Stable URL: http://assocgr.saxo.sc.ku.dk/assoc/660Download as PDF
Last Updated on 24 Mar 2017

Author: Benedikt Eckhardt

CAPInv. 660: cultores dei Mifseni

I. LOCATION

i. Geographical area The Near East and Beyond
ii. Region Phoenicia (Beqaa)
iii. Site Hosn Niha

II. NAME

i. Full name (original language) cultores dei Mifseni (IGLS VI 2946, ll. 2-3)
ii. Full name (transliterated) cultores dei Mifseni

III. DATE

i. Date(s) i - iii AD

IV. NAME AND TERMINOLOGY

ii. Name elements
Cultic:cultores
Geographical:Mifsenus (?)
Theophoric:deus Mifsenus

V. SOURCES

i. Source(s) IGLS VI 2946 (i - iii AD)
Online Resources IGLS VI 2946
i.a. Source type(s) Epigraphic source(s)
i.b. Document(s) typology & language/script Building inscription in Latin
i.c. Physical format(s) Prismatic base made of chalk
ii. Source(s) provenance Found in the temple of Hosn Niha

IX. MEMBERSHIP

iv. Status Rey-Coquais 1988: 400 argues from the names (5 Semitic, 4 Roman) that the cultores are "des gens modestes". However, it is not clear that the persons introduced with sub cura are cultores; they could also be representatives of the sanctuary or of the vicus.

XII. NOTES

i. Comments The god Mifsenus is not known otherwise. Rey-Coquais 1967: 211 sees it as a toponym (from a village Mispeh).
iii. Bibliography Aliquot, J. (2009), La vie religieuse au Liban sous l’empire romain. Beyrouth.
Rey-Coquais, J.-P. (1967), Inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie VI: Baalbek et Beqa‘. Paris.
Rey-Coquais, J.-P. (1988), 'Sur une comparaison entre le clergé phénicien et le clergé "africain"', in A. Mastino (ed.), L'Africa romana. Atti del V convegno di studio Sassari, 11-13 dicembre 1987, Sassari: 397-402.

XIII. EVALUATION

i. Private association Possible
Note Aliquot 2009: 116-7 thinks that this was "une association de fidèles spécialement chargés de l’aménagement du sanctuaire". The cultores are one of two financial sources for the erection of a monument, the other being the income from obligata dei Mifseni et vici. This does not necessarily speak against their organization as a private association.