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Last Updated on 07 Jan 2019

Author: Cassandre Hartenstein

CAPInv. 1404: U-EGY-038

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Egypt
ii. Nome Tentyrites (U06)
iii. Site Dendera (?)

II. NAME

i. Association with unknown name U-EGY-038

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 19 BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii. Descriptive terms ẖny.t (l. 4).
Note In the four editions of this inscription, the word ‘association’ is transliterated sn.t, but this reading was rejected by De Cenival 2006.

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Short Texts I 159 (9 Pharmouthi year 11 of Augustus = 4 April 19 BC).
Note Others editions of the inscription are: Wångstedt 1984; Farid 1993: 31; Farid 1995: 273.
Online Resources TM 53801
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script The demotic inscription is a dedication of a building (a refectory?) probably located in the temple of Isis in Dendera, made by an unnamed association and by a strategos and a lesonis (the latter is probably the president of the association, see VII Organization).
i.c. Physical format(s) The inscription is engraved on a sandstone stela (39 x 27 x 6 cm). Above the text is a representation of the emperor (Augustus) making an offering to five deities.
ii. Source(s) provenance The stela was bought in Luxor and is now in Stockholm. The first editor of the stela attributed it to Dendera on considerations of the content of the text (see Wångstedt 1984), and the idea has been followed by other editors.

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership The mr šn (lesonis) cited in l. 4 is probably the president of the association (his name could not be read by the different editors of the inscription). The lesonis is usually an official attached to temples. In an association, the mr šn is usually an administrator (De Cenival 1972: 154-159). Considering the way the title is mentioned in the inscription, it appears slightly more likely that it refers here to a function in the association.
iii. Members Referred to as nȝ rmṯ.w (n) ẖny.t (‘the people (from the) association’, l. 4).
iv. Officials The dedication is made by the mr šn (of the association) and a strategos (l. 2-3) Ptwlms son of Pa-nȝ (Ptolemaios son of Panas). We do not know if the second had a role in the association or if he just took part in the dedication.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Note Both people named are men. We do not know about the others.
vi. Proper names and physical features -. . . . ḫm (sȝ) Pa-tȝ-s.t-ʿȝ.t (... the young, son of Patseous )
-Ptwlms (sȝ) Pa-nȝ (Ptolemaios son of Panas)

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities The association honoured emperor Augustus by picturing him on the relief of the stele.

XI. INTERACTION

i. Local interaction As the text is a dedication of a building possibly located in the temple of Isis, it may suggest that the strategos and the association mentioned here took part (financially) in the construction of the building. Therefore, the association should have close links with the temple of Dendera.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The building dedicated in the inscription is probably located in the area of the temple of Isis in Dendera.
iii. Bibliography Cauville, S. (1991), « Dieux et prêtres à Dendera au Ier siècle avant Jésus-Christ », BIFAO 91: 69-97.
De Cenival, Fr. (1972), Les associations religieuses en Égypte d’après les documents démotiques, Le Caire.
De Cenival, Fr. (2006), ‘À propos du mot désignant en démotique « l’association »’, RdE 57 : 233-234.
Farid, A. (1993), Die demotischen Inschriften der Strategen, San Antonio: 31.
Farid, A. (1995), Fünf Stelen, Berlin.
Wångstedt, S.V. (1984), "Ein demotischer Denkstein aus Denderah", in H. Thiessen and G. Zauzich (ed.), Festschrift für Erich Lüddeckens zum 15. Juni 1983, Würzburg : 271-273.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The use of ẖny.t (l. 1) to describe this group proves that it was a private association.