Praying, Wonder-Making and Advertising: The Epitynchanoi's Funerary Inscriptions

Summary

In the framework of this meeting kindly organized by prof. Maria Dzielska about Divine Men and Women in the History and Society of Late Hellenism, I have chosen to scrutinize once more three probably related documents, coming from the north-west corner of Phrygia, all of them involving one or several Epitynchanos, “initiated”, but nobody knows exactly to what or to whom. Some are styling themselves “great-priest” or “great-priestess”, they are soothsayers (one is an astrologist), healers, miracle-makers.

The Evidence

The best known of these documents was published by Sir W.M. Ramsay in 1883. Thanks to a collector, the French railway engineer Paul Gaudin, administrateur de la ligne de chemin de fer de Smyrne á Afioun Kara-Hissar, Ramsay had seen the stone not far from the ancient city of Acmonia, at Oturak, a place whose Turkish name might refer to a place of rest on the railway line. So, we cannot exclude the possibility that the stone came from elsewhere through the railway.

It is a Phrygian funerary altar, with heavily hammered reliefs, in the style of the Upper Tembris Valley's workshops; dated to 313/314 A.D., and inscribed on three sides. The inscriptions praise the deceased, named Epitynchanos, in an exalted mood. This altar has been erected to the memory of a member of a priestly family, whom we shall call Epitynchanoi, from a recurring name in this group.