A Funerary Foundation from Hellenistic Lycia

Abstract

A recently published hellenistic (2^nd c. AD?) inscription, probably from Tlos (or Xanthos), prescribes the establishment of a foundation which is to pay cult in perpetuity (but beginning in the donor’s lifetime) to the «hero of» the founder Symmasis son of Sortias and his wife Mamma; also to «Sun who raised up Symmasis and his wife». The sum donated by Symmasis is to be loaned out at interest by administrators probably appointed from and by a koinon of metalworkers which is given a large role in supervising the endowment; the main celebrants of the cult, however, are to be a group of not more than ten males directly descended from Symmasis or married to direct descendants. This article discusses Symmasis’ foundation in relation to previous Lycian traditions of commemorative feasting, to the role of koina in commemoration, and to «family foundations» such as that of Epicteta on Thera; Symmasis’ foundation is a novel hybrid. It also discusses Symmasis’ religious ideas and the unexpected attestation of a professional koinon in Hellenistic Lycia.