AIUK43A no. 9 Decree of ecumenical technitai of Dionysos

Decree of ecumenical technitai of Dionysos

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 9 Date: 138-161 AD

For good fortune Decree of the great sacred itinerant (peripolistikēs) theatrical (thumelikēs) company (sunodou) Hadriana Antonina, of adherents from the whole Empire (oikoumenēs) of Dionysos and (5) the Emperor Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius the new Dionysos . . . ^[1]

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Greek text

References:

AIUK 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies) no. 9 (Translated text) (AIO) (AIUK)

IG II² 1350 (PHI)

GIBM I 49

Translation by: Stephen Lambert

AIO Images: 1

Images: Krateros - (1)

Monument type: Stele

Inscription type: Decree (technitai of Dionysos)

Findspot: Unknown (BM 1816,0610.235)

Transliterations on Places on

[1] This fragment was among the inscriptions acquired by Lord Elgin (cf. AIUK 4.1, no. 2). It is the beginning of a decree from the reign of Antoninus Pius of the world-wide itinerant company of theatrical professionals ("theatrical", to distinguish it from its sister association for athletes). This association was “itinerant” in that its members travelled around the Mediterranean participating in the various festivals that comprised the established competitive “circuit” and would conduct their collective business when gathered at the festival locations (see B. Fauconnier, Athletes and Artists in the Roman Empire, 2023). Athens was among the most prestigious of these locations, on account of its distinguished role in the history of Greek theatre. Its status recently boosted further at this time by the attentions of the philhellene Hadrian, it now hosted five festivals on the circuit: the Eleusinia, Panathenaia, Panhellenia, Olympia and Hadrianeia. The worldwide association had local “representations”, of which those at Rome were pre-eminent, and they are attested for the theatrical association also in Side and Nîmes, as well as Ephesos, Miletos, Sardis, and perhaps Alexandria Troas and Apamea. This fragment may well come from Athens, where the theatrical association had premises at the "gates of the Kerameikos" , but there is nothing to link it specifically to Athens, and while Elgin acquired most of his inscriptions from Athens, he obtained a few from other locations.

AIUK 4.3A, no. 8 is a fragmentary letter addressed to Hadrian or his successor Antoninus Pius. It has been suggested that it was from the same world-wide association of theatrical professionals as was responsible for no. 9, but the text is too fragmentary to confirm this; and, like no. 9, we can not be certain that Elgin acquired it in Athens. The ecumenical association was certainly responsible for SEG 47.222, a statue base for Hadrian. SEG 33.139, IG II² 1348, and IG II² 4, 1929 relate to the Athenian "representation".

From the 3rd cent. to the 1st cent. BC there existed an independent Athenian association of theatrical professionals. On this see IG II² 1320 and I Eleusis 271. On other decrees of the Imperial period, see SEG 21.499

For more detailed discussion of no. 8 and no. 9 see AIUK vol. 4.3A (BM, Decrees of Other Bodies), no. 9.

Added: 15 Dec 2020
Updated: 17 Aug 2024
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