Stable URL: http://ancientassociations.ku.dk/assoc/810Download as PDF
Last Updated on 09 Jul 2019

Author: Maria Paz de Hoz

CAPInv. 810: speira

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Lydia
iii. Site Mountain region between Attaleia, Thyateira and Iulia Gordos

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) σπεῖρα TAM V.1 806, l. 6, TAM V.1 817, l.7
ii. Full name (transliterated) speira

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 165 - ii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

i. Name in other forms The mention of syngeneis in both inscriptions probably refers to relatives and not to members of the speira.
ii. Name elements
Other:The term speira means ‘religious college’, though it is mostly used for Dionysos associations.
iii. Descriptive terms speira

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) TAM V.1 806 (ii AD)
TAM V.1 817 (165/166 AD)
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Funerary inscriptions dedicated by the speira together with relatives of the deceased. Greek.
i.c. Physical format(s) Both are marble stele; TAM V.1 817 with pediment and representation of a crown.
ii. Source(s) provenance TAM V.1 817 built in the hall of a mosque in Kömürcü.
TAM V.1 806 inserted in a fountain in Yegenoba.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials ναρθηκόφορος, narthekophoros, TAM V.1 817, ll. 7-8
viii. Obligations The association probably has some sort of funerary obligation towards its members. It dedicates together with the family, and the phratra in one case (TAM V.1 806), the funerary stele to two of its members.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Note The attested members are men

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The terms speira and narthekophoros indicate that the association worships Dionysos
Deities worshipped Dionysos
iv. Honours/Other activities funerary activity

XII. NOTES

iii. Bibliography De Hoz, M.-P. (1999), Die Lydischen Kulte im Lichte der griechischen Inschriften. Bonn: no. 15.19-20.
Keil, J., and von Premerstein, A. (1911), Bericht über eine zweite Reise in Lydien ausgeführt 1908, (Denkschriften Akad. Wien Band 54.2). Vienna: 147, 158

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note Dionysos associations are private though many of them have an important public sphere.