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I. LOCATION

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

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	οἱ συνήθε̣[ις] τοῦ Ἡρακλέος (IG X.2.1 288, ll. 1-2)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	hoi synethe[is] tou Herakleos

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

117 - m. ii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

i.

Name in other forms

[οἱ περὶ] nomen [ἀρχ]ισυνάγωγ[ον συνήθει]ς Ἡρακλέ[ους], hoi peri + personal name archisynagogon synetheis Herakleous (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289, ll. 1-3)

[ο]ἱ συνήθεις Περιτιαστῶν, hoi synetheis Peritiaston (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340, l. 1)

[συνήθεις περὶ] nomen, synetheis peri + personal name (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339, l. 3; for the fact that the association of Herakles is probably mentioned here, see E. Sverkos apud SEG 56: 765, app. cr.)

ii.

Name elements

Personal:	hoi peri + personal name
Theophoric:	Herakles Peritiastai: from Herakles Peritios (see Hatzopoulos 1998: 1202-4).

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	IG X.2.1 288 (AD 154, Peritios 7 [ca. January]) IG X.2.1 289 (m. ii AD) IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 (m. ii AD) IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 (m. ii AD) Most probably IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339 (AD 117/8)
	Note	On the interpretation of IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 as a source for this association, see Hatzopoulos 1998: 1202-4. IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339 = SEG 56: 765. On SEG 56: 765 see the app. cr. of Sverkos. IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 = SEG 56: 778 IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 = SEG 43: 462
	Online Resources	IG X.2.1 288 and AGRW ID 15431 IG X.2.1 289 and AGRW ID 15527 IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	All relevant sources (IG X.2.1 288 and 289; IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 and, most probably, IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339) are Greek funerary texts in honour of members of the association.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	IG X.2.1 288 is an unadorned stele, IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339 a stele with inscription in a moulded panel, IG X.2.1 289 a plaque and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 are lower fragments of steles preserving the lower part of a relief (on the former, the lower part of a carriage led by two horses is discerned).
ii.	Source(s) provenance	IG X.2.1 288 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 were reused in the eastern walls of Thessalonike. IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339 was also found in the eastern part of the ancient city. IG X.2.1 289 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 are of unknown provenance.

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii.	Leadership	The association is led by an ἀρχισυνάγωγος, archisynagogos. Kotys son of Eirene is the archisynagogos in IG X.2.1 288, ll. 3-5 and 289 ll. 4-5, as well as in the association of the Peritiastai (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340), which is most probably the same association (see Hatzopoulos 1998: 1202-4), while in IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 the association is led by Klaudios Se[---] (ll. 1-2). If IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339, ll. 1-6 refers to the same association (as Sverkos in the app. cr. of SEG 56: 765 plausibly assumes), it appears that Demas, secretary of the association in AD 154 (IG X.2.1 288) was a descendant of the association's leader a generation earlier (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339, 117/8 AD).
iii.	Members	The members are called συνήθεις, synetheis, in all relevant sources (IG X.2.1 288-289; IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289; IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340; IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339).
iv.	Officials	Two γραμματεῖς, grammateis, are attested in IG X.2.1 288 l. 5 and IG X.2.1 289 l. 6 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 l. 4. One of them appears to have been a descendant of the association's leader two decades earlier (see VII ii, above). According to Nigdelis' very plausible supplement in IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289, l. 4, the deceased Nerbas was a ἱερεύς, hiereus, most probably the priest of the association. If IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339, ll. 1-6 refers to the same association (as Sverkos in the app. cr. of SEG 56: 765 plausibly assumes), it appears that, initially at least, there was also an ἐξεταστής, exetastes (l. 10-11), in the association.
	Eponymous officials	In IG X.2.1 288 l. 5 and IG X.2.1 289 l. 6, the mention of the grammateis in the genitive for dating purposes seems to suggest that they were eponymous.
v.	Other staff	An ἐπιμελητής, epimeletes is attested in IG X.2.1 288 l. 8. . He was most probably simply responsible for the erection of the monument (see the comments on the association of Zeus Hypsistos at Edessa: CAPInv. 473).
ix.	Privileges	All sources on this association are funerary monuments for members set up and paid for by the association (in IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 the association apparently paid for only part of the cost, while the rest was covered by the deceased's family; likewise, IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339 was paid for by two associations jointly, the association of Herakles and the association of Artemis Akraia).

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii.	Gender	Men
	Note	All officials recorded in the relevant sources as well as all the deceased members were men. The fact that female members of the family of Kassios Asklepiades are mentioned in IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 is irrelevant, because these were not necessarily members of the association.
iv.	Status	The carriage (rather than chariot) portrayed in the relief of IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1289 may mean that the deceased (who may also have been a priest of Herakles), was a person employed in the field of transport. The metronymy of the archisynagogos Kotys (IG X.2.1 288-289; IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340), of the epimeletes Python (IG X.2.1 288), and perhaps of the deceased Kassios Asklepiades, who bears the nomen of his mother, along with the fact that Python bears the ethnic of Thessalonike, which may mean that he only recently acquired the citizenship, as well as the mention of the second grammateus in IG X.2.1 288 and IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1340 without a patronym, which may mean he was a slave, are all noteworthy and possible pointers to a lower social status.
v.	Relations	Demas, secretary of the association in AD 154 (IG X.2.1 288), was most probably a descendant of the homonymous leader of the association in AD 117 (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339). Primigas, the other secretary of AD 154 (IG X.2.1 288), was likewise a descendant (son?) of [---] son of Primigas who was the exetastes in AD 117 (IG X.2.1 Suppl. 1339).

XI. INTERACTION

i.

Local interaction

A member of the association appears to have been simultaneously a member of the association of Artemis Akraia (see CAPInv. 774).

XII. NOTES

ii.	Poland concordance	Poland B 57
iii.	Bibliography	Edson, Ch., (1948), ‘Cults of Thessalonica (Macedonica III)’, HThR 41: 153-204, esp. 163 and 187. Hatzopoulos, M.Β. (1998), ‘Épigraphie et philologie : récentes découvertes épigraphiques et gloses macédoniennes d'Hésychius’, CRAI 142: 1189-218, esp. 1202-4. Nigdelis, P.M. (2006), Επιγραφικά Θεσσαλονίκεια. Συμβολή στην πολιτική και κοινωνική ιστορία της αρχαίας Θεσσαλονίκης. Thessaloniki: 160-2. Trakosopoulou-Salakidou, H. (1993), ‘Από την κοινωνία της Θεσσαλονίκης των αυτοκρατορικών χρόνων’, Ancient Macedonia V: 1539-91, esp. 1569-77, no. 9.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Certain
	Note	A distinctive name (or, rather, names), an hierarchy with a leader and other officials, and the group's contribution to the burial costs of members are all clear signs of a private association.

CAPInv. 756: hoi synethe[is] tou Herakleos