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Last Updated on 24 May 2019

Author: Georgia Malouchou

CAPInv. 1924: hoi porthmeis

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Aegean Islands
ii. Region Chios
iii. Site Chios town

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ πορθμεῖς (SEG XVII 382 B l. 1)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi porthmeis

III. DATE

i. Date(s) i BC - i AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Professional:porthmeis

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG XVII 382 B (i BC)
Online Resources Chios 173
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Three honorary inscriptions for xenophylakes by (A) the naukleroi and the epi tou limenos erg[astai], (B) the porthmeis and, (C) the porthmeuontes eis Erythras

In Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Two joining fragments of a base of local grey limestone. Fragment a preserves the original top, front and left sides, fragment b the original front and left sides. Above the inscription a crown in relief. There are two other honorary inscriptions for xenophylakes (Α, C) written on the same stone.
ii. Source(s) provenance Found in Chios town by the port (Paspates 1888: 415). Now in the Archaeological Museum of Chios.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities The ferrymen (porthmeis) offer a golden crown to the xenophylakes of the year of the eponymous prytanis Λεω[νίδης].

XII. NOTES

i. Comments We cannot say if the porthmeuontes eis Erythras is the same group as the porthmeis or a subgroup of them.
According to the restoration for lines 7-8 of the text, which was suggested by Robert (Robert 1929: 38 (F)) one of the honorands could be the nauarch Neileus (see also Dunst: 187, no. 19).
The office of the xenophylakes is otherwise unattested. Τhe name of the office indicates that their function was to watch and protect the xenoi (see LSJ 9, s.v.), i.e. the foreigners who visited Chios. That is why the xenophylakes are honored by professional groups, such as the ferrymen, the shipowners and the ergastai in the harbor (cf. Robert 1929: 38, and Reger 2003: 191). Engelmann and Merkelbach take the word xenophylakes to be ῾Zollbehörde’.
For the date of the inscription see Robert 1933: 539.
ii. Poland concordance Poland E 33a
iii. Bibliography Studniczka, Fr. (1888), ῾Aus Chios’, MDAI(A) 13: 169-70 nos. 10 (b), 11.
Ziebarth, E. (1896), Das griechische Vereinswesen, Leipzig: 31.
Robert, L (1929), ῾Trois inscriptions de l'Archipel’, REG 42: 35 (A), 38 (F).
Robert, L. (1933), ῾Sur des inscriptions de Chios’, BCH 57: 539.
Dunst, G. (1958), ῾Χιακά῾, APF 16: 187, no. 19.
SEG XVII 382 B ll. 1-11.
McCabe, D. and Brownson, J. (1986), Chios Inscriptions. Texts and List. The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton: no. 199.
Reger, G. (2003), Aspects of the Role of Merchants in the Political Life of the Hellenistic World, in: Zaccagnini, C. (Ed.), Mercanti e Politica nel Mondo Antico, Roma: 165-197.
Ψφ. Engelmann, H., Merkelbach, R. (1972), Die Inschriften von Erythrai und Klazomenai. Bonn: no. 74 [only C].

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The professional terminology of the association of boatsmen and their activity toward the xenophylakes ensures the private character of the association.