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Last Updated on 25 Jun 2019

Author: Jan-Mathieu Carbon

CAPInv. 1836: thiasos ton sy[n ....]silai P(r)[- -]

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Aegean Islands
ii. Region Kos
iii. Site Kos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) θιάσου τῶν σὺ̣[ν ․․․]σ̣ί̣λ̣ᾳ̣ Π̣(ρ)[- -]
ii. Full name (transliterated) thiasos ton sy[n ....]silai P(r)[- -]

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 1 (?) - 100 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:thiasos (θιάσου, lines 2-3)
Personal:sy[n ....]silai (σὺ̣[ν ․․․]σ̣ί̣λ̣ᾳ̣, lines 4-5)
iii. Descriptive terms thiasos (θιάσου, lines 2-3)
Note The term both refers to a specifically cultic group and, more widely, to a collectivity.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IG XII.4 2818.
Note Segre, I. Cos EF 221; SEG 57.784; Tsouli 2013: no. 659

Cf. also Maillot 2013: no. 19.
Online Resources PHI: EF 221
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Boundary stone of a burial plot; Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Boundary stone: cippus of amydalopetra / Travertin.
ii. Source(s) provenance Found during demolition work in the city of Kos (context lost).

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects The point of reference of the boundary stone (ὅρος) is to burial plots, thekaia (θ[η]καίων lines 1-2).

VII. ORGANIZATION

i. Founder(s) See above IV.ii with lines 4-5.
Though the exact name of the individual mentioned in the name of the association itself is mostly lost--a name ending in -silas--this will have been its founder or its leader. Interestingly, Hallof in IG hypothesises that the acrophonic letter written after the traces of the name, apparently pi with a rho above it, may be an abbreviation for πρ(εσβυτέρῳ). This could be read and interpreted either as a familial designation (i.e. -silas was the eldest son of a father, whose name is now missing), or perhaps more probably, as a designation/title within the association itself (i.e. -silas was an elder or the elder of the group).
Gender Male
ii. Leadership See above.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship See above IV.ii.
Hallof in IG supposes that the name of the thiasos, perhaps originally theophoric or similar, was left uninscribed in line 3. However, there are thiasoi on Kos that are not named in this fashion: cp. e.g. CAPInv. no. 1832.
Deities worshipped Unclear.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments See above VII.i for the possible mention of the founding/leading individual as presbyteros. The precise connotations of this designation for the interpretation of the character of the association and its local context are unclear, though they may suggest a connection with the Koan gymnasion.
iii. Bibliography S. Maillot (2013), 'Les associations à Cos', in P. Hamon and P. Fröhlich (eds.), Groupes et associations dans les cités grecques, Geneva: 199-226.

M. Segre (2007), Iscrizioni di Cos, Epigrafi funerarie, Rome.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note Little is known about this association, its context or its forms of worship. But simply on the basis of its name and by comparison with other highly similar boundary stones of the burial plots of associations near the city of Kos (more than 50 in number, cf. e.g. CAPI no. 1826), we can be confident that it constituted a private association.