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Introduction The monuments and inscriptions of Roman Asia Minor give us important glimpses into the lives of unofficial groups and guilds that regularly met for a range of activities. In several respects, these “associations” in cities like Sardis and Smyrna provide an entry into the complicated world of social and religious interactions and rivalries in antiquity. Moreover, the evidence from these cities demonstrates quite clearly that rivalries could encompass various practices, realms of activity (social, religious, economic , and otherwise), and levels of engagement. Associations were contenders for economic support and benefactions and for the honour and prestige that such connections with the elites entailed. In fact, participation in monumentalizing was one important means by which associations made claims about their place within society in relation to, or over against, other groups and institutions. Furthermore, associations were competitors for potential adherents and for the allegiances of members. While some groups could be more self-consciously competitive than others in specific ways, competition (alongside co-operation) was inherent within civic life in Asia Minor, and virtually all associations took part in this context in some way. Overview of Associations at Sardis and Smyrna A brief overview of the evidence for associations in Sardis and Smyrna (in the first to third centuries CE) will set the stage for a discussion of rivalries. In many respects, the range of groups attested in these two cities is quite typical of cities in Asia Minor generally.1 I further explore the activities and connections of such groups elsewhere (Harland 2003). Notes to chapter 5 start on page 259 53 5 Spheres of Contention, Claims of Pre-eminence Rivalries among Associations in Sardis and Smyrna Philip A. Harland There were a variety of associations at Sardis. The surviving evidence for occupationally based associations here is somewhat limited. We do catch glimpses of guilds of Italian businessmen in the Republican era, slave-merchants in the late first century CE, and performers devoted to Dionysos in the second century (SEG 46 1521 [ca. 88 BCE], 1524 [90s CE]; ISardBR 13–14 [time of Hadrian]). More prevalent in the record are other groups that explicitly identify themselves with particular patron deities. There were associations in connection with Attis, Zeus, Apollo, and the emperors (ISardBR 17 [Attis]; ISardBR 22; ISardH 3, 4 [Zeus; I–II CE]; SEG 46 1520 [Apollo Pleurenos; I BCE]; ISardH 2 [Apollo; I CE]; ISardBR 62 [emperors; II CE]). Some inscriptions refer to “initiates” (mystai or archenbatai) without designating the deity in question, one of which is also a group of athletes (ISardH 1, 5 [athletic group]). Other monuments from the vicinity of Sardis vaguely refer to other associations using common terminology, one making reference to the koinon and another mentioning the meeting hall of the symbiōsis (ILydiaKP III 14–15). Turning to Smyrna, the surviving evidence for associations that epigraphers have managed to document is even more varied. Regarding occupationally based groups, here there is more than one “family” (phamilia) of gladiators, a synod of athletes, a group of porters (devoted to Asklepios at one point), and guilds (synergasiai) of basket-fishermen, tanners, and silversmiths/goldsmiths (IGladiateurs 225, 240–41; ISmyrna 217, 709 [athletes , I CE]; ISmyrna 204, 205, 713 [porters, ca. 150–80 CE and 225 CE]; ISmyrna 715 [fishermen, III CE]; Petzl 1977, 87, no. 18 [tanners]; ISmyrna 721 [goldsmiths/silversmiths, ca. 14–37 CE]; cf. ISmyrna 718). As in many cities in the region, there was a group of merchants with Italian connections, this one emphasizing its province-wide character in calling itself the “Romans and Hellenes engaged in business in Asia” (ISmyrna 642 [mid to late II CE]). Several associations at Smyrna make reference to a favourite god or goddess. Among our earliest evidence is the membership list of a group devoted to the worship of Anubis, an Egyptian deity (ISmyrna 765 [early III BCE]). Particularly prominent in the Roman period was a group of “initiates ” (mystai) devoted to Dionysos Breseus (ISmyrna 598–99, 600–1, 622, 639, 652, 729–30, 731–32). Other Dionysiac inscriptions, which may or may not be related to the “Breiseans,” refer to a sanctuary of Dionysos (with Orphicinfluenced purity rules for entrance) and to a “Baccheion,” a common term for a meeting place among Dionysiac associations (ISmyrna 728, 733 [II–III CE]; cf. Nilsson 1957, 133–43).2 Demeter and Kore find their place here, too. One inscription refers to those who had “stepped into” Kore’s mysteries (hence enbatai; cf. ISardH 5), 54 / Philip...

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