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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Aegean Islands
ii.	Region	Lesbos
iii.	Site	Mytilene

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	οἱ τὴν σκυτι[κ]ὴν τέχνην ἐργα[ζ]όμενοι (IG XII.2 109, ll. 5-7)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	hoi ten skyti[k]en technen erga[z]omenoi

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

Imp.

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii.

Name elements

Professional:

The collective name refers to the profession of the membership: leather-workers.

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	SEG 26: 891 (Imp.)
	Note	Other editions: IG XII.2 108 IG XII.2 109 See also: Hodot 1976: 32-4 AGRW 259
	Online Resources	SEG 26: 891 IG XII.2 109 IG XII.2 108 AGRW ID# 1732
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	The inscription is a dedication partly in the Aeolian dialect, partly in the koine.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Probably, the stone of the inscription was a statue base.
ii.	Source(s) provenance	The inscription was discovered in the church of Aghios Nikolaos, Therme, Lesbos. It had been used as building material on the outer wall of the church.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii.

Members

The two persons mentioned as making the dedication together with our collective, Telesphoros son of Symphoros and Flavia Tyche, might perhaps have been among its members: see also XI.i below.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii.	Worship	The dedications to Artemis Thermia and to Aphrodite made by the οἱ τὴν σκυτι[κ]ὴν τέχνην ἐργα[ζ]όμενοι (hoi ten skyti[k]en technen erga[z]omenoi) jointly with two persons suggests that they worshipped at least these two deities.
	Deities worshipped	Artemis Thermia (Omonoia) and Aphrodite.

XI. INTERACTION

i.

Local interaction

According to the inscription, two persons, Telesphoros son of Symphoros and Flavia Tyche, dedicated to Artemis Thermia Homonoia a bronze image (χάλκινη εἰκώνα chalkine eikona) of the goddess in accordance with an oracle. In addition, the same persons dedicated to Aphrodite a statue (ἄγαλμα, agalma) that was to be placed within the sanctuary.

The collective called οἱ τὴν σκυτι[κ]ὴν τέχνην ἐργα[ζ]όμενοι (hoi ten skyti[k]en technen erga[z]omenoi) is said to have made the dedication jointly with the above-mentioned persons (συνκαθιέρωσαν, synkathierosan). The background for this joint action might have been that the two named persons were themselves members of the collective. Alternatively, the two parties might have been closely connected in some other way.

XII. NOTES

ii.	Poland concordance	Poland Z 14
iii.	Bibliography	Chaniotis, A. (1997), ‘New inscriptions from old books: inscriptions of Aigion, Delphi and Lesbos copied by Nicholas Biddle and Stavros Táxis’, Tekmeria 3: 7-21. Hodot, R. (1976), ‘Notes critiques sur le corpus épigraphique de Lesbos’, Études d'Archéologie Classique 5: 17-81. Waltzing, J.-P. (1895-1900), Étude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romains: depuis les origines jusqu'à la chute de l'Empire d'Occident. Louvain. Zimmermann, C. (2002), Handwerkervereine im griechischen Osten des Imperium Romanum. Mainz.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Possible
	Note	According to the prevailing view, this group was an association (SEG 45: 1098; Chaniotis 1997: 17-8; AGRW ID# 1732). Therefore it is included in collections of testimonies of professional associations (Waltzing 1895-1900, vol. 3: 64, no. 178; cf. Zimmermann 2002: 210). However, there is no immediate evidence to suggest that the leather-workers (hoi ten skytiken technen ergazomenoi) formed an association in the sense of a durable organization; their dedication could be a one-off joint act (together with the two individuals named in IG XII.2 108). Yet, since this latter view can not be backed by independent evidence either, the final evaluation of this group must be a "possile" private association.

CAPInv. 149: hoi ten skyti[k]en technen erga[z]omenoi