TAILIEUCHUNG - Associations and Guilds: Varieties of Social Makeup
to the social makeup of early Christianity. Social Stratification in Greco-Roman Society . Burial coverage varied on the economic makeup of the . | Philip A. Harland. Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. Outline by Janelle Peters, RLNT 770 (Fall 2005) Part One: Associations in Roman Asia 1. Associations and Guilds: Varieties of Social Makeup Overview: While it is common to categorize associations according to their main purpose (religious, funerary, or otherwise), it is more useful to examine features (household, ethnic, neighborhood, occupational, and cult connections) with an analogical method. Associations were not socially homogenous groups as they are commonly represented. This is important to the social makeup of early Christianity. Social Stratification in Greco-Roman Society • The official social structure was a “steep pyramid” with four main levels (about 10% at the top): senatorial, equestrian, decurion, and plebian. o The “imperial elites” were 1% of the population. Emperor Senatorial aristocracy was comprised of a “few families.” 600 male members formed the senate. It was expected that each family would have 1 million sesterces. (Day laborer earned 1,000 sesterces a year.) Equestrian rank was a hereditary status and demanded property of 400,000 sesterces. Patronage connections, especially with the emperor, were important. o Decurion city elite paralleled the patronage structures of the imperial elites. They were 10% or less of a city’s population. o The majority of the population (90%) were peasant farmers, since Roman society was agriculturally based. o Jean-Pierre Waltzing (1895-1900), E. Kornemann (1901), George La Piana (1921) believed that the majority of associations were socially homogenous. Wayne Meeks (1983) also generalized them as such. Typology of Associations: A New Framework • Most common scholarly view was a purpose-centered typology: 1) burial, 2) cultic (collegia sodalicia), and 3) burial (collegia tenuiorum) o Mommsen (1843) influenced Waltzing with “many private associations, originally
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