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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Western Asia Minor
ii.	Region	Bithynia
iii.	Site	Prusa ad Olympum

II. NAME

i.

Association with unknown name

U-WAM-002

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

ii / iii AD

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	I.Prusa 159 (ii AD)
	Note	The inscription was first edited by Cremer 1986: 21-22 with detailed commentary. See also: SEG 36: 1114 Jaccottet II 82 AGRW 102
	Online Resources	I.Prusa 159 AGRW ID# 78
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Funerary inscription in Greek set up in memory of Rufus son of Gaius by his συνμύσται (synmystai)
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Marble naiskos-stele with representation of a standing man wearing a tunica with five girdles and two straps over his shoulders at which two bells are hanging. This male figure (i.e. the deceased) holds a λαγωβόλιον (lagobolion) in the right hand and a serpent in the left hand.
ii.	Source(s) provenance	The inscription was found in Kestel, 20 km. outside Bursa (Prusa).

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii.

Members

Referred to as συνμύσται (synmystai, l. 1)

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii.	Gender	Men
	Note	The only known member of the group (the deceased Rufus) was male.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv.

Honours/Other activities

The group of synmystai sets up a funerary inscription in memory of its member Rufus. This suggests that the group saw to the burial of Rufus, but whether this was a general practice applied to all the members or whether the synmystai owned a burial plot cannot be ascertained. Based on the iconography of the male figure represented in the stele, Cremer (1986: 21-2) concluded that Rufus played the role of Pan in the group, being Dionysos’ charioteer (see also the remarks of Th. Corsten in I.Prusa 159, p. 186; cf. SEG 36: 1114 and SEG 35: 1390). In this respect, Rufus may be considered a distinguished member of the group, perhaps holding a high place in the its internal hierarchy, if such an apparatus did exist within this group.

XII. NOTES

i.	Comments	Although the group setting up Rufus’ funerary inscription is self-defined as συνμύσται (synmystai), it cannot be ascertained that this was indeed an organized cultic association. See below under the field: Evaluation Based on the iconography of the male figure represented in Rufus’ funerary stele, Cremer 1986 reached the conclusion that the group of synmystai to which the deceased belonged was devoted to the cult of Dionysos, cf. Jaccottet II, p. 162
iii.	Bibliography	Ascough, R.S., Harland, P.A., and Kloppenborg, J.S. (2012), Associations in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook. Berlin. Cremer, M. (1986), ‘Der Schellenmann’, EA 7: 21-34. Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme II. Les documents. Zürich.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Possible
	Note	The use of the term συνμύσται (synmystai) to describe the group setting up Rufus’ funerary inscription and the latter’s iconography indicate that we have here a private group devoted to the cult of Dionysos (cf. Jaccottet 2003: II 162). However, it cannot be demonstated that this group constituted an organized association and not just an ad hoc union of Rufus' companions in the cult of Dionysos, formed solely for the purpose of erecting the funerary monument.

CAPInv. 193: U-WAM-002