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Last Updated on 24 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 1891: ho sympas xystos

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Arabia
iii. Site Gerasa

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ὁ σύμπας ξυστός (I.Gerasa 170, l. 9)
ii. Full name (transliterated) ho sympas xystos

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 210 (?) - 220 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Other:sympas
iii. Descriptive terms ξυστός, xystos
Note xystos: I.Gerasa 170, l. 9

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Gerasa 170 (AD 210-220 ?)
Online Resources I.Gerasa 170
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorific decree, in Greek

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials ξυστάρχης, xystarches (l. 7): As in Ephesos, the designation is coupled with δὶα βίου, dia biou, "for life". This might indicate leadership of a defined group. The adjective παράδοξος, paradoxos, however, is normally added to terms designating victors in agones. This may point to a less "institutional" meaning of the term xystarches.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note Marcus Aurelius Alketas calls himself the "astonishing xystarches", and honors the Roman governor Alfenius Avitianus as "benefactor of the whole xystos" (presumably the whole athletic community). This does not necessarily imply that the xystos was an association (for similar problems, cf. the entries on xystoi from Ephesis and Erythrai. See CAPInv. 1890 and CAPInv. 1889.