Euergetism

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Euergetism , formed from the Greek verb εὐεργετέω (“to show a benefit”), means something like rule through demonstrative charity. In antiquity, these benefits, which individual individuals rendered to the citizenry, included public buildings in particular, but also festivals , gifts or grain donations , i.e. bread and games based on the Latin expression Panem et circenses coined by Juvenal (and often misunderstood) . The honorary title Euergetes is first 480 BC. Occupied. The modern term Évergétisme was introduced by the French classical philologist André Boulanger (1886-1958) as part of his doctoral thesis on Aelius Aristides in 1923 for rule through charity. In 1976 Paul Veyne presented the fundamental study of the phenomenon to this day .

Especially in Hellenism and during the Roman Empire , Euergetism was of great importance, especially in the cities of the eastern Mediterranean. Powerful and wealthy members of the municipal councils underscored their claim to leadership in the respective polis through foundations - games or grain donations - and charitable buildings - such as baths, theaters and aqueducts . On the one hand, the foundations served to convert economic capital into social capital and political influence in order to legitimize a prominent position vis-à-vis ordinary citizens, and, on the other hand, were often an expression of aristocratic rivalry. The greatest benefactor in the Roman Empire was therefore the emperor, whom no one could or was allowed to surpass. In the course of late antiquity , Euergetism then lost its importance, which was a factor that contributed to the change in the cityscape. Nevertheless, in the 6th century there were aristocrats in many places who donated festivals and buildings - now often churches; only with the final fall of the classical city at the end of antiquity did this tradition come to an end.

literature

  • Mark Beck: Political euergetism and its mainly non-bourgeois recipients in Hellenistic and Imperial Asia Minor and the Aegean region . Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2015.
  • Klaus Bringmann : The King as a benefactor. Observations and reflections on the Hellenistic monarchy . In: Jochen Bleicken (Ed.): Colloquium on the occasion of the 80th birthday of Alfred Heuss . Kallmünz 1993, pp. 83-95.
  • Peter Brown : Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD (2012). German by Michael Bayer and Karin Schuler: The treasure in heaven. The rise of Christianity and the fall of the Roman Empire . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-608-94849-3 .
  • Stefan Cramme: The importance of euergetism for the financing of urban tasks in the province of Asia . Dissertation University of Cologne, Cologne 2001 ( online ).
  • Werner Eck : Euergetism in the functional context of imperial cities . In: Michel Christol , O. Masson (ed.): Actes du Xe Congrès International d'Épigraphie Grecque et Latine, Nîmes, October 4–9, 1992 . Paris 1997, ISBN 2-85944-281-2 , pp. 305-331 .
  • Philippe Gauthier: Les cités grecques et leurs bienfaiteurs . de Boccard, Paris 1985.
  • Hans-Joachim Gehrke : Euergetism. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , Sp. 228-230.
  • Christina Kokkinia: The Opramoas Inscription from Rhodiapolis. Euergetism and the social elite in Lycia . Habelt, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-7749-2970-X .
  • Roland Oetjen: An Economic Model of Greek Euergetism . In: Roland Oetjen (Ed.): New Perspectives in Seleucid History, Numismatics and Archeology. Studies in Honor of Getzel M. Cohen . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2020, p. 108-122 .
  • Guy M. Rogers: Demosthenes of Oenoanda and models of euergetism . In: The Journal of Roman Studies . tape 81 , 1991, pp. 91-100 .
  • Paul Veyne : Le pain et le cirque. Sociologie historique d'un pluralisme politique . Editions du Seuil, Paris 1976. The translation, especially in the annotation apparatus, is greatly abbreviated: Bread and Games. Social power and political rule in ancient times . Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 3-593-34796-2 .
  • Michael Wörrle : From virtuous young man to stressed Euergeten. Reflections on the citizen image of Hellenistic decrees of honor . In: Michael Wörrle, Paul Zanker (eds.): Cityscape and citizenship in Hellenism . Beck, Munich 1995, p. 241-250 .
  • Arjan Zuiderhoek: The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire. Citizens, Elites, and Benefactors in Asia Minor . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-51930-4 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Mischa Meier : Euergetes. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 4, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01474-6 , column 228.
  2. ^ André Boulanger: Aelius Aristide et la sophistique dans la province d'Asie au IIe siècle de notre ère. E. de Boccard, Paris 1923, p. 25.