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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Macedonia
ii.	Region	Mygdonia
iii.	Site	Thessalonike

II. GENERAL REFERENCE

i.a.	Full reference (original language)	θίασοι Διονύσου (IG X.2.1 506, l. 8)
i.b.	Full reference (transliterated)	thiasoi Dionysou
ii.	Reference context	Isidoros son of Sabeinos is praised in his funerary altar for having led a good life, and having served as a councillor of Thessalonike and as a priest "of Dionysiac thiasoi" (IG X.2.1 506, ll. 2-8).

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

209 / 210 AD

IV. TERMINOLOGY

i.	Descriptive terms	θίασος, thiasos
	Note	thiasos: IG X.2.1 506, l. 8 From this general reference we may gather that the descriptive term thiasos could be used for all Dionysiac associations.

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	IG X.2.1 506 (AD 209/10)
	Note	See also: GRA I 80; Jaccottet II no. 21; AGRW 57
	Online Resources	IG X.2.1 506 and AGRW ID 2481
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Greek funerary inscription.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Funerary altar; the inscription is engraved on the front side, in a moulded panel, and on the right side (ll. 12-14).
ii.	Source(s) provenance	Found on the basement of the Acheiropoietos Church in the Thessaloniki. On Edson's view that the sanctuary of Dionysos should be sought in that location, see the comments on the Prinophoroi in CAPInv. 740.

VI. ORGANIZATION

ii.

Leadership

Isidoros served as a priest -and therefore presumably led- more than one Dionysiac associations (IG X.2.1 506).

VII. INTERACTION

i.

Local interaction

Whatever the exact nature of the thiasoi mentioned may have been, the fact that the same person served as a priest for different associations of Dionysos, whether consecutively or simultaneously, should not come as a suprise. Cf. below, IX.i.

VIII. NOTES

iii.

Bibliography

Edson, Ch. (1948), ‘Cults of Thessalonica (Macedonica III)’, HThR 41: 153-204, esp. 159-60, 177.
Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich: 54, no. 21.
Kloppenborg, J.S. and Ascough, R.S. (2011), Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary. I. Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace. Göttingen: 67-9, no. 80.
Nigdelis, P.M. (2010), ‘Voluntary Associations in Roman Thessalonike: in Search of Identity and Support in a Cosmpolitan Society’, in L. Nasrallah, Ch. Bakirtzis and S. Friesen (eds.), From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonike: Studies in Religion and Archaeology, Cambridge Mass., London: 13-47, esp. 15, n. 7.

IX. EVALUATION

i.	Private associations	Probable
	Note	Both Edson 1948: 159 and Nigdelis 2010: 15 n. 7 agree that the thiasoi mentioned in IG X.2.1 506 were public bodies. This is, however, hardly necessary; the relatively high status of the priest is not by itself proof of the public character of the thiasoi.

CAPInv. GR-49: thiasoi Dionysou