Polymnia. Studi di Archeologia n.11

Phratries were associations based on kinship. As any other association, they needed seats, places where they could meet and perform the Apatouria festival, during which they introduced new members. In Attica, Athena and Zeus Phratrioi were the phratries’ main deities, but other heroes and gods were worshipped too. The contribution deals with a selection of documents certainly or possibly pertaining to the phratries of Attica between the 5th century and the 3rd century; such documents are particularly important in the debate concerning their cult and/or gathering places. From the extant evidence, it is difficult to understand whether a cult place was used as a seat (either with temporary or perennial functions) or it was linked to different cult activities. The investigation is complicated by the fact that many documents were found out of context and by the lack of a sharply defined corpus, since some documents can equally be attributed to phratries or to other kinship groups, e.g. gene, with similar characteristics. The aim of the paper is to review the main interpretations of this evidence and to check if other possibilities can be considered. For example, flexibility is called for what concerns some “sanctuary markers”, bearing the name of one or more heroes or gods and, most of all, the name of the phratry: information provided by them is not enough to link them necessarily with a seat (which requires the presence of an altar) or to an architectonically structured cult place. These considerations certainly do not help reconstructing an overall picture of the geographical distribution of phratries, but they help us reflect on the fact that their cult activities might go well beyond those described in written sources.

There is a wide literature on collegia in the Roman world, for this reason this paper will focus on the specific case of the aquatores Feronienses, an association known only in Aquileia. The association is well-documented by some inscriptions and two acroterial sculptures that belongs to its funerary monument. These finds, discovered in the 19th century in the north-east suburbium of Aquileia, are partly lost and partly preserved in the National Museum of Aquileia and in the Civic Museum of Trieste. Furthermore, along with other inscriptions, these items testify the significant presence of the Italic goddess Feronia in the north-Adriatic city. This paper wants to make a point about previously knowledge and studies on this topic and also to clarify and possibly to add something new to the complex interpretative picture delined about the aquatores.

Cette étude vise à présenter de manière analytique les cultes associatifs de Portus - port créé par Claude et agrandi par Trajan au nord du Tibre – et à mettre en lumière les particularités de ceuxci par rapport aux résultats engrangés pour Ostie.

At the time of their death, slaves could ask about the question of the survival of their memory, with one fundamental requirement, that of being able to influence the arrangements for the regular performance of the rites intended for the deceased. When we observe what characterizes slaves in death, we could see the infinite range of possibilities they may face, from the most anonymous and infamous death to the most vivid celebration. To what extent could the colleges, in their diversity, meet these needs and take charge of the cults necessary for funerals and annual commemorations intended to promote the perpetuation of the memory of slaves ? The communication will question the epigraphic documentation by asking whether the cults provided by these colleges could allow slaves to escape their condition as well as the social control they had been subject to during their life.

The rich epigraphic documentation of Rome offers a privileged overview of artisanal colleges and the many aspects of their associative life. Among the aspects concerning the cultural sphere, we want to highlight the preferential relationship that was often established between these associations and certain divinities, chosen as protectors and patrons of their activities. In this regard, it’s quite indicative the leading role assumed by the goddess Minerva in the college of fabri tignarii compared to the many other deities honoured by these craftsmen in the schola at the church of S. Omobono; the singular devotion to Silvanus of the dendrophori and margaritarii, which perhaps could have favoured the joining of two margaritarii, M’. Poblicius Hilarus e Tutic(ius?) Hylas, to the religious partnership linked to the worship of Mater Magna; and, finally, the veneration for the goddess Concordia who united, between the Augustan Age and the Tiberian Age, two colleges, that of pigmentarii and miniarii and that of brattiarii and inauratores, which, significantly, did not bring together craftsmen specialized in the same art, but in complementary or in interdependent arts.

The existence and features of Etruscan political, military and cult associations represent an unclear topic in ancient religious studies, due to the lack of Etruscan literature. Therefore, the presence of Etruscan collegia and their competences have been mainly reconstructed thanks to Greek and Latin literary sources, whereas several Etruscan monuments remain ambiguous in their specific connection to eventual ancient associations (e.g. for banqueting, sacrifice, funerals or public games and festivals). However, an overview of Etruscan contexts, which are probably connected to the Etruscan collegia, seems to offer a new perspective on the matter. For this purpose, a general evaluation of archaeological, epigraphic and iconographical documents relating to possible ancient associations has been carried out, taking into account all the different chronological phases in the history of Etruria.

After considering the most important traits of collegium of (quin)decemviri, this paper aims at arousing some questions and a new reflection about the rare relationships between collegia, magistracy and divination.

The numerical importance and the wide geographical and temporal distribution of Dionysiac associations allow cross-analyzes between associative form and type of worship. Each Dionysian association responds directly to the needs of those who meet and is a tailor-made creation, whether in the chosen form, the number of members and the distribution of men and women, the rhythm of the meetings, the references of all kinds which are summoned. The catalog of functions is composed in each individual case on the basis of various sources of inspiration (imaginary, Bacchic ritual reference, processional model, associative hierarchy, Eleusinian model). The cults rendered in these associations are as plural as the forms taken by each group. Even the mysteries take on multiple forms and expressions in the Dionysian associations. The practice of mysteries within the associative framework also requires a resumption of the notion of initiation compared to that of mysteries, in particular in groups of mysteries which meet very regularly, involving always the same members. The flexibility of the associative framework joined to the multiplicity, very naturally ‘polytheistic’ of the religious manifestations explains the fruitful adequacy during more than 6 centuries between Dionysiac cults and associative forms as well as the smooth evolution on a human scale of the Dionysian religious manifestations through the centuries. The associations allow us access to an unknown part of a religious and social life which is declined on a daily basis. They represent an expression as well as a laboratory of what we call polytheism.

Benché siano numerose le iscrizioni di associazioni di musicisti professionali, poche permettono di trattare della lora relazione con gli dèi. Meritano tuttavia considerazione, in particolare perché alcuni gruppi di musicisti erano impiegati nella realizzazione dei riti della religione pubblica. Le fonti epigrafiche conducono a trattare due casi studio. Il primo è relativo ai santuari laziali di Palestrina e di Nemi, nei quali i musicisti intervengono collettivamente. Il secondo riguarda più specificamente il legame dei tibicines con Minerva, manifestato tra l’altro dalle testimonianze sui quinquatrus minusculae e dalle iscrizioni a Roma e Tivoli.

This paper provides an overview of cults organised by private associations in Gallia Narbonensis and Alpes Maritimae. It is based on epigraphy and on a few archaeological remains. Evidence dates mainly from the second and early third centuries. Cults welded all of these associations, but some of them highlighted religious activities as their first raison d’être. Communities worshipped multiple and manifold gods, but professional associations chose deities who had a “natural” connection with the members’ trade. Besides, the cult of the Genius collegi was frequent. Association meeting-places were worship spaces, where the religious life of ordinary Romans blossomed.

Mithrea of Ostia have been objects of study on several occasions. A close analysis of the urban topography shows the dynamics of settlement that links these sacral buildings at the corpora or collegia activities. Traditionally we can ascribe a mithraeum to a corpus, as in the case of Fructosus’ mithraeum and the corpus stuppatorum. Otherwise the exam of urban context and the plans of buildings with Mithras’ temple, can help us to understand the relationship between Mithras cult and the collegia. In this essay we will analyses also the mithraeum of Felicissimus, the mithraeum near Porta Romana and the mithraeum of Aldobrandini, in order to reshape the role of this cult in the world of ostian association and in the urban landscape of the colony.

This contribution examines the scheduling of festive events within Roman collegia, through examples based upon Latin epigraphy; in addition, wording, reference models, coexistence of holidays dedicated to gods and men (members of the imperial house and benefactors of the collegium), as well as interrelations of places and times with municipal holidays are analyzed

The paper discusses the collegium and the cult of the god Sedatus from the iron-mining and metallurgical district on the Sana river in the Roman province of Dalmatia. The paper has several aims. By analysing location of the findings, territorial and administrative organizations of Dalmatian iron mines it aims to determine the members of the collegium and its role. Comparison with associations from other metallurgical districts in the Roman Empire as well as associations and dedicants appearing on other Sedatus’ monuments allows for closer determination of the character of Sedatus as a deity and some basic features of his cult in the period between the 1st and the 3rd century d.C.

The paper examines a particular type of associations, i.e. the civic subdivisions in the Western Greek colonies. Through epigraphic and archaeological documentation, the indicators that attest the ritual activities carried out by these groups are highlighted. Among these, there are ritual arrangements such as the system consisting of stele/cippus and votive deposit, well documented in Selinous, Metapontum, Poseidonia, Kaulonia. Even the hestiatoria or the contexts of domestic religion, however, respond to an organization for groups, not only of a strictly familiar type. A sub-groups organization can also be recognized in the Thesmophoria festival, leading us to reflect on the inclusion of women in the associative systems of the polis.