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Last Updated on 01 Jul 2019

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 168: hoi semiaphoroi tou Archegetou Apollonos

I. LOCATION

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

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ σημιαφόροι τοῦ Ἀρχηγέτου Ἀπόλλωνος (Altertümer von Hierapolis 153, ll. 4-5)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi semiaphoroi tou Archegetou Apollonos

III. DATE

i. Date(s) ii - iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Professional:σημιαφόροι, semiaphoroi

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Altertümer von Hierapolis 153 (ii - iii AD)
Online Resources Altertümer von Hierapolis 153
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Funerary endowment. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Sarcophagus
ii. Source(s) provenance Northern necropolis of Hierapolis

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

iv. Endowments The group in question is the recipient of a funerary endowment. The Μακεδονικοί, Makedonikoi (i.e. the family of Marcus Iulius Macedonicus, the deceased) give the group money for (distributing?) a stephanotikon in the tenth month and on the third day of the first month. The sums involved (7209 denarii) appear rather high and too exact; Judeich therefore takes the zeta not as a part of the number; the number would then be 209. Much depends on the status of the semiaphoroi, who might be an official institution that receives more money than private associations.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship As "sign-bearers" of the city's main god, the group probably participated in civic processions and festivals.

Ramsay (1895: 114) thought that they were "a society with a secret signal", but this interpretation has been justly questioned by Ziebarth (1896: 55, 67) and Judeich (Altertümer von Hierapolis).
Deities worshipped Apollon Archegetes

XII. NOTES

i. Comments In all probability, the Makedonikoi are not an ancient association founded on an ethnic basis (suggested by Cichorius, Altertümer von Hierapolis, p. 34-5 and again by Sommer 2006: 175) but the family of the deceased.
ii. Poland concordance Poland B 433
iii. Bibliography Poland, F. (1909), Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens. Leipzig: 44, 69, 129.
Ramsay, W. M. (1895), The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia. vol. I. Oxford.
Sommer, S. (2006), Rom und die Vereinigungen im südwestlichen Kleinasien (133 v. Chr. - 284 n. Chr.). Hennef.
Ziebarth, E. (1896). Das griechische Vereinswesen. Leipzig.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note It is possible that the "sign-bearers of Apollon Archegetes" were an official board of cultic functionaries (Cichorius in Altertümer von Hierapolis, p. 42 calls them a "priesthood"; Ziebarth and Poland consider a military background (but Poland, 129 finds that extremely doubtful)). This might explain the large sums of money involved, if the normal reading of the numbers is accepted. However, their role as recipients of an endowment parallels that of (other) associations.
ii. Historical authenticity Certain