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Last Updated on 03 Mar 2017

Author: Maria-Gabriella Parissaki

CAPInv. 537: to bakcheion

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Thrace
ii. Region Inland Thrace
iii. Site Augusta Traiana

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) τὸ βακχεῖον (IGBulg V 5579, l. 2)
ii. Full name (transliterated) to bakcheion

III. DATE

i. Date(s) iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii. Descriptive terms βακχεῖον, bakcheion
Note bakcheion: IGBulg V 5579, l. 2

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IGBulg V 5579 (iii AD)
Note See also: Jaccottet II no. 50
Online Resources IGBulg V 5579
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Dedication in Greek of a xoanon by M. Valerius Aelius Priscinus to the bakcheion.
i.c. Physical format(s) Base of a marble statuary group of which only the lower part is preserved; it originally depicted Dionysos in a central position, with his companions (according to SEG 37: 601) or with a tree trunk and a vine branch around it (according to BE 1989: no. 126).
ii. Source(s) provenance Found in 1987 at the forum of Augusta Traiana.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects A xoanon is mentioned in the text as offered by M. Valerius Priscinus to the bakcheion; for the unusual use of this word to describe a statuary group, see BE 1989: no. 126.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number .
ii. Gender Men
Note On the evidence of the only known member.
iv. Status The dedicant was a Roman citizen.

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography Nikolov, D. (1987), ‘Recherches sur la culture en Mésie et en Thrace (Bulgarie) (1er-4ème s.)’, BIAB 37: 103.
Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich: 102-3, no. 50.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note Due to the limited information offered by the text, it is not clear whether the term βακχεῖον, bakcheion should be interpreted here as referring to a Dionysiac cult association, to the place where such cult rituals were taking place (LSJ, s.v. Βακχεῖον 2b = τελεστήριον, telesterion) or to Dionysos' cult epithet (thus Jaccottet 2003: 103: either a dedication to a dionysiac association or a dedication to Dionysos Bakkheios). The same uncertainty surrounds the term ἱερίη Βακχίου, hierie Bakchiou occurring in a funerary inscription from Topeiros, see I.Thrac.Aeg. E93.