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I. LOCATION

i.	Geographical area	Western Asia Minor
ii.	Region	Phrygia
iii.	Site	Hierapolis

II. NAME

i.	Full name (original language)	ἡ σεμνοτάτη ἐργασία τῶν πορφυραβάφων (Altertümer von Hierapolis 42, ll. 5-7)
ii.	Full name (transliterated)	he semnotate ergasia ton porphyrabaphon

III. DATE

i.

Date(s)

ii - iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

i.

Name in other forms

οἱ πορφυραβάφοι (Altertümer von Hierapolis 133, ll. 4-5)

ἡ τέχνη τῶν πορφυραβάφων (An.Ép. 1985: no. 804, l. 14)

ii.

Name elements

Professional:	πορφυραβάφοι, porphyrabaphoi
Other:	σεμνοτάτη, semnotate

iii.

Descriptive terms

ἐργασία, ergasia
τέχνη, techne

Note

ergasia: Altertümer von Hierapolis 41, l. 1; Altertümer von Hierapolis 42, ll. 5-6; Altertümer von Hierapolis 227, l. b5
techne: An.Ép. 1985: no. 804, l. 14

V. SOURCES

i.	Source(s)	Altertümer von Hierapolis 41 (ii - iii AD) Altertümer von Hierapolis 42 (ii - iii AD) Altertümer von Hierapolis 133 (ii - iii AD) Altertümer von Hierapolis 227 (ii - iii AD) Altertümer von Hierapolis 342 (ii - iii AD) AAT 101: 305, no. 23 (ii - iii AD) An.Ép. 1985: no. 804 (ii - iii AD)
	Note	See also: Altertümer von Hierapolis 41: Dittmann-Schöne V.5.6 Altertümer von Hierapolis 42: Dittmann-Schöne V.5.7 Altertümer von Hierapolis 133 Dittmann-Schöne V.5.12 Altertümer von Hierapolis 227: Dittmann-Schöne V.5.11 Altertümer von Hierapolis 342: SEG 46: 1656 AAT 101: 305, no. 23: SEG 54: 1323 Dittmann-Schöne V.5.9 An.Ép. 1985: no. 804: Dittmann-Schöne V.5.8
	Online Resources	Altertümer von Hierapolis 41 Altertümer von Hierapolis 42 Altertümer von Hierapolis 133 Altertümer von Hierapolis 227 Altertümer von Hierapolis 342 AAT 101: 305, no. 23
i.a.	Source type(s)	Epigraphic source(s)
i.b.	Document(s) typology & language/script	Four documents (Altertümer von Hierapolis 133, 227, 342; AAT 101: 305, no. 23) are epitaphs with regulations for funerary foundations. Altertümer von Hierapolis 41 and 42 are honorific decress. An.Ép. 1985: no. 804 is a building inscription. Greek.
i.c.	Physical format(s)	Both honorific decrees are damaged; in the second one (Altertümer von Hierapolis 42), the honored person is missing.
ii.	Source(s) provenance	The honorific decrees were found near the theatre of Hierapolis. The building inscription is written on the architrave of the theatre. The four epitaphs all come from the northern necropolis of Hierapolis.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

i.	Archaeological remains	Sarcophagi, theatre (architrave)
ii.	References to buildings/objects	Sarcophagi, theatre (architrave)

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii.	Leadership	ἡ (σεμνοτάτη) προεδρία τῶν πορφυραβάφων, he (semnotate) proedria ton porphyrabaphon (SEG 46: 1656, l. 4; SEG 54: 1323, l. 7) This designation is used in inscriptions almost as if the proedria was a separate association, including the epithet semnotate. Thus, the proedria could be chosen as the recipient of an endowment. Its appearance alongside the annually appointed epimeletai (AAT 101: 305, no. 23 = SEG 54: 1323) might suggest that proedria was in fact the term for the leadership of the association of porphyrabaphoi. However, it is not clear whether or not the epimeletai were regular officials of the association.
iv.	Officials	οἱ κατὰ ἔτος ἐπιμεληταί, hoi kata etos epimeletai (AAT 101: 305, no. 23, ll. 7-8 = SEG 54: 1323).
	Known practice of appointment	It is likely that the annually chosen epimeletai are identical to the klerothentes (members chosen annually by lot in order to celebrate a banquet at the tomb). In that case, epimeletai would not refer to regular officials of the association, but should be taken as a non-technical term meaning "those in charge" of the funerary celebration in a given year.

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

iv.

Endowments

The association is the recipient of several funerary endowments: it receives a sum of money and is thereby obligated to honor the grave of the deceased according to that person's wishes. In one inscription, it its stipulated that each year, members selected by lot (οἱ κληρωθέντες, hoi klerothentes) shall use the interest of a sum awarded them to celebrate a banquet at the tomb of the donor (AAT 101: 305, no. 23, ll. 9-11).

X. ACTIVITIES

ii.	Meetings and events	The only information on meetings and events comes from the four epitaphs. By accepting the donation, the association was obligated to come together in honor of the deceased person on the date chosen by that person. Thus, the purple-dyers celebrated Pesach, because a Jewish married couple had obligated them to do so (Altertümer von Hierapolis 342 = SEG 46: 1656). This does of course not mean that the purple-dyers themselves were partly or even predominantly Jewish. In Hierapolis, there is no obvious connection between funerary endowments and membership in an association.
iii.	Worship	See X.ii.
iv.	Honours/Other activities	The honorific decrees (Altertümer von Hierapolis 41 and 42) honor a) a man who had served as strategos, agonothetes, grammateus of the temples of Asia, presbeutes and archiereus; he is described as a "benefacter of the homeland" (the same person is honored by the erioplytai, Altertümer von Hierapolis 40); b) an epitropos tou Sebastou, who is described as "its [i.e. the association's] benefactor".

XI. INTERACTION

i.

Local interaction

Altertümer von Hierapolis 41 honors the same man as do the erioplytai (Altertümer von Hierapolis 40), but this does not show interaction (rather the lack thereof, since there was no joint decision of the two associations). In the epitaphs, the porphyrabaphoi are sometimes mentioned alongside other associations, not always in the first place (they are the third option in Altertümer von Hierapolis 133). The porphyrabaphoi contributed to the theatre of Hierapolis, as is shown by their building inscription on the architrave (An.Ép. 1985: no. 804).

XII. NOTES

ii.	Poland concordance	Poland Z 68a (Altertümer von Hierapolis 342) Poland Z 68b (Altertümer von Hierapolis 227) Poland Z 68c (Altertümer von Hierapolis 41) Poland Z 68d (Altertümer von Hierapolis 42) Poland Z 68*e (Altertümer von Hierapolis 133)
iii.	Bibliography	Ameling, W. (2004), Inscriptiones Judaicae Orientis. Band II: Kleinasien. Tübingen: 414-22. Dittmann-Schöne, I. (2010), Die Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. 2nd. ed. Regensburg: 236-43. Pennacchietti, F.A. (1967), ‘Nuove iscrizioni di Hierapolis di Frigia’, AAT 101: 287-328. Ritti, T. (1985), Hierapolis. Scavi e ricerche I: Fonti letterarie ed epigrafiche. Rome: 108-13. Ritti, T. (1995), ‘Associazioni di mestiere a Hierapolis di Frigia’, in Maria Giannattasio, B. (ed.), Viaggi e commerci nell'antichità. Atti VII Giornata Archeologia, Genova: 65-84.

XIII. EVALUATION

i.	Private association	Probable
	Note	It is plausible to assume that all seven inscriptions refer to the same association of porphyrabaphoi. Professional associations in the 2nd/3rd century were often very close to the official civic institutions, but they probably remained essentially private associations.
ii.	Historical authenticity	Certain

CAPInv. 143: he semnotate ergasia ton porphyrabaphon