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Last Updated on 23 May 2019

Author: Sofia Kravaritou

CAPInv. 1807: tous therapeutas

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Central Greece
ii. Region Eastern Thessaly. Region of Magnesia.
iii. Site Demetrias

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) τοὺς θεραπευτὰς (IG IX.2 1107b, ll. 8-9)
ii. Full name (transliterated) tous therapeutas

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 117 BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:Usually the term denotes devotees of the Isiac deities. The text of IG IX.2 1107b relates to benevolent and honorific attitudes displayed towards the Isiac deities and related cult personnel in the Serapieion of Demetrias.
Also groups of therapeutai are attested in Asclepios' cult in Athens (SEG 39: 229), oriental cults on Delos (I.Délos 2229), as well as various cults in Asia Minor (Sardis VII.1 22).

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IG IX.2 1107b (c. 117 BC)
Note See also:
Kravaritou 2013/14: 203-33
RICIS 112/0703
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorific inscription in Greek by the hypostoloi for Kriton, son of Kriton, civic priest of Sarapis in Demetrias (ll. 3-5: ἐπειδὴ Κρ[ίτων Κρί]τωνος κατασταθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς π̣[όλεως] ἱερεὺς τοῦ Σαράπιδος, epeide Kr[iton son of Kri]ton katastatheis hypo tes p[oleos] hiereus tou Sarapidos). The hypostoloi put themselves in charge of the honours paid to the priest for his benevolent attitude both towards them and the therapeutai.
i.c. Physical format(s) Stone stele witch also contains on the top part of a later manumission record in two lines (IG IX.2 1107a).
ii. Source(s) provenance It was found reused in the church of Panagia at Makrynitsa, on the western slopes of Mount Pelion, several km from the site of Ancient Demetrias.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

i. Archaeological remains The original second-century BC cult site of the Sarapieion of Demetrias remains unidentified and is yet to be located. Remains of the stone foundations of a large intra-muros building with a peribolos and many stone pedestals, along with a stone stele with traces of Harpocrates' name and a marble statuette of Isis (?) holding Harpocrates (?) or Horus (?) were discovered on the southern edges of the city of Demetrias inside the fortification walls, on the northern flank of the hill of Prophet Elias (Sarapieion?) (Arvanitopoulos 1915: 130-200).

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The name of the association, along with the content of the text related to benevolent and honorific attitudes displayed in the Sarapieion of Demetrias, indicates that the gods worshipped were the Isiac deities.
iv. Honours/Other activities Reception of benevolent attitude on behalf of the local civic priest of Sarapis.

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction They do not participate actively in the corporate act of displaying honorific attitude towards the benevolent civic priest of Sarapis; it is the local koinon of the hypostoloi that is in charge of those honours also on their behalf.

XII. NOTES

ii. Poland concordance Poland B 50
iii. Bibliography Arvanitopoulos, A. (1915), ‘Ανασκαφαί και έρευναι εν Θεσσαλία’, PAE: 130-200.
Decourt, J.-Cl., and Tziafalias A. (2007), ‘Cultes et divinités isiawues en Thessalie: identité et urbanisation’, in L. Bricault, M.J., Versluys and P.G.P. Meyboom (eds.), Nile into Tiber. Egypt in the Roman World. Proceedings of the IIIrd International Conference of Isis Studies. Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, May 11-14 2005. Leiden: 329-63.
Kravaritou S. (2013/14), ‘Isiac Cults, Civic priesthood and Social Elite in Hellenistic Demetrias (Thessaly): Notes on IG IX2, 1107 (RICIS 112/0703) and beyond’, Tekmeria 12: 203-33.
Vidman, L. (1970), Isis und Sarapis bei den Griechen und Römern: Epigraphische Studien zur Verbreitung und zu den Trägern des ägyptischen Kultes (Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 29). Berlin.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The term therapeutai was identified as a term describing 'a loose association' (Vidman 1970: 69). The therapeutai of Demetrias that apparently frequented the local Serapieion, received benevolent attitude from the civic priest of Sarapis and interacted with the local hypostoloi seem to fit this image.