Benefactors and the Polis
The Public Gift in the Greek Cities from the Homeric World to Late Antiquity

Analyses elite public generosity as a structural feature of the polis throughout all periods of ancient Greek history.

Marc Domingo Gygax (Edited by), Arjan Zuiderhoek (Edited by)

9781108842051, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 February 2021

348 pages
15 x 23 x 2.5 cm, 0.69 kg

Historians generally study elite public gift-giving in ancient Greek cities as a phenomenon that gained prominence only in the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. The contributors to this volume challenge this perspective by offering analyses of various manifestations of elite public giving in the Greek cities from Homeric times until Late Antiquity, highlighting this as a structural feature of polis society from its origins in the early Archaic age to the world of the Christian Greek city in the early Byzantine period. They discuss existing interpretations, offer novel ideas and arguments, and stress continuities and changes over time. Bracketed by a substantial Introduction and Conclusion, the volume is accessible both to ancient historians and to scholars studying gift-giving in other times and places.

Introduction. Benefactors and the polis: a long-term perspective Marc Domingo Gygax and Arjan Zuiderhoek
Part I. Benefiting the Community in Early Greece: 1. Heroic benefactors? The limits of generosity in Homer Hans van Wees
2. The garden of Pisistratus: benefits and dues in archaic Athens Beate Wagner-Hasel
Part II. Classical Benefactors: 3. Classical Athens and the invention of civic euergetism Marc Domingo Gygax
4. The scale of benefaction Robin Osborne
Part III. Hellenistic Benefactors: 5. The politics of endowments Sitta von Reden
6. 'To be magnanimous and grateful': the entanglement of cities and empires in the Hellenistic Aegean Rolf Strootman
7. Socially embedded benefaction on Delos John Tully
Part IV. Benefactors and the Polis under Rome: 8. Emperors, benefaction and honorific practice in the Roman imperial Greek polis Carlos Noreña
9. Benefactors and the poleis in the Roman Empire: civic munificence in the Roman East in the context of the longue durée Arjan Zuiderhoek
10. Festivals and benefactors Onno van Nijf
Part V. The Decline and Fall of Euergetism?: 11. Bishops and the politics of lithomania in early Byzantium Daniel Caner
12. Euergetism, Christianity and municipal culture in Late Antiquity, from Aquileia to Gerasa (fourth–sixth centuries CE) Christophe Goddard
Conclusion Marc Domingo Gygax and Arjan Zuiderhoek
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], History [HB]