“The most sacred society (thiasos) of the Pythagoreans:” philosophers forming associations
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Philip A. Harland
Abstract
Scholarly use of the label “school” to describe groups of philosophers has sometimes led to a neglect of the ways in which such gatherings of philosophers could function as unofficial associations of recognizable types (e. g. “societies,” θίασοι). Concerns to distance supposedly “secular” philosophers from any “religious” connection have fed into this image of the philosophical “school,” diverting attention away from other important dimensions of associative life among philosophers and other literate professionals (e. g. physicians), including involvement in honours for the gods and in commensal activities. Epigraphic evidence helps to elucidate the broader associative context. The fact that some philosophers formed associations has implications for adjacent fields, such as Christian origins, where there is a tendency to ask whether groups of Jesus followers were socially analogous to a Judean synagogue, an association, or a philosophical school, as though these were distinct options rather than overlapping social phenomena. Such associations of relatively literate people were among the few in antiquity that can also be described using the scholarly category of “reading communities.”
Acknowledgment
Maia Kotrosits (Denison University) provided extensive feedback that helped to transform what has become this paper. I would also like to thank Tiziano Dorandi (Centre Jean Pépin, Paris), Ben Kelly (York University), Birgit van der Lans (University of Bergen) and John S. Kloppenborg (University of Toronto) for helpful suggestions at various stages of research and writing. I am grateful for the feedback of participants at the Italian Centre for Advanced Studies on Religions (in September 2016). Epigraphic and papyrological abbreviations in this article follow those outlined on the “Associations in the Greco-Roman World” website (under the tab ‘How to use this site’): http://www.philipharland.com/greco-roman-associations/?p=12/#abbrev.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Becoming Empire: Neo-Assyrian palaces and the creation of courtly culture
- “And in the fourth year Egypt rebelled ...” The Chronology of and Sources for Egypt’s Second Revolt (ca. 487–484 BC)
- A Divine Couple: Demeter Malophoros and Zeus Meilichios in Selinus
- The Power-Transition Crisis of the 160s–130s BCE and the Formation of the Parthian Empire
- Interpreting Funerary Inscriptions from the City of Rome
- “The most sacred society (thiasos) of the Pythagoreans:” philosophers forming associations
- Society and Civil War in Africa During the Tetrarchy: The Rebellion of Lucius Domitius Alexander (308–310 CE)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Becoming Empire: Neo-Assyrian palaces and the creation of courtly culture
- “And in the fourth year Egypt rebelled ...” The Chronology of and Sources for Egypt’s Second Revolt (ca. 487–484 BC)
- A Divine Couple: Demeter Malophoros and Zeus Meilichios in Selinus
- The Power-Transition Crisis of the 160s–130s BCE and the Formation of the Parthian Empire
- Interpreting Funerary Inscriptions from the City of Rome
- “The most sacred society (thiasos) of the Pythagoreans:” philosophers forming associations
- Society and Civil War in Africa During the Tetrarchy: The Rebellion of Lucius Domitius Alexander (308–310 CE)
