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Last Updated on 13 Mar 2017

Author: Thom Russell

CAPInv. 316: hoi thiasitai Dionysiou Parabolou

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Thrace
ii. Region Propontic Thrace
iii. Site Byzantion

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ θιασῖται Διονύσου Παραβόλου (I.Byzantion 37, l. 2)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi thiasitai Dionysiou Parabolou

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 117 - 137 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Theophoric:Dionysios Parabolos

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Byzantion 37 (AD 117 - 137)
Note Other publication: SEG 28: 562
Online Resources I.Byzantion 37 and AGRW ID 13964
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script I.Byzantion 37: Greek inscription recording an offering to Dionysos Parabolos, made by a group calling themselves οἱ θιασῖται, hoi thiasitai (I.Byzantion 37, l. 2), on behalf of their gymnasiarch and benefactor Potamon son of Menedotus (I.Byzantion 37, l. 3).
i.c. Physical format(s) Stele with two reliefs: Dionysos offering at an altar, and a crown.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii. Members οἱ θιασῖται, hoi thiasitai (I.Byzantion 37, l. 2)
iv. Officials γυμνασίαρχος, gymnasiarchos (I.Byzantion 37, l. 3)
γραμματεύς, grammateus (I.Byzantion 37, l. 9)
ταμίας, tamias (I.Byzantion 37, l. 6)
ἱερεύς, hiereus (I.Byzantion 37, l. 5)
προστάτης, prostates (I.Byzantion 37, l. 7)
εὐεργέτης, euergetes (I.Byzantion 37, l. 8)

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number Six members of the association are named on I.Byzantion 37.
ii. Gender Men
Women
Note Only men are named on I.Byzantion 37, but I.Byzantion 38, which may relate to the same association, mentions the woman Volusia Claudiana (I.Byzantion 38, l. 2).

XII. NOTES

i. Comments There are good reasons to believe that this stele relates to an association also attested on I.Byzantion 38 (CAPInv. 1917), and to an association of worshipers of Dionysos Parabolos. Both documents date according to the first and second eponymous archonships of the emperor Hadrian (see Łajtar pp. 71-2, 74), suggesting that the association honoured the emperor’s consecutive terms in office. Łajtar notes that the reliefs on both inscriptions are also similar (p. 74). Finally, the rarity of the Parabolos epithet speaks to the identification of both stelai: the epithet is connected with a spot along the Bosporus mentioned by Dionysius of Byzantium (Dion. Byz. 50), but is otherwise unattested. The outstanding issue which prohibits a certain identification is the variant usage of thiasitai and Dionysobolitai on the two inscriptions. Cf. Łajtar's comments, I.Byzantion, pp. 71-4 (esp. 74).

The epithet Parabolos should be connected with fishing sites along the Bosporus (cf. Dion. Byz. 50), and the association may have been comprised of fishermen: see Robert 1978: 533-5 and Łajtar, pp. 72-3 ('Dionysos beim Fangplatz).
iii. Bibliography Łajtar, A. (2000) I.Byzantion, pp. 71-4.
Robert, L. (1974), Opera Minora Selecta. Vol. 4. Amsterdam: 200.
Robert, L. (1978), ‘Documents d'Asie Mineure’, BCH 102.1: 395-543, at 523-31.
Robert, L. (1990), Opera Minora Selecta. Vol. 7. Amsterdam: 646.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note I.Byzantion 37 contains references to thiasitai, the members of the association, and to various officials: the inscription attests a gymnasiarchos, a grammateos, a tamias, a hiereus, a prostates, and an euergetes. These constitute officials of the association. It is highly likely but not certain that I.Byzantion 38 relates to the same association.