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Last Updated on 23 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 633: mrzḥ [....]bw

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Syria
iii. Site Palmyra

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) מרזח [....]בו (PAT 2279, obv. l. 1-2)
ii. Full name (transliterated) mrzḥ [....]bw

III. DATE

i. Date(s) i - iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

iii. Descriptive terms מרזחא, mrzḥ’
Note mrzḥ’: PAT 2279, obv. l. 1-2

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) PAT 2279 (I-III AD)
Note See also RTP 301
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Unclear (etrance billet?), in Aramaic
i.c. Physical format(s) Tessera, showing a naked, standing person and a lyre

VII. ORGANIZATION

iii. Members בני מרזח, bny mrzḥ (obv. l. 1)

XII. NOTES

i. Comments Milik 1972: 157 supplements [dy n]bw in the name of the group: "the mrzḥ’ of (the god) Nebu"; this is accepted by Kaizer 2002: 93, but not incorporated into the text in PAT.
iii. Bibliography Kaizer, T. (2002), The Religious Life of Palmyra. A Study of the Social Patterns of Worship in the Roman Period. Stuttgart.
Milik, J.T. (1972), Dédicaces faites par des dieux (Palmyre, Hatra, Tyr) et des thiases sémitiques à l’époque romaine. Paris.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The nature of the tesserae has been much discussed; the general assumption is that they served as entrance billets for cultic meals. Since mrzḥ’ can be used as an equivalent to συμπόσιον symposion at Palmyra, one could assume that if used on a tessera, it is a designation for the meal and not a cult group. However, in this particular case, the use of bny mrzḥ seems to point to members rather than participants to a meal.