Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/1898Download as PDF
Last Updated on 26 Jun 2019

Author: Jan-Mathieu Carbon

CAPInv. 1898: thiasos Hermaist[ai] ton syn Nikophor[oi] toi Hermaiou Laodikeos

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Aegean Islands
ii. Region Kos
iii. Site Kos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) θιάσου Ἑρμαϊστ[ᾶν] τῶν σὺν Νικοφόρ[ῳ] τῷ Ἑρμαίου Λαοδικέως (IG XII.4 2796, lines 2-5)
ii. Full name (transliterated) thiasos Hermaist[ai] ton syn Nikophor[oi] toi Hermaiou Laodikeos

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 100 (?) BC - 100 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:thiasos (θιάσου, line 2)
Personal:Nikophoros tou Hermaiou Laodikeus (σὺν Νικοφόρ[ῳ] τῷ Ἑρμαίου Λαοδικέως, lines 3-5)
Theophoric:Hermaistai (Ἑρμαϊστ[ᾶν], line 2)
iii. Descriptive terms thiasos (θιάσου, line 2)
Note The term both refers specifically to a cultic group and, more widely, to a collectivity.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IG XII.4 2796 (copy 1) and 2797 (copy 2, more badly preserved copy of the same text, thus attesting to another boundary stone of the burial plot of the same group).
Note Copy 1: Paton-Hicks, PH 156; SIG 784.

Copy 2: Segre, I. Cos EF 78 with ph.; SEG 57.778.

Cf. also Maillot 2013: no. 43.
Online Resources PHI: Paton-Hicks 156

Other copy: PHI: EF 78
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Boundary stones, horos (cf. ὅρος, line 1). Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) 1 - White marble cippus, used as a boundary stone.

2 - White marble stele.
ii. Source(s) provenance 1 - Found reused in a house of the Platani-Kermetes neighbourhood, south-west of city of Kos (the area of the necropolis).

2 - One fragment of unknown provenance in the city of Kos; the other, also from the neighbourhood of Platani.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects The point of reference of the boundary stones (ὅρος, line 1) is to private burial plots for the group: thekaia (θηκαίων, line 1).

VII. ORGANIZATION

i. Founder(s) Nikophoros tou Hermaiou Laodikeus (σὺν Νικοφόρ[ῳ] τῷ Ἑρμαίου Λαοδικέως, lines 3-5)
This individual, mentioned in the name of the association, is either its founder or its leader.
ii. Leadership See above.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship See above IV.ii.
Deities worshipped Hermes.

XI. INTERACTION

ii. Interaction abroad The provenance of the individual identified as either the founder or leader of the group (see above VII.i) is relevant: his ethnic Laodikeus indicates that he was a citizen of Laodikeia. But which Laodikeia? There are several possibilities: Laodikeia-on-the Lykos, Laodikeia Pontica, Laodikeia in Syria (ad Mare), etc.

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography S. Maillot (2013), 'Les associations à Cos', in P. Hamon and P. Fröhlich (eds.), Groupes et associations dans les cités grecques, Geneva: 199-226.

W.R. Paton, E.L. Hicks (1891), The Inscriptions of Cos, Oxford.

M. Segre (2007), Iscrizioni di Cos, Epigrafi funerarie, Rome.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note Little is known about this association and its context. But simply on the basis of its name and by comparison with other highly similar boundary stones of the burial plots of associations near the city of Kos (more than 50 in number, cf. e.g. CAPI no. 1826), we can be confident that it constituted a private association.