Orgeones in Phratries: A Mechanism of Social Integration in Attica

The word orgeon appears in the ancient Greek literature frequently enough to have been noted by the lexicographers, and rarely enough to require explanation. However, the picture delineated by the lexicographers' definitions differs significantly From that which is suggested by the epigraphic material produced in the Hellenistic and Roman periods by associations which were also called orgeones. These worshipped mainly Foreign deities, could include xenoi and appeared later; they are not mentioned by the lexico- graphers.
Nor are any distinctions drawn in the modern works of P. Foucart, F. Poland and E. Ziebarth. W.S. Ferguson was the first to distinguish between different types of orgeones corporations and analyze the particularities of their organiza- tion and cult.
But one crucial problem remained unsolved -that of the origins of the associations of orgeones, This article will attempt to demonstrate that the emergence of these institutions is connected with the history of the civic community in Attica and sheds some light on its early stages.