Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/378Download as PDF
Last Updated on 01 Jul 2019

Author: Aitor Blanco Perez

CAPInv. 378: hoi techneitai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Pisidia
iii. Site Termessos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ τεχνεῖται (TAM III.1 4, ll. 25-26)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi techneitai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) l. ii - m. iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

i. Name in other forms οἱ κατὰ πόλιν τεχνεῖται σκυτεῖς (TAM III.1 114, ll. 7-9)
ii. Name elements
Professional:techneitai
skyteis (TAM III.1 114, l. 9)
Topographical:kata polin

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) TAM III.1 4 (l. ii - m. iii AD)
TAM III.1 62 (l. ii - m. iii AD)
TAM III.1 114 (l. ii - m. iii AD)
Note See also:
Dittmann-Schöne VI.4.1-VI.4.3
Online Resources TAM III.1 4
TAM III.1 62
TAM III.1 114
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script TAM III.1 4: Honorific inscription of the people of Termessos for Atalante, daughter of Piatebarios. Greek.
TAM III.1 62: Honorific inscription by the association for Atalante, daughter of Piatebarios. Greek.
TAM III.1 114: Honorific inscription by the association for M. Aur. Meidianus Varus. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) TAM III.1 4: Statue base. Measurements: 1.52x0.68x0.61.
TAM III.1 62: Statue base. Measurements: 1.49x0.68x061.
TAM III.1 114: Statue base. Measurements: 2.13x0.74x085.
ii. Source(s) provenance TAM III.1 4: Attalos Stoa.
TAM III.1 62: Attalos Stoa (next to no. 4).
TAM III.1 114: By the road connecting the Stoa Osbaras and the gate B.

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

i. Treasury/Funds None of the epigraphic testimonies records specific information about the source of funds for this professional group. TAM III.1 4 reports that the technitai were allowed to produce their own honours and a statue next to the place in which the resolution of the demos of Termessos was inscribed.
The type of honours and monuments of both TAM III.1 62 and TAM III.1 114 presumes the preparation of statues using funds privately provided by the association.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities All the three documents attesting the existence of guilds in Termessos are connected to honorific activities. In TAM III.1 4 and TAM III.1 62, this group of technitai appears in the honours of the same woman, Atalante, daughter of Piatebarios, a member of the local elite that is praised as euergetes.
TAM III.1 114 records again honours for one of the most prominent public figures of Termessos in the third century AD, M. Aur. Meidianus Varus, who is praised as the private benefactor of the guild of shoemakers.

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction The interaction of this group (or groups) of professionals with the civic life of Termessos was very intense. As explained above, their attestations are restricted to honorific activities of local benefactors and these honours were displayed in prominent public places of the city. Even if M. Aur. Meidianus Varus is specifically honoured as a 'private benefactor' of the association, his honours record him with local offices such as the perpetual priesthood of Zeus Solymeus and Roma. In the case of Atalante, the preparation of her statue by the technitai followed a motion of the college of probouloi approved by the Termessian demos as we are informed by TAM III.1 4 (cf. van Nijf 1997: 113-4). TAM III.1 62 confirms that these honours were eventually produced and placed in the location indicated by the motion. The technitai praised her for the provision of grain.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The t.p.q for TAM III.1 4 and TAM III.1 62 is provided by the prosopographical studies prepared by Heberdey 1929: 135, who placed the activities of Atalante in the last decades of the second century AD.
As M. Aur. Meidianus Varus was eponymous magistrate of Termessos in the second quarter of the third century, it is possible to establish a t.a.q. for the attested activities of this association in the 250s.

It is impossible to determine whether the technitai honouring Atalante and Varus were exactly the same group of professionals (cf. Dittmann-Schöne 2010: 254). Only in the latter case, the guild identifies itself as shoemakers. Even if the previous technitai were a different guild of professionals, we have decided to place them together because their honorific activities and involvement in the civic life of Termessos is very similar and chronologically related.
ii. Poland concordance Poland Ζ 80 (TAM III.1 114)
Poland Ζ 81a (TAM III.1 4)
Poland Ζ 81*b (TAM III.1 62)
iii. Bibliography Dittmann-Schöne, I. (2010), Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. 2nd. ed. Regensburg.
Heberdey, R. (1929), Termessische Studien. Vienna.
van Nijf, O. (1997), The civic world of professional associations in the Roman East. Amsterdam.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note Both the diverse honorific activities conducted by this group and the resolution of the people of Termessos mentioning them confirm with certainty the existence of this private association.