## THE YOUNG, THE OLD AND THE BLESSED: CORPORATE BODIES AND ELITE REPRODUCTION IN ROMAN ASIA MINOR *

By Benedikt Eckhardt

Summary: The article traces the impact of Roman rule on the organisational history of Asia Minor through a comparative study of three well-attested institutions: associations of young men ( neoi ) tied to the gymnasium, councils of elders ( gerousiai ) that could claim authority and decision-making capacity in their respective cities, and groups of initiates ( mystai ) who acted on behalf of their cities in public settings. While their Hellenistic origins would suggest a clear-cut distinction between civic institutions such as the neoi and private associations such as the mystai ,  their operations and status in the Roman period appear remarkably similar, and are difficult to classify within a traditional private/state binary. It is argued here that two features of Roman rule, the reliance on civic elites and the use of legal privileges for certain kinds of associations, created the conditions for wide-ranging institutional change, driven by a combination of Roman administrative input and local agency.

## 1. Introduction

Private associations seem to have been a fairly common phenomenon in Hellenistic Asia Minor, although the evidence is nowhere near as extensive as in Greece. Of the extant inscriptions, some show specific traits that can be connected to the different patterns of monarchic rule: in Pergamon and surroundings, associations were often involved in the ruler cult and other demonstrations of loyalty towards the Attalid dynasty; in areas controlled by the Ptolemies, mercenaries could form associations of βασιλισταί ; an association of μύσται near Sardeis could direct enquiries first to the Seleucid, then to the Attalid high priest of the satrapy. 1

* I  would  like  to  thank  the  anonymous  reviewer  for  insightful  comments  that  improved the article.

But there are also cases that could just as well have come from the Greek mainland or a Cycladic island: family associations founded for the purpose of commemoration; cult groups with or without theophoric names assembling citizens and foreigners; and in one case even an association of ὀργεῶνες , the only one attested outside the direct sphere of Athenian influence. 2 Asia Minor can therefore be regarded as an integral part of the Hellenistic associational sphere. Given the wealth of epigraphic evidence from the Roman period, the region is thus well-suited to guide enquiries of a more general nature: how did Roman rule influence private corporate organization in the Eastern Mediterranean world?

It is tempting to content oneself with an easy answer. When looking for direct policy measures, no significant influence can be detected. Associations existed both before and after the Roman takeover, and a review of the evidence for legal measures against them has revealed only a small number of rather exceptional cases. 3 However, it cannot be denied that Roman law, while not necessarily leading to prohibitive measures on a large scale, offered incentives and suggestions as to what acceptable organizations worthy of Roman support might look like. The Digest preserves several attempts by legal scholars to develop a concept of 'useful' collegia , which according to Gaius were to be treated in legal matters like a res publica after their official recognition by the state. 4 That these were

- 1 Pergamon and surroundings: OGIS 326 ( Ἀτταλισταί of Teos); SEG 52 1197 (Müller & Wörrle 2002 with extensive commentary on the Attalid context). Βασιλισταί : Wörrle 2015 with Wörrle 2021 (Limyra). Μύσται : SEG 46 1519 with Eckhardt & Lepke 2018: 44.
- 2 Family  association: LSAM 72  (Halikarnassos;  see  Carbon  &  Pirenne-Delforge  2013 with a re-edition by Carbon, 99-114); perhaps SEG 57 1188 (Koloe, Ἡρωϊσταί ; see Jones 2008). Other cult groups: e.g. SEG 55 1463bis (Limyra, Σαραπιασταί ); I . Apam . Bith . 35 (male  and  female  members  of  a θίασος ); SEG 60  1332  and  1333  (Yaylaköy, Ἀσκληπιασταί ; likely soldiers as argued by Müller 2010); I. Smyrna 765 ( Ἀνουβιασταί ). Ὀργεῶνες : Pottier & Hauvette-Besnault 1880: 164 no. 21 (see Boulay 2013 for re-editions and discussion of this and other texts from Teos).
- 3 Cf. Arnaoutoglou 2002.
- 4 Dig . 3.4.1.1 (Gaius 3 ad ed. prov.): Quibus autem permissum est corpus habere collegii societatis sive cuiusque alterius eorum nomine, proprium est ad exemplum rei publicae habere res communes, arcam commune et actorem sive syndicum, per quem tamquam in re publica, quod communiter agi fierique oporteat, agatur fiat .  Cf. Dig .  50.6.6.12  (Callistratus  1  de

not mere scholastic debates is suggested by a plethora of Western evidence and a few nuggets from the East: Flaccus' ban on associations in Alexandria, Pliny's failed attempt to create an association of fabri under Roman law in Nikomedeia, the measures taken against an association of bakers in Ephesus, an inscription from Miletus preserving Hadrian's positive response to the city's request to gain official recognition of the local association of ship owners, and the 'privileges and immunities' granted by Septimius Severus to professional associations connected with temples in Ephesus and Miletus. 5 While Roman involvement in the field of political institutions - such as associations - was less extensive in the East than in the West (and certainly less often recorded in inscriptions), there can be no doubt that in principle, the regulations on corporate organization were known and applied in Asia Minor.

Neither in the Western provinces nor in the East did this mean that every group classified by modern observers as an 'association' underwent a ratification procedure; in fact, only few of them did, and direct measures were rarely taken by Roman officials. But at the very least, there was an ideology of control that could, but did not have to influence administrative policy. 6 At  the  same  time,  this  ideology  remains  somewhat elusive, as several of the categories operating in the legal texts are not at all clear. The whole concept of utilitas publica lacks a clear definition, 7 and Marcianus adds to the confusion with his much discussed remarks on exceptions for tenuiores and assemblies religionis causa . 8 I have

cogn.): Quibusdam collegiis vel corporibus, quibus ius coeundi lege permissum est, immunitas tribuitur: scilicet eis collegiis vel corporibus, in quibus artificii sui causa unusquisque adsumitur, ut fabrorum corpus est et si qua eandem rationem originis habent, id est idcirco instituta sunt, ut necessariam operam publicis utilitatibus exhiberent.

- 5 Phil. Flacc . 4; Plin. Ep. 10.33-34 ; I. Ephesos 215 (bakers; cf. Perry 2015); Ehrhardt & Günther 2013 (ship owners; SEG 63 974); I. Ephesos 295 with the new copy from Miletus published by Akat Özenır & Ricl 2023: 112-15 no. 9. Western evidence: for an (incomplete) list of associations stressing their official permission, see Tran 2006: 352; for the (rare) occasions where an association is referred to as res publica , see Tran 2012: 68-69.
- 6 On the importance of this ideology as a historical fact in its own right, see recently Bendlin 2016; Perry 2016. For a full-scale reconstruction, see Eckhardt 2021.
- 7 Cf. the recent attempt by Stagl 2017.
- 8 Dig . 47.22.1pr-1; cf. discussion in Eckhardt 2018.

argued elsewhere, based on a concept taken from Neo-Institutional Economics, that such legal vagueness can lead to institutional isomorphism, i.e.  to  organizations  copying  each  other  and  ultimately  copying  the state. 9 So while there was no masterplan, and local reactions to the structural framework provided by Rome could not be predicted in detail, that framework did have a significant potential for integrating associations into a common imperial order. This in turn could mean that new forms of association were chosen at the expense of others.

Clifford Ando has described that order in very broad terms. According to him, the creation of 'imperial identities' was accompanied and shaped by the spread of organizations with largely identical forms and structures. Ando notes that 'not simply the membership, but the values and norms of public and private organisations overlapped and these latter were, at the level of institutional arrangements, largely homologous'. 10 And I would like to quote another of his very pertinent remarks:

The  organisations  in  themselves  served  to  bisect  and  reconstitute populations  along  multiple  axes.  But  they  also  came  gradually  to mimic the institutional arrangements of provincial and city government, and in so doing they will have further naturalised and legitimated the basic postulates of a Roman social order. 11

In other words, 'imperial identities' were created through a constant reduplication of state patterns on a regional and local level, from provincial κοινά to  ever smaller units, to civic βουλαί and even down to the many specialized professional collegia . Ando does not speak of 'Romanization', but his structural model is nothing less than an attempt to theorize precisely what other scholars have subsumed under this label. And although  the  term  has  been  the  object  of  critical  reevaluation  many times, it is still an obvious and legitimate choice for describing the influence Roman rule had on developments in various social fields. 12

9 Eckhardt 2016, using DiMaggio & Powell 1983.

10  Ando 2010: 20.

11  Ando 2010: 43.

The danger with models focused on the broad structures of empire lies in the possible marginalization of local agency. 13 For a full picture to emerge, an important role must be accorded to local attempts to inscribe oneself  into  the  Roman  imperial  order.  For  Asia  Minor,  this  has  been done admirably by Onno van Nijf in his study of professional collegia , formed by people primarily concerned with their own status, searching and finding a place for themselves in an increasingly manifest hierarchy of ordines . 14 Adding a further differentiation, people in the cities had different interests (and formed different associations) from those in the rural  areas  and  villages,  who  nevertheless  can  be  shown to react to the trend they perceived to be happening in the cities, in a process that we might call 'second order Romanization'. 15

Professional associations and village corporations were formed by local middle classes or rural farmers according to their own interests. But it is a reasonable assumption that incentives provided by Rome were directed primarily at the civic elites. Getting these people on board would have been the most important goal of any strategy of Romanization - not least  because  other  strata  of  society  when  forming  their  associations would look out for models of successful integration into the Roman order. The development of Greek cities in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods has often been described in terms like 'Honoratiorenregime' or 'aristocratisation'. 16 But the creation of an increasingly hereditary elite in the cities depended on elite reproduction both in a physical and in a sociological sense: institutions were needed that could prepare young members of the elite for their future role in the public sphere, serving as training grounds for the implementation of habitual dispositions. Organizations could serve several purposes in this respect - as nodal points in

12  Cf. Alföldy 2005; against the skeptical views by Sartre 2007 (who denies a significant Roman influence on the culture of Asia Minor) and Versluys 2014 (who prefers to do away with the Roman/non-Roman dichotomy altogether).

13  Cautioned against by Ando 2010: 45.

- 14  Van Nijf 1997.

15  Cf. Eckhardt 2016; on associations in the villages of Asia Minor see now also Thonemann 2022: 219-20; Parker 2023: 9-14.

16  E.g. Quaß 1993; Hamon 2007; Fröhlich & Hamon 2013: 1-3; Scholz 2015.

local and regional networks, but also as a public manifestation of the dignity and the superiority of its members in both political and religious matters. The aim of this article is to show that Roman rule in Asia Minor fostered the emergence of organizations that fulfilled these needs. All of them had some Hellenistic roots, but their transformation under Roman influence was so thorough that it seems legitimate to regard them as a product of Romanization. 17

All groups discussed here possessed some degree of autonomy, but they were also entangled with civic administration. They fulfilled some, but not necessarily all the criteria that can be argued to define 'private associations'. 18 The  changing  trajectories  in  this  regard,  i.e.  developments from a civic to a more private character and vice versa, are an important factor for any evaluation of the impact of Rome, and will therefore  be  studied  in  some  detail.  However,  another  question,  to  be  discussed in the conclusion, necessarily has to concern the validity of the civic/private-divide itself.

## 2. The Young

The first group to be discussed here are young men under thirty, the νέοι .  For  the  Hellenistic  period,  it  seems  firmly  established  that  they formed  an  age-class  following  the ἐφηβεία . 19 Much  like ἔφηβοι and παίδες , νέοι or νεώτεροι are seen in public roles, obligated to take part in

- 17  Whether one regards this process as 'cultural' or 'institutional' Romanization is a question of secondary importance. Associations have an important role to play in both the cultural and the institutional history of ancient Mediterranean cities. It can also be granted, taking into account the criticism by Heller 2009 and 2013, that many elements of the 'aristocratization' narrative have their roots in the Hellenistic period,  and  that  local  contexts  may  often  be  the  more  immediate  background  to change than the somewhat diffuse notion of a 'Roman social order'. I nevertheless think that regardless of a priori assumptions, the development of associations in this period and region follows an observable pattern influenced by a Roman model, and occasionally described in legal terms derived from that model. Associations thus provide an argument in its own right that largely favors the traditional narrative.
- 18  As explained by Gabrielsen & Thomsen 2015.
- 19  Cf. Dreyer 2004; Kennell 2013; van Bremen 2013.

processions, or using their military training to fight for their cities - in short, they appear as 'an integral component of many (if not all) Hellenistic cities'. 20 At the same time, they were autonomous to an unusual degree: they often had their own magistrates and their own finances, honored their benefactors and negotiated their relationship with the city. The νέοι of  Kolophon exerted pressure on the city council to honor a gymnasiarch, 21 and in Methymna, the local νέοι famously supplied the city with 2,300 staters when it suffered from the war of Aristonikos. 22 Many traits of the νέοι 's organization have their closest analogies in the world of private associations, and yet it seems clear that all this took place 'dans le cadre d'une obligation publique, civique'. 23 To be sure, we should not assume timeless uniformity. The gymnasiarchal law of Beroia clearly shows how the status of local νέοι could change, in this case from an independently organized club to direct state control. 24 And yet even seemingly independent behavior could be bounded by the integration of young men into the civic institutional framework: the νέοι of Hellenistic Teos were able to elect their own προστάται and to rent out a sanctuary they had in their possession, but civic magistrates had to act as witnesses to the transaction, and of course the Teans still expected their 'young men and boys' to compete in civic festivals. 25

It is a fair guess that the νέοι generally represented the higher strata of society, but there are no grounds for seeing them as a closed elite club. The ideal of preparing the young men for participation in the community of citizens, combined with a focus on military training, seems to preclude a strongly maintained social exclusivity. This does not of course mean that these groups could not serve the purpose of elite representation and reproduction. From the second century BCE onwards, the importance of gymnasiarchs in the Hellenistic cities largely depended on their ability to supply the νέοι with oil from their private resources, thus contributing to the formation of oligarchic roles; 26 wealthy benefactors regularly chose the gymnasia (and specifically the νέοι ) as recipients of their donations. At the same time, processes of social distinction must have taken place within the νέοι -groups. Because the organization was essentially a civic one, status differences could easily be translated from the group's environment to the inside. The institution could thus contribute to  elite  reproduction  in  the  sense  of  acquiring  habitual  dispositions  precisely because not everyone there had the same social standing, but needed to find the place appropriate for him on the social ladder.

20  Van Bremen 2013: 31.

21 SEG 55  1251; cf. Gauthier 2005; van Bremen 2013: 49-50 for the interpretation fol-

lowed here.

22 IG

XII Suppl. 116; cf. Migeotte 2013: 117.

23  Fröhlich 2013: 60. Cf. Dreyer 2004: 232-36.

24  Gauthier/Hatzopoulos 1993 ( I. Beroia

1); cf. Schuler 2004: 174-77.

25  For the προστάται and the sanctuary, see the long inscription published by Adak & Stauner  2018,  with  notes  by  Jones  2019  (notably  109  n.  1  on  the  identity  of  the προστάται : if they are indeed identical with the ἀποδεδειγμένοι ἄνδρες of l.1-2, perhaps their designation as ἄνδρες marks them as older than the νέοι and thus chosen from outside the corporation). The 'young men and boys' ( νέοι καὶ παῖδες ) competing at the Leukathea: Adak & Thonemann 2022: 15 l. B 77.

In Asia Minor, organizations of νέοι were not uncommon in the Hellenistic period. But their wide-spread appearance in almost all larger cities is a Roman phenomenon. 27 What were the characteristics of the Roman νέοι ?  Many have argued for a fundamental change in character, usually interpreted as a symptom of decline: 'Though primarily an athletic establishment in origin, they had acquired a social character and were to all intents and purposes a club'. 28 This seems to presuppose a certain privatization of an institution that used to be an 'establishment' integrated into the civic apparatus, but the evidence is a bit more complicated. Especially in the later imperial era, the νέοι occasionally appear very close to the governing bodies of a city - not only in decrees, but also on coins. In the time of Elagabal, the συνέδριον of the νέοι of Phrygian Laodikeia issued its own coins; already under Antoninus Pius, there had been a series of coins 'for the νέοι of Laodikeia'. Similar coinage was issued in Herakleia Salbake. 29 It may be compared with the occasional coin- age of the Dionysiac σύνοδοι of performers, but the more useful comparison  is  with  the γερουσία of  Aizanoi,  which  was  honored  by  a  local γραμματεύς with a special coinage. 30 If these νέοι were clubs, they must have been clubs of influential people whose goodwill was of special interest to both individuals and the city itself.

26  Cf. Schuler 2004: 189 on the contribution of the gymnasiarchy to the development of a 'Rollenbild des Honoratiorenpolitikers, der einem kleinen Kreis führender Familien  entstammte und sein Prestige laufend durch den Einsatz privater Gelder für öffentliche Belange untermauerte'. Cf. Scholz 2015 on the imperial period.

27  Cf. Forbes 1933: 17-19.

28  Macro 1980: 681. Cf. Dreyer 2004: 236 (they became 'nicht eine politische, sondern eine soziale Organisation').

29  Cf. on these coins Martin 2013: I 203-7.

While it is difficult to generalize individual findings, it seems that the νέοι remained integrated into the institutional inventory of cities, but could enjoy a significant degree of autonomy, as they had their own magistrates and benefactors. In Aphrodisias, νέοι and ἔφηβοι were both organized in corporate bodies; the νέοι had their own secretary and funds, awarded the title 'son of the νέοι ' to benefactors (thus imitating the 'son of the πόλις ') and had their own seats in the stadium. 31 The νέοι of (probably)  Hierapolis  may  have  had  their  own  archive,  overseen  by  a γραμματοφύλαξ . 32 The νέοι of  Pergamon  are  particularly  well-known, not least because they had their own gymnasium where several inscriptions have been found. These raise a number of questions with regard to the νέοι 's autonomy. We know that the νέοι exchanged letters with Trajan and Hadrian (whose answer has survived intact; he calls them ἄνδρες ἀγαθοί , irrespective of age), and that they honored a Roman proconsul of Asia as their benefactor and eternal gymnasiarch. 33 A board of three secretaries of the νέοι is mentioned in two inscriptions. 34 On first sight, the impression is that the 'young men' had gained more control over their own affairs in the imperial era. An earlier honorific decree for a gymnasiarch, while voted for by the νέοι κατὰ πλῆθος , was nevertheless passed as a decree by βουλή and δῆμος , which suggests that in the late

- 30  On coinage of Dionysiac σύνοδοι , cf. Lorber & Hoover 2003 (Teos, late Hellenistic); Martin 2013: I 207-15 (Tralleis, Severan); on the γερουσία of Aizanoi: Martin 2013: I 145-46.
- 31 MAMA VIII 484 = I. Aph .  12 308 ( υἱὸς νέων and γραμμτεὺς τῶν νέων ); I.  Aph .  10 26 (stadium; νεωτέρων presumably identifies the νέοι ); cf. on these inscriptions Chaniotis 2015: 123.
- 32 SEG 31 1106; cf. discussion by Labarre 2005.
- 33 I. Pergamon 273 (Trajan); I. Pergamon 274 (Hadrian); I. Pergamon 440 (proconsul).
- 34 I. Pergamon 274; I. Pergamon 440.

Hellenistic period, the νέοι were  still  unable  to  make  decisions  themselves. 35 So how could they now honor the proconsul? That the situation is  more  complicated is  suggested  by  Aelius  Aristides'  report  that νέοι could be used by the city of Pergamon to give an appropriate welcome to famous visitors. Could they be obligated to do so, and what would this mean for criteria of membership? 36 A fragmentary inscription seems to mention a δοκιμασία , an entrance fee, and a clause on 'those leaving'. 37 Fraenkel explains this as a rule on the βουλευταί of  the νέοι ,  because βουλευταί in some cities had to pay entrance fees, and another fragmentary inscription seems to mention a βουλὴ νέων . 38 But the entrance fee could have been paid by ordinary members, and there seems to be no parallel for νέοι (or any other association) with a separate βουλή of their own. 39 The δοκιμασία - if indeed carried out by the νέοι - nevertheless points to a significant degree of autonomy; it may have served as a regulatory mechanism to keep the institution closed off against 'unworthy' candidates.

The magistracies related to the νέοι , attested since the later Hellenistic period, raise another problem, as it is often not clear whether or not the magistrates of the νέοι were ultimately chosen by the city. 40 While

- 35 I. Pergamon 252 (second or first century BCE). The symbolic value of the gymnasium in a time of transition may be taken into account here, as it turned gymnasiarchs into guarantors of Pergamene civic traditions; see the remarks by Wörrle 2007: esp. 509-11.
- 36  Ael. Arist. Or . 51.29. Fraenkel (in I. Pergamon , p. 184) regarded it as natural 'dass die römisch  gewordenen  Pergamener  als  Ersatz  für  die  ihnen  versagte  politische Betätigung dem wichtig thuenden Studendentum den ersten Platz im öffentlichen Interesse gewährten'.
- 37 I. Pergamon 278 l. 7: δοκ ..., l.8: ἀποδιδόσ [ θαι ], l. 9: [ τ ] ῶν ἐξιόντων , l. 12-13: [ τὸ τῶν ] | νέων γυμνάσιον .
- 38 I. Pergamon 486 B l. 4: [ ὁ δεῖνα γραμματεὺ ] ς βουλῆς νέων .
- 39  Poland 1909: 386 n. † (followed by Forbes 1933: 35 n. 10) therefore proposed a comma: [ γραμματεὺ ] ς βουλῆς , νέων . This is not an elegant solution, but possibly the only one that does away with the unlikely 'council of the νέοι ' - the person in question would have served as γραμματεύς of both βουλή and νέοι .
- 40  The latter explanation is preferred by Forbes 1933: 36. Cf. Dmitriev 2005: 31-32; Labarre 2005 : 122: 'Ces magistratures, créées pour encadrer la partie la plus jeune du corps civique, étaient de nature publique. Elles étaient indissociables de celles de la cité'.

gymnasiarchs 'of the νέοι ' (often also responsible for ἔφηβοι or γέροντες ) were most likely civic officials, this is far less evident for secretaries or treasurers. It is therefore not clear how much direct influence wealthy people with their own agenda could exert on these organizations, apart from the informal rules of euergetism.

The spread of νέοι in Roman Asia Minor, their ambiguous status and their aristocratic outlook have occasionally led scholars to postulate an influence from the collegia iuvenum broadly attested in the Western provinces. 41 As these groups have often been seen as a 'Kaderschmiede' for local elites in the West, 42 their relationship to the νέοι would be very pertinent to this discussion. But not only are there good arguments against the aristocratic character of the iuvenes ; 43 it is also difficult to align the supposed influence from West to East with the chronological data. The specific evidence adduced cannot carry much weight. The older literature unanimously refers to the νεανίσκοι of Thyateira as the prime example of a thoroughly Romanized group of young men, formed according to the model provided by the iuvenes , but the data hardly justifies this conclusion. What we have are seven honorific decrees by a group that

- 41  Kornemann 1900: 389 on the neaniskoi of Thyateira (but cf. 390 on γερουσία and νέοι generally: 'spezifisch griechische Erscheinungen'); Chapot 1904: 155 ('ils ont peutêtre voulu imiter les collegia iuvenum '). Rostovtzeff 1905: 61-71 argues for the creation of the iuvenes by Augustus, based on the model of the ἐφηβεία , but also notes an influence by the iuvenes on the νέοι of Asia Minor (93 n. 1). Forbes 1933: 68 considers similar ideas ( iuvenes influenced by νέοι ), but cf. 62 on the νεανίσκοι of Thyateira, which were 'patterned after the organized iuvenes of  Italy  and the West'. On the iuvenes , cf. Jaczynowska 1978, who (12-13, 18) points to local tradition and rejects the supposed influence of νέοι or ἔφηβοι .
- 42  Cf. the literature mentioned in the preceding note. There can be no doubt that iuvenes could be an element of local or regional networks with a strong Roman focus; cf. Roncaglia 2015: 206-7 on AE 1953: 18. But uniformity of organization and purpose should not be assumed, as shown by Randazzo 2000.
- 43  In the Severan period, Callistratus seems to presuppose that the large majority of iuvenes would be tenuiores : Dig . 48.19.28.3 with Jacques 1980: 217-24, who also notes that the evidence for nobles in groups of iuvenes is  limited to patrons and magistrates, which may point to control exercised by local elites over youth organizations. See also Kleijwegt 1994: 83-84.

carries references to Herakles and the civic gymnasia in its name. 44 All inscriptions thoroughly root the νεανίσκοι in a Roman context: one is for a senator, and most others are concerned with services rendered or victories achieved during the Severan ἄγων . But this does not distinguish the νεανίσκοι of Thyateira from other groups; in addition, they do not seem to be identical with the νέοι , who also appear at Thyateira alongside δῆμος and βουλή . 45 We are left with the worship of Herakles, which would certainly fit a Roman context, but can also be explained in the context of Greek gymnasia.

While it is impossible to show that the iuvenes influenced the νέοι or vice versa, the constant importance of νέοι in  Roman Asia Minor may well have had something to do with the fact that Romans knew comparable  organizations  from  Italy  and  the  Western  provinces.  Emperors were aware of the peculiarities of Greek gymnastic culture (to the point that Trajan famously ridicules it in a letter to Pliny), 46 but they also knew what kind of organizations fostered Roman rule in other places. A direct equation between νέοι and iuvenes is  not  made in the most important document relating to the Roman perception of νέοι , namely, the Senatus Consultum from  the  time  of  Antoninus  Pius  concerning  the νέοι of Kyzikos. 47 But  the  document confirms the impression that Roman law could act as an integrating factor with regard to 'useful' associations. 48

- 44  E.g. TAM V 2 949 (233-235 CE): ἀγαθῆι τύχηι . | [ οἱ ] περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα τῶν πρώ |[ των ] γυμνασίων καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀρ |[ χαῖο ] ν τοῦ τρίτου νεανίσκοι | [ Αὐρ .] Γλύκωνα , υἱὸν Αὐρ . Γλύκωνος | [ τοῦ ] Μητρᾶ ἀνδρὸς ἐκ προγόνων | [ λειτ ] ουργοῦ , προστάντα ἐνδόξως | [ καὶ πο ] λυδαπάνως τοῦ ὑπὸ αὐτῶν |  [ ἐπιτελ ] ουμένου Σεβηρείου ἀγῶ |[ νος ] τῶν ἐπινικίων ἑορτῶν | [ τοῦ κυ ] ρίου ἡμῶν Αὐτ̣οκράτορος | [[ Μ . Αὐρ . Σεβήρου Ἀλεξάνδρου ]] | [ Εὐσε ] βοῦς Εὐτυχοῦς Σεβαστοῦ | [ π ] αρ ' ἑαυτῶν ἀνέστησαν . Cf. TAM V 2 987, 994, 1007, 1008, 1009, 1015.
- 45 ΤΑΜ V 2 925 ( νέοι dedicating a statue of βουλή from their own resources through their γραμματεύς ); 1065 (joint honors by δῆμος , νέοι and παῖδες ).
- 46  Plin. Ep . 10.40.2: gymnasiis indulgent Graeculi . Roman elitist discourse on the gymnasium has been recently discussed,  from  different  perspectives,  by  Orth  2015  and Mann 2015.
- 47 CIL III 060 = FIRA I ² 48; cf. the recent treatment by Groten 2015: 178-79.
- 48  That corporations connected to the gymnasium could fall under the rubric of utilitas publica is also argued (but with a focus on education) by Sommer 2006: 106-10, 12635.

According to the Latin summary, the Kyzikenes had asked 'that the corpus which is called 'of the νέοι ' and which they have in their city should be confirmed through the authority of the senate'. 49 As in the case of the οἶκος ναυκλήρων in Miletus, 50 the city asked for - and received - official confirmation of its right to 'have' an already existing group. Confirmare is also used by Gaius in his note on the legitimate collegia which receive special permission from either the senate or the emperor. 51 By leaving the designation in the Greek, the text not only precludes a direct equation with collegia iuvenum ,  but also marks the νέοι as  a  typically Greek institution. The parallels should nevertheless have been obvious. The use of the Greek may be explained by the need to give the precise nomen and causa of a collegium licitum , and the nomen was νέοι .

The case of the νέοι of Kyzikos supports a reading of the legal regulations that sees the whole discourse on collegia as directly relevant only for an altogether limited number of privileged groups with claims to utilitas publica . 52 The νέοι were among these groups because they evidently fulfilled a function that was judged important by the authorities: the continued  reproduction  of  local  elites  with  a  strong  orientation  towards Rome. The request does not concern the foundation of the group, which

- 49 Ut corpus, quod appellatur Neon et habent in civitate sua, auctoritate amplissimi ordinis confirmetur .
- 50  Ehrhardt & Günther 2013 ( SEG 63 974).
- 51 Dig . 3.4.1pr (Gaius 3 ad ed. prov.): Item collegia romae certa sunt, quorum corpus senatus consultis atque constitutionibus principalibus confirmatum est .
- 52  De Ligt 2001: 350-52 argues against the earlier view of Mommsen and de Robertis (that the neoi had to ask for permission because they did not consist of tenuiores ; cf. Dig . 47.22.1pr) and instead focuses on the Kyzikenes' attempt to gain prestige, which comes close to the reading offered here. But de Ligt goes on (355-356) to state that νέοι , γερουσίαι etc. generally did not fall under the terms of the lex Iulia de collegiis , which was supposedly concerned only with collegia sodalicia ( Dig . 47.22.1pr: Mandatis principalibus praecipitur praesidibus provinciarum, ne patiantur esse collegia sodalicia neve milites collegia in castris habeant ). I read Marcian's text as referring to collegia and sodalicia , i.e. all possible forms of private organization (as do Groten 2015: 268-69 and Bendlin 2016). The focus on Roman law as an incentive to participate in a new order turns de Ligt's argument on its head: it was precisely semi-public groups like the νέοι who could accept the offer made by the lex Iulia . This also has a bearing on the reading offered by Randazzo 2000: 209-10 (who, in addition, too readily equates νέοι and iuvenes and does not take into account the long prehistory of νέοι at Cyzicus).

the Kyzikenes already 'have in their city', 53 but its confirmation as a corpus ; it is a successful attempt to gain official recognition of a corporate 'imperial  identity'.  The  omnipresent  quest  for  status  and  privileges fueled the provincials' desire to become part of the system. Individuals could pride themselves of having a part in a legitimate, elitist institution - which could in turn commemorate its members as φίλοι ἀδελφοί , as in the footprints accompanied by inscriptions from Kyzikos. 54 Rome, on the other hand, could only profit from the legal integration of an institution that might, under special circumstances, foster not loyalty, but social unrest. 55

A necessary consequence of such recognition was that the organization gained the right to be treated ad exemplum rei publicae - this is what corpus habere was all about. We may want to describe this as a process of privatization, as the νέοι should henceforth have been able to autonomously administer their own affairs without interference by civic magistrates. 56 However, we do not know how things played out locally, and

- 53  A list recording gifts by Philetairos of Pergamon already mentions νέοι at Cyzicus for the  year  277/6  BCE: εἰς ἔλαιον καὶ [ σ ] υναγω [ γὴν ]  | τῶν νέων ἀργυρίου τάλαντα Ἀλεξάνδρεια | εἴκοσιν ἕξ ( OGIS 748 ll. 15-17). Although συναγωγή is probably used as a term for assembly and not as a corporate designation, this may well have been the corpus quod appellatur neon later to be the subject of the SC.
- 54  E.g. IMT Kyz Kapu Da ğ 1508 (third century CE?): [ Ἀ ] ρτεμιδώρου κ ( αὶ ) | [ Σ ] ωσιπάτρου κα ( ὶ ) | [ Ἀσ ] κληπιάδου κ ( αὶ ) Πο |[ π ] λίου τῶν φίλω |[ ν ] ἀδελφῶν μέμνη |[ σ ] θε οἱ νέοι ; cf. Hasluck 1910: 293; Ziebarth 1914: 103-4; both authors point to a parallel phenomenon from the gymnasium of the νέοι at Pergamon ( I. Pergamon 576).
- 55  Cf. esp. Dig . 48.19.28.3 (Callistratus 6 de cogn.): Solent quidam, qui volgo se iuvenes appellant, in quibusdam civitatibus turbulentis se adclamationibus popularium accommodare. Qui si amplius nihil admiserint nec ante sint a praeside admoniti, fustibus caesi dimittuntur aut etiam spectaculis eis interdicitur. Quod si ita correcti in eisdem deprehendantur, exilio puniendi sunt, nonnumquam capite plectendi, scilicet cum saepius seditiose et turbulente se gesserint  et  aliquotiens  adprehensi  tractati  clementius  in  eadem  temeritate  propositi  perseveraverint. That the iuvenes in view here may not have been organized in collegia is argued, among others, by Randazzo 2000: 205-8; contrast Jacques 1980: 220. Laurendi 2016: 283-85 argues that volgo marks the lack of official organization.
- 56  This may have been one of the points addressed by the proconsul Memmius Rufus in his regulations concerning the gymnasium of Beroia ( I. Beroia 7). Some specific competence (the right to appoint the ephebarch according to Kennell 2007) is left to the 'association of the νέοι ' (l.45: - - χίας τόπον τῇ τῶν νέων ἀ̣πολείπω συνηθείᾳ ). Kennell points to the fact that the νέοι are treated as a 'legally-constituted association'.

in any case, legal recognition by Rome can also be seen as a transition from one state oriented context (an institution embedded into the civic framework)  to  another  (an  institution  embedded  into  the  imperial framework). The city's interest in this transition remains somewhat unclear, but as it was the city that made the request, there must have been some kind of advantage to be had. Perhaps the creation of a legally independent entity could relieve the city of some of the financial burden connected to the maintenance of νέοι associations: as a legitimate corpus the νέοι of Kyzikos could hope to gain 'privileges and immunities' from Roman administrators, and to attract benefactors who wanted to associate themselves with the group. 57 However, our ignorance about how a constellation like this would have played out in financial terms is almost total.

The νέοι thus fit the model developed above quite well. Their long Hellenistic history shows that not all the bricks in the wall of Roman imperial culture had to be newly manufactured. However, the institution was transformed and re-imported into Asia Minor. We need to ask why an institution survived and even spread that had lost much of its original relevance in the Roman period, when the military training of future citizens was not decisive for a city's future anymore. The symbolic dimension of having young men train for combat and demonstrate their skills in public performances should not be underestimated. 58 But another reason may well have been this institution's capacity to foster elite reproduction on several levels, as a school for acquiring the habitual dispositions  needed,  and  a  platform  of  representation  for  gymnasiarchs  and other benefactors.

- 57  In the case of Beroia (see preceding footnote), the independent legal status of the νέοι appears to be part of the proconsul's solution to the problem of chronic underfunding of the city's gymnasium.
- 58  This is not the place to enter discussion of the recently published ephebarchic law from Amphipolis ( SEG 65 420; new ed. by Rousset 2017), which has received much attention  already  (Rousset ibid .  with  the  response  by  Hatzopoulos  2015/16  [published 2017]; Mari 2017). Setting aside its value for reconstructing Antigonid social institutions, in our context it is important to note that in 24/3 BCE, a law from the second century BCE was (partially? faithfully? cf. Hatzopoulos vs. Rousset) re-inscribed that regulated the military training of ephebes, although the political context had clearly changed and many rules were no longer applicable.

The paradigmatic parallel for this would be the Athenian ἐφηβεία . Due to the exceptional amount of data, we can here trace a transformation 'from a school for citizens to an aristocratic club' - not because only aristocratic families would have been allowed to enter, which was not the case, but because the ἐφηβεία became a primary focus of elite representation. 59 Aristocrats took care to be appointed κοσμήτης in the year their son entered the ἐφηβεία (or even sons: age limits were apparently less important than the desire for elite representation); catalogues of ephebes were no longer erected by the city, but by the elite members or functionaries at their own costs. 60 At the same time, the ἐφηβεία became a precise copy of the Athenian state. Its function as a corporate body of elite reproduction is especially visible: after the ἐφηβεία , people often held high offices in the city, thus taking over roles for which they had been thoroughly prepared through their period as ephebes. 61 They had learned the codes of elite behavior, they had enhanced their network (even  translocally,  as  the ἐφηβεία was  open  to  citizens  from  abroad), they had distinguished themselves from the non-aristocratic ephebes, and had already entered a competition for fame and honor with their aristocratic equals. The public or private nature of this institution has been debated. 62 Perhaps we should locate the ephebes and their organization exactly at the boundary between the modern notions of public and private. The processes described here have their roots in the Hellenistic period, 63 but their formalization under Roman rule is still remarkable. And while it is certainly justified to warn against taking Athens as a normative model for understanding the ἐφηβεία in other cities at least in the Hellenistic period, 64 it can serve as a model for the development of age-based organizations in the Roman period, including the νέοι of Asia Minor.

59  The quotation is taken from Wiemer 2011 (title), who, however, argues against this development (see below, note 62).

60  Wiemer 2011: 500-8.

61  Wiemer 2011: 506.

62  Wiemer 2011: 512-13 stresses the public character of the ἐφηβεία , noting that no private association could have acted in public or made similar claims to being a civic institution;  both  arguments  are  open  to  question.  Perrin-Saminadayar  2013:  173 notes a structure 'de type associatif', but justly sees a decisive difference to private associations in the temporary nature of membership.

63  Stressed by Perrin-Saminadayar 2013.

64  Hin 2007: esp. 141-43.

## 3. The Old

From the 'young', we may now move on to the 'old', the πρεσβύτεροι or, much more common in the Roman period, the γερουσία . The origins of clubs of old men (i.e. older than thirty) tied to the gymnasium are Hellenistic, but they appear later than the νέοι , and not in the same quantity. In Roman times there seems to have occurred a development in terminology from πρεσβύτεροι (as the more natural antonym to νέοι ) to the corporate  designation γερουσία ,  although  in  the  early  Roman  period both terms were used, even within the same city and in the same decree, as in first-century BCE Iasos. 65 It has been argued convincingly that the late emergence of πρεσβύτεροι was the result of individual benevolence shown by gymnasiarchs. 66 Unlike the νέοι , πρεσβύτεροι do not seem to have been subject to civic obligations, so they appear as an originally private organization. That they were a club of nobles is suggested by the very fact that benefactors found it advantageous to include them in their distributions.

The late Hellenistic πρεσβύτεροι never reached the wide distribution and the political influence that characterized the γερουσία of the Roman period.  That  influence  was  such  that  on  first  sight,  there  seems  little sense in searching for private characteristics of the γερουσία .  In many cities of Roman Asia Minor, it regularly appears as co-author of civic decrees, alongside δῆμος and βουλή , sometimes even replacing the latter. Its significance may also be measured by the fact that the trend towards personification of civic institutions included the γερουσία ; as in the case of δῆμος and βουλή , both statue groups and coins showing γερουσία personified are well attested. 67 Roman law does not seem to be of help either:

65 I . Iasos 87 and 121; cf. Zimmermann 2007: 1524. On the πρεσβύτεροι of Iasos, cf. now Fröhlich 2013.

66  Fröhlich 2013: 79-97.

67  Martin 2013: I 141-51. An inscription from Halikarnassos published by Carbon, Isager & Pedersen 2017 mentions the 'first priestess of (the) γερουσία ', who was elected by

in  Pliny's  exchange  of  letters  with  Trajan,  a collegium  fabrorum ,  Greek ἔρανοι and even distributions of money among people grouped quasi per corpora are all treated as problematic (with different results), while the existence of a γερουσία is mentioned only in passing, with no reference at all to the ban on associations Pliny was supposed to carry out in Bithynia et Pontus. 68 That Vitruvius refers to the γερουσία of Sardeis as a collegium seniorum also does not tell us much, as collegium could designate a private association as much as a board of magistrates. 69 However, this official outlook might be the result of accumulated influence overshadowing the original nature of the institution. Two aspects in particular link the γερουσία with the sphere of Romanized corporations: the issue of membership and the issue of foundation.

As regards membership, two inscriptions from Phrygia strongly suggest that γερουσίαι could be governed by different rules and interests than one might expect from an institution supposedly analogous to either the βουλαί or age-classes. At Sebaste, a whole family of Iulii (father, mother, three children including a daughter) was among the 71 persons who joined the local γερουσία in  99  CE. 70 This is remarkable in several ways: members of the γερουσία of Sebaste, which was perhaps founded on this occasion, apparently did not need to be old, nor did they need to be male. 71 At least in this case, the γερουσία seems to have served as a

the σύστημα γερόντων and honored by the people. Perhaps we are again dealing with γερουσία personified, which would make the dating of the inscription (first century BCE according to the editors) all the more interesting.

- 68  Plin. Ep . 10.33.1 ( gerusia ); 10.33-34 ( fabri ); 92-93 ( eranoi ); 117 ( quasi per corpora ).
- 69 Vitr .  2.8.10: Croesi domus, quem Sardiani civibus ad requiescendum aetatis otio, seniorum collegio gerusiam dedicaverunt …
- 70  Paris 1883: 452-56 no. 2.
- 71  It is well known that there were female gymnasiarchs, but these were liturgical positions  of  an  honorific  character,  perhaps  most  often  carried  out  by  widows  (see Wörrle 2016, 410-14 on a new inscription from Limyra). It is true that membership of the Iulii in the γερουσία of Sebaste may also be regarded as honorific in character; cf. the case of Tate, a former gymnasiarch who was accepted in the γερουσία of Herakleia Salbake ( CIG 3953c with Robert & Robert 1954: 174-75 no. 67), and TAM II 130 from Lydai for a γεραιὸς διὰ βίου (Wörrle 2016: 420 n. 80: 'vielleicht eine Art Ehrenmitgliedschaft'). However, the inscription itself gives us no reason to think that children could not be brought to the meetings. - The recent attempt to show that women

venue for elite representation involving the whole family; the introduction of children was an effective way of integrating them into the local high society. By joining an elite club, they would have acquired the habitual dispositions necessary to perpetuate this family's status in the future. This is a rather natural way of elite reproduction, based on ancestry and  on  the  existence  of  organizations  where  elite  behavior  could  be learned. The tendency to encourage members to introduce their children, e.g. by reducing the entrance fee, is visible in other elite groups whose activities oscillate between civic and private. A prominent example is provided by the ὑμνῳδοί of Pergamon, a group that specified its calendar and some conditions of membership on stone and looks much like a private organization, until we remember that issues surrounding the hymn-singers of Asia were subject to direct regulations by the emperor. 72 In this semi-private body, 'the one who takes over the hymn of his father' enters for half the price. 73

At  Akmoneia  in  64  CE,  a  certain  Demades  was  allowed  to  inscribe someone into the membership list of the local γερουσία without an entrance  fee  ( ἀσύμβολος ). 74 Demades  chose  Karpos,  a  freedman  (most likely:  his  freedman). The whole process must have been unusual, because the decree explicitly emphasizes that Karpos should enjoy rights on an equal footing. This needed to be stressed either because the procedure deviated from the normal process of admission (which at least included payment of a fee), or because freedmen were not normally members of Akmoneia's club of elders. The γερουσία of Akmoneia is known as an important local institution, treated on a par with δῆμος and πόλις (not βουλή !) in the monumental representations of the city's main governing bodies erected by a priest of Athena. 75 But in this case, it seems to act more like  a  private  association.  Demades  had  presumably  gained  this

could regularly be trained in gymnasia just like men (Tsouvala 2015) depends on rather doubtful evidence.

- 72 I. Pergamon 374 (time of Hadrian). For imperial measures regarding the ὑμνῳδοί , cf. I. Ephesos 17-19; on their public nature, cf. Poland 1909: 47-49; for their interpretation as a private group, see Ziebarth 1896: 90-92; Price 1984: 118; on financial aspects, cf. Edelmann-Singer 2012: 167-69.
- 73 I. Pergamon 374 d ll. 17-18: ὁ δὲ πατρῷον διαδεξάμενος | ὕμνον

.

74 SEG 56 1489 (Varinlio ğ lu 2006: 368-71, no. 5) ll. 1-5.

75 SEG 56 1490 (Varinlio ğ lu 2006: 363-68, no. 4); cf. Giannakopoulos 2013: 23-24.

right as a reward for benefactions; parallels are known from associations in Athens and on Delos. 76 We may ask why he did not introduce his son maybe he had none, maybe his son was already a member. Introducing a freedman  would  mean  two  things:  Demades'  influence  within  the γερουσία was strengthened through the integration of a person loyal to him, and Karpos' membership in the local γερουσία was visible proof of the fact that Demades had the power to elevate people (and by inference, to bring people down). This is a classic theme of elite representation. It is based on a somewhat different way of elite reproduction than the one discussed above, namely on the possibility of 'leapfrogging': dependents could be promoted to elite status, or at least join the elite clubs, through loyalty towards their patrons.

For  the  Flavian  period,  entrance  fees  seem  to  be  attested  for  the γερουσίαι of Chios and Kos as well. 77 The problem of admission is further elucidated by an inscription from Pergamon of Hadrianic date which has been found in the gymnasium of the νέοι , but has normally been understood to be the regulation of a club of elders because members were allowed  to  introduce  their  sons  for  50  Denarii,  provided  that  they  had passed the δοκιμασία and their fathers had been members for at least five years. 78 It can be assumed that new members normally had to pay an entrance fee of 100 Denarii; they were probably limited in number. All this points to a closed elite circle with a tendency towards hereditary membership - very much like the ὑμνῳδοί , where the entrance fee was also 100 Denarii, and where we know at least some of the members, such as the wealthy Castricii. That the actual age was rather irrelevant is sug- gested by the fact that fathers and sons could apparently enter the association at the same time (but would then not profit from the reduced rate).

76 IG II ² 1337 (Athens, 57/6 BCE); I. Délos 1520 (153/2 BCE); cf. for other parallels Giannakopoulos 2013: 17-18.

77 I . Ephesos 13 ii ll. 8-9, 16; cf. Zimmermann 2007: 1527.

78  Hepding  1907:  293-96  no.  18  b/c  ll.  7-10: ὁμοίως δὲ εἰσέρχεσθαι τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν μετεχόν | των , δοκιμασθέντας μὲν καὶ αὐτούς , διδόντας δὲ εἰση | λύσιον 50, εἴ γε αὐτῶν οἱ πατέρες πρὸ πενταετίας με | τεῖχον τοῦ συστήματος . Hepding already argued that the regulation stems from the local πρεσβύτεροι or γερουσία (295); cf. Feyel 2009: 372-73. Certainty is impossible; this could also be a different association with more vague links to the gymnasium. But the terminology ( σύστημα , συνέδριον ) supports Hepding's assumption, as it seems to occur more often in the context of age groups.

The 'old' appear, at least in the cities discussed, as another example of a formalization and institutional elevation of late Hellenistic structures through Romanization. The organizational form most often chosen was the γερουσία , although we do see γερουσίαι and πρεσβύτεροι co-existing for some time. As should be expected for elite corporations without a traditional place in the institutional makeup of Greek cities, the creation of such groups could depend on private initiative, which brings us to the issue of foundation.

A good example comes from early imperial Metropolis. A list records the contributions of members 'for the Augusti and the πρεσβύτεροι '; as some members have contributed κλῖναι rather than money, the reference seems to be to the building or renovation of the πρεσβύτεροι 's meeting place. 79 Through the inclusion of the imperial household, this very act is framed as a contribution to the Roman imperial order. The members come from distinguished families who were already prominent in the Hellenistic period, but the group in this form came into being only recently; the list refers to its 'new founder' Papylos. 80 The strong Roman orientation of the Metropolitan πρεσβύτεροι is further illustrated by the fact that they erected a partial copy of the Augustan calendar decree in their meeting place, most likely as a symbolic attachment to the ideas of peace and prosperity so enthusiastically expressed in that document. 81

79 SEG 49 1522.

80  Ll. 9-10: Πάπυλος Ἀπολλωνίδου καὶ αὐτὸς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων | νέος κτίστης . Engelmann 1999: 142 and Dreyer 2015: 141 think that νέος κτίστης was an honorific title conveyed upon Papylos by the city, but this would make Papylos the only one in the list who is actually a member of the πρεσβύτεροι - a rather improbable suggestion. We should rather understand: 'who is himself the new founder of the πρεσβύτεροι ', as does Fröhlich 2013: 64-65. On the members recorded in the list, cf. Engelmann 1999: 142 ('Die Stifter kamen meist aus alteingesessenen Familien, die seit hellenistischer Zeit in der Stadt belegt sind'), and the additions by Rigsby 2007: 134. It is not entirely clear how the πρεσβύτεροι relate to the γεραιοί who honored a gymnasiarch at some point in the first century CE (ed. pr. Dreyer 2015: 140, who also points out the almost identical wording in SEG 58 1339, a decree of the πρεσβύτεροι ).

81  Dreyer & Engelmann 2006.

In a later period, a well-known inscription from Sidyma shows how Roman law could frame the process of founding a pro-Roman organization.  The Sidymeans had decided to create a σύστημα γεροντικόν ,  because the current situation created by the emperor Commodus and his proconsul  was  just  so  brilliant  and  joyful. 82 The γερουσία is  thus  presented in the most obvious way as an integral part of the Roman order. The city of Sidyma sent a prominent citizen, the Lykiarch Tiberius Claudius Telemachus, to the proconsul, who replied that such an intelligent decision deserved praise, not confirmation. 83 This interesting discourse on the relevance or irrelevance of Roman law seems to disguise the fact that the σύστημα γεροντικόν did in fact undergo a ratification procedure like the νέοι of Cyzicus, or the οἶκος ναυκλήρων of Miletus. 84 Whether or not that was a necessary step we can hardly know. For Sidyma, the answer depends on our willingness to read between the lines of the proconsul's rhetoric, and in all cases mentioned, the cities may simply have been  interested  in  establishing  or  maintaining  diplomatic  contacts.  A more fruitful understanding may be reached by focusing, again, on the legal conception of collegia as  an incentive rather than a set of merely prohibitive measures.

In Sidyma, the first members of the γερουσία were named in a list, distinguished by their status as βουλευταί or δημόται - a nice example for the relevance of a basic understanding of ordines even inside elite corporations. 85 At the same time, the very presence of δημόται suggests that this was at least in part an attempt to enhance the number of people who could be counted among the local elite by virtue of their membership in the σύστημα γεροντικόν - an unusual strategy of elite reproduction, presumably motivated by the growing financial pressure that local elites had to face in the late second century. The distribution of βουλευταί to

- 82 TAM II 175 ll. 3-6: ἐπεὶ διὰ τοὺς [ εὐ ] τ̣υχεστάτους καιροὺς τοῦ θειοτάτου Αὐτοκράτορος Καίσαρος |  … περὶ τὰς πόλεις αὔξησιν καὶ ἡ ἡμετέρα | πόλις ἐψηφίσατο σύστημα γερον̣τ̣ικὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον .
- 83  Ll. 10-12: Πομπώ ( νιος ) Βάσσος ἀνθύ ( πατος ) Σιδυμέων | ἄρχουσι βουλῇ δήμῳ χαίρειν· τὰ καλῶς γεινόμενα ἐπαινεῖσθαι μᾶλλον προσ | ήκει ἢ κυροῦσθαι .
- 84  Cf. already Benndorf & Niemann 1884: 73. De Ligt 2001: 353 emphasizes the voluntariness of the procedure, taking the proconsul's words at face value. Does κατὰ τὸν νόμον in l. 6 perhaps point into a different direction?
- 85 TAM II 176 ll. 2-4: οἱ πρώτως καταταγέντες ἰς τὴν γερουσίαν .

δημόται is 51:49. Given that 100 is a plausible number for ratification purposes, 86 this  seems  to  suggest  that  the  Sidymeans  included  as  many δημόται as  was  possible  without  compromising  the  character  of  the group as an elitist institution. We do not know how the βουλευταί were chosen (there were certainly more than 51 in Sidyma), 87 but, if this reconstruction is correct, we see the interests of the elite behind a foundation that might at first sight appear to be a democratic innovation.

A similar process of foundation, perhaps with a stronger involvement of a private person, may have occurred in Phrygian Apameia, but the evidence is difficult to interpret. 88 A more instructive case takes us back to Lycia. The γερουσία of Patara was established at some time in the 120s by a wealthy individual, Gaius Iulius Demosthenes. His personal initiative was duly acknowledged in a later honorary decree for his son issued by βουλή , δῆμος and the recently created γερουσία . 89 As no Gaius Iulius Demosthenes is known from Patara through other inscriptions, his identification  with  the  famous  Gaius  Iulius  Demosthenes  of  Oinoanda,  best known through the long inscription recording his foundation of the Demostheneia, is virtually certain. 90 Demosthenes belonged to the fraction of Lycian elites that not only gained influence locally, but also achieved a career in Roman military service; he was also involved in Roman administration on a regional level, as he became high priest of the emperors in the Lycian κοινόν . He thus participated in a translocal network of

- 86  Pliny's fabri would have consisted of 150 members ( Ep . 10.33). The centonarii of Hispalis had 100 members according to Mommsen's reconstruction of CIL II 1167 ll. 8-10 (this is evidently insecure). Membership of the Augustales corporati in Misenum was likely fixed at 100, cf. d'Arms 2000: 133. The collegium fabrum dolabrariorum in Trier seems to have had 100 members: the 50 names of the first decuria are partially preserved, and there is room for only one other decuria ( CIL XIII  11313;  cf.  Waltzing 1909). The 93 centonarii of Solva may also have been 100 at the time of the official registration of the group (which is firmly established through the very topic discussed in Septimius Severus' rescript AE 1983: 731).
- 87  Habermann 2014: 236 n. 46 thinks that the 51 were distinguished by age; in view of the other evidence discussed here, the relevance of one's actual age for entering a gerousia needs to be questioned.
- 88 IGR
- IV 783; cf. Giannakopoulos 2008: 39-43.
- 89  Engelmann 2012: 191-92 no. 11 ll. 7-8: καὶ συστησαμένου τὴν γερουσίαν .
- 90  Demostheneia: Wörrle 1988. Identification: Lepke, Schuler &Zimmermann 2015: 365 ('An der Identität … ist kaum zu zweifeln').

elites, and his offspring was later married to elite households in several Lycian  cities,  of  course  including  Patara. 91 We  know  that  the  Lycian ἀρχιερεῖς specifically cared for gymnasia of their home cities, and that the γυμνασιαρχία was one of the liturgies that were occasionally taken over  by  these  super-elites. 92 The  foundation  of  a γερουσία in  Patara seems  to  have  been  one  small  part  of  the  translocal  networking  that someone like Demosthenes from Oinoanda had to engage in. He became the first gymnasiarch 'of all age classes' at Patara, a title regularly attested in later inscriptions. The office could also be held by women; one of the attested office-holders is in fact Julia Verania, most likely Demosthenes' daughter. 93

The γερουσία of Patara appears as an official civic institution in the formula introducing civic decrees, which regularly mentions ἡ βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος καὶ ἡ γερουσία . But not only do we now know that it was founded by an individual (unlike βουλή and δῆμος );  we  can also observe slight differences. Claudia Anassa, wife of the great benefactor Tiberius Claudius  Eudemos  and  herself  benefactor  with  a  special  interest  in  the γυμνασιαρχία , was honored for her financial engagement with a statue. The decree was issued by βουλή , δῆμος and γερουσία , but the approval for setting up a statue could be given only by βουλή and δῆμος . 94 For all the γερουσία 's official appearance and political influence, which inevitably followed from its character as an elite club, a distinction was still drawn when it came to awarding the privilege of marking local  civic space.

The political significance of γερουσίαι has been controversially discussed. It is  true  that  specific  competences cannot be identified, 95 but this may lie in the very nature of an institution that may best be compared with the resident Romans ( κατοικοῦντες Ῥωμαῖοι etc.).  In  both cases,  a  circle  of  influential  Romanized  (or  simply  Roman)  people  assumed a corporate identity, often based on private initiative. Their combined influence and network effects, which could be used to the good of the city, made it desirable for βουλή and δῆμος to include these newly formed groups in political decisions, although they did not have a traditional role to play in them. The fact that both resident Romans and the γερουσίαι appear as partners of βουλή and δῆμος in civic decrees therefore  should  not  distract  from  the  efforts  of  private  persons  to  create these corporations, or from the character of these groups as official embodiments of essentially private networks formed by influential persons. In several cities especially in the hinterland, Romans and γερουσίαι are the spearheads of Romanization; professional associations then follow with a delay of about fifty years. 96 Nor was that process necessarily limited to the urbanized areas. Village γερουσίαι that appear to have been founded as private clubs are known from a number of inscriptions. 97

91  Cf. Wörrle 1988: 55-65.

92  Cf. Bönisch & Lepke 2013: 499-500.

93  See the inscription published by Engelmann 2017.

94  Lepke, Schuler & Zimmermann 2015: 357-61 no. 9 ii ll. 14-15 ( SEG 65 1486): τὴν δὲ τοῦ ἀνδριάντος ἀνάστασιν ἐκύ | ρωσεν ἥ τε βουλὴ καὶ ὁ δῆμος .

95  Cf. Quaß 1993: 418-20, who argues against overestimating the γερουσίαι 's political relevance. The terminology chosen is reminiscent of the debate on νέοι : '[Es] darf als sicher gelten, daß die kaiserzeitlichen Gerusien keine politischen, sondern soziale Institutionen waren' (419). Contrast Zimmermann 2007: 1527, who emphasizes that due to their elitist character, γερουσίαι were political rather than gymnasial institutions.

The  proliferation  of  decrees  jointly  issued  by βουλή , δῆμος and γερουσία may also overshadow possible conflicts between the γερουσία and the civic government. The γερουσία of Ephesos is a well-known, but debated case. A series of letters from Roman emperors and the proconsul of  Asia,  ranging  from  approximately  29  BC  to  32  CE,  shows  how  the γερουσία had to negotiate its privileges with the Roman administrators in  charge. 98 The last letters (by the proconsul Publius Petronius) were sent in three successive years, which has been taken to imply a necessity to seek annual renewal of the privileges. But the more likely interpretation is that the γερουσία needed reassurance and clarification of the privileges in the light of some unknown conflict. 99 The other party in that conflict must have been the city itself. The clarification (or addition) in one of the letters that the γερουσία was allowed to prosecute its debtors according to its own laws points to one of the sources of conflict. 100 We do not know for sure how the γερουσία had originally received its privileges. Registration as an official collegium is not the only possible explanation, but it is a likely one, and perhaps supported by the frequent occurrence of the term σύστημα both here and in other early examples of interaction between Roman authorities and newly formed γερουσίαι . 101 The main point is that Rome actively supported the creation and maintenance of an elitist corporation that could be distinguished from the civic governing bodies - and was prepared to maintain that distinction even where it led to conflicts.

96  Cf. Eckhardt 2016: 149-52.

97  Cf. Schuler 1998: 227-29. A nice illustration is an inscription of late Hellenistic or 63 honor a hero. Neither

early imperial date from Attea in Mysia, recently discussed by Jones 2014 ( SEG 1017): the κάτοικοι Ῥωμαῖοί τε καὶ Ἕλληνες and the γερουσία a δῆμος nor a βουλή are involved in this village decree, but the trend towards developing corporations that fit into the Roman order is already visible.

98 SEG 43 757-72.

99  As is convincingly argued by Lewis 2000.

Admittedly,  the  evidence  adduced  in  this  section  has  rather  often been taken from regions which are not normally at the core of debates on the Romanization of institutions. However, special cases are needed to get a clearer view on the realities often hidden behind a consensual and official  rhetoric.  We  might  add  that  this  is  not  the  only  example where Phrygia and Lycia provide early and unambiguous evidence for the social processes which are generally believed to characterize Roman Asia Minor - like the transformation of civic βουλαί into aristocratic bodies, so clearly reflected in the praise for Quintus Veranius in the Stadiasmus Patarensis and other documents from Lycia, or the role resident Romans  could  play  in  the  early  first  century  CE,  remarkably  visible  in Phrygian Apameia. 102 Sometimes, people at the periphery may be more excited than others about change, and record it in forms that are easier to decipher for us.

- 100 SEG 43  765  (29/30  CE)  ll.17-18: πρός τε τοὺς ὀφείλοντας ὑμεῖν | καὶ πράξεις γείνεσθαι κατὰ τοὺς ὑμετέρους νόμους .
- 101 Cf. the γερουσία of Kos in a letter of Claudius ( IG XII 4 1 254, 47/48 CE), or in Greece the old men of Argos and Agrippa ( RDGE 63). Σύστημα is unattested as a designation for associations before the Roman period (but see already Pol. 21.13.11 on the Salii). In terms of both etymology and meaning, it is the closest match for collegium one could imagine. Cf. the passage from Vitruvius quoted above, n. 69.
- 102 Lycia: SEG 51 1832 A ll. 25-30 ( stadiasmus ); SEG 51 1824bis: The first βουλευταί of Gagai according to the new reading by Schuler & Zimmermann 2012: 616, cf. ibid ., 609-18 for the publication of a new bouleutic list of Patara and discussion of the transformation of civic βουλαί . Romans in Apameia: Terpstra 2013: 203-7.

## 4. The Blessed

It is a truism that all group life in antiquity had a religious dimension; to some extent, all associations were cult associations. 103 There are nevertheless notable differences in the way this aspect is stressed in their designations and in the records of their activities. Roman Asia Minor offers ample testimony for the spread of associations named after professions - a phenomenon virtually unattested in the region before the imperial era. At the beginning of this article, it was suggested that the desire to become part of a Romanized social order could lead to the formation of corporate organizations that could claim a place in that order, at the expense of other forms that had been established at an earlier period. Professionalization is one plausible test case. In Ionian cities like Ephesos and Smyrna, the evidence for associations with a deity in their name crumbles against the large number of professional associations. In these cities, Romanization apparently led to changes in the associational culture, or at least in the publicly visible part of that culture. The nature of these changes does not seem coincidental given the fact that the Roman conception of legitimate collegia left little to no room for private religious activities as the stated purpose of an association. 104

The one phenomenon that seemingly militates against this conclusion is the remarkable spread, in the second and third centuries CE, of μύσται throughout Ionia and the rest of Asia Minor. It surely demands a better  explanation  than  the  one  offered  by  Poland,  who  argued  that these μύσται adhered to indigenous Anatolian traditions thinly veiled in

- 103 Frequently noted in the early days of scholarship: e.g. Wilamowitz-Moellendorf 1881: 274; Ziebarth 1896: 12-13; Poland 1909: 5-6.
- 104 Among the dossier of inscriptions recording official recognition procedures, religion figures prominently in the case of a) the symphoniaci who performed during sacra publica at Rome ( CIL VI 4416); b) the dendrophori , who were civic personnel in the cult of Mater Magna ( CIL VI 29691; X 3699, 3700); c) the Augustales , who were official institutions for emperor worship ( CIL V 4428; AE 2001, 854), d) the cultores Dianae et Antinoi of Lanuvium ( CIL XIV 2112), who do not seem to fit the pattern on first sight, but seem to have received legal recognition only after they added Antinoos to their name and should hence be regarded as a loyalty cult (as argued by Bendlin 2011).

a Greek cloak. 105 The following remarks are an attempt to show that for many groups of μύσται , the νέοι and γερουσίαι of Roman Asia Minor provide a more plausible analogy than private cult associations. 106 They, too, spread widely because of their capacity to express elitism, and can therefore be tied to the transformation of Greek cities into building blocks of the Roman empire. It is clear that 'initiates' do not, on first and perhaps also on second sight, operate on the same institutional level as the ageclasses. Their very designation not only points to a different scope of action, but also to elective social formation - one does not choose to be 'young' or 'old', but initiation is usually a choice. These differences of representation (not necessarily in content) make this case study all the more pertinent in our context. Not only does it help to integrate religion - the most prominent associational context in the Hellenistic period into our picture of transformations under Rome. It may also serve to confirm the impression that the process in view here was a two-way street: civic institutions could assume more private characteristics over time (like the young men), but they were met halfway by others that assumed a more civic character than they used to have (like the elders).

Mysteries  were  of  course  not  a  Roman  innovation,  but  an  age-old Greek form of worship. This very fact makes it all the more interesting that the many inscriptions mentioning μύσται in Asia Minor are almost entirely of Roman date. 107 This distribution fits a general trend of the period: intellectuals of the imperial era reinterpreted cultic and philosophical traditions, contributing to what has been labelled the 'mysterization' of religion. 108 The reasons for this new taste are of course difficult to pin down, but what we can say is that mysteries and Roman imperial ideology were a rather fitting match. Emperors publicly underwent initiation in Eleusis and supported new mystery cults and 'mystical contests'. 109

105 Poland 1909: 37.

106 A fuller discussion of μύσται and μυστήρια , also extending to the Hellenistic roots, is provided by Eckhardt & Lepke 2018.

107 Justly noted by Poland 1909: 38; inexplicably denied by Sommer 2006: 182.

108 The term ('Mysterisierung') is taken from Auffarth 2013: 433; cf. now also section 2 in Belayche, Massa & Hoffmann 2021.

109 New mystery cults: IG XII 2 205 (Mytilene 14-37 CE); ἀγῶνες μυστικοί : I. Ancyra 141; I. Side 130.

Especially in Asia Minor, the cult of the emperor could be fused with mystery concepts, which led to a neologism like σεβαστοφάντης . 110 This discursive  background  needs  to  be  kept  in  mind  in  discussing  groups  of μύσται . Their very name made them a rather obvious candidate for integration into an order based on loyalty and privileges.

The most famous group from Smyrna is the σύνοδος of τεχνῖται and μύσται of Dionysos Breiseus πρὸ πόλεως . It is attested in several inscriptions from the reign of Titus onwards; the latest piece of evidence is a bronze seal showing either Philippus Arabs or (less likely) Gallienus with their imperial households. 111 The μύσται and τεχνῖται had a very prominent position in Smyrna. 112 They were in regular contact with emperors and Roman governors, and took care to document these contacts in inscriptions which seem to have functioned as a kind of archival records. The association even specifically asked for copies of documents to be sent from Rome, thus ensuring both authenticity of the documents and another  occasion  for  diplomatic  contact. 113 The μύσται celebrated  the birthdays of the emperors, but also the Panathenaia and 'the festivals decreed by the city'. 114 Apart from the lists of members, not a single one of the eleven documents pertaining to this association lacks a reference to Rome or to people who represented the Roman order. The information provided by the lists is also revealing. New members paid an entrance fee and were listed as 'those who have paid the fee'; 115 also in the lists is the designation πατρομύσται , which seems to suggest that those whose fathers had already been μύσται paid less - a structure well-known from the groups discussed above. 116

The μύσται and τεχνῖται of  Dionysos Breiseus must have played an important and institutionally defined part in local religion and, through

- 110 Cf. Pleket 1965; Bremmer 2016.
- 111 Inscriptions: I. Smyrna 598-601, 622, 639, 652, 706, 731-32. For the seal, see I. Smyrna 729 and Klose 1983.
- 112 Cf. Hirschmann 2006.
- 113 I. Smyrna 598, 731; cf. Petzl 1974: 81-82.
- 114 I. Smyrna 598  ll.  24-25:  [ Π ] αναθηναίοις καὶ ταῖς ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἐψη | φισμέναις δημοτελέσιν [ ἑορταῖς ]; cf. Petzl 1974: 83-85.
- 115 I. Smyrna 706 l. 6; 731 ll. 14-15 ( οἱ πεπληρωκότες τὰ ἰσηλύσια ).
- 116 I. Smyrna 731 ll. 17-18; 732 l. 1. Cf. Tod 1915: 2: 'A hereditary member of the guild, one whose father is, or has been, a member'.

their diplomatic contacts with Rome, in local politics. In that sense, they can hardly be regarded as a private association, although participation was certainly voluntary. Similar conclusions can perhaps be reached for another group from Smyrna, the σύνοδος τῶν μυστῶν τῆς μεγάλης θεᾶς πρὸ πόλεως θεσμοφόρου Δήμητρος . 117 The association, mentioned with its full name in a rather uninformative inscription, is most likely identical with the ' σύνοδος of μύσται of the goddess', which joined βουλή and δῆμος in honoring female θεολόγοι . 118 The latter are praised for having provided everything pertaining to general piety towards the goddess and the festival of the μύσται . In all probability, the whole context is a civic festival. 119 So again, a group of μύσται with the attribute πρὸ πόλεως cooperates with the city in the organization of civic religion. At Ephesos, οἱ πρὸ πόλεως Δημητριασταί καὶ Διονύσου Φλέω μυσταί and  the πρὸ πόλεως μύσται of Dionysos should be regarded as similar institutions. 120

- 117 I. Smyrna 655.
- 118 I. Smyrna 653, 654.
- 119 Considered also by Suys 2005: 206-7. The θεολόγοι were probably serving the city, not the association; cf. Harland 2014: 310 for parallels from Ephesos; contrast Sommer 2006: 217; Schipporeit 2013: 441-42 ('In Sitzungen der smyrnäischen Synodos referierten 'Theologen' rituelle Texte und Mitglieder führten rituelle Tänze auf'). In my view, the σύνοδος of the μύσται of the goddess is identical with the σύνοδος of μύσται of  Demeter,  and  not  with  the Κόρης μύσται σηκοῦ καὶ ἐνβαταί οἱ ἐν Σμύρνῃ ( I. Smyrna 726). Ziebarth 1900: 511 and Keil 1908: 553-54, n. 3 instead connect the θεολόγοι -inscriptions with the σύνοδος of Kore; Poland 1909: 38 rejects both identifications; Schipporeit 2013: 198-99 seems to tend towards the connection with Demeter. I regard it as more likely that the goddess could drop out of the name (because it was self-evident in context) than that a qualification like ἐνβαταί would be left out.
- 120 I. Ephesos 1595 ( οἱ πρὸ πόλεως Δημητριασταί καὶ Διονύσου Φλέω μυσταί ), 4337 ( οἱ πρὸ πόλεως Δημητριασταί ), 275, 1268, 1595, 1600-2 ( οἱ πρὸ πόλεως μύσται ). Again, the identification of the groups is difficult, especially because they seem to have merged at some stage. The Δημητριασταί seem to be the earliest group, attested already in the time of Tiberius; I. Ephesos 1595 shows that it was combined with the μύσται of Dionysos Phleus. That group is perhaps the one designated in earlier documents as πρὸ πόλεως μύσται , founded in the time of Trajan or Hadrian by Marcus Antinius  Drusus  ( I. Ephesos 1601;  cf. I. Ephesos 275,  where  he  is ἐπιμελητὴς τῶν μυστηρίων ). I. Ephesos 1270 seems to show that the cults of Demeter and Dionysos Phleus were closely connected already in the late first or early second century CE;

A hint to the public function of these groups lies in the attribute πρὸ πόλεως . Scholarship on μύσται πρὸ πόλεως is unanimous in taking the designation to refer to associations that met or resided 'before (i.e. outside) the city'. For the Ephesian groups, this has been connected with ritual processions known from other Dionysiac contexts. 121 This interpretation dissociates the groups from their respective cities and emphasizes their private character. But, as is well-known, πρὸ πόλεως could have two meanings. 122 The topographical one is most clearly phrased by Pollux: τὰ πρὸ πόλεως means τὰ ἔξω πόλεως . 123 Wherever a sanctuary is mentioned as being πρὸ πόλεως without any further indication, there is a likelihood that it was located 'before the city', meaning outside the city walls. But the many priests πρὸ πόλεως are much better explained if we take them as 'official' priests, acting 'on behalf of' the city. 124 As regards the μύσται , at Smyrna the designation πρὸ πόλεως is at times tied to the deity, which would leave some room for the argument that the cult took place before the city. But the situation is more complex: in the inscriptions from the second century, the attribute is grammatically tied to the god,  while  in  the  seal  from  the  third  century,  the μύσται themselves carry the attribute πρὸ πόλεως . 125 In Ephesos, πρὸ πόλεως always qualifies  the μύσται . Μύσται are  people,  not  buildings;  the  most  plausible analogy are priests πρὸ πόλεως , not sanctuaries ἔξω πόλεως . For Ephesos,  this  interpretation  is  further  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the ἱερονεῖκαι , who are treated like a priesthood in several inscriptions, also receive the attribute πρὸ πόλεως , and that the only building that has ever been identified as a meeting place of the Dionysiac μύσται is the house of Caius Furius Aptus, which is clearly not located 'before the city'. 126 So until evidence to the contrary is adduced, μύσται πρὸ πόλεως have to be

the merging of their respective groups of μύσται πρὸ πόλεως may thus have appeared as a logical step.

- 121
- 122
- E.g. Merkelbach 1979: 151.
- Cf. the classic discussion by Robert & Robert 1983: 171-76.
- 123 Pollux 9.14; cf. Hasluck 1912/13: 92.
- 124 Cf. Schuler 2010: 74-75.
- 125 Contrast I. Smyrna 622  ( οἱ τοῦ μεγάλου πρὸ πόλεως Βρεισέως Διονύσου μύσται ) with I. Smyrna 729 ( μύσται πρὸ πόλεως Βρεισεῖς ).
- 126 For ἱερονεῖκαι πρὸ πόλεως ,  see I. Ephesos 27F ll. 456-57; cf .  I. Ephesos 650 ll. 12-14 (honors for an ἀγωνοθέτης τῶν πρὸ πόλεως ἱερέων καὶ ἱερονείκων ). On the house

interpreted as 'initiates acting on behalf of the city', and even where πρὸ πρόλεως does qualify the god - as in a new inscription from Kyme where μύσται of Dionysos Kathegemon make a dedication to a Roman procurator - a case would have to be made for his sanctuary being located outside the city. 127

This means that at least in a number of cases, the private character of μύσται -groups  needs  to  be  heavily  qualified.  Calling  them  a  kind  of priestly college might go too far, 128 but at the very least, they seem to belong into the same ambiguous category as νέοι and γερουσίαι . 129 The very  term μύσται suggests  exclusivity,  a  special  category  of  religious practitioners. Μύσται could thus be wealthy people who joined a club with an elitist name and henceforth had their place in civic religion. 130 They could demonstrate their superiority in religious matters, but at the same time functioned as a network and an additional communication channel to Roman governors and even emperors. Corporations of μύσται (or people celebrating mysteries, such as the ὑμνῳδοί of Pergamon) contributed to elite reproduction in providing a context for the performative display of symbolic capital, while also fulfilling all the other functions discussed above.

We should then not be surprised to find μύσται regularly and publicly emphasizing their relations with the emperors and their participation in the imperial  cult. In  Ephesos, οἱ τοῦ προπάτορος θεοῦ Διονύσου Κορησείτου σακηφόροι μύσται φιλοσέβαστοι make this clear enough in

of Caius Furius Aptus (Unit 6 in the Hanghaus 2) as meeting place of the μύσται , cf. Schäfer 2007: 163-66.

- 127 La Marca 2015 published a photo and a somewhat ambiguous translation (' mystai di [Dioniso] Kathegemon e pro poleos '). The publication of the text by Bru & Laflı 2021: 344-47 no. 5 has a better photo that clearly establishes the reading [ Διονύσ ] ο̣υ Καθηγεμόνος | [ μεγάλου θε ] οῦ πρὸ πόλεως | [ ο ] ἱ μύσται ; the iota before μύσται is certain.
- 128 The possibility is considered already by Poland 1909: 40-41.
- 129 Cf. already Poland 1909: 532 ('halboffiziell[e] munizipal[e] Vereinigungen').
- 130 Cf. Belayche 2013 : 33-34: 'Les cités se peuplent de ces confréries d'agents cultuels qui assument la fréquence et la sophistication nouvelle des démonstrations et constituent autant de 'vornehme exklusive Klub[s]' de (futurs) notables'. The quotation is from Keil.

their very name. 131 Another example is the letter of one Apollonios to Lucius Mestrius Florus, which begins with the assurance that 'mysteries and  sacrifices  are  celebrated  every  year  in  Ephesos  for  Demeter  Karpophoros and Thesmophoros and the Divi Augusti by μύσται with great purity and according to custom'. 132 The text goes on to relate a financial conflict with the archon of the city; Apollonios in fact seeks Roman support for his group's demands. There are three similar documents from Roman Asia Minor, two from Sardeis and one from Miletus. 133 In  each case, Rome is urged to intervene because civic magistrates have not fulfilled their financial obligations towards the cult. In Ephesos and in the documents from Sardeis, the terms μύσται and μυστήρια are explicitly mentioned, in Miletus, it is the priest of the Kabeiroi who writes the letter. All four cases have been argued to show private associations in conflict with the cities. 134 But the situation seems not dissimilar to the conflicts surrounding the γερουσία of Ephesos, so here again, a better explanation might point to the existence of corporate bodies of Rome-friendly elites, situated on the boundary between civic and private organization, with their own communication channels that could (and normally were) used for the good of the city, but could also lead to conflicts.

There are other cities in Asia Minor where all epigraphic references to μύσται and mysteries have to be understood in the context of elite representation, the most obvious case being Stratonikeia in Caria. 135 In some cases where we do not have enough information, there are at least indications that μύσται operated under similar circumstances, as in the case of Lydian Philadelphia. 136 This is not to say that all μύσται -groups in Asia Minor can be explained along these lines. However, we should be aware of the possibility that a number of groups where we have only the name either belong to the category of semi-private institutions fostering elite reproduction or were influenced by this phenomenon so clearly visible in the larger cities. 137

131 I. Ephesos 293.

132 I. Ephesos 213 (88/89 CE).

133 SEG 49 1676 (Sardeis, 188/189 CE); 59 1396 (Sardeis, 221 CE); Milet VI 1 125-26 + 214 (80-82 CE).

134 Petzl 2009.

135

Cf. Belayche 2013: 31-32.

136 A group called οἱ περὶ τὸν Καθηγεμόνα Διόνυσον μύσται is responsible for setting up the honorific decree for the son of a former ἀρχιερεύς and λογίστης of  the βουλή ;  the son himself is qualified only as a μύστης ἐκ τῆς διατάξεως ( ΤΑΜ V 3 1462; second century CE). The honors were apparently conveyed by βουλή and δ͂ῆμος . Διάταξις hardly refers to the statutes of the association ( TAM ad loc.), but rather to a civic decision; perhaps the famous father had taken care to have his son

## 5. Conclusion

For the reproduction of elite status, simply being born into an elite family is insufficient. Institutions are needed where habitual dispositions can be acquired, and where visible distinctions can be made between the noble few and the common people. I have argued here a) that Roman rule had an interest in such institutions, because it relied on the reproduction of Rome-friendly circles of some local standing, and b) that in Roman Asia  Minor,  organizations  uniting  the  young,  the  old  and  those  who claimed to be blessed by initiation were such institutions. None of these types of organization can be said to have been exclusively reserved for the elites, but even where the participation of lower social ranks is attested, this only enhanced these groups' potential for the reproduction and representation of elite status, as was perhaps most clearly visible in the curious case of the Akmoneian γερουσία . In each case, we have also seen legal proceedings that connected the organizations with the representatives  of  the  Roman  imperial  order  -  the  official  recognition  of groups of the νέοι of Kyzikos or the γερουσία of Sidyma, the privileges for the γερουσία of Ephesos, the support for the μύσται of Ephesos and Sardeis in their conflicts with the respective cities.

Going back to the model discussed at the beginning of this article, νέοι , γερουσιασταί and μύσται all had their strategies of 'embedding the

inscribed into a local body of corporate elite reproduction against common custom (e.g. regarding minimum age?) - the example of Karpos the freedman from Akmoneia comes to mind. The ἱεροφάντης of Dionysos Kathegemon was honored by βουλή and δῆμος in an inscription from the third century CE; the same person had also  held  a  couple  of  (other)  civic  offices  ( TAM V  3  1497).  The  restoration  of μυστήρια in the well-known inscription regulating the household cult of Dionysius ( TAM V 3 1539) is too insecure to be taken into consideration.

- 137 Cf. for an argument on μύσται in Phrygian villages Eckhardt 2016: 162-63.

local in the imperial'. 138 For all we know, they - or their cities - did not act under direct pressure but chose to interact with the Roman order and the social and legal categories that came with it. Their obvious success made them all the more relevant as examples of integration, then to be imitated by the many professional associations in their attempts to gain status and recognition. 139

For scholars interested in the history of 'private' associations, this approach creates significant problems of categorization. The term private and its  potential  antonyms  are,  of  course,  debatable  in  themselves.  A group  that  maintains  contacts  with  the  state  and  acts  in  the  public sphere may still be regarded as private in the sense that it does not operate  under direct state control. We have also seen that the status of γερουσίαι as essentially civic institutions may rather often result from an accumulation of influence by what was originally a private network. One  solution,  occasionally  hinted  at  above,  would  be  to  classify  the groups discussed here as 'semi-public collegia ',  a  category proposed by Luuk de Ligt based on his interpretation of Roman legal regulations. 140 However, the logic of the process described here would force us to include not only νέοι , γερουσίαι or Augustales in this group (the examples chosen by de Ligt), but also μύσται , professional associations (explicitly excluded ibid .),  hymn singers and village corporations. At least for Roman Asia Minor, this means that the majority of associations could be classified as neither private nor state controlled.

We may deduce from this that 'private associations' were a useless category  from  the  outset,  but  that  assumption,  although  perhaps  endorsed by some recent treatments, 141 would lead us to miss what may in fact be the whole point of Romanized (or 'imperial') corporate identities. The  boundary  between  private  and  state-controlled  organization  was blurred to an extent that we do not find in the Hellenistic period. Our problems  in  categorizing  associations  in  Roman  Asia  Minor  with  the tools  applicable  to  earlier  epochs  are  indications  of  an  actual  change. With the transformation of cities into Rome-oriented oligarchies, the nature of private organizations changed as well, in a process that was facilitated, but not in detail supervised by the Roman administration and its legal framework.

138 Ando 2010: 45.

139 On which see van Nijf 1997.

140 De Ligt 2001.

141 E.g. Last & Harland 2020: 12 reject the category of 'private associations' because 'the commonly employed categories of 'private' (or related concepts of 'individualistic' or 'personal religion') vs 'public' have often been misleading in the study of social life in the ancient Mediterranean'. The argument appears to be that calling an association 'private' implies that it does not act in 'public', a notion that would indeed sit oddly with the fact that many of the groups in question are known from public inscriptions. But while this betrays the authors' own use of terminology, as historians they cannot be unaware of the fact that 'public' is by no means the only

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