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Last Updated on 22 May 2019

Author: Nikolaos Giannakopoulos

CAPInv. 683: he [ton T]ota[i]aenon geitosyne

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Bithynia
iii. Site Nikaia

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ἡ [τῶν Τ]οτα[ι]α̣ηνῶν γειτοσύνη (I.Iznik 1202, ll. 5-6)
ii. Full name (transliterated) he [ton T]ota[i]aenon geitosyne

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 102 - 114 AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Ethnic:Totaiaenos
iii. Descriptive terms γειτοσύνη, geitosyne
Note geitosyne: I.Iznik 1202, ll. 5-6

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Iznik 1202 (102 - 114 AD)
Note See also
Mendel 1900: 402-403 nr. 78
IGR III 50 and 409
Fernoux 2004: 345-346 no. 8
Online Resources I.Iznik 1202
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Honorary inscription in Greek set up by the ton Totaiaenon geitosyne for its benefactor Demosthenes son of Lucius.
i.c. Physical format(s) Base.
ii. Source(s) provenance The inscription was found built into a well at Gölpazari in the vicinity of Iznik.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials See below under field XIII.i: Comments.
v. Other staff See below under field XIII.i: Comments.
viii. Obligations On the possibility of contributions imposed on the members, see below under field XIII.i: Comments.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities He ton Totaiaenon geitosyne honoured its benefactor and ekdikos Demosthenes son of Lucius. The nature of his benefactions is not further specified but the term ekdikos indicates legal representation and advocacy, concerning either the geitosyne itself or a city to which the geitosyne was attached (see below under field XIII.i: Comments).

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The inscription is dated by reference to a year (the number is not preserved on the stone) of Trajan’s principate. The title Dakikos indicates 102 AD as terminus post quem and the absence of the title Optimus indicates 114 AD as terminus ante quem. (See Mendel 1900: 403; Şahin in I.Iznik 1202, p. 277a).
Demosthenes was honoured as ἔκδικος ekdikos, i.e. a legal representative. Whether this was a regular office of the community or an ad hoc post cannot be established with certainty (on this topic see Dmitriev 2005: 213-6 with further bibliography). The editors of SEG 31: 1069, p. 286 suggested that Demosthenes’ ekdikeia was a civic function and not a legal advocacy of the Totaiaenon geitosyne. But this is not entirely certain.
The cost of the honours awarded to Demosthenes may indicate the existence of a common treasury of the group, but there is no clear proof for that. The cost may have been covered from ad hoc contributions paid by the members of the group.
iii. Bibliography Dmitriev, S. (2005), City Government in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor. Oxford.
Fernoux, H.-L. (2004), Notables et elites des cités de Bithynie aux époques hellénistique et romaine (IIIe siècle av. J.-C. – IIIe siècle ap. J.-C.). Essai d’histoire sociale. Lyon.
Mendel, G. (1900), ‘Inscriptions de Bithynie’, BCH 24: 361-426.
Poland, F. (1909), Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens. Leipzig.
Pont, A.-V. (2013), ‘Les groupes de voisinage dans les villes d’Asie Mineure occidentale à l’époque impériale’ in P. Fröhlich and P. Hamon (eds.), Groupes et associations dans les cités grecques (IIIe siècle av. J.-C. – IIe siècle apr. J.-C.), Genève: 129-56.
Van Nijf, O. (1997), The Civic World of Professional Associations in the Roman East. Amsterdam.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Discarded
Note The term geitosyne may denote a neighborhood association (Poland 1909: 85; cf. Van Nijf 1997: 181-2 with further bibliography). However, Pont (2013: 133) has argued that he ton Totaiaenon geitosyne in our inscription refers to the community of the rural settlement Totaion. The provenance of the inscription speaks in favor of this thesis (cf. also Fernoux 2004: 345-346 and 349).