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Associations in the Greco-Roman World (Biblical Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. Life in the cities and towns of the Hellenistic and Roman periods was organized around two poles: the polis or town, and the family, each with its distinctive structure, organization, membership, and cultic practices. Between these two poles there existed a large number of more or less permanent private associations, guilds, and clubs. Some were extensions or expansions of the family; others were organized around a common cult or diasporic identity; others were formed around a common occupation (silverworkers, rag dealers, woodsmen, etc.), and still others were neighborhood associations consisting of the trades that congregated in a particular area of the town. Almost all associations engaged in cultic activities; most held monthly (or more frequent) banquets and meetings; many took an active role in the funerals of members; and many had formal rules governing admission, dues, and the behavior of members. Early Christ-groups were certainly regarded by external observers as varieties of associations, and Judean synagogai (one of the common terms for associations) are easily seen as one form of diasporic association, formed around a common ethnic identity and a common cult. The study of ancient associations is important for understanding the structure, organization, and functions of early Christ-groups and Judean synagogues.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6.  
  7. Several of these works, including Ascough 2002, Kloppenborg 1996, and Kloppenborg 2006, focus on articulating a typology of private associations. Foucart 1873, though now somewhat dated, is still an outstanding discussion of private associations, based on what was known in the 19th century. Fisher 1988a and Fisher 1988b focus on the functions of associations in providing opportunities for sociability; Perry 2011 concentrates on the political role of Roman associations. MacMullen 1974 provides a vivid picture of how associations fit into the life of a Roman town or city.
  8.  
  9. Ascough, Richard S. “Greco-Roman Philosophic, Religious, and Voluntary Associations.” In Community Formation in the Early Church and the Church Today. Edited by Richard N. Longenecker, 3–24. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002.
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  11. A survey of philosophical associations, public mysteries, and private associations, including cult groups and occupational guilds, with a discussion of membership, leadership structures, finances, and honorific activities.
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  13. Fisher, Nicholas R. E. “Greek Associations, Symposia, and Clubs.” In Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Vol. 2. Edited by Michael Grant and Rachel Kitzinger, 1167–1197. New York: Scribner’s, 1988a.
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  15. “Cult and Social Associations” (pp. 1185–1189) provides a brief account of private associations in Classical Athens, and “Benefactions, Social Life and Associations” (pp. 1191–1195) offers a general account of associations in the Hellenistic period.
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  17. Fisher, Nicholas R. E. “Roman Associations, Dinner Parties, and Clubs.” In Civilization of the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome. Vol. 2. Edited by Michael Grant and Rachel Kitzinger, 1199–1225. New York: Scribner’s, 1988b.
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  19. A companion piece to the previous entry, this essay explores the complex relation between associations and the state: on the one hand, occupational associations were encouraged and were patronized, but, on the other, associations were sometimes implicated in political unrest and were often suspected of subversive or antisocial activities.
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  21. Foucart, Paul. Des associations religieuses chez les Grecs: Thiases, éranes, orgéons, avec le texte des inscriptions rélatives à ces associations. Paris: Klincksieck, 1873.
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  23. A classic work, with chapters on the membership profiles; laws and decrees; cultic and civil functions; internal regulation; finances; and legal standing, and with a brief history of associations from the 4th century BCE to the imperial period. Foucart prints the Greek text of sixty-eight Greek association inscriptions.
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  25. Kloppenborg, John S. “Collegia and Thiasoi: Issues in Function, Taxonomy and Membership.” In Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World. Edited by John S. Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson, 16–30. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
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  27. Rather than dividing private associations into “funerary associations,” “religious associations,” and “professional associations,” it is preferable to base a (partly overlapping) taxonomy on membership profiles: family-based associations, occupational guilds, neighborhood associations, and cult associations. “Funerary collegia” is a misleading category and was a legal fiction established only after Hadrian.
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  29. Kloppenborg, John S. “Associations in the Ancient World.” In The Historical Jesus in Context. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine, Dale C. Allison, and John Dominic Crossan, 323–338. Princeton Readings in Religions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.
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  31. The article begins with a three-part typology of associations (family-based groups, cultic groups; ethnic, neighborhood groups; and occupational guilds), each with cultic aspects. A discussion of the similarities between private associations and Christ-groups, followed by an English translation of ten association inscriptions.
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  33. MacMullen, Ramsay. Roman Social Relations, 50 B.C. to A.D. 284. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1974.
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  35. “Urban” (pp. 57–87) discusses the typical Roman cityscape, in which occupational and cultic associations play important roles in civic and social life (e.g., voting, festivals, and burial).
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  37. Perry, Jonathan S. “Organized Societies: Collegia.” In The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World. Edited by Michael Peachin, 499–515. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
  38. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195188004.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  39. After a survey of scholarly approaches to Roman associations, Perry emphasizes that collegia sometimes functioned as a tool wielded by the elite to organize the urban population and to create political loyalties. They became the targets for suppression when they engaged in overtly disruptive actions.
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  41. Dictionary Entries
  42.  
  43. The brief entries Danker 1992, Stevenson and Lintott 2016, Tod and Hornblower 2016, and Herz 2003 all provide succinct overviews of associations. Kloppenborg 2009 is somewhat more detailed, with numerous examples of individual associations mentioned. Kornemann 1900 is a book-length article focusing only on Roman (not Greek or Asian) associations. Herrmann, et al. 1978 provides a detailed summary of Greek, Roman, Judean, and Christian associations and is thus the best-detailed treatment of the subject. Waltzing 1914 focuses only on Christian associations and their possible relation with so-called collegia funeriticia (funerary associations).
  44.  
  45. Danker, Frederick W. “Associations, Clubs, Thiasoi.” In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 1. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 501–503. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
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  47. A succinct treatment of Greek and Roman associations, with a few illustrations from inscriptions.
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  49. Herrmann, Peter, Jan Hendrik Waszink, Carsten Colpe, and Bernhard Kötting. “Genossenschaft.” In Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der antiken Welt. Vol. 10, Genesis–Gigant. Edited by Theodor Klauser, 83–155. Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1978.
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  51. This article treats Greek (pp. 83–99), Roman (pp. 99–117), Jewish (pp. 117–142), and Christian (pp. 142–152) associations and considers the origins of associations in 5th- and 4th-century Greece, the proliferation of associations connected with non-Athenian deities, the social function of Greek associations, and occupational associations in Rome and their relation to the state. It raises the question whether the Christ-groups should be treated as associations.
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  53. Herz, Peter. “Associations.” In Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World: Antiquity. Vol. 2, Ark–Cas. Edited by Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider, Christine F. Salazar, and David E. Orton, 179–183. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2003.
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  55. A brief, clear introduction to associations with a short representative bibliography.
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  57. Kloppenborg, John S. “Associations, Voluntary.” In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Vol. 2, Anim–Atheism. Edited by Dale C. Allison and Hans-Josef Klauck, 1062–1069. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009.
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  59. Kloppenborg discusses the variety of Greek and Roman associations, the principal benefits they accorded their members (a sense of belonging, fellowship and conviviality, a guarantee of burial), varieties of membership profiles, the size of associations, and similarities between cult associations and Christ-groups.
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  61. Kornemann, Ernst. “Collegium.” In Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Vol. 4. Part 1. Edited by August Friedrich von Pauly, Georg Wissowa, Wilhelm Kroll, K. Witte, Karl Mittelhaus, and Konrat Ziegler, 380–480. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1900.
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  63. Focused on Roman collegia, this monograph-length article treats Roman priestly “colleges,” private (mainly cultic) associations, occupational guilds, associations of merchants, veterans’ clubs, and clubs of civil servants. A long section deals with the efforts of the senate and emperor to control associations. The article also treats organization and leadership structures, finances, benefits of membership, entrance requirements, dues, and buildings.
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  65. Stevenson, George H., and Andrew Lintott. “Clubs, Roman.” In Oxford Classical Dictionary. Digital edition. Edited by S. Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press.
  66. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1695Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  67. A brief account of Roman associations (collegia, sodales, cultores), suggesting that while most clubs were involved in the burial of members, the main function was social. Originally published in 1996, Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.
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  69. Tod, Marcus N., and Simon Hornblower. “Clubs, Greek.” In Oxford Classical Dictionary. Digital edition. Edited by S. Goldberg. New York: Oxford University Press.
  70. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1694Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  71. An account of the history of Greek associations with a brief discussion of religious, mercantile, and craft associations. Originally published in 1996, Hornblower, Simon, and Anthony Spawforth, eds., The Oxford Classical Dictionary.
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  73. Waltzing, Jean Pierre. “Collegia.” In Dictionnaire d’archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie. Vol. 3. Part 2. Edited by Fernand Cabrol, 2107–2140. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1914.
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  75. The article focuses on the suggestion that Christians might have formed funerary associations because these were (supposedly) legal under Roman law. Waltzing rejects this: “there had never been Christian associations aside from the churches themselves” (p. 2107).
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  77. Major Studies
  78.  
  79. Waltzing 1895–1900 and Poland 1909 are by far the most comprehensive treatments of (respectively) Roman and Greek associations. Both are dated but still very useful. Jones 1999 is an important study of the relation between Athenian democracy and the citizen and noncitizen groups that sprung up in the 4th century BCE and later, while Arnaoutoglou 2003 focuses on religious associations in Attica. Van Nijf 1997 is still the best study of occupational associations and their place in the cities of Asia Minor, while Harland 2003, also concentrating on Asia Minor, makes key advances in the study of Judean associations and Christ-groups in the context of occupational and cult associations and their involvement in the imperial cult. Liebenam 1890 and Waltzing 1895–1900 are the major treatments of occupational associations in Italy. De Robertis 1973, which gathers the work of De Robertis’s works from Fascist Italy in the 1930s, differentiates Roman collegia from the political “revival” of collectivism by the Fascists.
  80.  
  81. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. Thusias Heneka kai Sunousias: Private Religious Associations in Hellenistic Athens. Athens, Greece: Academy of Athens, 2003.
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  83. The most comprehensive recent treatment of Athenian cult associations from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. Arnaoutoglou discusses membership, offices, honorific vocabulary, the legal status of associations, ownership of property, and integration into the city. An appendix lists 175 Athenian associations.
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  85. de Robertis, Francesco Maria. Storia delle corporazioni e del regime associativo nel mondo romano. 2 vols. Bari, Italy: Adriatica, 1973.
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  87. Focusing on Roman associations, de Robertis comments on the historical development of associative practices and Roman law-governing associations.
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  89. Harland, Philip. Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003.
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  91. Focusing on associations in Asia Minor, this book examines the ways that associations participated in imperial honors, and, through patronage, integrated various diasporic and non-elite groups—including Judean groups and Christ-groups—into the network of civic relations. Harland rejects sectarian models for understanding the identity of Christ-groups within the ancient city.
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  93. Jones, Nicholas F. The Associations of Classical Athens: The Response to Democracy. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
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  95. Jones argues that the Athenian deme, phylē, phratry, and cultic associations represented reactions to the disenfranchisement of the majority of the Attic population from democratic processes. Smaller citizen and noncitizen associations offered “men of ability” the opportunity to exercise their talents and created structures in which the large noncitizen population could create quasidemocratic roles for themselves (pp. 47–50).
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  97. Liebenam, Wilhelm. Zur Geschichte und Organisation des römischen Vereinswesens: 3 Untersuchungen. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1890.
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  99. Liebenam focuses on Roman associations. The work deals primarily with occupational associations (collegia opificum) and argues that there were few restrictions on such guilds until Augustus’s Lex Iulia, which sought to control collegia.
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  101. Poland, Franz. Geschichte des griechischen Vereinswesens. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1909.
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  103. A monumental work that discusses self-designations, taxonomy, membership (including discussions of women, children, and slaves in associations), structure, offices, and finances. An appendix offers a catalogue of Greek associations from the Eastern Mediterranean.
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  105. van Nijf, Onno. The Civic World of Professional Associations in the Roman East. Dutch Monographs on Ancient History and Archaeology 17. Amsterdam: J. C. Gieben, 1997.
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  107. Van Nijf concentrates on occupational associations in Asia Minor and argues that the activities of associations—processions, honorific activities, and assemblies—reinforced existing patterns of organization by mimicking the activities of their social superiors. Thus associations “internalized and reproduced” the hierarchies of their cities.
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  109. Waltzing, Jean Pierre. Étude historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romains depuis les origines jusqu’à la chute de l’Empire d’Occident. 4 vols. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 1895–1900.
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  111. This major work discusses the history, structure, roles, and influence of the occupational associations (collegia) in the Roman world. Waltzing proposes a threefold typology: occupational associations, funerary associations, and cultic associations. Each used civic structures as models of organization and mimicked the democratic activities of cities. Waltzing prints the Latin (occasionally Greek) text of 2,432 inscriptions, arranged geographically.
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  113. History of Scholarship
  114.  
  115. Only two critical detailed studies exist on the history of scholarship on associations: Dissen 2009, which focuses on German scholarship, and Perry 2006, which examines Italian, French, German, and Belgian works. Koch and Schinkel 2006 focuses on the impact of the study of associations on conceptions of the early church. Kloppenborg 1993 discusses the changing fortunes of the comparison of associations with Christ-groups in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  116.  
  117. Dissen, Margret. Römische Kollegien und deutsche Geschichtswissenschaft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009.
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  119. Dissen explores the changing approaches to Roman associations in German scholarship: Mommsen 1843 (cited under Roman Legislation on Associations) focused on Roman law; Liebenam 1890 (cited under Major Studies) was interested in associative practices of individuals; and Waltzing 1895–1900 (cited under Major Studies) belongs to the context of Belgian liberal politics. Dissen welcomes recent approaches that see members of collegia as active participants in the political culture of Rome rather than as pawns of the elite.
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  121. Kloppenborg, John S. “Edwin Hatch, Churches, and Collegia.” In Origins and Method: Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Honour of John C. Hurd. Edited by Bradley McLean, 212–238. Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement 86. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1993.
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  123. The author discusses Hatch’s positive comparison of Christ-groups and ancient associations in 1882, the negative reaction to this following the publication of the Didache in 1883, and, much later, the rediscovery of associations as important analogies to Christ-groups.
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  125. Koch, Dietrich-Alex, and Dirk Schinkel. “Die Frage nach den Vereinen in der Geistes- und Theologiegeschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des zeitgenössischen Vereinswesens und der ‘Wende’ in der protestantischen Theologie nach 1918.” In Vereine, Synagogen und Gemeinden im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien. Edited by Andreas Gutsfeld and Dietrich-Alex Koch, 129–148. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 25. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
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  127. A survey of 19th- and 20th-century research on associations and its impact on understandings of the early Church in German Protestant theology.
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  129. Perry, Jonathan S. The Roman Collegia: The Modern Evolution of an Ancient Concept. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2006.
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  131. Perry focuses on the intersection of scholarship with associations in the early 1900s, including the economic theories of Fascist Italy, and shows how scholars have turned from the legal focus of Mommsen 1843 (cited under Roman Legislation on Associations) and de Robertis 1973 (cited under Major Studies) and the “professional” focus of Waltzing 1895–1900 (cited under Major Studies) to an interest in social relations.
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  133. Collections of Primary Texts
  134.  
  135. The largest single collection of association texts is still Waltzing 1895–1900 (cited under Major Studies), which prints the text of nearly twenty-five hundred inscriptions of occupational guilds (without translation). Foucart 1873 (cited under General Overviews) prints a limited set of sixty-eight inscriptions from Attica and the Aegean Islands (without translations). The three Sokolowski volumes (Sokolowski 1955, Sokolowski 1962, Sokolowski 1969) and Lupu 2005 collect cultic laws from Greece and Asia Minor and as such contain more than simply association inscriptions, but nonetheless include many association inscriptions. Kloppenborg and Ascough 2011 and Ascough, et al. 2012 are focused on associations in particular rather than sacred law more generally and include inscriptions (with translations) unknown to Waltzing or falling outside the purview of his collection. Other more focused collections concern Demotic associations (Cenival 1972, cited under Egypt), the cult of Dionysos and the Dionysiac Performers (Aneziri 2003, Jaccottet 2003, Le Guen 2001, all cited under Dionysos Associations and the Dionysiac Performers), guilds of textile workers (Labarre and LeDinahet 1996, Liu 2009, both cited under Textile Workers (Collegia Centonariorum)), and other occupational guilds (Dittmann-Schöne 2010, cited under Occupational Guilds).
  136.  
  137. Ascough, Richard S., Philip A. Harland, and John S. Kloppenborg. Associations in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2012.
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  139. Designed for the undergraduate, this volume provides English translations of 337 inscriptions and papyri, drawings and descriptions of twenty-eight association scholae (meeting rooms), fifty-four literary testimonia about associations, and a large annotated bibliography of important books and articles on associations. Extensive indexes.
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  141. Kloppenborg, John S., and Richard S. Ascough. Greco-Roman Associations: Texts, Translations, and Commentary. Vol. 1, Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, Thrace. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 181. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2011.
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  143. The first of a projected four-volume edition of selected Greek, Latin, and Demotic inscriptions and papyri concerning associations, with the original text, English translation, epigraphical notes, commentary, and multiple indexes. Volume 1 contains ninety-one inscriptions illustrating key aspects of associations from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.
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  145. Lupu, Eran. Greek Sacred Law: A Collection of New Documents (NGSL). Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 152. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2005.
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  147. This collection of twenty-seven inscriptions serves as a supplement to Sokolowski 1969, and, while it focuses broadly on Greek cult laws, includes material relevant to Attic associations.
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  149. Sokolowski, Franciszek. Lois sacrées de l’Asie Mineure. Travaux et mémoires (Ecole française d’Athènes), fasc. 9. Paris: Les Éditions de Boccard, 1955.
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  151. A collection of Greek cultic inscriptions (without translation but with commentary) from Asia minor, including some from cult associations.
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  153. Sokolowski, Franciszek. Lois sacrées des cités grecques: Supplément. Travaux et mémoires (Ecole française d’Athènes), fasc. 11. Paris: Les Éditions de Boccard, 1962.
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  155. A collection of 133 Greek cultic inscriptions (without translation but with commentary) from Greece and the Aegean islands, including some from cult associations. Designed as a “supplement” to Sokolowski 1969, but appearing seven years before the main volume.
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  157. Sokolowski, Franciszek. Lois sacrées des cités grecques. Travaux et mémoires (Ecole française d’Athènes), fasc. 18. Paris: Les Éditions de Boccard, 1969.
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  159. A collection of 181 Greek cultic inscriptions (without translation but with commentary) from Greece and the Aegean islands, including some from cult associations.
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  161. Essay Collections
  162.  
  163. All of these collections are relatively recent. Kloppenborg and Wilson 1996, Egelhaaf-Gaiser and Schäfer 2002, and Belayche and Mimouni 2003 deal broadly with associations in the Greco-Roman world. Gutsfeld and Koch 2006 and Öhler 2011 are oriented in particular to situating Christ-groups and Judean synagogues in the context of ancient associations. Cazanove, et al. 1986 is focused on Dionysos groups.
  164.  
  165. Belayche, Nicole, and Simon C. Mimouni, eds. Les Communautés religieuses dans le monde gréco-romain: Essais de définition. Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, Sciences Religieuses 117. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003.
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  167. A set of fifteen essays treating identity-formation in Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian religious communities. Includes essays on Egyptian cult associations, Qumran, synagogues in Asia Minor, and burial by religious groups.
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  169. Cazanove, Olivier de, J. Linderski, M. L. Freyburger-Galland, G. Freyburger, and J. C. Tautil. L’Association dionysiaque dans les sociétés anciennes: Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’École française de Rome (Rome, 24–25 mai 1984). Collection de l’Ecole Française de Rome 89. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1986.
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  171. A collection of papers in French and Italian from a 1984 Rome conference on Dionysos associations in Delphi, Gaul, Egypt, North Africa, and Italy.
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  173. Egelhaaf-Gaiser, Ulrike, and Alfred Schäfer, eds. Religiöse Vereine in der römischen Antike: Untersuchungen zu Organisation, Ritual und Raumordnung. Papers presented at a colloquium held on 15 February 1999 in Potsdam, Germany. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 13. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.
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  175. This volume includes papers on cultic and occupational associations, including papers on organization, cultic activities, and association buildings.
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  177. Gutsfeld, Andreas, and Dietrich-Alex Koch, eds. Vereine, Synagogen und Gemeinden im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien. Papers presented at a conference held on 15–16 June 2001 in Münster, Germany. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 25. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
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  179. Papers mainly focusing on understanding early Christ-groups as associations and their place in the cities of empire.
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  181. Kloppenborg, John S., and Stephen G. Wilson, eds. Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
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  183. This collection includes papers on the organization, taxonomy, and legal status of associations, philosophical clubs, network theory, and select Delian and Judean associations.
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  185. Öhler, Markus, ed. Aposteldekret und antikes Vereinswesen: Gemeinschaft und ihre Ordnung. Papers repsented at a conference held February 2009 at Universität Wien. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 280. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
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  187. The proceedings of a 2009 conference in Vienna, including essays on meal practices and regulatory provisions of Christ-groups and associations, the devotees of Diana and Antinoüs at Lanuvium (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 14.2112), and associations of Egyptian gods in Greece.
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  189. Regional Studies
  190.  
  191. By far the largest bulk of secondary literature concerns Athenian and Italian associations, because epigraphical discoveries in those areas go back to the mid-19th century. Sustained studies of Macedonian and Asian associations begin in the mid-20th century when German, British, and Greek epigraphers began to work there. Discussion of Egyptian associations began following the discovery of large hoards of papyri in the last years of the 19th century. The western provinces of the Roman Empire have only recently received sustained attention.
  192.  
  193. Athens
  194.  
  195. Discussion of Athenian associations goes back well into the 19th century (Foucart 1873, cited under General Overviews). In addition to Arnaoutoglou 1994 (cited under Benefaction and Patronage), Arnaoutoglou 2003 (cited under Major Studies), and Jones 1999 (cited under Major Studies), all have a primary focus on Athenian associations. Mikalson 1998 and Parker 1996 are general treatments of Athenian religion, in which cult associations play an important role. Ferguson and Nock 1944 and Ferguson 1949 are basic discussions of the primary evidence of Athenian cult associations, especially those called orgeones (“sacrificing associates”). Arnaoutoglou 1998, Baslez 2004, and Leiwo 1997 all treat the social function of associations within the fabric of Athenian society.
  196.  
  197. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. “Between Koinon and Idion: Legal and Social Dimensions of Religious Associations in Ancient Athens.” In Kosmos: Essays in Order, Conflict, and Community in Classical Athens. Edited by Paul Cartledge, Paul Millett, and Sitta von Reden, 68–83. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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  199. Athenian associations played important roles as institutions that participated in the system of honor and in promoting “rituals of conviviality.” Both served to strengthen the fabric of Athenian society and integrated non-Athenian residents into the system of Athenian values by replicating the dominant social order.
  200. Find this resource:
  201. Baslez, Marie-François. “Les notables entre eux: Recherches sur les associations d’ Athènes à l’ époque romaine.” In L’ Hellénisme d’époque romaine: Nouveaux documents, nouvelles approches (Ier s. a.C.—IIIe s. p.C.): Actes du colloque international à la mémoire de Louis Robert, Paris 7–8 juillet 2000. Edited by Simone Follet, 105–120. De l’archéologie à l’histoire. Paris: Les Éditions de Boccard, 2004.
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  203. Associations in Athens from the 1st to the 3rd century CE reflect a society that defended family and athletic values. These associations continued to exist under the Romans, and had a profound cultic orientation, propagating the hero cults and the cult of Dionysos.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Ferguson, William Scott. “Orgeonika.” In Commemorative Studies in Honor of Theodore Leslie Shear. Edited by Theodore L. Shear, 130–163. Hesperia Supplement 8. Athens, Greece: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1949.
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  207. A continuation of the discussion in Ferguson and Nock 1944, with inscriptions relating to the cult of Bendis in Athens.
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Ferguson, William Scott and Arthur Darby Nock. “The Attic Orgeones and the Cult of Heroes.” Harvard Theological Review 37.2 (April 1944): 61–140.
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  211. Ferguson and Nock’s classic essay distinguishes two types of Athenian associations: the membership of the cults of heroes and heroines was mainly Athenian citizens, while the associations devoted to deities such as Bendis, Isis, and the Great Mother were composed of foreigners and noncitizens.
  212. Find this resource:
  213. Leiwo, Martti. “Religion, or Other Reasons? Private Associations in Athens.” In Early Hellenistic Athens: Symptoms of a Change. Edited by Jaakko Frösén, 103–117. Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens 6. Helsinki: Foundation of the Finnish Institute at Athens, 1997.
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  215. The main purpose of the associations in 4th- and 3rd-century BCE Athens was not cultic but social, and focused on common meals and mutual support.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Mikalson, Jon D. Religion in Hellenistic Athens. Hellenistic Culture and Society 29. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.
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  219. A recent treatment of religion in Hellenistic Athens, with a chapter (pp. 137–167) on foreign cults and the formation of associations.
  220. Find this resource:
  221. Parker, Robert. Athenian Religion: A History. Oxford and New York: Clarendon, 1996.
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  223. Appendix 3 (pp. 328–332) treats citizen associations, while Appendix 4 (pp. 333–342) discusses in chronological order (from the 5th century BCE on) the various cult associations called orgeones, thiasotai, and eranistai. The earliest associations in Attica were formed of citizens, but associations of resident foreigners formed in the 4th century, and eventually, mixed associations of citizens and noncitizens became common.
  224. Find this resource:
  225. Macedonia
  226.  
  227. In comparison with Attica, Macedonia has been relatively neglected. Nigdelis 2010 is the best survey to date of associations in Macedonia, which can now be supplemented with the collection of twenty-one Macedonian inscriptions in Kloppenborg and Ascough 2011 (pp. 295–377, cited under Collections of Primary Texts). Ascough 2003 (cited under Pauline Churches and Associations) discusses Paul’s churches in Philippi and Thessalonike in the context of Macedonian associations, and Ascough 2010 focuses on meal practices in Macedonian associations (including Christ-groups). Mitrev 2002 is narrowly focused on Dionysos associations, which are one of the most commonly attested cult associations in Macedonia.
  228.  
  229. Ascough, Richard S. “Of Memories and Meals: Greco-Roman Associations and the Early Jesus-Group at Thessalonikē.” In From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonikē: Studies in Religion and Archaeology. Edited by Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, and Steven Friesen, 49–72. Harvard Theological Studies 64. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
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  231. A comparison of the meal practices of associations in Thessalonike and the regulatory practices reflected in 2 Thessalonians 3:6–14.
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Mitrev, Georgi. “Dionysiac Thiasoi in the Roman Province of Macedonia: Tradition and Innovations.” In Jubilaeus V. Sbornik/čest Na Prof. Margarita Tačeva. Studia in Honorem Margaritae Tacheva. Edited by Konstantine Boshnakov and Diljna Boteva, 289–297. Sofia, Bulgaria: Sofia University Press, 2002.
  234. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  235. In Bulgarian. A discussion of Dionysos associations in the Roman province of Macedonia.
  236. Find this resource:
  237. Nigdelis, Pantelis M. “Voluntary Associations in Roman Thessalonikē: In Search of Identity and Support in a Cosmopolitan Society.” In From Roman to Early Christian Thessalonikē: Studies in Religion and Archaeology. Edited by Laura Nasrallah, Charalambos Bakirtzis, and Steven Friesen, 13–46. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
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  239. A survey of Greek associations in Thessalonike, grouped into cultic, occupational, household, and entertainment-oriented associations. An appendix contains forty-four inscriptions.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Asia Minor
  242.  
  243. Collections of Asian inscriptions have been published in Sokolowski 1955 (cited under Collections of Primary Texts) and Labarre and LeDinahet 1996 (cited under Textile Workers (Collegia Centonariorum)). Along with van Nijf 1997 (cited under Major Studies), which treats occupational guilds and their place in Asian cities, Harland 2009 offers the broadest study of Asian associations, with special attention to Christ-groups as belonging to the phenomenon of associations. Arnaoutoglou 2002 is important for its dispelling of the notion that associations were routinely suppressed, while Harland 2003 in effect shows why they were not: they routinely engaged in practices designed to express fidelity to the emperor. Buckler 1923 (cited under Associations and the Economy) discusses the few instances of occupational guilds engaging in strikes. Koester 2007 focuses on Egyptian associations and the peculiarities of their organization in Asia. Both Trebilco 1999 and Thomas 1994 concentrate on Judean synagogues and Christ-groups and their interaction with, and similarities to, pagan associations in Ephesos and Thyatira.
  244.  
  245. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. “Roman Law and Collegia in Asia Minor.” Revue internationale des droits de l’antiquité 49 (2002): 27–44.
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  247. Arnaoutoglou argues that to the extent that Roman law restricted associations, such restrictions were temporary and applied only to occupational guilds that promoted anti-Roman behavior.
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  249. Harland, Philip. “Imperial Cults within Local Cultural Life: Associations in Roman Asia.” Ancient History Bulletin 17.1–2 (2003): 85–107.
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  251. The modern distinction between religion and politics obscures the fact that many associations in Roman Asia were both cultic and participated in sacrifices, mysteries, or other rituals devoted to the emperor.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Harland, Philip. Dynamics of Identity and Early Christianity: Associations and Cultural Minorities in the Roman Empire. London and New York: T. & T. Clark, 2009.
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  255. Oriented mainly to Asian associations, this monograph discusses Judean synagogues and Christ-groups in the context of associations, observing Christian imitation of the language and conceptions of associations, and the role of associations in the acculturation of immigrants to Asia. Harland employs social identity theory and migration theory.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Koester, Helmut. “Associations of the Egyptian Cult in Asia Minor.” In Paul and His World: Interpreting the New Testament in Its Context. By Helmut Koester, 160–167. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007.
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  259. Associations of the Egyptian gods (Isis, Sarapis) in Asia do not necessarily mimic the structure of the more extensive Delian associations of the Egyptian gods.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Thomas, Scott Kevin. “A Sociological Analysis of Guilds in First-Century Asia Minor as Background for Revelation 2:18–29.” PhD diss., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994.
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  263. Thomas argues that Revelation 2:18–29, addressed to the church at Thyatira, illustrates the negative interaction between Christ-groups and guilds: elite benefactors gained access to non-elite members and had the ability to introduce teachings that were at variance with the expectations of the author of the Apocalypse.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Trebilco, Paul R. “Jews, Christians and the Associations in Ephesos: A Comparative Study of Group Structures.” In 100 Jahre Österreichische Forschungen in Ephesos: Akten des Symposions Wien 1995. Vol. 1. Edited by Herwig Friesinger and Fritz Krinzinger, 325–334. Denkschriften der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse 260. Archäologische Forschung 1. Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1999.
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  267. Comparing the structure of Christ-groups in Ephesos to Judean synagogues (which seem to have had a citywide structure) and other associations that were either independent or citywide, Trebilco concludes that there were four or five distinct Christ-groups in Ephesos.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Egypt
  270.  
  271. The best overviews of Egyptian associations are provided in Boak 1937, commenting on the Michigan Papyri from Tebtynis, and Cenival 1972, which published and discussed the papyrus bylaws from several Demotic associations. These, together with Fikhman 1969 (cited under Occupational Guilds) and Arnaoutoglou 2005, provide an excellent though nonexhaustive catalogue of Egyptian associations. Brashear 1993, Cenival 1969, and Muszynski 1977 all deal with the functions of associations. Both Arnaoutoglou 2005 and Préaux 1948 discuss associations and the political landscape of Egypt.
  272.  
  273. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. “Collegia in the Province of Egypt in the First Century AD.” Ancient Society 35 (2005): 197–216.
  274. DOI: 10.2143/AS.35.0.2003849Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. Despite the restrictive Roman legislation on associations, which may have been imposed by Alexandria’s prefect, Flaccus (32–38 CE), associations in Egypt continued to flourish even during the 1st-century CE ban. The article contains a list of 1st-century Egyptian associations.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Boak, Arthur E. R. “The Organization of Gilds in Greco-Roman Egypt.” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 68 (1937): 212–220.
  278. DOI: 10.2307/283265Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. An important study comparing three Greek occupational associations from Tebtynis with other Greco-Egyptian and Demotic associations. The bylaws of such associations were private contracts, ratified by members, and enforceable under prevailing practices concerning contract law.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Brashear, William M. Vereine im griechisch-römischen Ägypten. Konstanz, Germany: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 1993.
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  283. Brashear provides a text and translation of Papyrus Berlin 25159 (Alexandria, 5 BCE), a resolution of an association to honor its president. The short book also argues that associations formed for mainly social purposes.
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  285. Cenival, Françoise de. “Les associations dans les temples égyptiens d’après les données fournies par les papyrus démotiques.” In Religions en Égypte hellénistique et romaine: Colloque de Strasbourg, 16–18 mai 1967. Edited by the Humanities Department of the University of Strasbourg, 5–19. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1969.
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  287. Devoted to Demotic associations, this essay discusses legal and financial practices of associations and suggests that they were especially concerned with the “material life” for their members.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Cenival, Françoise de. Les associations religieuses en Égypte: D’après les documents démotiques. 2 vols. Bibliothèque d’étude 46. Cairo: Institut français d’archéologie orientale, 1972.
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  291. A collection of nine Demotic papyri with transcriptions, French translations, and philological notes, followed by a discussion of the bylaws, membership, cultic activities, funerary activities, and the civil and juridical roles of associations.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Muszynski, Michel. “Les ‘associations religieuses’ en Egypte d’après les sources hiéroglyphiques, démotiques et grecques.” Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 8 (1977): 145–174.
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  295. Muszynski discusses the structure and character of Demotic and Greek associations in Egypt and argues that these were not the models for later Christian monasteries. They are, nevertheless, precursors of Christian “brotherhoods.”
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Préaux, Claire. “À propos des Associations dans l’Égypte gréco-romaine.” Revue Internationale des Droits de l’Antiquité 1.2 (1948): 189–198.
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  299. The author provides a commentary on Papyrus Michigan V 243–245 and the importance of associations as quasi-“democratic” institutions under Hellenistic monarchies and the Roman Empire.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Italy
  302.  
  303. The literature on Italian associations is vast, and some important works appear under other headings. Waltzing 1895–1900 and Liebenam 1890 (both cited under Major Studies) remain basic resources. Royden 1988 serves as an important supplement to Waltzing 1895–1900 (cited under Major Studies). Mommsen 1843 (cited under Roman Legislation on Associations), substantially updated and modified in Bendlin 2005, discusses the Roman laws as they applied to associations. Bendlin 2002 and Tran 2006 deal with the function of associations in integrating civic populations, and La Piana 1927 pays special attention to the (non)integration of alien populations. Patterson 1992 (cited under Burial and Funerals) and Patterson 1994 are important historical studies of the role of associations and elite patronage, while Fraschetti 1989 deals with urban-rural relationships. Burial practices are addressed in Hasegawa 2005 and Bodel 2008 (cited under Burial and Funerals).
  304.  
  305. Bendlin, Andreas. “Gemeinschaft, Öffentlichkeit und Identität: Forschungsgeschichtliche Anmerkungen zu den Mustern sozialer Ordnung in Rom.” Paper presented at a colloquium held on 15 February 1999 in Potsdam, Germany. In Religiöse Vereine in der römischen Antike: Untersuchungen zu Organisation, Ritual und Raumordnung. Edited by Ulrike Egelhaaf-Gaiser and Alfred Schäfer, 9–40. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 13. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.
  306. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  307. The fact that Roman associations adopted a hierarchical structure does not necessarily imply that every association subscribed to Rome’s value hierarchy. Associations (collegia, sodalitates, etc.) functioned as alternative spaces of political, social, and religious networking.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Bendlin, Andreas. “‘Eine Zusammenkunft um der religio willen ist erlaubt?’ Zu den politischen und rechtlichen Konstruktion von (religiöser) Vergemeinschaftung in der römischen Kaiserzeit.” In Die verrechtlichte Religion: Der Öffentlichkeitsstatus von Religionsgemeinschaften. Edited by Hans G. Kippenberg and Gunnar Folke Schuppert, 65–107. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2005.
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  311. This article discusses Roman law bearing on associations and rejects the distinction between licit and illicit associations. At moments of crisis, some associations were suppressed, but the senatusconsultum (senatorial decree) did not apply generally to associations.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Fraschetti, Augusto. “Collèges contre la cité, collèges autour de la famille du prince.” In Aux sources de la puissance: Sociabilité et parenté; Actes du colloque de Rouen, 12–13 novembre 1987. Edited by Françoise Thelamon, 57–62. Rouen, France: Publications de l’Université de Rouen, 1989.
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  315. The author explores the differences between the inhabitants of the suburbs and rural areas—the pagani and montani—and urban associations (collegia).
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Hasegawa, Kinuko. The Familia Urbana during the Early Empire: A Study of Columbaria Inscriptions. BAR International Series 1440. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2005.
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  319. “The Burial Clubs for Slaves and Freedmen” (pp. 81–88) discusses the management of columbaria (burial niches) by associations. These were used for the burial of the non-elite members of elite households.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. La Piana, George. “Foreign Groups in Rome during the First Centuries of the Empire.” Harvard Theological Review 20.4 (October 1927): 183–354.
  322. DOI: 10.1017/S0017816000021118Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  323. An important discussion of associations of foreigners who settled in Rome, including Judean groups and the difficulties in integrating them smoothly into Roman life.
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  325. Patterson, John R. “The Collegia and the Transformation of the Towns of Italy in the Second Century AD.” In L’Italie d’Auguste à Dioclétien: Actes du colloque international organisé par l’École française de Rome (Rome, 25–28 mars 1992). Collection de l’Ecole Française de Rome 198. Edited by the École Française de Rome, 227–238. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 1994.
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  327. “As well as engaging in their normal festive and funeral activities, we find the collegia playing an increasingly important role in civic life; setting up statues to the emperors and benefactors, for example, and thus acting on behalf of the populace as a whole . . .” (p. 235).
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Royden, Halsey L. The Magistrates of the Roman Professional Collegia in Italy from the First to the Third Century AD. Biblioteca di studi antichi 61. Pisa, Italy: Giardini Editori e Stampatori, 1988.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. An index of persons in leadership positions in the occupational guilds in Italy, especially Rome and Ostia, from the 1st century to the mid-3rd century CE. Inscriptions distinguish former magistrates and those given the title quinquennalis perpetuus, “president for life.”
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Tran, Nicolas. Les Membres des associations romaines: Le rang social des collegiati en Italie et en Gaules sous le Haut-Empire. Collection de l’École Française de Rome 367. Rome: École Française de Rome, 2006.
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  335. Members of associations attempted, by membership, to acquire a degree of respectability and prestige in a situation of unequal social conditions. The adoption of patrons served as an instrument to acquire social prestige, but also functioned to integrate diverse populations into the social structure of Rome.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Western Provinces of the Empire
  338.  
  339. The western provinces have not received much attention. Ausbüttel 1982 is the most comprehensive treatment. Kneissl 1998, Kneissl 1994, and Kneissl 1981 discuss aspects of occupational guilds in Gaul.
  340.  
  341. Ausbüttel, Frank M. Untersuchungen zu den Vereinen im Westen des römischen Reiches. Frankfurter Althistorische Studien 11. Kallmünz, Germany: Verlag Michael Laßleben, 1982.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. A discussion of occupational guilds in the western provinces of the Roman empire: their self-designations, structure, activities, and a history of collegia to the 4th century CE. Ausbüttel rejects the category of “funerary collegia” although he acknowledges that collegia were often involved in burial.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Kneissl, Peter. “Die utriclarii: Ihre Rolle im gallo-römischen Transportwesen und Weinhandel.” Bonner Jahrbücher 181 (1981): 169–204.
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  347. The utriclarii were guilds of transporters of wine and oil.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Kneissl, Peter. “Die fabri, fabri tignuarii, fabri subaediani, centonarii, und dolabrarii als Feuerwehren in den Städten Italiens und der westlichen Provinzen.” In E fontibus haurire: Beiträge zur römischen Geschichte und zu ihren Hilfswissenschaften. Edited by Rosmarie Günther and Stefan Rebenich, 133–146. Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums 8. Paderborn, Germany: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1994.
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  351. Guilds of building workers (fabri) sometimes included members from other occupations and served as firefighters.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Kneissl, Peter. “Die Berufsvereine im römischen Gallien: Eine Interpretation der epigraphischen Zeugnisse.” In Imperium Romanum: Studien zur Geschichte und Rezeption: Festschrift für Karl Christ zum 75. Geburtstag. Edited by Peter Kneissl and Volker Losemann, 431–449. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998.
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  355. A survey of the evidence for occupational guilds in the Roman province of Gaul, their legal standing, and their function as firefighters.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Select Associations
  358.  
  359. Several types of association have attracted specialized literature because they were either widespread geographically (see Dionysos Associations and the Dionysiac Performers and Athletic Associations) or especially common in the cities of the empire. In the latter category are occupational guilds generally and associations of textile workers and builders specifically.
  360.  
  361. Dionysos Associations and the Dionysiac Performers
  362.  
  363. Dionysos associations took several forms in antiquity and are widely discussed: see Cazanove, et al. 1986 (cited under Essay Collections) and Mitrev 2002 (cited under Macedonia). Some might be classified as “mysteries” and involved initiations and sacred rites, as discussed in Jaccottet 2003. Others were associations of “Dionysiac Performers” (technitai), from the time Claudius designated a “worldwide” guild of traveling performers, which was not a centrally organized guild but a loose association of guilds (Aneziri 2003, Le Guen 2001, Le Guen 2007).
  364.  
  365. Aneziri, Sophia. Die Vereine der dionysischen Techniten im Kontext der hellenistischen Gesellschaft: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte, Organisation und Wirkung der hellenistischen Technitenvereine. Historia Einzelschriften 163. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2003.
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  367. The Dionysiac Performers are loose associations of actors and musicians in the Hellenistic kingdoms and later patronized by Roman emperors. Aneziri discusses their relationship to the city, leadership, and issues of property, finances, membership, discipline, and legal status. This book includes a collection of eighty-eight inscriptions.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Jaccottet, Anne-Françoise. Choisir Dionysos: Les associations dionysiaques ou la face cachée du dionysisme. Zürich, Switzerland: Akanthus Verlag für Archäologie, 2003.
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  371. Jaccottet describes the evidence for Dionysos associations (excluding the Dionysiac Performers) and collects more than two hundred Greek and Latin inscriptions, with translation and commentary. She discusses the history of Dionysos associations as well as their membership, iconography, and rituals.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Le Guen, Brigitte. Les Associations de Technites dionysiaques à l’époque hellénistique. 2 vols. Études d’archéologie classique 11–12. Nancy, France: Association pour la diffusion de la recherche sur l’Antiquité, 2001.
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  375. Copublished by Les Éditions de Boccard, Paris. Focused on the Dionysiac Performers, Le Guen’s work contains nearly one hundred inscriptions arranged by locale but excluding inscriptions from the imperial period. The second volume discusses the development of the associations in various locales, membership, local peculiarities, the imitation of civic structures, and their cultic and theatrical aspects.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Le Guen, Brigitte. “L’association des Technites d’Athènes ou les ressorts d’une cohabitation réussie.” In Individus, groupes et politique à Athènes de Solon à Mithridate: Actes du colloque international, Tours, 7 et 8 mars 2005. Edited by Jean-Christophe Couvenhes, 339–436. Collection Perspectives Historiques 15. Tours, France: Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2007.
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  379. The Athenian associations of Dionysiac Performers mimicked the structure of the city, using civic titles for their officers and awarding honors on the model of civic honors.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Athletic Associations
  382.  
  383. Like the Dionysiac Performers, athletic guilds could claim to be “worldwide” and their members participated in various civic games. Forbes 1955 offers a succinct account of the history of athletic associations, and Pleket 1973 discusses the details of the reorganization of the “worldwide” association under Hadrian. Ginestet 1991 discusses the organization of the association in the west.
  384.  
  385. Forbes, Clarence A. “Ancient Athletic Guilds.” Classical Philology 50.4 (October 1955): 238–252.
  386. DOI: 10.1086/363946Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  387. A historical account of the origin and demise of athletic guilds or guilds of “victors” in the Greco-Roman world. Athletic guilds disappeared after the abolition of the Olympic games in 393 CE.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Ginestet, Pierre. Les organisations de la jeunesse dans l’Occident Romain. Collection Latomus 213. Brussels: Latomus, 1991.
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  391. Established by Augustus, associations of young men (collegia iuvenum) composed of youths (iuvenes) of the elite ranks in the Western Empire engaged in athletic and military training.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Pleket, Henri Willy. “Some Aspects of the History of the Athletic Guilds.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 10 (1973): 197–227.
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  395. By the time of Antoninus Pius (emperor, 138–161 CE) a “worldwide” athletic guild existed, with its center in Rome. The guild may have existed earlier but was reorganized by Hadrian.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Occupational Guilds
  398.  
  399. Occupational guilds were organized around a common trade and are well attested throughout the empire. Waltzing 1895–1900 (cited under Major Studies) is still the most comprehensive collection of inscriptions, but this is now supplemented by Dittmann-Schöne 2010, a collection of Asian associations, and Fikhman 1969, a list of Egyptian occupational guilds. Kolb 1995 and Van Minnen 1987 discuss the role of guilds in integrating workers into larger society, while Carrié 2002 and Graeber 1983 examine guilds from the perspective of the role they played in the operation of the state. Zimmermann 2002 is a full study of occupational guilds in the Greek East during the Roman Empire.
  400.  
  401. Carrié, Jean-Michel. “Les associations professionnelles à l’époque tardive: Entre munus et convivialité.” In Humana sapit: Mélanges en l’honneur de Lellia Cracco Ruggini. Edited by Jean-Michel Carrié and Rita Lizzi Testa, 309–332. Bibliothèque de l’Antiquité tardive 3. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002.
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  403. Carrié deals with occupational guilds from the 4th to mid-6th century CE, when membership became compulsory and universal rather than voluntary. These associations were used to collect taxes and fulfill liturgies (compulsory services).
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Dittmann-Schöne, Imogen. Der Berufsvereine in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasiens. Theorie und Forschung: Geschichte 16. Regensburg, Germany: S. Roderer, 2010.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. In addition to presenting 190 inscriptions (with translations), this study discusses occupational guilds in the imperial period, nomenclature, structure, burial practices, cultic activities, and the relation of guilds to the state, including the role of guilds in civic disruptions.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Fikhman, Izhak F. “Grundfragen der handwerklichen Produktion in Ägypten com 4. bis zur Mitte des 7. Jahrhunderts.” Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 4 (1969): 149–171.
  410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. This essay lists 190 different trades attested in papyri during the early Byzantine period.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Graeber, Andreas. Untersuchungen zum spätrömischen Korporationswesen. Europäische Hochschulschriften: Geschichte und ihre Hilfswissenschaften 196. Frankfurt, New York, and Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, 1983.
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  415. With special attention to shipowners, bakers, and pig dealers, this study argues that associations became essential to the operation of the empire in the late Roman period.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Kolb, Anne. “Vereine ‘kleiner Leute’ und die kaiserliche Verwaltung.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 107 (1995): 201–212.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. For the nonelite, membership in occupational guilds or cult associations provided the opportunity to participate in quasidemocratic processes and to gain social prestige. This essay illustrates the role of associations by examining groups of workers on imperial estates.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Van Minnen, Peter. “Urban Craftsmen in Roman Egypt.” Münstersche Beiträge zur Antiken Handelsgeschichte 6.1 (1987): 31–88.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. The author discusses Egyptian handworkers’ guilds, organized hierarchically, and their relationship to urban elites.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Zimmermann, Carola. Handwerkervereine im griechischen Osten des Imperium Romanum. Monographien der Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, Forschungsinstitut für Vor- und Frühgeschichte 57. Mainz, Germany: Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums in Kommission bei Habelt, 2002.
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  427. The author discusses occupational guild associations in the Greek East, with chapters on legal standing, organization, membership, buildings, and occupations. Although there were occasional intrusions by Roman authorities, occupational guilds remained mainly independent.
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Textile Workers (Collegia Centonariorum)
  430.  
  431. Textile workers, organized into guilds, were important throughout the Mediterranean. Taken together, Labarre and LeDinahet 1996 and Liu 2009 offer excellent coverage of these guilds and their role in structuring life in the imperial period.
  432.  
  433. Labarre, Guy, and Marie-Thérèse LeDinahet. “Les métiers du textile en Asie Mineure de l’époque hellénistique à l’époque imperiale.” In Aspects de l’artisanat du textile dans le monde méditerranéen: Egypte, Grèce, monde romain. Edited by the Archaeology and Ancient History Department of the Université Lumière-Lyon, 49–115. Collection de l’Institut d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Antiquité 2. Paris: Éditions de Boccard, 1996.
  434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435. This article provides a collection of eighty-two inscriptions dealing with associations of textile workers in Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, with French translations.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Liu, Jinyu. Collegia Centonariorum: The Guilds of Textile Dealers in the Roman West. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition 34. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2009.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. A thorough study of the function and organization of collegia centonariorum (textile workers), with attention to the public services they provided and how they were integrated into the social, cultic, and economic life in Roman cities. The book has an appendix of 234 Latin inscriptions and all the relevant literary and legal references.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Builders (Collegia Fabrorum, Collegia Dendrophorum)
  442.  
  443. Guilds of builders—shipbuilders, builders, and woodcutters—were essential to the Roman state, both because they were integral to the maintenance of the grain supply (Konen 2001), and because they functioned not only as builders but also as firefighters (see Kneissl 1998, cited under Western Provinces of the Empire, and Lafer 2001).
  444.  
  445. Konen, Heinrich. “Die Schiffsbauer und Werften in den antiken Häfen von Ostia und Portus.” Münstersche Beiträge zur Antiken Handelsgeschichte 20.2 (2001): 1–36.
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Inscriptions and membership lists (alba) of guilds of shipbuilders in Portus and Ostia indicate that their members were relatively well off.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Lafer, Renate. Omnes Collegiati, “Concurrite”! Brandbekämpfung im Imperium Romanum. Grazer Altertumskundliche Studien 7. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2001.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. Three guilds comprised the tria collegia principalia (three main associations): the centonarii (textile workers), fabri (builders), and dendrophori (woodcutters); all served as firefighters.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Individual Associations
  454.  
  455. Four individual associations have garnered significant attention: the cultores of Diana and Antinoüs published in Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum CIL14.2112, discussed in Bendlin 2011 and Mommsen 1843 (cited under Roman Legislation on Associations); the Iobakchoi of Athens (Inscriptiones Graecae, II2 IG II2 1368) in Kloppenborg and Ascough 2011 (cited under Collections of Primary Texts), Öhler 2004, and Merkelbach 1988; a Dionysos cult from the Roman Campania (Inscriptiones graecae urbis Romae IGUR, 160) in McLean 1993, Merkelbach 1988, and Scheid 1986; and a private Zeus association in Philadephia, Lydia (Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum third edition 985) discussed in Barton and Horsley 1981, Öhler 2004, and Stowers 1998.
  456.  
  457. Barton, Stephen, and G. H. R. Horsley. “A Hellenistic Cult Group and the New Testament Churches.” Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 24 (1981): 7–41.
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  459. After publishing the text of the inscription, the authors compare the 2nd-century BCE Zeus association known from (Syll3 985) with Paul’s early Christ-groups. Although purity is a major concern for both, early Christian morality was more rigorous and extensive.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Bendlin, Andreas. “Associations, Funerals, Sociality, and Roman Law: The Collegium of Diana and Antinous in Lanuvium (CIL 14.2112) Reconsidered.” In Aposteldekret und antikes Vereinswesen: Gemeinschaft und ihre Ordnung. Edited by Markus Öhler, 207–296. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 280. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
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  463. The most detailed recent critical reappraisal of CIL 14.2112, an association of cultores of Diana and Antinoüs founded in 133 CE. Bendlin discusses the issue of the political control of associations and rejects the view that this association should be used as a model of associations generally.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. McLean, Bradley H. “The Agrippinilla Inscription: Religious Associations and Early Christian Formation.” In Origins and Method: Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity: Essays in Honour of John C. Hurd. Edited by Bradley H. McLean, 239–270. Journal for the Study of the New Testament 86. Sheffield, UK: JSOT Press, 1993.
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  467. The most accessible publication of the Greek text, this essay discusses the Dionysos association associated with the household of Pompeia Agrippinilla (IGUR 160), which consisted of more than four hundred freeborn Romans and Greek slaves and freedmen.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Merkelbach, Reinhold. Die Hirten des Dionysos: Die Dionysos-Mysterien der römischen Kaiserzeit und der bukolische Roman des Longus. Stuttgart: B. G. Teubner, 1988.
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  471. Chapter 2, “Dionysische Vereine in der römischen Kaiserzeit” (pp. 15–30), discusses Dionysiac associations during the imperial period, including the association of Pompeia Agrippinilla (IGUR 160) and the Iobakchoi in Athens (IG II2 1368).
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Öhler, Markus. “Iobakchen und Christusverehrer: Das Christentum im Rahmen des antiken Vereinswesens.” In Inkulturation: Historische Beispiele und theologische Reflexionen zur Flexibilität und Widerständigkeit des Christlichen. Edited by Rupert Klieber and Martin Stowasser, 63–86. Theologie: Forschung und Wissenschaft 10. Vienna: Lit, 2004.
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475. Christ-groups shared many common features with associations such as the Iobakchoi (IG II2 1368) and the group at Philadelphia (Syll3 985). Christ-groups may have been attractive because of their inclusive practices and frequent banquets.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Scheid, John. “Le thiase du Metropolitan Museum (IGUR I, 160).” In L’association dionysiaque dans les sociétés anciennes: Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’École française de Rome (Rome, 24–25 mai 1984). Edited by the École Française de Rome 275–290. Collection de l’École Française de Rome 89. Paris: Les Éditions de Boccard, 1986.
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  479. An examination of the names in IGUR 160 indicates that the four hundred members of the Dionysos association belonged to a single senatorial family.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Stowers, Stanley K. “A Cult from Philadelphia: Oikos Religion or Cultic Association?” In The Early Church in Its Context: Essays in Honor of Everett Ferguson. Edited by Abraham J. Malherbe, Frederick W. Norris, and James W. Thompson, 287–301. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 90. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: E. J. Brill, 1998.
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. The Zeus association at Philadelphia (Syll3 985) was a private household cult, rather than a public association. In spite of the formula, “men and women, slave and free” that appears in the inscription, there is no egalitarianism practice reflected in the text.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Special Topics
  486.  
  487. Several important topics concerning associations are routinely discussed: their social, political, and economic functions and the benefits that members, benefactors, and the state derived from associations; how to assess the impact of occasional suppression of associations by the Roman Senate or the emperor; whether associations existed primarily to provide burial for their members; and the role of benefactors and patrons in associations. Recent literature has also raised the question of whether there were groups comparable with associations in Jewish Palestine, and whether Christ-groups ought to be treated as a species of the associative phenomenon.
  488.  
  489. Function
  490.  
  491. All agree that the main motivation for forming associations was conviviality (Arnaoutoglou 2011) and that the provision of burial was extremely common. There are several other functions, whether intended or not: the creation of social networks linking members to one another and to social elites (see Bendlin 2002 and Tran 2006, both cited under Italy); the facilitation of economic exchange, in particular in occupational guilds (Monson 2006, Venticinque 2010); supplying members with a sense of identity, honor, and self-determination (Jones 1999 [cited under Major Studies], Kloppenborg 1996 [cited under General Overviews], and Kolb 1995 [cited under Occupational Guilds]); and social integration into the city or state (Arnaoutoglou 1998 [cited under Athens], Arnaoutoglou 2003 [cited under Major Studies], Clauss 1998, Gutsfeld 1998, Hirschmann 2006, van Nijf 1997 [cited under Major Studies], Verboven 2009). Bendlin 2011 (cited under Individual Associations) notes that some associations expressly demonstrated loyalty to the emperor; Nock 1924 stresses the possibility of religious innovation; while Perry 2011 (cited under General Overviews) points out that associations were instruments of the elite in their contests for power.
  492.  
  493. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. “‘Ils étaient dans la ville, mais tout à fait en dehors de la cité’: Status and Identity in Private Religious Associations in Hellenistic Athens.” In Political Culture in the Greek City after the Classical Age. Edited by Onno M. van Nijf and Richard Alston, 27–48. Groningen-Royal Holloway Studies on the Greek City after the Classical Age 2. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2011.
  494. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  495. Associations functioned to assimilate non-elite populations into civic culture in Hellenistic Athens.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Clauss, Manfred. “Zur Integrationsleistung der römischen Vereinigungen—ein Kommentar.” In Gesellschaften im Vergleich: Forschungen aus Sozial- und Geschichtswissenschaften. Edited by Hartmut Kaelble and Jürgen Schriewer, 35–38. Comparative Studies Series 9. Frankfurt and New York: Peter Lang, 1998.
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  499. Because associations organized the population of cities and were often engaged in civic and imperial ceremonies, they served to stabilize and integrate urban populations.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Gutsfeld, Andreas. “Das Vereinigungswesen und die Städte in der römischen Kaiserzeit.” In Gesellschaften im Vergleich: Forschungen aus Sozial- und Geschichtswissenschaften. Edited by Hartmut Kaelble and Jürgen Schriewer, 13–33. Comparative Studies Series 9. Frankfurt and New York: Peter Lang, 1998.
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  503. The socially integrative function of Roman associations can be seen both in the ways they imitated civic structures and therefore replicated civic (and hierarchical) values, and in their functional contribution to the municipality through public activities and liturgies.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Hirschmann, Vera. “Macht durch Integration? Aspekte einer gesellschaftlichen Wechselwirkung zwischen Verein und Stadt am Beispiel der Mysten und Techniten des Dionysos von Smyrna.” In Vereine, Synagogen und Gemeinden im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien. Edited by Andreas Gutsfeld and Dietrich-Alex Koch, 41–59. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. Dionysos associations and Dionyiac Performers at Smyrna were thoroughly integrated into political and social networks. This contrasts with the Christ-groups in Smyrna (as reflected in the Martyrdom of Polycarp), who suffered because of nonintegration.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Monson, Andrew. “The Ethics and Economics of Ptolemaic Religious Associations.” Ancient Society 36 (2006): 221–238.
  510. DOI: 10.2143/AS.36.0.2017836Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. Monson suggests that membership in Egyptian cult associations “institutionalized informal ethical norms into formal rules that lowered the costs of transacting and facilitated cooperation among villagers” (p. 221).
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Nock, Arthur Darby. “The Historical Importance of Cult-Associations.” Classical Review 38.5–6 (1924): 105–108.
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  515. Cult associations facilitated the evolution of new religious ideas and, because they were modeled on the family, provided freedom that contrasted with the uncompromising imperial cult. Includes a brief discussion of the Dionysiac association that used the underground basilica near the Porta Maggiore at Rome.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Venticinque, Philip F. “Family Affairs: Guild Regulations and Family Relationships in Roman Egypt.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 50.2 (2010): 273–294.
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  519. People did not join associations to compensate for their subservient status, but rather to create and maintain bonds of trust among members.
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  521. Verboven, Koenraad. “Magistrates, Patrons and Benefactors of Collegia: Status Building and Romanisation in the Spanish, Gallic and German Provinces.” In Transforming Historical Landscapes in the Ancient Empires: Proceedings of the First Workshop, December 16–19 2007, Area of Research in Studies from Antiquity. Edited by Borja Antela-Bernárdez and Toni Ñaco del Hoyo, 159–167. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1986. Oxford: John and Erica Hedges, 2009.
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  523. In Roman Gaul and Germany, the spread of associations (all adopting municipal patrons) had the effect of integrating local elites and businessmen into the Roman order. This did not occur as much in Spain, where associations were not as common.
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  525. Roman Legislation on Associations
  526.  
  527. Since Mommsen 1843 there has been debate concerning the degree to which the Roman Senate restricted the activities and existence of associations. Reviews of the relevant legislation and imperial correspondence such as that between Pliny and Trajan can be found in Cotter 1996, De Ligt 2000, De Ligt 2001, and Radin 1910, and a collection of legislation is found in Ascough, et al. 2012 (cited under Collections of Primary Texts). Arnaoutoglou 2002 (cited under Asia Minor) has shown that such restrictions in Asia were temporary and ad hoc; in a comprehensive study, Bendlin 2005 (cited under Italy) shows the same for Italy. Liu 2005 shows that the relationship between the state and associations was “flexible.” Flambard 1977 deals with the situation in the republic that galvanized sentiment against associations.
  528.  
  529. Cotter, Wendy. “The Collegia and Roman Law: State Restrictions on Voluntary Associations, 64 BCE–200 CE.” In Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World. Edited by John S. Kloppenborg and Stephen G. Wilson, 74–89. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.
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  531. Cotter reviews legislation from the late republic to the end of the 2nd century (including the correspondence of Trajan and Pliny) and argues that while prohibitions and dissolutions of associations were frequent, associations continued to multiply.
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  533. De Ligt, Luuk. “Governmental Attitudes towards Markets and Collegia.” In Mercati permanenti e mercati periodici nel mondo romano: Atti degli incontri capresi di storia dell’economia antica, Capri 13–15 ottobre 1997. Edited by Elio Lo Cascio, 237–252. Pragmateiai 2. Bari, Italy: Edipuglia, 2000.
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  535. A discussion of Augustus’s lex Iulia de collegiis (Julian law on associations), which abolished most associations; and the senatusconsultum de collegiis tenuiorum (senatorial decree on associations for the poor), which allowed associations for funerary purposes.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. De Ligt, Luuk. “D. 47,22,1, Pr. 1 and the Formation of Semi-Public Collegia.” Latomus 60.2 (2001): 345–358.
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  539. The author examines legislation in the first three centuries CE and concludes that there were many semipublic associations that did not fall under the general imperial ban and therefore did not have to apply for permission to exist.
  540. Find this resource:
  541. Flambard, Jean-Marc. “Clodius, les collèges, la plèbe, et les esclaves: Recherches sur la politique populaire au milieu de Ier siècle.” Mélanges de l’École française de Rome: Antiquité 89.1 (1977): 115–156.
  542. DOI: 10.3406/mefr.1977.1098Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  543. A discussion of the paramilitary organization of associations by Clodius in the late republic and their transformation into operae (hired aiders, parties). The law to dissolve collegia in 64 BCE was aimed mainly at occupational guilds.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Liu, Jinyu. “Local Governments and Collegia: A New Appraisal of the Evidence.” In A Tall Order: Writing the Social History of the Ancient World: Essays in Honor of William V. Harris. Edited by Jean-Jacques Aubert and Zsuzsanna Várhelyi, 285–316. Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 216. Munich and Leipzig: K. G. Saur, 2005.
  546. DOI: 10.1515/9783110931419Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. A study of the relationship between local law and imperial law as it bore on the existence of associations.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Mommsen, Theodor. De Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum: Accedit Inscriptio Lanuvina. Kilia, Germany: Libraria Schwersiana, 1843.
  550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  551. The first major work on associations, Mommen’s book claimed that “funerary associations” (collegia funeraticia) were given an exception from the senate’s restriction on associations and that Christ-groups claimed this status as a means of protection from suppression.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Radin, Max. The Legislation of the Greeks and Romans on Corporations. New York: Tuttle, Morehouse, and Taylor, 1910.
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  555. A review of the legal standing of associations from the time of the Law of the Twelve Tables, through Augustus’s legislation, to the time of Alexander Severus (222–235 CE), when occupational guilds became public bodies.
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  557. Burial and Funerals
  558.  
  559. Involvement in the funerals and/or the actual burial of members was common in Greek (van Nijf 1997 [cited under Major Studies], Dittmann-Schöne 2010 [cited under Occupational Guilds]), Egyptian (Cenival 1972 [cited under Egypt]), and Roman associations (Hasegawa 2005 [cited under Italy]). Much of the secondary literature has focused on Roman associations and the issues of whether official “funerary associations” were a fiction of Roman jurists (Sakaguchi 2002), the demography of those who were buried by associations (Bodel 2008, Hasegawa 2005 [cited under Italy], Patterson 1992), the funding of funeral rites (Liu 2008), and the relation between association burials and Christian catacombs (Rebillard 2009).
  560.  
  561. Bodel, John. “From Columbaria to Catacombs: Collective Burial in Pagan and Christian Rome.” In Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context: Studies of Roman, Jewish, and Christian Burials. Edited by Laurie Brink and Deborah A. Green, 177–242. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008.
  562. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  563. While non-elite persons looked to associations for burial out of necessity, members of elite Roman households began to rely on associations to provide burial. Domestic slaves of elite households were the first to initiate burial services outside the biological family.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Liu, Jinyu. “The Economy of Endowments: The Case of the Roman Collegia.” In Pistoi dia tèn technèn: Bankers, Loans and Archives in the Ancient World: Studies in Honour of Raymond Bogaert. Edited by Koenraad Verboven, Katelijn Vandorpe, and Véronique Chankowski, 231–256. Studia Hellenistica 44. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters, 2008.
  566. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  567. In the Western Empire, endowments were given to associations to fund commemorative rites for deceased patrons and for the maintenance of graves and statues.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Patterson, John R. “Patronage, Collegia and Burial in Imperial Rome.” In Death in Towns: Urban Responses to the Dying and the Dead, 100–1600. Edited by Steven Bassett, 15–27. Leicester, UK: Leicester University Press, 1992.
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571. Copublished in New York by St. Martin’s Press. Traditional avenues for securing burial in Rome were unreliable and unstable, especially for nonelite members of households (slaves and freedmen). Sometimes elite households built family tombs that their dependents and domestic staff were expected to care for. In other instances, elites neglected the burial of their freedmen, so freedmen banded together to make contributions to pay for funerals.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Rebillard, Éric. The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity. Translated by Elizabeth Trapnell Rawlings and Jeanine Routier-Pucci. Cornell Studies in Classical Philology 59. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009.
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  575. Rebillard rejects as a fiction the notion of collegia funeraticia and argues that there is no evidence of the early Roman church owning or administering cemeteries or of a special funeral liturgy. Collegia owned cemeteries, and Rebillard thinks that their members could choose to be buried by the collegium or by their family.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. Sakaguchi, Akira. “On the So-Called ‘Collegia Funeraticia’ (Funeral Clubs).” Journal of Classical Studies 50 (2002): 67–77 .
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  579. In Japanese. The author examines the classical texts of Roman law on collegia funeraticia, Digest 47.22.1 and CIL 14.2112, and concludes that “collegia funeraticia” never existed as a legal category. Associations undertook burial of members but were never solely devoted to this task.
  580. Find this resource:
  581. Associations and the Economy
  582.  
  583. There is general agreement that occupational guilds did not function as modern trade unions to control economic sectors. There is, however, evidence of occasional strikes, discussed in Baldwin 1963 and Buckler 1923, but nothing to suggest that these weakened the Roman economy (MacMullen 1963). Occupational guilds were ubiquitous (Burford 1972, van Nijf 1997 [cited under Major Studies], Waltzing 1895–1900 [cited under Major Studies]) and were major forces contributing to the organization of the ancient economy (see Occupational Guilds).
  584.  
  585. Aubert, Jean-Jacques. “La gestion des collegia: Aspects juridiques, économiques et sociaux.” Cahiers du centre Gustave-Glotz 10.1 (1999): 49–69.
  586. DOI: 10.3406/ccgg.1999.1493Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  587. Occupational guilds functioned to advance the interests of specific crafts but did not have the organization or ability to control the Roman economy.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Baldwin, Barry H. “Strikes in the Roman Empire.” Classical Journal 59.2 (November 1963): 75–76.
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  591. Written as a supplement to MacMullen 1963, the author notes strikes by agricultural workers in Egypt, the Circumcellions in North Africa, and bakers in Ephesus in 362 CE.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Buckler, William H. “Labour Disputes in the Province of Asia.” In Anatolian Studies, Presented to Sir William Mitchell Ramsay. Edited by William H. Buckler and William M. Calder, 27–50. Publications of the University of Manchester 160. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1923.
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  595. Three 2nd-century CE inscriptions discuss labor unrest from the province of Asia: a baker’s strike in Ephesos; an imperial edict directed at laborers in Pergamon; and the settlement of a building dispute in Miletos. The causes of these labor disputes are unclear.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Burford, Alison. Craftsmen in Greek and Roman Society. Aspects of Greek and Roman Life. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972.
  598. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  599. A general survey of hand labor in Greek and Roman society, including discussion of occupational guilds.
  600. Find this resource:
  601. MacMullen, Ramsay. “A Note on Roman Strikes.” Classical Journal 58.6 (March 1963): 269–271.
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  603. The author rejects the suggestion that in the late Roman period when membership in occupational guilds became compulsory (see Carrié 2002, cited under Occupational Guilds), the economy weakened owing to increased strikes. Strikes were occasional, and are attested much before the 4th century.
  604. Find this resource:
  605. Benefaction and Patronage
  606.  
  607. Associations in both Greece and the Roman Empire relied in varying degrees on the largesse of benefactors or patrons. In some cases, benefaction was a matter of an endowment of an association requiring them to maintain the benefactor’s tomb (on the condition that they maintain a tomb; see Patterson 1992 [cited under Burial and Funerals]). Patronage in the Roman sense was not promoted in classical and Hellenistic Athens (Arnaoutoglou 1994), but under Roman influence became more widespread in during the imperial period (van Nijf 2003). Patron-client relationships were common, however, in the West (Clemente 1972) and included female patrons, as Hemelrijk 2008 shows.
  608.  
  609. Arnaoutoglou, Ilias. “Associations and Patronage in Ancient Athens.” Ancient Society 25 (1994): 5–17.
  610. DOI: 10.2143/AS.25.0.2005839Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  611. While patron-client relations developed between Athenian citizens and associations comprised of metics or foreigners, clientism was not compatible with the ideals of Athenian citizenship because it violated the ideal of equality. Greek associations of orgeones (sacrificing associates) were controlled by values of civic responsibility (liturgies) and friendship (philia).
  612. Find this resource:
  613. Clemente, Guido. “Il patronato nei collegia dell’impero romano.” Studi classici e orientali 21 (1972): 142–229.
  614. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  615. A survey and catalogue of 291 inscriptions from Spain, Gaul, Italy (excluding Rome), Rome, Ostia and Portus, Africa Proconsularis, and Illyricum mentioning patrons and a discussion of the social functions of patronage in the Latin West.
  616. Find this resource:
  617. Hemelrijk, Emily. “Patronesses and ‘Mothers’ of Roman Collegia.” Classical Antiquity 27.1 (April 2008): 115–162.
  618. DOI: 10.1525/ca.2008.27.1.115Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619. The author distinguishes between patronnesses and “mothers,” the latter being “social climbers from within the ranks of the collegia” (p. 116). Only twenty names of “mothers” are listed; the list of patronnesses is even smaller (fourteen). Several tables at the end collect the relevant data.
  620. Find this resource:
  621. van Nijf, Onno M. “Les élites comme patrons des associations professionalees dans l’Orient romain.” In Les élites et leurs facettes: Les élites locales dans le monde hellénistique et romain: Actes du colloque, Clermont-Ferrand, 24–26 novembre 2000. Edited by Mireille Cébeillac-Gervasoni and Laurent Lamoine, 307–321. Collection de l’École française de Rome 309. Clermont-Ferrand, France: Presses universitaires Blaise-Pascal, 2003.
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  623. Patronage in the Eastern Empire and the practice of associations erecting honorific decrees for their patrons allowed associations to present themselves as integrated within the local hierarchy, rather than being alternatives to civic structures.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Associations’ Buildings
  626.  
  627. In many instances, the buildings used by Greek and Egyptian associations cannot be identified. Scholae (meeting rooms) of collegia can be identified, both in Italy (Bollmann 1998) and in Gaul (Gros 1997).
  628.  
  629. Bollmann, Beate. Römische Vereinshäuser: Untersuchungen zu den Scholae der römischen Berufs-, Kult- und Augustalen-Kollegien in Italien. Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern, 1998.
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631. A comprehensive discussion of the buildings used by associations, including a discussion of methodological problems in identification, size, and furnishings, with special attention to Rome and Ostia. Includes catalogues of inscriptions from Roman associations, lists of divinities and dedications, and a catalogue of known meeting places.
  632. Find this resource:
  633. Gros, Pierre. “Maisons ou sièges de corporations? Les traces archéologiques du phénomène associatif dans la Gaule romaine méridionale.” Comptes-rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 141.1 (1997): 213–241.
  634. DOI: 10.3406/crai.1997.15724Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  635. The author discusses the floor plans of purpose-built scholae used by associations and those of converted residences. Some of these might have also served as sites for commercial activities.
  636. Find this resource:
  637. Judean Associations
  638.  
  639. The main evidence for Judean associations is provided by the community at Qumran (see Qumran as an Association), but archaeological evidence as discussed in Mendelsohn 1940 suggests that occupational associations were in existence prior to the Hellenistic period, and that dining societies existed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, as discussed in Baumgarten 1998 and Instone-Brewer and Harland 2008.
  640.  
  641. Baumgarten, Albert I. “Graeco-Roman Voluntary Associations and Ancient Jewish Sects.” In Jews in a Graeco-Roman World. Edited by Martin Goodman, 93–111. Oxford: Clarendon, 1998.
  642. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  643. The author suggests four points of comparison between associations and Jewish sects: both were either urban or composed of urbanites who fled to the countryside; the rate of literacy was high in both; associations, like Jewish sects, were instruments of religious innovation; and associations, like the Jewish sects, appealed to uprooted and dispossessed persons.
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Instone-Brewer, David, and Philip Harland. “Jewish Associations in Roman Palestine: Evidence from the Mishnah.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 5 (2008): 200–221.
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  647. The authors examine the Mishnah and conclude that chavurah often refers to a small association comprising fifteen to thirty members who met for banquets, particularly Passover meals.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Mendelsohn, Isaac. “Guilds in Ancient Palestine.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 80 (December 1940): 17–21.
  650. DOI: 10.2307/1355331Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  651. A combination of archaeological and literary evidence points to the existence of occupational guilds, especially connected to pottery production, even prior to the Hellenistic period.
  652. Find this resource:
  653. Qumran as an Association
  654.  
  655. Because of its articulated meal practices (Delcor 1968) and disciplinary code (Klinghardt 1994, Weinfeld 1986), the community at Qumran affords the possibility of strong comparisons with Greco-Roman associations. Baslez 2003 and Dombrowski 1966 pay special attention to linguistic parallels with Greek associations; Weinfeld 1986, Klinghardt 1994, Herrmann 2007, and Gillihan 2012 offer comprehensive comparisons indicating impressive similarities but observing some important distinctions of the Qumran group.
  656.  
  657. Baslez, Marie-François. “Recherches sur le yahad des manuscrits de Qumrân dans l’environnement associatif sémitique et grec.” In Les communautés religieuses dans le monde gréco-romain: essais de définition. Edited by Nicole Belayche and Simon Claude Mimouni, 75–92. Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, Sciences Religieuses 117. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003.
  658. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  659. In this vocabularic analysis of terms associated with Greek associations, Baslez suggests that the yahad of Qumran, which is founded on the idea of a community of goods, is a “hinge” between biblical traditions and Greek models of association, but not reducible to either.
  660. Find this resource:
  661. Delcor, Mathias. “Repas cultuels Esséniens et Thérapeutes, Thiases et Haburoth.” Revue de Qumran 6 (1968): 401–425.
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  663. Delcor observes that the Essene communal meal is not a “pure copy” of the common meals of associations, but like them and unlike a paschal meal, it was presided over by a priest rather than the father of the family (p. 411). Comparison with the meals of associations demonstrates the originality of Essene meals when seen in context of other Judean meal practices.
  664. Find this resource:
  665. Dombrowski, Bruno W. “HaYahad in 1QS and to koinon: An Instance of Early Greek and Jewish Synthesis.” Harvard Theological Review 59.3 (July 1966): 293–307.
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  667. The author argues that hayahad in the Manual of Discipline (1QS) from Qumran is a translation of to koinon (“what is in common”) and is the result of the hellenization of Jewish ideas and speech. After 100 CE, hayahad falls out of use as a result of the “re-Judaizing orthodoxy” that tried to avoid hellenization.
  668. Find this resource:
  669. Gillihan, Yonder Moynihan. Civic Ideology, Organization, and Law in the Rule Scrolls: A Comparative Study of the Covenanters’ Sect and Contemporary Voluntary Associations in Political Context. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 97. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2012.
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  671. Observing that associations tend to imitate civic structures, the author proposes a typology of associations, distinguishing between “assimilative associations,” which function to incorporate small groups into civic structures, and “alternate civic associations,” which claim superiority to the state. The Qumran yahad belongs to the latter type, reinforcing traditional Israelite distinctions between citizens and outsiders, full members and resident aliens, and priestly hierarchies, while claiming superiority and difference from the rest of the Judean politeia.
  672. Find this resource:
  673. Herrmann, Randolf. “Die Gemeinderegel von Qumran und das antike Vereinswesen.” In Jewish Identity in the Greco-Roman World: Jüdische Identität in der griechisch-römischen Welt. Edited by Jörg Frey, Daniel R. Schwartz, and Stephanie Gripentrog, 161–203. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 71. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: E. J. Brill, 2007.
  674. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004158382.i-435Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  675. A thorough comparison of Qumran and associations under the rubrics of self-designations; communal bylaws; membership at large; officials; founders of the groups; entrance, maintenance of membership, and exclusion; community of goods; possessions; punishments; and fines. The author notes both strong similarities and differences and concludes that one cannot show direct influence of Hellenistic associations on Qumran but that there are important analogies.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Klinghardt, Matthias. “The Manual of Discipline in the Light of Statutes of Hellenistic Associations.” Paper presented at a conference held in New York on 14–17 December 1992. In Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site: Present Realities and Future Prospects. Edited by John J. Collins, Michael Wise, Norman Golb, and Dennis Pardee, 251–270. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 722. New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1994.
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  679. Klinghardt offers a comparison of the bylaws of Hellenistic associations and the Manual of Discipline (1QS), observing close similarities in the genre and content.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Weinfeld, Moshe. The Organizational Pattern and the Penal Code of the Qumran Sect: A Comparison with Guilds and Religious Associations of the Hellenistic-Roman Period. Fribourg, Switzerland: Editions Universitaires, 1986.
  682. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  683. Copublished by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen. Weinfeld offers a close comparison of the Manual of Discipline (1QS) and the Damascus Covenant (CDC) with Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Christian, and Rabbinic groups, attending to the officials, entrance practices, bylaws, the probationary period (at Qumran), the legal force of the bylaws, and founders.
  684. Find this resource:
  685. Christ-Groups as Associations
  686.  
  687. A comparison of Christ-groups was advanced in Hatch 1881 (see also Kloppenborg 1993, cited under History of Scholarship) but not revived again until the 1980s with Barton and Horsley 1981 (cited under Individual Associations). Meeks 1983 initially rejects the comparison of Christ-groups with associations as salient, but more recently, Meeks 2009 accepts associations as a helpful model for Christ-groups. Öhler 2002 and Öhler 2005 consider the perception and self-representation of Christ-groups as associations; Alikin 2010 focuses on the practices of Christ-groups, seen as associations; while Clarke 2000 deals with leadership. Kloppenborg employs associations as heuristic models to discuss approaches to patronage in the letter of James (Kloppenborg 1999) and to discipline in the gospel of John (Kloppenborg 2011).
  688.  
  689. Alikin, Valeriy Alexandrovich. The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering: Origin, Development and Content of the Christian Gathering in the First to Third Centuries. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 102. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 2010.
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  691. On the assumption that Christ-groups, sociologically considered, functioned as cult associations, the author discusses the choice of a weekly feast day; the meaning of the weekly gatherings; and the use of preaching, praying, singing, and the reading of texts in these meetings.
  692. Find this resource:
  693. Clarke, Andrew D. Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and Ministers. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans, 2000.
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  695. Leadership patterns available to Christ-groups were voluntary associations, the family, and synagogues, none of which required the assumption of charismatic activities. These models were based on rank and status derived from birth, or on status acquired through acts of munificence. Paul’s model of leadership was “countercultural” insofar as it was not based on claims and displays of status and privilege but on the notion of “service” or “ministry.”
  696. Find this resource:
  697. Hatch, Edwin. The Organization of the Early Christian Churches: Eight Lectures Delivered before the University of Oxford in the Year 1880, on the Foundation of the Late Rev. John Bampton. Bampton Lectures 1880. London: Rivingtons, 1881.
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  699. “Bishops and Deacons” (pp. 26–54) argues that Christ-groups were similar to associations in their leadership structures (“overseers”) and the terminology used for meetings (synodoi and ekklēsia). In both groups, members contributed to a common fund and a shared meal, and membership was open to women and strangers, freedmen, and slaves.
  700. Find this resource:
  701. Kloppenborg, John S. “Patronage Avoidance in the Epistle of James.” Hervormde Theologiese Studies 55.4 (1999): 755–794.
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  703. The letter of James reflects a struggle over the cultivating of wealthy patrons to fund (and control) associations. The author of James argues against adopting patronage as inimical to the interests of the Christ-group.
  704. Find this resource:
  705. Kloppenborg, John S. “Disaffiliation in Associations and the ἀποσυναγωγός of John.” HTS Theologiese Studies 67.1 (2011): 1–16.
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  707. The exclusionary practices reflected in the gospel of John become intelligible on the model of the disciplinary practices of associations, which expelled members for behavioral infractions, including clique formation.
  708. Find this resource:
  709. Meeks, Wayne A. The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983.
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  711. Meeks offers four models of the formation of early Christ-groups: households, associations, synagogues, and philosophic or rhetorical schools (pp. 75–84). While acknowledging some similarities, he believes that the differences—Christian exclusivity and their translocal nature—are far more prevalent.
  712. Find this resource:
  713. Meeks, Wayne A. “Taking Stock and Moving On.” In After the First Urban Christians: The Social-Scientific Study of Pauline Christianity Twenty-Five Years Later. Edited by Todd D. Still and David G. Horrell, 134–146. London: T. & T. Clark, 2009.
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  715. In a review of Meeks 1983 and its reception, Meeks acknowledges the progress made in research on associations, which has led to “a correction of something I said earlier” (in Meeks 1983) regarding the comparability of associations and Christian groups (p. 141).
  716. Find this resource:
  717. Öhler, Markus. “Römisches Vereinsrecht und christliche Gemeinden.” In Zwischen den Reichen: Neues Testament und römische Herrschaft: Vorträge auf der ersten Konferenz der European Association for Biblical Studies. Edited by Michael Labahn and Jürgen Zangenberg, 51–71. Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter 36. Tübingen, Germany: Francke Verlag, 2002.
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  719. Christ-groups would have been seen as associations by outsiders, and because they were initially Judean associations, they were recognized as collegia antiqua and were exempt from state restrictions. Increasing tensions between Judeans and Christ-groups rendered the latter more exposed, first under Nero, and especially under Trajan.
  720. Find this resource:
  721. Öhler, Markus. “Die Jerusalemer Urgemeinde im Spiegel des antiken Vereinswesens.” New Testament Studies 51.3 (2005): 393–415.
  722. DOI: 10.1017/S0028688505000202Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  723. The author of Acts represents early Christ-groups with the characteristics of associations: employing fictive family languages, embodying the ideal of friendship, holding common property for mutual support, common meals, meetings in private houses, a hierarchical structure, and an egalitarian ideal. Differences include leadership by lower-ranked persons and unrestricted membership access.
  724. Find this resource:
  725. Pauline Churches and Associations
  726.  
  727. Heinrici 1877, like Hatch 1881 (cited under Christ-Groups as Associations) pioneered the comparison of Christ-groups and associations, but his insights were largely ignored until the late 20th and early 21st centuries, when Ascough 2000, Ascough 2003, and Ascough 2004 adduced significant connections between the Thessalonian Christ-group and occupational guilds. Ascough 1997 and Ascough 2006 address objections to using associations as comparators for Christ-groups. Ebel 2004 offers reasons why Christ-groups might successfully compete against other associations for members, and Kloppenborg 1996 focuses on disciplinary practices in Christ-groups and associations.
  728.  
  729. Ascough, Richard S. “Translocal Relationships among Voluntary Associations and Early Christianity.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 5.2 (1997): 223–241.
  730. DOI: 10.1353/earl.1997.0054Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  731. Against a common misperception (Meeks 1983, cited under Christ-Groups as Associations), Ascough shows, on the one hand, that some associations had translocal links, and, on the other, that Christ-groups were mainly focused on their own locale and did not form a coherent translocal network.
  732. Find this resource:
  733. Ascough, Richard S. “The Thessalonian Christian Community as a Professional Voluntary Association.” Journal of Biblical Literature 119.2 (Summer 2000): 311–328.
  734. DOI: 10.2307/3268489Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  735. The Christ-group at Thessalonike has many of the characteristics of an occupational association that was “Christianized” by Paul.
  736. Find this resource:
  737. Ascough, Richard S. Paul’s Macedonian Associations: The Social Context of Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. Wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2nd Series 161. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.
  738. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  739. Greco-Roman associations offer good heuristic models for understanding the organization of the Christ-groups at Thessalonike and Philippi.
  740. Find this resource:
  741. Ascough, Richard S. “A Question of Death: Paul’s Community-Building Language in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.” Journal of Biblical Literature 123.3 (Autumn 2004): 509–530.
  742. DOI: 10.2307/3268045Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  743. 1 Thessalonians displays a keen interest in the state of the dead, and in this sense is comparable to associations, which engaged in commemorative activities for their own deceased members.
  744. Find this resource:
  745. Ascough, Richard S. “Voluntary Associations and the Formation of Pauline Christian Communities: Overcoming the Objections.” In Vereine, Synagogen und Gemeinden im kaiserzeitlichen Kleinasien. Edited by Andreas Gutsfeld and Dietrich-Alex Koch, 149–183. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 25. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
  746. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  747. The author addresses common objections to using associations as comparanda for early Christ-groups relating to self-designations, leadership, egalitarianism, exclusivity, translocal links, morality, and cultic activities.
  748. Find this resource:
  749. Ebel, Eva. Die Attraktivität früher christlicher Gemeinden: Die Gemeinde von Korinth im Spiegel griechisch-römischer Vereine. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2nd Series 178. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.
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  751. Early Christ-groups competed directly with other associations for membership, and Ebel argues that the early Christian communities were perceived as associations, were in direct competition with other associations for new members, and were able to compete because they charged no membership dues, provided more frequent meetings, and had more inclusive membership.
  752. Find this resource:
  753. Heinrici, Georg. “Zur Geschichte der Anfänge paulinischer Gemeinden.” Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie 20 (1877): 89–130.
  754. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  755. One of the first to suggest associations as a model for the Corinthian Christ-group, Heinrici argues that it was composed of a domestic cult association and an occupational guild.
  756. Find this resource:
  757. Kloppenborg, John S. “Egalitarianism in the Myth and Rhetoric of Pauline Churches.” In Reimagining Christian Origins: A Colloquium Honoring Burton L. Mack. Edited by Elizabeth Castelli and Hal Taussig, 247–263. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity, 1996.
  758. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  759. The model of disciplinary practices in associations helps to contextualize Paul’s efforts at conflict resolution in the Corinthian Christ-group. Associations also tried to enforce resolution of disputes within the community’s forum rather than allowing it to go to outside courts.
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