Abstract
Scholars studying the social formations and practices of ancient Judean and Christian groups have long acknowledged the similarities between these groups and the voluntary associations of Greco-Roman antiquity. These groups met to socialize and eat together, to discuss and promote common interests, and to honour their divine and human benefactors. In this volume, Philip Harland collects association inscriptions whose texts and translations would otherwise be scattered throughout different and difficult to access volumes. (The first volume, by John Kloppenborg and Richard Ascough, appeared in 2011 and covers Attica, Central Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace.) Inscriptions are grouped according to geographical location. Each entry has the critical Greek text, a translation, epigraphical notes, comments (sometimes extensive), and a short bibliography. Some entries give additional inscriptional evidence when relevant to the discussion. The book also includes a Cumulative Index covering the first two volumes (pp. 449–564), which allows one to search for a particular deity (e.g., Dionysos), for Greek terms for associations or functionaries (e.g., sunagōgē or hiereus), or for a particular topic (e.g., fighting at meetings).
Harland’s volume represents an impressive scholarly achievement, for it contains a wealth of information on Gaeco-Roman religion, culture, and society, highly contextualized in the social organizations, self-presentations, and honorific practices of local groups. In the comments, scholars of Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity will find extensive and useful discussions of relevant topics. For example: do inscriptions mentioning Theos Hypsistos refer to the Judaean God (#96)? Would a non-Judaean priestess in the civic cult donate a meeting place for the synagogue (#113)? What regulations prevented the defilement of the group or its rituals (#117, #140)? The book is therefore an invaluable and accessible resource for anyone interested in voluntary associations—who they were, what they did, how they organized and described themselves—and the difference this makes to our understandings of ancient Judaism and early Christianity.