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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Southern Italy with Sicily
ii.	Region	Puglia
iii.	Site	Taras

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	ξυστός (Gasperini 1984: 476-9, pl. LXXIX, 1-2, ll. 8-9)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	xystos

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

200 - 250 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii.	Descriptive terms	ξυστός, xystos
	Note	xystos: Gasperini 1984: 476-9, ll. 8-9

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	Gasperini 1984: 476-9, pl. LXXIX, 1-2 (AD 200-250)
	Note	See also: SEG 34: 1022
	Online Resources	SEG 34: 1022
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Greek funerary inscription of M. Aurelius Serenus qui et Heliodorus. Characteristic letters: lunatae and apicatae.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Seven fragments of a marble plaque
ii.	Source(s) provenance	Taras

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv.

Officials

Grammateus
The deceased M. Aurelius Serenus qui et Heliodorus is mentioned as the grammateus xystou (ll. 8-9).

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii.	Gender	Men
	Note	As the xystos includes athletes, its members are men.
iv.	Status	M. Aurelius Serenus qui et Heliodorus probably originated from Alexandria, as Alexandreus appears first among the citizenships of other towns, which he acquired. As Gasperini 1984: 478, mentions, famous athletes of this period often acquired honorary citizenship of several towns (see examples given by Gasperini). M. Aurelius Serenus qui et Heliodorus was apparently bouleutes of his home-town as well as of Elis and Delphi and citizen of Sparta. Parallels show that there is a division between the honorary citizenships and the (honorary ?) office of bouleutes of these athletes.

XI. INTERACTION

ii.

Interaction abroad

The fact that the grammateus xystou mentioned in our inscription had acquired the citizenship of various poleis, shows that the officeholder was an individual enjoying a world-wide fame.

XII. NOTES

i.	Comments	Gasperini 1984 reads Λακεδαιμόνιος γραμματεὺς ξυστοῦ, Lakedaimonios grammateus xystou (ll. 6-9), and interprets accordingly that the deceased was a grammateus of the local xystos of Sparta. This interpretation is reproduced in SEG 34: 1022. However the wording of Λακεδαιμόνιος γραμματεὺς ξυστοῦ, Lakedaimonios grammateus xystou, sounds somehow strange and has no parallels. It would be perhaps more rational to read the inscription as ...Ἀλεξανδρεὺς καὶ Ἠλῖος καὶ Δελφὸς βουλευτὴ[ς] καὶ Λα[κ]εδαιμόνιος, γραμματεὺς ξυστοῦ... , ...Alexandreus kai Elios kai Delphos bouleuth[s] kai La[k]edaimonios, grammateus xystou... (ll. 3-9). It is thus to be understood that the individual was bouleutes of Alexandria, Elis and Delphi, citizen of Sparta and grammateus xystou. The latter is to be understood as the "oecumenical xystos" and not the local Spartan one. Cf. entry "sympas xystos", CAPInv. 1485.
iii.	Bibliography	Gasperini, L. (1984), 'Un buleuta alessandrino a Taranto', in Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano: studi in onore di A. Adriani, Roma 1984: 476-9.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Possible
	Note	If the oecumenical xystos is to be understood, cf. comments of CAPInv. 1485

CAPInv. 1918: xystos