Ancient Greek clubs

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Ancient Greek clubs (Greek: ἑταιρείαι, hetaireiai) were associations of ancient Greeks who were united by a common interest or goal.

Types

The earliest reference of clubs in ancient Greece appears in the law of Solon, which is quoted in the Digest of Justinian I (47.22). This law guaranteed the administrative independence of such associations if they kept within the bounds of the law.[1]

The Digest mentions these associations for

inscriptions, including those related to burial practices and common meals.[citation needed
]

Political

During the time span of 448 and 431 BC, that is between the end of

courts
(Thuc. viii. 54). At this time their actions were not regarded as harmful or illegal by ancient Greek society.

The bitterness of party struggles in Greece during the Peloponnesian War meant that in many states they became a threat to local

Thuc. viii. 48 and 54). This is an example of how some of these political clubs had become secret conspiracies working outside the constitution
.

Religious

Ancient Greek religious clubs focused on the worship of a particular deity and had several names including thiasoi, eranoi and orgeones,. The thiasoi and orgeones clubs were often connected with deities foreign to the area and whose rites were of an orgiastic nature. These were deities that were not formally recognised and guaranteed by the state which meant no state provision was made for their worship.

Private individuals or groups had to provide

temples, sacrifices for non-state deities and this was the purpose of many of the religious clubs. The state, as the law of Solon shows, had no problem with the introduction of worship of foreign deities provided, it did not infringe the law and was not morally unwholesome. These religious clubs had all the rights of legal corporations
.

There were clubs supporting the cults of foreign deities such as

Cnidus contains a mutilated list of members of a thiasos includes apparently only one Cnidian citizen out of twelve, four slaves, and probably seven foreigners. This would suggest that it was the foreign population in the cities of Greece that tended to participate in this type of religious club.[3]

Organisation

Much of the evidence for the organisation of religious clubs comes from inscriptions from Greece. The religious associations took on organizational forms in imitation of the constitution of the city in which they were based. The clubs had laws, an assembly and magistrates or officers (typically epimeletai, a tamias (treasurer) and a grammateus (secretary)), as well as priests or priestesses, and organised finances.

Rules regulated the conditions of admission, which involved an entrance fee and an examination as to character; the contributions, payable by the month, and the steps to be taken to enforce payment, e.g. exclusion in case of persistent neglect of this duty. Rules also governed the use to be made of the revenues, such as the building or maintenance of temple or club-house, and the cost of crowns or other honours voted by the assembly to its officers.

This assembly, in accordance with the law, elected its officers once a year, and these, like those of the state itself, took an oath on entering office, and gave an account of their stewardship at the end of the year. Le Guen examines epigraphic evidence for an organisation known as the 'Dionysian Technites'.[4] Foucart discusses the 'orgeones' for the cult of the Mother of the Gods at the Peiraeus, and states that these clubs did not function in any sense as benefit clubs, or offer relief to the sick and needy.[3]

Religious clubs increased in number and importance in the later periods of Greek history, and a large proportion of the inscriptions relating to them belong to the

Laurium (Foucart, pp. 119 foll.). This Phrygian deity was introduced into Attica by a Lycian slave, employed by a Roman in working the mines at Laurium. He founded the cult
and the eranos which was to maintain it, and seems also to have drawn up the law regulating its ritual and government. This may indicate how similar religious clubs were organised earlier in the period.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5
    , retrieved 2023-09-08
  2. ISBN 978-1-108-61405-4
    , retrieved 2023-09-08
  3. ^ a b Foucart, Paul (1873), Les Associations religieuses chez les Grecs, Paris
  4. ^ Le Guen, B. (2001). Les Associations de Technites Dionysiaques À L’Époque Hellénistique I: Corpus Documentaire. Paris.

Further reading

  • Grote, Hist. of Greece, v. 360; AHJ Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, 208 foll.
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