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Last Updated on 01 Jul 2019

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 467: Ptolemenoi mystai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Phrygia
iii. Site Nakoleia

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) Πτολεμηνοὶ μύσται (MAMA V KB 6, l. 1)
ii. Full name (transliterated) Ptolemenoi mystai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) ii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Topographical:Ptolemenoi is probably the designation of a village near Nakoleia.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) MAMA V KB 6 (ii AD)
Note See also:
Jaccottet II no. 77
Online Resources MAMA V KB 6
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Dedicatory inscription. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Marble altar with representations of Dionysiac cult scenes (for photo and description, see Haspels).
ii. Source(s) provenance Ayvali

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The scenes depicted on the altar show cult scenes that were probably familiar to initiates; cf. Haspels 1962: 287, who regards this (and similar scenes in monuments for Zeus Dionysos, presumably an old Phrygian deity) as evidence for "an old local cult, which was taken up, and perhaps enlarged, in Roman time."
Deities worshipped Dionysos
iv. Honours/Other activities The mystai dedicate an altar to Dionysos.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments This altar belongs to a group of similar monuments; cf. Jaccottet 2003: 152-3, 158-60 for discussion.
ii. Poland concordance Poland B 422
iii. Bibliography Haspels, C.H.E. (1962), ‘Relics of a Dionysiac Cult in Asia Minor’, AJA 66: 285-7.
Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The status of mystai-groups is not quite clear; most of them probably served both the private interests of their members and the needs of civic religion.
ii. Historical authenticity Certain