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Last Updated on 18 Jun 2019

Author: Stella Skaltsa

CAPInv. 1058: [hoi g]eraioi meta Artemidorou tou Artemidorou

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Mysia
iii. Site Hamamlı (Lake Daskylitis/ Manyas Gölü)

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) [oἱ γ]εραιοὶ μετὰ Ἀρτεμιδώρου τοῦ Ἀρτεμιδώρου (SEG XL: 1126)
ii. Full name (transliterated) [hoi g]eraioi meta Artemidorou tou Artemidorou

III. DATE

i. Date(s) l. i (?) BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Personal:μετὰ Ἀρτεμιδώρου τοῦ Ἀρτεμιδώρου, meta Artemidorou son of Artemidoros (ll. 2-5)
Although the definitive article hoi is omitted before meta, the phrase 'meta + personal name in the genitive' indicates that the geraioi formed a sort of companions of Artemidoros.
Status-related: γεραιοὶ: elders
The term geraioi can stand for the group of elders centered on the gymnasium, but it can also denote the gerousia, in the sense of a civic institution.
See also Giannakopoulos 2008: 17-27.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG XL: 1126 (l. i BC)
Note Ed.pr.
Radet & Lechat 1888: 195-6 no. 5

Hasluck 1910: no. IV 88
Schwertheim 1990: 90-4 no. 3
Schwertheim (1990: 91-2) reads [οἱ γε]ραιοὶ μετὰ in line 2, contrary to Radet & Lechat's reading [ ] ΕΡΑΙ οἱ μετὰ
Online Resources IMT Kyz LDascyl 2092

AGRW ID 7120
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorary inscription in Greek for a number of people by the geraioi meta Artemidorou son of Artemidoros.
i.c. Physical format(s) Stele. H. 130 x W. 54 x Th. 17 cm.
The stele bears two reliefs (A+B).
Relief A is carved above the inscription. The inscription starts above relief B and continues to its right and under it. Relief B occupies only half of the width of the stele to the left.
Relief A depicts Zeus and his eagle as well as a sacrificial scene (two servants, a sacrificial animal). Relief B also depicts a sacrificial scene (representation of a man, an altar and a bull).
According to Schwertheim (1990) there was perhaps one line of inscription above relief A.
ii. Source(s) provenance Hamamlı (Lake Daskylitis/ Manyas Gölü)

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership μετὰ Ἀρτεμιδώ[ρου] τοῦ Αρτεμιδ[ώ]ρου, meta Artemidorou son of Artemidoros (ll. 2-5)
The phrase 'meta + personal name' indicates that the geraioi were kind of companions of Artemidoros. If the phrase is equivalent to the phrase hoi peri tinos, then Artemidoros may have been the leader of the group.
iii. Members γεραιοί, geraioi (l. 2)

Schwertheim restores the term geraios in line 17 too (Ἀρτεμίδωρον τὸν γ[ερα]ιόν, Artemidoros ton g[era]ion) (1990: 93).

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Note In the light of the name geraioi, the members were all men.
iii. Age Elders
Note In the light of the name geraioi, the members were elders.
v. Relations All the honorands but Artemidoros son of Artemidoros (the leader of the geraioi) and the freedman (l. 20-1) belong to one and the same family (Schwertheim 1990: 93 with the stemma).

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities The geraioi meta Artemidorou son of Artemidoros honored eight individuals with eternal crowns (ἀϊδίῳ στεφάνῳ). Six of them belonged to the same family. One of the honorands was Artemidoros himself who also set up the stele, l. 19 (the leader/ companion of the geraioi). All but one honorands were citizens (personal name followed by patronymic); Perigenes was a freedman (ἠλευθερωμένον, ll. 20-1) (Schwertheim 1990: 93).
Artemidoros set up the stele and was crowned with an additional eternal crown (ll. 18-20).

Schwertheim (1990) thinks that the eternal crown point to funerary honours and he assumes that the honorands were all dead. There is nothing in the text to suggest posthumous honors.

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography Giannakopoulos, N. (2008), Ο Θεσμός της Γερουσίας των ελληνικών πόλεων κατά τους ρωμαϊκούς χρόνους. Thessalonike.
Hasluck, F.W. (1910), Cyzicus. Being Some Account of the History and Antiquities of that City, and of the District Adjacent to it, with the Towns of Apollonia Ad Rhyndacum, Miletupolis, Hadrianutherae, Priapus, Zeleia, etc.. Cambridge.
Radet, G.A. & H. Lechat (1888), 'Inscriptions d'Asie Mineure', BCH 12: 187-204.
Schwertheim, E. 1990: ‘Ἀΐδιος στέφανος’, in. E. Schwertheim (ed.), Mysische Studien. (Asia Minor Studien 1). Bonn: 83-100.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The word geraioi normally stands for the elders, i.e. the gerousia. However, the personal ties among the honorands would point to a family-based group and not to a civic body like the gerousia. There is some uncertainty as to the durability and internal organization of this group.