In the first two centuries AD, the eastern Roman provinces experienced a proliferation of elite public generosity unmatched in their previous or later history. In this study, Arjan Zuiderhoek attempts to answer the question why this should have been so. Focusing on Roman Asia Minor, he argues that the surge in elite public giving was not caused by the weak economic and financial position of the provincial cities, as has often been maintained, but by social and political developments and tensions within the Greek cities created by their integration into the Roman imperial system. As disparities of wealth and power within imperial polis society continued to widen, the exchange of gifts for honours between elite and non-elite citizens proved an excellent political mechanism for deflecting social tensions away from open conflicts towards communal celebrations of shared citizenship and the legitimation of power in the cities.
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In the first two centuries AD, the eastern Roman provinces experienced a proliferation of elite public generosity (gifts of buildings, festivals, distributions in exchange for public honours) unmatched in their previous or later history. This is a study of the motivations behind those public benefactions.
About the Author
Arjan Zuiderhoek is a lecturer in ancient history at Ghent University.
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This book concentrates on a central paradox of Roman social and political life under the Empire: how a society of such breathtaking inequality could produce an elite whose generosity towards their communities was, in terms of its sheer scope and extent, probably unique in the history of pre-industrial civilisations. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
increasing oligarchisation, bouleutic order, bouleutic elite, nature ofgifts, elite munificence, elite benefactors, demographic volatility, summae honorariae, civic euergetism, census minimum, social turnover, ancestor clauses, civic munificence, elite expenditure, recorded benefactions, honorific vocabulary, unpredictable mortality, civic hierarchy, elite income, ooo denarii, agonistic festivals, honorific inscriptions, individual handouts, civic taxes, oligarchic order Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Roman Empire, The Politics of Munificence, Roman Asia Minor, Dio Chrysostom, Carminius Claudianus, Marcus Aurelius, Vibius Salutaris, Antoninus Pius, Classical Greek, Claudius Erymneus, Julius Demosthenes, Classical Athens, Paul Veyne, Peter Brown, Classical Greece, Vedius Antoninus, Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, Pliny the Younger Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
This book concentrates on a central paradox of Roman social and political life under the Empire: how a society of such breathtaking inequality could produce an elite whose generosity towards their communities was, in terms of its sheer scope and extent, probably unique in the history of pre-industrial civilisations. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
increasing oligarchisation, bouleutic order, bouleutic elite, nature ofgifts, elite munificence, elite benefactors, demographic volatility, summae honorariae, civic euergetism, census minimum, social turnover, ancestor clauses, civic munificence, elite expenditure, recorded benefactions, honorific vocabulary, unpredictable mortality, civic hierarchy, elite income, ooo denarii, agonistic festivals, honorific inscriptions, individual handouts, civic taxes, oligarchic order Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Roman Empire, The Politics of Munificence, Roman Asia Minor, Dio Chrysostom, Carminius Claudianus, Marcus Aurelius, Vibius Salutaris, Antoninus Pius, Classical Greek, Claudius Erymneus, Julius Demosthenes, Classical Athens, Paul Veyne, Peter Brown, Classical Greece, Vedius Antoninus, Opramoas of Rhodiapolis, Pliny the Younger Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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