Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/837Download as PDF
Last Updated on 24 Jun 2019

Author: Jan-Mathieu Carbon

CAPInv. 837: thiasitai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Caria
iii. Site Kaunos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) θιασῖτα[ι --] (I. Kaunos 75, A, line 5)
ii. Full name (transliterated) thiasitai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 200 (?) BC - 100 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:θιασῖται, thiasitai
The group probably constituted a cultic thiasos; see below X.iii.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I. Kaunos 75 A-B (ca. 200 BC - 100 AD?).
Note Cf. also Roos 1968: 154-60 nos. 1-2; BE 1969: no. 545.
Online Resources PHI: I.Kaunos 75
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Records (A-B) of the consecration of two sanctuaries (or dedications) in Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Two rock-cut inscriptions (A and B). Only the first explicitly mentions the thiasitai. Both inscriptions are treated as part of the same complex by I. Kaunos 75.
ii. Source(s) provenance South of Küçükkale; see I.Kaunos 75 for ph. and a full description.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects ἱερόν, hieron
The texts (A-B) record the consecration of two sanctuaries (ἱερὸν... ἵδρυται), but it is unclear what physical structures these may have involved.
Cp. I.Kaunos 74 for another, perhaps later, dedication in the cult of Zeus Xenios, this one constiting of a block of marble with an upper moulding and akroteria.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The two rock-cut inscriptions (A-B) refer to the foundation of two sanctuaries respectively (in A, explicitly as a result of a dream, κ]αθ’ ὅραμα, kath' horama, line A 6).
Deities worshipped Ζεὺς Ξένιος
Μήτηρ
One sanctuary (A) belongs to Zeus Xenios; the other to Meter (B).

XII. NOTES

i. Comments There are very fragmentary traces of a name (or names) associated with the thiasitai in line A4, though this remains unclear: Ἀγαθη[․․․]ΑΙ[— — —]. The name might be related to a founder/leader.
iii. Bibliography Roos, P. (1968), 'Research at Caunus', OpAth 8: 154-60 nos. 1-2.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The very fragmentary mention of thiasitai cannot inspire great confidence. However, since the group is invoked explicitly in the context of the foundation (ἵδρυται, i.e. hidrusis) of a sanctuary for Zeus Xenios, this strengthens the notion that it was to some degree permanent rather than ad hoc.