Ancient Greek clubs
Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek clubs were associations of ancient Greeks
who were united by a common interest or goal.
appears in the law of Solon
and is quoted incidentally in the Digest of Justinian I
(47.22). This guaranteed the administrative independence of the associations if they kept within the bounds of the law. The Digest mentions associations for religious practices, burial
, trade
, privateering, and communal meals. It also mentions deme
s, citizen groups based on subdivisions of land and phratries, kinship
groups. Information about the clubs have been found primarily on inscriptions including those related to burial practices and common meals.
, there were political clubs called hetairiai, within both the oligarchic and democratic parties. Supposed members included: Themistocles
, a leader in the Athenian democracy
,(Plut. Anistides, 2); Pericles
, a statesman, orator, and general of Athens, (Plut.
Per. 7 and 13); Cimon, an Athenian statesman
and general
, who had a hundred club member, hetairoi, following him (Plut. Cim. 17). The purpose of these associations was to secure favourable results at election
s and in the 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 constitution
s, and to democratic institutions. Aristotle
mentions (Politics, p. 1310 a) a secret oath taken by the members of oligarchic clubs, containing the promise, "I will be an enemy to the people, and will devise all the harm I can against them." At Athens, the Athenian coup of 411 BC
, a conspiracy against their democracy
was engineered, in part, by these clubs, which existed there and in the other cities of the Delian League
(Thuc. viii. 48 and 54). This is an example of how some of these political clubs had become secret conspiracies working outside the constitution
.
club
s focused on the worship of a particular deity
and had several names including thiasoi, eranoi and orgeones,. The thiasi 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 priest
s, temples, sacrifice
s for non-state deities and this was 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 corporation
s.
There were clubs supporting the cults of foreign deities such as Sabazius, Mater Magna (see Great mother of the gods) and Attis
, Adonis
, Isis
, Serapis
, Men Tyrannos. These were especially prevalent in seaports like the Peiraeus, Rhodes
, Smyrna
. A passage in Demosthenes
(de Corona, sect. 259 foll.) shows that the initiation at an early age in the rites of Sabazius did not gain credit for Aeschines
in the eyes of the "best men". The members of these religious clubs included women, freedmen, foreigners and slave
s but rarely people who held citizenship
by birth. An inscription found by Sir Charles Thomas Newton
at 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.
. 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, magistrates or officers (i.e. secretary, treasurer) 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. For further details on these points of internal government see Foucart's work (pp. 20 foll.), chiefly derived from inscriptions of the orgeones engaged in the cult of the Mother of the Gods at the Peiraeus. Foucart states that these clubs did not function in any sense as benefit clubs, or offer relief to the sick and needy.
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 Macedon
ian and Roman empire
s. One of the most interesting, found in 1868, belongs to the 2nd century A.D. and reveals the worship of Men Tyrannos at Laurium
(Foucart, pp. 119 foll.). This Phrygia
n 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.
Associations in Ancient Rome
, Hist. of Greece, v. 360; AHJ Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, 208 foll.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
who were united by a common interest or goal.
Types
The earliest reference of clubs in ancient GreeceAncient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
appears in the law of Solon
Solon
Solon was an Athenian statesman, lawmaker, and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in archaic Athens...
and is quoted incidentally in the Digest of Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(47.22). This guaranteed the administrative independence of the associations if they kept within the bounds of the law. The Digest mentions associations for religious practices, burial
Burial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
, trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
, privateering, and communal meals. It also mentions deme
Deme
In Ancient Greece, a deme or demos was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in...
s, citizen groups based on subdivisions of land and phratries, kinship
Kinship
Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....
groups. Information about the clubs have been found primarily on inscriptions including those related to burial practices and common meals.
Political
During the time span of 448 and 431 BC, that is between the end of Persian Wars and the start of the Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC, was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases...
, there were political clubs called hetairiai, within both the oligarchic and democratic parties. Supposed members included: Themistocles
Themistocles
Themistocles ; c. 524–459 BC, was an Athenian politician and a general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides...
, a leader in the Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
,(Plut. Anistides, 2); Pericles
Pericles
Pericles was a prominent and influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars...
, a statesman, orator, and general of Athens, (Plut.
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
Per. 7 and 13); Cimon, an Athenian statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
, who had a hundred club member, hetairoi, following him (Plut. Cim. 17). The purpose of these associations was to secure favourable results at election
Election
An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
s and in the 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 constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
s, and to democratic institutions. Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
mentions (Politics, p. 1310 a) a secret oath taken by the members of oligarchic clubs, containing the promise, "I will be an enemy to the people, and will devise all the harm I can against them." At Athens, the Athenian coup of 411 BC
Athenian coup of 411 BC
The Athenian coup of 411 BC was a revolutionary movement during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta that overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens by replacing it with a short-lived oligarchy known as The Four Hundred....
, a conspiracy against their democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
was engineered, in part, by these clubs, which existed there and in the other cities of the Delian League
Delian League
The Delian League, founded in circa 477 BC, was an association of Greek city-states, members numbering between 150 to 173, under the leadership of Athens, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Greco–Persian Wars...
(Thuc. viii. 48 and 54). This is an example of how some of these political clubs had become secret conspiracies working outside the constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
.
Religious
Ancient Greek religiousReligion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
club
Club
A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...
s focused on the worship of a particular deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
and had several names including thiasoi, eranoi and orgeones,. The thiasi and orgeones clubs were often connected with deities foreign to the area and whose rites were of an orgiastic
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
nature. These were deities that were not formally recognised and guaranteed by the state
Sovereign state
A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...
which meant no state provision was made for their worship. Private individuals or groups had to provide priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
s, temples, sacrifice
Sacrifice
Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or people to God or the gods as an act of propitiation or worship.While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering can be used for bloodless sacrifices of cereal food or artifacts...
s for non-state deities and this was 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 corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s.
There were clubs supporting the cults of foreign deities such as Sabazius, Mater Magna (see Great mother of the gods) and Attis
Attis
Attis was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration...
, Adonis
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
, Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
, Serapis
Serapis
Serapis or Sarapis is a Graeco-Egyptian name of God. Serapis was devised during the 3rd century BC on the orders of Ptolemy I of Egypt as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. The god was depicted as Greek in appearance, but with Egyptian trappings, and combined iconography...
, Men Tyrannos. These were especially prevalent in seaports like the Peiraeus, Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, Smyrna
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
. A passage in Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
(de Corona, sect. 259 foll.) shows that the initiation at an early age in the rites of Sabazius did not gain credit for Aeschines
Aeschines
Aeschines was a Greek statesman and one of the ten Attic orators.-Life:Although it is known he was born in Athens, the records regarding his parentage and early life are conflicting; but it seems probable that his parents, though poor, were respectable. Aeschines' father was Atrometus, an...
in the eyes of the "best men". The members of these religious clubs included women, freedmen, foreigners and slave
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
s but rarely people who held citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
by birth. An inscription found by Sir Charles Thomas Newton
Charles Thomas Newton
Sir Charles Thomas Newton was a British archaeologist. He was made KCB in 1887.Newton was born at Bredwardine in Herefordshire, and educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the British Museum in 1840 as an assistant in the Antiquities Department...
at 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.
Organisation
A lot of the evidence about the organisation of religious clubs comes from inscriptions from GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. 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, magistrates or officers (i.e. secretary, treasurer) 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. For further details on these points of internal government see Foucart's work (pp. 20 foll.), chiefly derived from inscriptions of the orgeones engaged in the cult of the Mother of the Gods at the Peiraeus. Foucart states that these clubs did not function in any sense as benefit clubs, or offer relief to the sick and needy.
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 Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....
ian and Roman empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
s. One of the most interesting, found in 1868, belongs to the 2nd century A.D. and reveals the worship of Men Tyrannos at Laurium
Laurium
Laurium or Lavrio is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki...
(Foucart, pp. 119 foll.). This Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
n 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
- SyssitiaSyssitiaThe syssitia was, in Ancient Greece, a common meal for men and youths in social or religious groups, especially in Crete and Sparta, though also in Megara in the time of Theognis and Corinth in the time of Periander .The banquets spoken of by Homer relate to this tradition...
- All pages starting with Hetair-
- AzoriaAzoriaAzoria is an archaeological site on a double-peaked hill overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello in eastern Crete in the Greek Aegean. "Azoria" is a local toponym, not apparently an ancient place name or epigraphically-attested Greek city...
, Crete (possible 6th c. B.C. andreion recovered in excavations at the site)
Associations in Ancient Rome
Further reading
GroteGeorge Grote
George Grote was an English classical historian, best known in the field for a major work, the voluminous History of Greece, still read.-Early life:He was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham in Kent...
, Hist. of Greece, v. 360; AHJ Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, 208 foll.