Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/385Download as PDF
Last Updated on 01 Jul 2019

Author: Aitor Blanco Perez

CAPInv. 385: Mystai Herakleous

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Pisidia
iii. Site Termessos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) Μύσται Ἡρακλέους (SEG 57: 1474, l. 2)
ii. Full name (transliterated) Mystai Herakleous

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 212 - m. iii (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:μύσται, mystai
Heroic:Ἡρακλῆς, Herakles

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG 57: 1474 (212 - m. iii (?) AD)
Online Resources SEG 57: 1474
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Dedication in Greek of a κυνεῖον, kyneion (l. koineion) (l. 4) to Herakles.
i.c. Physical format(s) Large limestone base moulded above and below.
ii. Source(s) provenance Near the stone bridge in the SW of the necropolis.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects καθιέρωσαν τὸ κυνεῖον, kathierosan to kyneion (l. kathierosan to koineion) (l. 2). The original editor and SEG identify this word as a misspelling referring to the building where their meetings would have been held (κοινεῖον, koineion)

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials The officials such as proboulos (l. 6 et passim), chreophylax (l. 6 et passim) and neokoros (l. 6 et passim) attested in the inscription belong to the political structures of Termessos and not to the association.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

i. Number This inscription with some lacunae records 16 members as ὑπογεγραμμένοι, hypogegrammenoi (l. 5).
ii. Gender Men
iv. Status Some of the members were officials of the highest rank of Termessos, especially the two probouloi.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The dedication of the κυνεῖον, kyneion (l. koineion) mentions the association's devotion to Heracles: ἐπιφανεστάτῳ θεῷ εὐξάμ̣[ε]νοι, epiphanestatoi theoi euxam[e]noi (ll. 3-4).

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction Whereas the interaction of the association with the civic life of Termessos is unknown, its members were fully implicated in the political structures of the polis and other relevant cults such as that of Zeus Solymneus and Leto.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The list of probouloi and prosopography elaborated by Heberdey provides a likely date for this inscription around AD 230s.
iii. Bibliography Heberdey, R. (1929), Termessische Studien, Vienna.
Heberdey, R. (1934), ‘Termessos’, RE2 5.2: 732-78.
İplikçioğlu, B., Çelgin, G., and Vedat Çelgin, A. (2007), Epigraphische Forschungen in Termessos und seinem Territorium IV. Vienna.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The absence of further evidence describing the internal functioning of the group or confirming its continuity prevents us from affirming that these mystai were certainly a private association. Nonetheless, the fact that they had enough resources to prepare what may have been a place of common worship denotes a higher degree of probability.