Associations, athletes, and emperors: a new reading of an inscribed signet ring

Abstract

This article concerns a bronze signet ring, part of the collections of the British Museum, which unexpectedly reveals new information about associations in the Roman world. The ring, dating to the Imperial period, is engraved with a Greek inscription, connecting the object to an otherwise unknown association (σύνοδος) of Tarseans. Having received little attention in scholarship, the object and its inscription are here re-examined. I provide a new reading and interpretation of the signet ring, with implications for understanding the nature of the association of Tarseans. Parallel examples of seals of associations are discussed. The article then raises questions about the use of seals by ancient associations more broadly, assessing what the presence, or indeed absence, of collective seals may tell us about their group identity and place in society. Increasingly prominent in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, associations occupied a space between the private and public spheres, and evidence of seal usage by some of these groups confi rms that they could act in a similar manner to state institutions, signing and sealing agreements not only on an individual basis, but also as a collective.1 That said, very few examples of seal usage by associations are known. Clearly, a special place is held by associations of athletes and artists, global players on the Roman imperial stage, who administered their membership and privileges, and sealed their deals with Roman emperors.

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