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Last Updated on 03 Jul 2019

Author: Annelies Cazemier

CAPInv. 858: ho eranos

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Aegean Islands
ii. Region Amorgos
iii. Site Arkesine

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ὁ ἔρανος (IG XII.7 58, l. 8)
ii. Full name (transliterated) ho eranos

III. DATE

i. Date(s) l. iv - iii BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii. Descriptive terms ἔρανος, eranos
Note eranos: IG XII.7 58, l. 8

While eranos in IG XII.7 58, l. 12 is used to indicate a loan (collected by Aristagoras), it seems that in l. 8 it refers to an association (led by the archeranos Aristagoras). Dittenberger in Syll.2 828; Syll.3 1198; cf. Thomsen (2015); contra Finley 1952: 102.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IG XII.7 58 (l. iv - iii BC: see 'Comments')
Note Concordance (selection):
Syll.2 828
Syll.3 1198
Foucart 1873: 226-7, no. 45
Kern 1913: no. 32 (including image of the stone)
Finley 1952: no. 8 (with English translation on p. 102)
Thomsen (2015) (incl. revised ed. of the text)
Online Resources IG XII.7 58
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Boundary marker (horos) with a Greek inscription.
i.c. Physical format(s) stone slab, broken on the right

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects ὅρος, horos (IG XII.7 58, l. 1)
χωρία, choria (IG XII.7 58, l. 1)
οἰκία, oikia (IG XII.7 58, l. 2)
κ[ῆποι], k[epoi] (IG XII.7 58, l. 2)

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership ἀρχεράνος, archeranos (IG XII.7 58, l. 9) -- named Aristagoras
iii. Members ἐ[ρανισ]ταί, e[ranis]tai (IG XII.7 58, ll. 14-15) -- the restoration seems quite certain; some editions include the letter E between square brackets (following Delamarre's transcription in IG XII.7 58), but it is visible on the stone (see, e.g., Delamarre's rendering of the inscribed text in IG XII.7 58, on the left; Kern 1913: no. 32 (image); cf. Thomsen (2015)).
vi. Laws and rules ὁ νόμος τῶν ἐ[ρανισ]τῶν, ho nomos ton e[ranis]ton (IG XII.7 58, ll. 14-15) -- while Finley (1952: 102) considers this a law of the city of Arkesine 'regarding eranistai', the use of the genitive ton eraniston makes it more likely that it is a law 'of the eranistai' themselves. Cf. Thomsen (2015).

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

i. Treasury/Funds The text informs us about surety (IG XII.7 58, l. 11: ἐγγύη, engue) provided for an eranos (loan) collected by the archeranos Aristagoras. The boundary stone marks the lands, house, and gardens of Xenokles, which seem to serve as recorded pledges (l. 5: ἐπικύρβια ἐνέχυρα, epikyrbia enechyra) hypothecated (ll. 5-6: ὑποκειμένα, hypokeimena), with the agreement of his wife Eratokrate and her kyrios Broukion, to the eranos (association), to Aristagoras the archeranos, and to Aristagoras's wife (Echen[ike]).
ii. Realty The boundary stone (horos) marks the lands (IG XII.7 58, l. 1: χωρία, choria), house (l. 2: οἰκία, oikia), and gardens (l. 2: κ[ῆποι], k[epoi]) of Xenokles which are located in Phylincheia. It seems that these serve as recorded pledges, hypothecated, with the agreement of his wife Eratokrate and her kyrios Broukion, to the eranos (association), to Aristagoras the archeranos, and to Aristagoras's wife (Echen[ike]), as surety for the eranos (loan) collected by Aristagoras.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Women
Note The archeranos is a man called Aristagoras. Two women are mentioned in the text: Eratokrate (IG XII.7 58, l. 7), wife of Xenokles, on whose lands the boundary marker stood, and Echen[ike?] (restored, l. 10), wife of Aristagoras, the archeranos. It is difficult to say if the women were members of the eranos, but Aristagoras's wife appears among Xenokles's creditors together with the eranos and her husband (the archeranos). For discussions on the role of women in IG XII.7 58 (and other texts), see Vérilhac and Vial 1998: 203; Stavrianopoulou 2006: 99.
v. Relations The document mentions the wife of the archeranos (IG XII.7, l. 10). See above: 'Gender'.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments IG XII.7 58 has commonly been dated to the third century BC (e.g., Delamarre in IG XII.7 58), but some scholars date it more specifically to the late fourth or early third century BC (Stavrianopoulou 2006: 99; Thomsen, 2015).

It is not clear whether the same or a different eranos is concerned in IG XII.7 61 (CAPInv. 859). There is another (unpublished) boundary marker from Arkesine which also mentions an archeranos (SEG 55: 965; Marangou 2005: 166, no. 449; cf. 178).
ii. Poland concordance Poland B *162
iii. Bibliography Finley, M.I. (1952), Studies in land and credit in ancient Athens, 500-200 B.C: the horos-inscriptions. New York.
Foucart, P.F. (1873), Des associations religieuses chez les Grecs: thiases, éranes, orgéons. Paris.
Kern, O. (1913), Inscriptiones Graecae. Bonn.
Marangou, L.I. (2005), Ἀμοργὸς II. Οἱ ἀρχαῖοι πύργοι. Athens.
Stavrianopoulou, E. (2006), 'Gruppenbild mit Dame': Untersuchungen zur rechtlichen und sozialen Stellung der Frau auf den Kykladen im Hellenismus und in der römischen Kaiserzeit. Stuttgart.
Thomsen, C.A. (2015), ‘The eranistai of classical Athens’. GRBS 55: 154-75.
Vérilhac, A.-M., and Vial, C. (1998), Le mariage grec du vie siècle av. J.C. à l'époque d'Auguste. Athens.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The terminology (eranos, archeranos, and eranistai) combined with the activities in which the group are engaged (money-lending) and the mention of a law (nomos) make it next to certain that we are dealing with a private association.