Stable URL: http://assocgr.saxo.sc.ku.dk/assoc/591Download as PDF
Last Updated on 23 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 591: he tou Dios [t]ou ammana het[ai]reia

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Arabia
iii. Site Gerasa

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) ἡ τοῦ Διὸς [τ]οῦ αμμανα ἑτ[αι]ρεία (SEG 56: 1920, ll. 1-3)
ii. Full name (transliterated) he tou Dios [t]ou ammana het[ai]reia

III. DATE

i. Date(s) ii BC

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Theophoric:Zeus
Topographical:ammana (see below)
iii. Descriptive terms ἑταιρεία, hetaireia
Note hetaireia: SEG 56: 1920, l. 2

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) SEG 56: 1920 (ii BC)
Online Resources AGRW ID 22806
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Greek dedicatory inscription
i.c. Physical format(s) One side of the stone is decorated with reliefs, but the inscription is older. The stone has been re-used two times. Its original context may have been the so-called "altar", a cubic monument found in the sanctuary.
ii. Source(s) provenance Sanctuary of Zeus at Gerasa.

VI. BUILT AND VISUAL SPACE

ii. References to buildings/objects Αμμανα, Ammana is explained by Gatier and Seigne 2006: 181-3 (on the basis of Gawlikowski's study of the term) not as a reference to Rabbath-Ammon/Philadelphia, but to Aramaic ḥamana, a sort of chapel.

X. ACTIVITIES

iii. Worship The association dedicates something (presumably the monument that carried the inscription) to Zeus, the principal deity of Gerasa.
Deities worshipped Zeus

XII. NOTES

i. Comments In the last line, the ἔπαρχος, eparchos [Be?]laios is mentioned. Gatier and Seigne 2006 speculate about his relations to the later ruling dynasty of Charakene. In any case, it seems clear that he is a Seleucid regional official, not a magistrate of the association.
iii. Bibliography Gatier, P.-L., and Seigne, J. (2006), ‘Le hammana de Zeus à Gérasa’, Electrum 11: 171-89.
Gawlikowski, M. (1999), ‘Motab et hamana. Sur quelques monuments religieux du Levant’, Topoi 9: 491-505.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Probable
Note On the basis of the terminology, it is likely that we have here a private association. However, lack of further information prevents firmer conclusions.