5 - The Vedii and the Associations of Ephesos

Summary

This chapter focuses on the honorific monuments that professional and neighborhood-based associations raised to members of the Vedii family. Studying their linguistic formulae, and their archaeological and historical contexts, it clarifies the social situation, and hints at the economic relationships that the Vedii had with the makers and sellers of goods in Ephesos, who were part of the plebs media. These inscriptions allow us to see these associations as key constituents of the urban community and the Vedii as having economic interests in them. Furthermore, we are able to map physically the influence of the family on the city Ephesos by locating the places of the neighborhood associations that honored them.