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Last Updated on 24 Jun 2019

Author: Jan-Mathieu Carbon

CAPInv. 852: hoi mystai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Caria
iii. Site Tralleis

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ μύσται (I.Tralleis and Nysa 86, lines 7-8)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi mystai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 132 (?) - 200 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:οἱ μύσται, hoi mystai
The term designates initiates.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Tralleis und Nysa 86 (ca. 132-200 AD)
Note Cf. also Vidman, SIRIS 295;
Bricault, RICIS 303/1301, with commentary.
Online Resources PHI: Tralles 79
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorific statue base(?) in Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Marble block.
ii. Source(s) provenance Aydin (Tralleis).

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials The honorand, Iulius Amyntianus, is a priest of the Egyptian gods, and is also identified as Panhellene (a Hadrianic or later title). As priest, he may have been an official of the group. For the individual, see the refs. collected in I.Tralleis and Nysa and Bricault.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The honorand is a priest.
Deities worshipped (E)Isis and Sara(a)pis
iv. Honours/Other activities The inscription is honorific.

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography Vidman, L. (1969), Sylloge Inscriptionum Religionis Isiacae et Sarapiacae (SIRIS), Berlin.

Bricault, L. (2005), Recueil des inscriptions concernant les cultes isiaques (RICIS), Paris.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note The associational character of the group of mystai who came together, presumably for the cult of the Egyptian gods (so Vidman and Bricault), is far from established. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, they may have been fluid cult group lacking other features of a private association, such as a more defined name, organisation and durative character.