are also linked by the use of the formal word "undersigned": οἱ ὑπογεγραμμένοι συνέταιροι, hoi hypogegrammenoi synetairoi (YCIS 14 (1955): 129-31, no. 2, ll. 3-4); οἱ ὑπογεγραμμένοι ἀπὸ τῆς ἑταιρείας, hoi hypogegrammenoi apo tes hetaireias (Dura-Europos V, no. 418, ll. 2-3). These similarities do not mean that the two groups are identical, but rather suggest a common environment for cultic associations at Dura. Unfortunately, the details escape us.
iii. Bibliography Milik, J.T. (1972), Dédicaces faites par des dieux (Palmyre, Hatra, Tyr) et des thiases sémitiques à l’époque romaine. Paris: 136-7.
Rostovtzeff, M.I. (1934), The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Preliminary Report of Fifth Season of Work, October 1931-March 1932. New Heaven.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note This was probably a private association like the synetairoi discussed in CAPInv. 675.