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Last Updated on 20 May 2019

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 1336: --RAITAI mystai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Ionia
iii. Site Smyrna

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) --ΡΑΙΤΑΙ μύσται (I.Smyrna 734, l. 1)
ii. Full name (transliterated) --RAITAI mystai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) 1 (?) - 300 (?) AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:mystai

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) I.Smyrna 734 (1 (?) - 300 (?) AD)
Note See also:
Jaccottet II no. 119
Online Resources I.Smyrna 734
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Probably a dedicatory inscription, greek
i.c. Physical format(s) On a broken stone, now lost.
ii. Source(s) provenance Smyrna

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects μάγαρον, magaron (l. 3): A cave-like cult place, often to be found in Dionysiac cults. Cf. Robert 1974: 202.

VII. ORGANIZATION

iv. Officials L. 4 mentions a hereditary office (--τοῦντος διὰ βίου, --tountos dia biou). For suggestions (ἀγωνοθετοῦντος, agonothetountos, ἱεροφαντοῦντος?, hierophantountos) see Petzl ad loc.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments Boeckh (CIG 3210) suggested the restoration [οἱ περὶ τὸν Βρεισέα Διόνυσον τεχνεῖτ]αι [κ]αὶ μύσται, [hoi peri Breisea Dionyson techneit]ai [k]ai mystai for l. 1; this would then be a drecree issued by a well-known Smyrnaean association (cf. CAPInv. 1325). The reading in I.Smyrna excludes this possibility; it is based on a different copy of the text. Boeckh's restoration is accepted by Jaccottet 2003: 210.

It seems that this was a dedicatory inscription concerning a magaron given to the mystai, whose identity is unclear.
ii. Poland concordance Poland D 45
iii. Bibliography Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich.
Robert, L. (1974), ‘Les inscriptions de Thessalonique’, RPh 48: 180-246.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note The status of mystai-groups is not quite clear; most of probably served both the private interests of their members and the needs of civic religion.
ii. Historical authenticity Certain