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Last Updated on 16 Jan 2019

Author: Matt Gibbs & Philip F. Venticinque

CAPInv. 1800: hoi e]petai (?)

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Egypt
ii. Nome Thebes with Peri Thebas (U04b)
iii. Site Deir el-Bahari, 'Western Thebes'

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ ἠ]πηταί (I.Deir el-Bahari Lajtar 161, l. 5)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi e]petai (?)

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 283 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Professional:epetai, provided that the editor's suggested reconstruction is correct

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Deir el-Bahari Lajtar 161 (AD 283)
Online Resources TM 107496
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Proskynema/dedication in Greek
i.c. Physical format(s) Proskynema inscribed on wall
ii. Source(s) provenance Hatshepshut temple, Niche C, west wall, West wall of the court, southern part.

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership Traces in l. 3 of a word ending in -[ά]ρ̣χης -arches. A possible president or priest of the association in question?
iv. Officials [---] γραμματεύς grammateus (ll. 4-5), 'secretary'; Pamonthes the younger ἀρχι() (l. 7), likely a form of ἀρχιερεύς archiereus, 'chief-priest'.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number c. 20
ii. Gender Men
Note The recorded names are male names.
iii. Age Adults
v. Relations There may be one set of brothers, as the traces of two names appear to share a patronymic (l. 9).
vi. Proper names and physical features Pamonthes the younger; Pekysis; A[---]; Pseste[..]; Pl[.]; [...]tes; K[..]eus; T[---]; K[---]; Pe[---]; S[---]os; Psento[.]ris

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship made proskynema (ll. 13-16: τὸ προσκύνημα to proskynema) (understand: ἐποίησαν epoiesan).
Deities worshipped Amenothes and Asclepius / Asklepios (Egyptian: Amenhotep and Imhotep), and perhaps an unnamed third (l. 15).

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction The relationship to a local temple perhaps (?) although it is difficult to be definitive in any way given the state of the text.
Again, due the state of the document definitive answers are difficult. Nevertheless, given the example of the ironworkers of Hermonthis who visited the site and left proskynemata (and perhaps made a sacrifice too) at the same time (see CAPInv. 1365 ), it seems entirely possible that this particular association also travelled to the Temple of Hatshepshut.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments Latest direct proof of the existence of the cult of Amenhotep and Imhotep in Deir el-Bahari.
iii. Bibliography Łajtar, A. (2006) Deir el-Bahari in the Hellenistic and Roman periods: a study of an Egyptian temple based on Greek sources. Warsaw: Warsaw University, Institute of Archaeology, Department of Papyrology/The Raphael Taubenschlag Foundation.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note The text is incredible suggestive, but hardly definitive. Similar officials that we see in the association of ironworkers from Hermonthis (CAPInv. 1365 ) lead us to the conclusion that this was possibly an association, or at least a group of individuals who made a collective proskynema to these particular deities. There do appear to have been associations of epetai: cf. SB I 3939 ll. 10-14 (II-III AD: CAPInv. 1813).
ii. Historical authenticity .