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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Aegean Islands
ii.	Region	Rhodes
iii.	Site	(a) Rhodes, the capital city of Rhodes and (b) Loryma (mod. Bozuk) in the incorporated Peraia.

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	[τ]ὸ κοινὸν τῶν ἐρανιστᾶν τῶν Ἀδωνιαζόντων
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	[t]o koinon ton eraniston ton Adoniazonton

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

iii - ii BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii.

Name elements

Theophoric:

From the god Adonis, whose cult and festival (the Adonia) are well attested on the island of Rhodes and in the Peraia: D. Morelli, I cult in Rodi SCO 8 (Pisa, 1959), 1, 79-80.

iii.

Descriptive terms

τὸ κοινόν, to koinon

ἐρανισταί, eranistai

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	I.Rhod.Per. 12 (Loryma, Peraia) ASAA 22 (1939/40), 147, 1 (city of Rhodos)
	Note	For I.Rhod.Per. 12 see also Bresson, Recueil Perée 202
	Online Resources	I.Rhod.Per. 12. ASAA 22 (1939/40) 147, no. 1.
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii.	Leadership	The inscription from the city of Rhodos (ASAA 22 [1939/40] 147, no. 1, ll. 8-9) mentions the ἀρχερανιστής, archeranistes, of the association.
iii.	Members	The text from Loryma (Peraia) awards honours to Telestas Telestonos Kasareus, a Rhodian citizen belonging to a deme of Camiros. The text from Rhodos awards honours to Sosikles Sosou from Crete and to Damatrios Damatriou, perhaps a citizen. From the specific honours awarded to each of them (e.g. ἀτέλεια, ateleia [exception from taxes/dues]), it can be concluded that they all were members of the association.
viii.	Obligations	From the honours granted it appears that members were under an obligation to make recurrent monetary contributions to the treasury of the koinon (τἐλη, tele [taxes/dues]); ἀτελείαι πάσαι, ateleiai pasai, in I.Rhod.Per. 12, l. 4, indicates that there were several such taxes/dues. The members also had to make recurrent contributions in kind (συμβολαί, symbolai), which most probably consisted of food and drink: on either of these see Poland 1909, B 305.
ix.	Privileges	Each of the members of the association mentioned in the two texts was granted the privilege of exemption from monetary contributions (ἀτέλεια, ateleia) and contributions in kind (ἀσύμβολος, asymbolos). Whereas I.Rhod.Per. 12, l. 4 has ἀτελείαι πάσαι, ateleiai pasai, ASAA 22 (1039/40) 147 no. 1, has only ἀτελείαι, ateleiai, without further specification. However, in substance there may not have been a difference in the privileges granted: in all cases, exemption from all taxes/dues seems to be in given.

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

i.

Treasury/Funds

The existence of a treasury can only indirectly be inferred from the obligation of members to make recurrent monetary contributions.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii.	Gender	Men
	Note	Only a few members are known, and these are all men.
iv.	Status	The membership included both Rhodian citizens (e.g. Telestas Telesonos Kasareus) and non-Rhodians (Sosikles from Crete)

X. ACTIVITIES

ii.	Meetings and events	The association gathered at least during the celebration of the festival Adonia, during which it made the award and proclamation of honours.
iii.	Worship	The association celebrated the festival Adonia.
	Deities worshipped	Adonis
iv.	Honours/Other activities	Each of the persons honoured in the two texts receives: 1. The title εὐεργέτας, (euergetas); in ASAA 22 (1939/40) 147, no. 1, the privilege is called εὐεργεσία, euergesia. 2. The privileges of exemption from taxes/dues (ἀτέλεια, ateleia) and exemption from contributions in kind (ἀσύμβολος, asymbolos). 3. An olive wreath each time the festival of Adonia was celebrated. 4. A proclamation (ἀνακήρυξις, anakeryxis) of either all the honours bestowed to an individual or of only the olive wreath on each Adonia.

XI. INTERACTION

i.

Local interaction

Probably, the eranistai Adoniazontes participated in the celebration of the festival Adonia at Loryma and in the city of Rhodos.

XII. NOTES

i.	Comments	The two inscriptions attesting to this association have almost identical texts, not only with regard to the name of the association, but also with regard to the specific honours it bestows to some of its members. Moreover, both texts date from broadly the same period. However, the fact that one was discovered in Loryma (a part of the incorporated Peraia) and the other in the capital city of Rhodos needs an explanation. The view taken by the author of this entry (one based on the great similarity of the texts) is that we have to do with one group, rather than with two separate ones with the same name. In that case, the explanation would be either that one of these two stones has been removed from its original place; or that one and the same association had two different loci of activity. Since a parallel is encountered with the he ton geouchon synodos in Egypt (CAPInv. 38), I consider the latter option as the more probable one.
ii.	Poland concordance	B 305

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Certain
	Note	The use of the terms koinon and (especially) eranos make it certain that this was a private association.

CAPInv. 1612: [t]o koinon ton eraniston ton Adoniazonton