View

I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Eastern Asia Minor
ii.	Region	Pontus
iii.	Site	Sebastopolis

II. NAME

i.

Association with unknown name

U-EAM-005

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

117 - 138 AD

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	Mittford 1991: 200-5 no. 12 (117-138 AD)
	Note	See also: Anderson 1900: 153-6 no. 2 IGR III 115 OGIS 529 Le Guen-Pollet 1989: 65-7 no. 10
	Online Resources	EA 13: 65 no. 10
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Greek honorary inscription for M. Antonius Rufus.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Limestone stele
ii.	Source(s) provenance	The inscription was found at Sulusaray (Sebastopolis).

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii.

Leadership

θιασάρχης, thiasarches (l. 5)

In addition to various civic offices held by the honorand, the latter was stated to have been thiasarches several times (καὶ θιασαρχήσαντα πολλάκις, kai thiasarchesanta pollakis, ll. 5-6). This suggests that the leader of the association in question bore the title θιασάρχης, thiasarches.

XII. NOTES

i.	Comments	The suggested date is based on the fact that the honorand was high-priest of Hadrian. The phrase θιασαρχήσαντα πολλάκις (thiasarchesanta pollakis, ll. 5-6) renders possible that the official name of the association in question included the term thiasos or one of its derivatives, such as thiasitai. M. Antonius Rufus was a distinguished figure in Sebastopolis and a descendant of an illustrious family. He served as archon and agoranomos several times, he assumed the lifelong high-priesthood of Hadrian, organizing gladiatorial games (Robert 1940: 128-9) and the Pontarchia at Neokaisareia. He also financed public constructions and distributions. In this respect providing leadership and presumably benefactions to a local thiasos on various occasions on the one hand constituted a vital aspect of his political and social capital and on the other hand highlighted and strengthened the importance of such associations in Sebastopolis (cf. Van Nijf 1997: 74-82 and 118-22; Maillot 2013: 204-7).
ii.	Poland concordance	Poland B* 440 B
iii.	Bibliography	Anderson, J.G.C. (1900), ‘Pontica’, JHS 20: 151-8. Le Guen-Pollet, B. (1989), ‘Sébastopolis du Pont (Sulusaray). Documents littéraires et inscriptions déjà publiées de la cité’, EA 13: 51-86. Maillot, S. (2013), ‘Les associations à Cos’ in P. Fröhlich and P. Hamon (eds.), Groupes et associations dans les cités grecques (IIIe siècle av. J.-C. – IIe siècle apr. J.-C.), Genève: 199-226. Mitford, T. B. (1991), ‘Inscriptions Ponticae – Sebastopolis’, ZPE 87: 181-243. Robert, L. (1940), Les gladiateurs dans l’Orient grec. Paris. Van Nijf, O. (1997), The Civic World of Professional Associations in the Roman East. Amsterdam.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Certain
	Note	The term thiasarchesas refers to the leadership of a thiasos, thus to a private association.