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Last Updated on 18 Jun 2019

Author: Stella Skaltsa

CAPInv. 966: hoi thiasotai hoi Menekleida

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Aiolis
iii. Site Kyme

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ θιασῶται οἱ Μενεκλείδα (I.Kyme 30 ll. 5-6)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi thiasotai hoi Menekleida

III. DATE

i. Date(s) ii BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Personal:hoi Menekleida

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Kyme 30 (ii BC)
Note Jaccottet 2003, vol. 2: no. 103.
Online Resources I.Kyme 30
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Decree in Greek of the thiasotai hoi Menekleida.
The precise content of the decree is not clear as the text is only partially preserved.
Aiolic dialect with few influences of the koine.
i.c. Physical format(s) Fragment of slab. H. 12.5 x W. 21.5 cm.
ii. Source(s) provenance Kyme. The findspot of this inscription is unknown. The publication of the text (Salac 1927: 375-7 no. 1) is based on a squeeze made by Sartiaux in 1913.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects εἰς τὸν πρόδ[ο]μον τῶ Βακχείω, eis ton prod[o]mon to Bakcheio (ll. 3-4): the stele on which the decree has been engraved is to be placed in the prodomos of the Bakcheion.

στάλλα[ν] λιθίναν, stalla[n] lithinan (ll. 2-3): the decree was to be inscribed in a stone stele.

VII. ORGANIZATION

i. Founder(s) Menekleides was probably the founder of the association for the thiasotai are designated as those of Menekleides.
Gender Male
iii. Members θιασῶται, thiasotai (ll. 5-6)

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The stele on which the decree of the thiasotai of Menekleides was engraved should be consecrated to Dionysos (ἔμμεναι δὲ τὰν στά[λ]λαν ταύταν ἱρὰν τῶ Διονύσω, ll. 4-5). It was to be set up in the Bakcheion (i.e. the sanctuary of Dionysos).
Deities worshipped Dionysos

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The resolution (psephisma) was passed when prytanis was Ditas son of Athanaos. Decrees in Kyme are dated after the prytanis (IKyme 5; 7; 8; 11; 12; 13; 17; 19).


These are not the only thiasotai of Dionysos attested in Kyme. IKyme 17 / CAP Inv. 954 attests to thiaseitai. There is a chronological gap of nearly a century between the two inscriptions. In I.Kyme 17 there is no mention of a Bakcheion and there is no compelling evidence for assuming that we are dealing with the same private association, although both centered around the cult of Dionysos.

The Dionysia was a major public festival in Kyme (IKyme 2; IKyme 13; IKyme 89). There was a public priest of Dionysos Pandemos (SEG 32: 1243).
iii. Bibliography Salac, A. (1927), 'Inscriptions de Kymé d'Éolide, de Phocée, de Tralles et de quelques autres villes d'Asie Mineure', BCH 51: 374-400.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The thiasotai set themselves apart from other worshippers by taking their name from their leader/ founder. They passed decrees and set up their decrees in the forecourt of the Bakcheion. Apparently they had direct access to the Bakcheion and they could appropriate this space as they wished to (without seeking permission from another public or private body to set up the stele of the decree).