Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/1015Download as PDF
Last Updated on 23 May 2019

Author: Ursula Kunnert

CAPInv. 1015: to euteles synergion ton gnapheon

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Eastern Asia Minor
ii. Region Cilicia
iii. Site Flaviopolis

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) τὸ εὐτελὲς συνέργιον τῶν γναφέων (Hicks 1890: 236, no. 1, ll. 1-3)
ii. Full name (transliterated) to euteles synergion ton gnapheon

III. DATE

i. Date(s) iii - Byz.

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Professional:γναφεῖς, gnapheis (l. 3)
iii. Descriptive terms συνέργιον, synergion
Note synergion: Hicks 1890: 236, no. 1, l. 2

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Hicks 1890: 236, no. 1 (iii-Byz.)
Note Other editions/commentaries:
AGRW
Dittmann-Schöne VI.8.1
GRA II no. 153
Online Resources AGRW ID# 3322
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Dedication in Greek by the association of fullers
i.c. Physical format(s) Mosaic inscription
ii. Source(s) provenance The inscription was found in the centre of a tessellated pavement in a reed cottage in Kars-Bazaar (modern Kadirli), probably from the floor of an early church (Hicks 1890). The exact location in the village is unknown.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The association of the fullers dedicated for its own well-being and the forgiveness of sins an offering (karpophoria, ll. 4-5) to a god, whom they address with the term despotes (ll. 5-6). The group is characterised as εὐτελής (euteles, ll. 1-2), a typical expression for humility in early Christianity. The members call themselves achreioi douloi (ll. 6-7), worthless slaves. The phrase may be an allusion to Luke 17,10 and Matth. 25,30 (Hicks 1890: 236). The members of this professional association seem to be all Christians, because the dedication is made in the name of the entire group (Dittmann-Schöne 2010: 106). As Hicks 1890: 236 states, "it is interesting to see these trade-guilds, so common under the Empire in Asia Minor, passing unchanged into the Christian Church."
Deities worshipped God of the Christians

XII. NOTES

i. Comments Hicks 1890: 237 dates the inscription to the third century AD (the same dating by Poland 1932: 1362 and GRA II, AGRW, who recently suggests to place the inscription in the second or third century AD because of the contemporary use of the term synergion for a professional association in other Cilician inscriptions, cf. GRA II 438-439). Dagron and Feissel 1987: 90, note 14 and Dittmann-Schöne 2010: 106 date the inscription later, to the fourth or fifth century AD.
ii. Poland concordance Poland B *87
iii. Bibliography Dagron, G., and Feissel, D. (1987), Inscriptions de Cilicie. Paris.
Harland, P.A. (2014), Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary, II. North Coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor, Berlin, Boston.
Hicks, E.L. (1890), ‘Inscriptions from Eastern Cilicia’, JHS 11: 236-54, esp. 236, no. 1.
Dittmann-Schöne, I. (2010), Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. 2nd. ed. Regensburg. 260.
Poland, F. (1932), ‘συνὲργιον’, RE2 4.2: 1361-2.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The name of the association and the documented activity suggest a private association.
ii. Historical authenticity Certain