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Last Updated on 14 May 2019

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 485: he heiera eispeire

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Phrygia
iii. Site Akmoneia (?)

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ἡ εἱερὰ εἰσπείρη (SEG 41: 1171, ll. B2-3)
ii. Full name (transliterated) he heiera eispeire

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 249 / 250 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Other:εἱερὰ, heiera or rather hiera
iii. Descriptive terms σπείρα, speira
Note speira: SEG 41: 1171, l. B3

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG 41: 1171 (249/250 AD)
Note See also:
MAMA VI List: 151, no. 207
Jaccottet II no. 83
Online Resources MAMA VI List: 151, no. 207
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 reliefs on four sides
ii. Source(s) provenance The altar was first recorded as coming from Akmoneia, and this information was still regarded as valid by the time of its rediscovery (cf. Cole 1991; Jaccottet 2003: 163-4 also has Akmoneia). But according to Mitchell 1993: 47 it actually comes from the Upper Tembris Valley, where a member of the same family is attested.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials εἱροφάντης, heirophantes (ll. B3-4)

X. ACTIVITIES

Deities worshipped Dionysos (not in the text, but the imagery is clearly Dionysiac).
iv. Honours/Other activities No activity of the association is mentioned. The inscription is set up by two brothers, who together with their mother honour their father Telesphoros with an altar that shows him in Bacchic clothing. Also involved was the hiera speira, whose hierophantes Telesphoros had been.

XII. NOTES

ii. Poland concordance Poland B *425A
iii. Bibliography Cole, S.G. (1991), ‘Dionysiac Mysteries in Phrygia in the Imperial Period’, EA 17: 41-9.
Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich.
Mitchell, S. (1993), Anatolia. Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor. Vol. II. Oxford.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note Nothing militates against seeing the group as a private association.
ii. Historical authenticity Certain