Associations in the Greco-Roman World (AGRW)

An expanding collection of inscriptions, papyri, and other sources in translation (run by Philip A. Harland)

Regulations for Entry into a Temple (I BCE) Ptolemais Hermiou - Upper Egypt


Ptolemais Hermiou (Upper Egypt, Egypt — Pleiades map), I BCE
André Bernand, La prose sur pierre dans l’Égypte hellénistique et romaine (Paris: CNRS, 1992), no. 47 = SB I 3451 = PHI 219987 = CGRN 144 (with French translation and English commentary) = AGRW ID# 16232


bibliography            

Although no association is mentioned here, this regulation for entrance sheds light on similar temple-regulations connected to associations, such as the Dionysiac initiates at Smyrna (see GRA 140 = ISmyrna 728).

Those entering into the … temple (?) … are to be pure in accordance with the following: from illness of one’s own family member or … of another person (?) … on the 7th day; from death at child–birth, having taken part in a miscarriage (or: abortion), on the 40th day; from having given birth and nursed, on the … xth day; and if it is exposed, on the 14th day; from having sex with a woman on the 2nd day, and the same holds for women having sex with men; responsibility for a miscarriage (or: abortion) on the 40th day, … on account of encountering death (?) … ; and giving birth and nursing on the … xth day; and if the infant is exposed on the 14th day; from a woman’s monthly period on the 7th day; … the woman from (?) having sex with a man on the 2nd day; and from contact with (?) myrtle on the 2nd day.

Translation by: Harland



τοὺς εἰσιόντας εἰς τὸ̣ [ἱερὸν] ǀ ἁγνεύειν κατὰ ὑποκε̣[ίμενα]· ǀ ἀπὸ πάθους ἰδίου καὶ [ἀλλοτρίου] ǀ ἡμέρας ζʹ, ἀπ̣’ ἀπαλλ[αγῇ ἡ γο]ǀǀ[ν]ή, ἐκτρωσμοῦ συν[ελθόντος, μʹ]. ǀ τετοκυαίας καὶ τρεφούσης ․ʹ· ǀ καὶ ἐὰν ἐχθῇ ιδʹ· τοὺς δὲ ἄ[νδρας] ǀ [ἀ]πὸ γυναικὸς βʹ, τὰς δὲ γ[υναῖκας] ǀ ἀκολούθως τοῖς ἀνδρά[σιν· τὴν μὲν αἰτί]ǀǀαν ἐκτρωσμοῦ μʹ, [ἀπαλλαγῆς ἔνεκα]· ǀ τὴν δὲ τεκοῦσαν καὶ τρέ̣[φουσαν ․ʹ]· ǀ [ἐ]ὰν δὲ ἐχθῇ τὸ βρέφος [ιδʹ]· ǀ ἀπὸ καταμηνίων ζʹ· [τὰς δὲ γυναῖκας ἀπ’] ǀ ἀνδρὸς βʹ, μυρσίνην δὲ [βʹ].

Item added: February 6, 2015
Item modified: November 22, 2022
ID number: 16232
Short link address:
http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=16232

Leave a Question, Comment or Correction

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*