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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Western Asia Minor
ii.	Region	Ionia
iii.	Site	Smyrna (?)

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	ἡ συμβίωσις τῶν συππινάδων (I.Smyrna 218, ll. 3-4)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	he symbiosis ton syppinadon

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

100 (?) - 200 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii.

Name elements

Professional:

syppinadoi; probably workers of flax

iii.

Descriptive terms

συμβίωσις, symbiosis
συνεργασία, synergasia

Note

symbiosis: I.Smyrna 218, ll. 3-4
synergasia: I.Smyrna 218, l. 9

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	I.Smyrna 218 (100 (?) - 200 (?) AD)
	Note	See also: Dittmann-Schöne II.2.1
	Online Resources	I.Smyrna 218
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Grave inscription, greek
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Marble plate
ii.	Source(s) provenance	Unknown (attribution to Smyrna uncertain)

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii.

References to buildings/objects

καμάρα, kamara (l. 5)

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii.	Members	Epaphroditos, who erected the grave chamber, was either a benefactor or a wealthy member of the association.
vi.	Laws and rules	L. 7 refers to a process of “testing” members (dokimasia): Only those who have “once been tested” are to be buried in the grave chamber (εἰ τίς ποτ’ ἐδοκιμάσθι, ei tis pot’ edokimasthi, ll. 6-7). This could refer to the preliminary testing of new members before they could enter the association (attested in Athenian associations). This interpretation was established by Buckler 1934 and has been widely approved; cf. van Nijf 1997: 43, n. 60; Dittmann-Schöne 2010: 164; Royer 2005: 82. Petzl in I.Smyrna instead suggests that the investigation took place post mortem, because being buried in the chamber was a special privilege for some members. The use of πότε, pote (l. 7), is taken by the other scholars to speak in favor of a dokimasia carried out before death. However, it is also possible to argue that the temporal point of reference is the burial, and one may well imagine that before someone was buried in the chamber, the other members made sure that he had regularly paid the membership fee. It would be important to know who normally saw the inscription; if it was seen by outsiders, the idea that it defines the association as an exclusive club that accords privileges to those who have gained acceptance would gain plausibility. Unfortunately, it is not even clear whether or not the inscription stems from Smyrna.

XII. NOTES

ii.	Poland concordance	Poland Z 33
iii.	Bibliography	Buckler, W.H. (1934), ‘CIG. 3304 Revised’, JHS 54: 75-7. Dittmann-Schöne, I. (2010), Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. 2nd. ed. Regensburg. Royer, A. (2005), Associations professionnelles et groupes de gens de métier dans les cités grecques d'Asie Mineure à l'époque impériale (Ier - Ve siècles ap. J.-C.). Lyon. Van Nijf, O.M. (1997), The Civic World of Professional Associations in the Roman East. Amsterdam.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Probable
	Note	Professional associations in the 2nd/3rd century were often very close to the official civic institutions, but they probably remained essentially private associations.
ii.	Historical authenticity	Certain

CAPInv. 1138: he symbiosis ton syppinadon