View

I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Aegean Islands
ii.	Region	Euboea
iii.	Site	Eretria

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	τὸ κοινὸν τῶν βουκόλ<ω>ν (IG XII.9 262)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	to koinon ton boukolon

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

ii / i BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii.

Name elements

Cultic:

boukoloi (herdsmen): the term often refers to male members of Dionysiac communities, taking part in dance performances (Lucian, Saltatione 79; schol. Lycoph. 212).

Etymologically the name relates to:
1. shepherds in mythical stories who have been converted to servants of the god by witnessing a miracle (Eur., Bacch. 660-774)
2. the transformation of Dionysos from human to animal form, especially as a bull (Plut., Quaest. Graec. 299b).

According to LSJ⁹, boukolos stands for: 1. a worshipper of Dionysos in bull-form, 2. a herdsman, 'a man tending kine'.

In Greek novels the boukoloi are depicted as nomadic bandits active in the Nile Delta (Achilleus Tatios 3.9, 21, 4.12; Heliodoros 1.5-6; cf. Rutherford 2000).

Other:

The funerary nature of the inscription does not reveal much about the identity of the boukoloi, that is whether the name underlines a cultic element in their identity (followers of Dionysos) or reveals their status/ occupation (herdsmen).

iii.

Descriptive terms

κοινόν, koinon

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	IG XII.9 262 (ii/i BC)
	Note	Edd. pr. Kourouniotis 1911: 37-8 no. 33 (Fig. 34).
	Online Resources	IG XII.9 262
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Funerary inscription in Greek of Zopyros, son of Asklepiades. The name of the deceased is in the accusative in accordance therefore to the formula of funerary inscriptions as attested in Tanagra (Boiotia).
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Marble stele (H. 37 x W. 25 x Th. 10 cm)
ii.	Source(s) provenance	The stele along with other funerary stelai was found built into the side walls of graves north of the modern city of Eretria (Kourouniotis 1911: 37 nos. 33-46).

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

i.

Archaeological remains

Western necropolis of ancient Eretria.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

v.

Relations

According to the editor of IG XII.9 Zopyros, son of Asklepiades, may have been the son of Asklepiades, son of Herakleitos, the latter honoured by a synodos (IG XII.9 239, l. 21; CAPInv. 425).

X. ACTIVITIES

iv.

Honours/Other activities

The koinon set up a funerary stele for Zopyros, son of Asklepiades.

XII. NOTES