Stable URL: http://assocgr.saxo.sc.ku.dk/assoc/489Download as PDF
Last Updated on 14 May 2019

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 489: hoi mystai

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area Western Asia Minor
ii. Region Phrygia
iii. Site Area of Sebaste

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) οἱ μύσται (SEG 40: 1223, l. 2)
ii. Full name (transliterated) hoi mystai

III. DATE

i. Date(s) i - iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:mystai

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG 40: 1223 (i - iii AD)
Note See also:
Jaccottet II no. 85
Online Resources SEG 40: 1223
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Dedicatory inscription, greek
i.c. Physical format(s) Marble bust
ii. Source(s) provenance Hisar-Payamalan (10 km northeast of Sebaste)

VII. ORGANIZATION

ii. Leadership ἱερεῖς, hiereis (l. 4) (they are mentioned first in the fragmentary list of members)

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The bust is dedicated to Dionysos Kathegemon, who, according to Drew-Bear and Naour 1990: 1947-9, is here represented.
Deities worshipped Dionysos Kathegemon

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The date of the inscription is unclear. Drew-Bear and Naour 1990: 1947-9 point out that one of the priests, Dionysios son of Menandros, could be from a family that in 98/99 CE was represented in the gerousia of Sebaste (through a Menandros son of Dionysios and a Dionysios son of Dionysios). This does not prove, however, that the inscription belongs to the last quarter of the 1st century CE, as Jaccottet 2003: 166-7 assumes.
iii. Bibliography Drew-Bear, Th., and Naour, Chr. (1990), ‘Divinités de Phrygie’, ANRW II.18.3: 1907-2044.
Jaccottet, A.-F. (2003), Choisir Dionysos. Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. 2 vols. Zürich.

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