Stable URL: http://assocgr.saxo.sc.ku.dk/assoc/1745Download as PDF
Last Updated on 24 May 2019

Author: Fabienne Marchand

CAPInv. 1745: ty sounthyte ty magiry (l. hoi synthytai hoi mageiroi)

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Central Greece
ii. Region Boiotia
iii. Site Tanagra

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) τὺ σ̣ουνθύ̣τη̣ τὺ μάγ̣ιρυ̣ (Marchand 2015: no. 5, l. 4)
ii. Full name (transliterated) ty sounthyte ty magiry (l. hoi synthytai hoi mageiroi)

III. DATE

i. Date(s) ii - i BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Professional:mageiroi: cooks, butchers, perhaps sacrificers
iii. Descriptive terms συνθύται, synthytai
Note synthytai: Marchand 2015: no. 5, l. 4

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) Marchand 2015: no. 5 (ii - i BC)
Note This is a new reading of an inscription published in the 19th century already and wrongly assigned to Athenaistai: IG VII 687 (Roesch 1982: 131, no. 12; AGRW 31c).
Online Resources Only the old reading is available online:
IG VII 687
AGRW ID# 4501
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Funerary inscription in the Boiotian dialect erected by the association for its deceased member Hippomachos.
i.c. Physical format(s) Funerary stele of beige marble heavily worn. Traces of two rosettes.
ii. Source(s) provenance Tanagra

VIII. PROPERTY AND POSSESSIONS

ii. Realty The mageiroi may have owned burial grounds at Tanagra.

IX. MEMBERSHIP

ii. Gender Men
Note Only one member is known, Hippomachos, buried by the association.

X. ACTIVITIES

iv. Honours/Other activities Burial of deceased members

XII. NOTES

i. Comments This is the first association of mageiroi in the Greek world. The closest parallels are a τέχνη τῶν μακελλαρίων, techne ton makellarion at Perinthus (see CAPInv 532), and the Onitadai of Miletus (see CAPInv 1046). See Marchand 2015. Their roles could have been multiple: mageiroi were butchers, cooks, and performed sacrifices (see Rankin 1907 and Berthiaume 1982).
iii. Bibliography Berthiaume, G. (1982), Les rôles du mágeiros. Étude sur la boucherie, la cuisine et le sacrifice dans la Grèce ancienne. Leiden.
Marchand, F. (2015), ‘The Associations of Tanagra: Epigraphic Practice and Regional Context’, Chiron 45: 239-66.
Rankin E.M. (1907), The Rôle of the Μάγειροι in the Life of the Ancient Greeks as Depicted in Greek Literature and Inscriptions. Chicago.
Roesch, P. (1982), Etudes béotiennes. Paris.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Certain
Note The mention of synthytai leaves no doubt that this is a private association.