Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/419Download as PDF
Last Updated on 09 Jul 2019

Author: Maria Paz de Hoz

CAPInv. 419: hoi peri ton] Heraklea protoi kai aleiptoi aknastai (l. akmastai)

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Lydia
iii. Site Daldis

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ περὶ τὸν] Ἡρακλέα πρῶτοι καὶ ἄλειπτοι ἀκνασταί (SEG 29: 1215, l. 1)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi peri ton] Heraklea protoi kai aleiptoi aknastai (l. akmastai)

III. DATE

i. Date(s) iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:The association has Heracles as patron: οἱ περὶ τὸν] Ἡρακλέα, hoi peri ton] Heraklea
Other:ἄλειπτοι ἀκνασταί, aleiptoi akmastai, refers to the sportive character of a mature-age club.
iii. Descriptive terms ἀκμασταί, akmastai
Note Cf. the akmastai in Thyateira CAPInv. 374
On the meaning of akmastai in this inscriptions cf. Keil and Premerstein (1911): no. 50: ‘Männer in den besten Jahren’; on the association, they say: ‘Verband von Altgenossen zum Zweck des Körperausbildung und der Geselligkeit’.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG 29: 1215 (iii AD)
Online Resources SEG 29: 1215
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script The inscription has not been preserved complete and it is not possible to know if it is an honorary inscription or a commemoration of a sport event. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Part of a white marble stone
ii. Source(s) provenance Found on a hill near the village of Daldis (Yenikoy) in the vicinity of tombs, now used as a doorstep in a private house

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii. Members The akmastai were members. They were young men probably associated in the gymnasion.
One or two of them is a sculptor or a stone-mason (latypos SEG 29: 1215, ll. 2-3). Four or five further
members are listed for making the inscription.

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

i. Treasury/Funds The association must have had funds in order to erect honorific and commemorative inscriptions such as this one.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Note Only men are attested in the inscription and only men are usually members of associations related to the gymnasion.
iii. Age Adults
Note they are akmastai, ‘of mature age’

X. ACTIVITIES

ii. Meetings and events The name of the association, protoi kai aleiptoi akmastai, and their relation to Heracles, patron of the gymnasion induces to believe that the association organized or participated in sport events. For the meaning of aleiptoi, ‘invincible’, ‘not left behind’ as an agonistic terminus technicus cf. Robert (1960): 330-342.
iii. Worship The association worshipped Heracles as god of the gymnasion and the sport events, though there is no evidence of the worship besides the theophoric name of the association.
Deities worshipped Heracles
iv. Honours/Other activities The inscription could be a honorific inscription but it is not possible to restitute the lost part.

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction Since the gymnasion was a public and social institution of the city, the association related to it also had an important interaction with the community.

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography de Hoz, M.-P. (1999), Die Lydischen Kulte im Lichte der griechischen Inschriften. Bonn.
Keil, J., and von Premerstein, A. (1911), Bericht über eine zweite Reise in Lydien ausgeführt 1908, (Denkschriften Akad. Wien Band 54.2). Vienna.
Pleket, H.W. (1978-9), ‘Inscriptions from Lydia’, Talanta 10-11:74-91
Robert, L. (1960), Hellenica, XI-XII. Paris.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note It is an association restricted to men probably attached to the gymnasion. Because of the importance of this institution in the community, it is possible that some of its members, maybe the leaders of the association, were officially established, as in the case of neoi or epheboi associations, also related to the
gymnasion, and of semi-public character.