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Last Updated on 24 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 675: synetairoi

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Syria
iii. Site Dura Europos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) συνέταιροι (YClS 14 (1955): 129-31, no. 2, l. 4)
ii. Full name (transliterated) synetairoi

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 37 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Other:synetairoi

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) YClS 14 (1955): 129-31, no. 2 (37 AD)
Online Resources YClS 14 (1955): 129-31, no. 2
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Building inscription in Greek
i.c. Physical format(s) A slab of gypsum
ii. Source(s) provenance Temple of Atargatis

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects τόπος, topos (ll. 5-6). The "undersigned synetairoi" build the topos "for the goddess" that had been "conceded" (συνχωρηθέ<ν>τα, synchorethe<n>ta, l. 5) by two persons. According to Frye et al. 1955: 131, this must have been "a chapel in the early temple"; cf. Milik 1972: 136: "Ce topos devait être une propriété privée adjacente au temple d'Atargatis".

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership ἀρχεταῖρος, archetairos (l. 8)
iii. Members συναχθέντες ... οἱ συνέταιροι, synachthentes ... hoi synetairoi (ll. 3-4)

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number 15 (?, see comments)

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship On the basis of the dedication of the topos to the goddess, worship by the group can be supposed.
Deities worshipped Atargatis

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The list of synetairoi seems to have contained 15 names; but cf. Milik 1972: 136, who argues that there were originally 12 names after the one of the archetairos, but a thirteenth, written in the right margin, was added later. This serves to bolster Milik's hypothesis that Semitic thiasoi consisted of either 10 or 12 members. However, even if the archetairos was not preceded by another name, I count 15 names (as did Frye et al.).

The document is dated to the 20th of Gorpiaios. On the same day, but 17 years later, a very similar document was written at Dura; see CAPInv. 676.

The two persons who apparently financed the construction are not mentioned in the list of the hypogegrammenoi synetairoi, who were responsible for the actual building.
iii. Bibliography Frye, R.N., Gilliam, J.F., Ingholt, H., and Welles, C.B. (1955), ‘Inscriptions from Dura-Europos’, YCIS 14: 123-213, esp. 129-31, no. 2.
Milik, J.T. (1972), Dédicaces faites par des dieux (Palmyre, Hatra, Tyr) et des thiases sémitiques à l’époque romaine. Paris.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The synetairoi were probably a private association, but its organizational structure is unknown.