Book contents
- Benefactors and the Polis
- Benefactors and the Polis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Benefiting the Community in Early Greece
- Part II Classical Benefactors
- Part III Hellenistic Benefactors
- Part IV Benefactors and the Polis under Rome
- Part V The Decline and Fall of Euergetism?
- Chapter 11 Bishops and the Politics of Lithomania in Early Byzantium
- Chapter 12 Euergetism, Christianity and Municipal Culture in Late Antiquity, from Aquileia to Gerasa (Fourth to Sixth Centuries CE)
- Conclusion
- Index
- Index locorum
- References
Chapter 12 - Euergetism, Christianity and Municipal Culture in Late Antiquity, from Aquileia to Gerasa (Fourth to Sixth Centuries CE)
from Part V - The Decline and Fall of Euergetism?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 January 2021
- Benefactors and the Polis
- Benefactors and the Polis
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Benefiting the Community in Early Greece
- Part II Classical Benefactors
- Part III Hellenistic Benefactors
- Part IV Benefactors and the Polis under Rome
- Part V The Decline and Fall of Euergetism?
- Chapter 11 Bishops and the Politics of Lithomania in Early Byzantium
- Chapter 12 Euergetism, Christianity and Municipal Culture in Late Antiquity, from Aquileia to Gerasa (Fourth to Sixth Centuries CE)
- Conclusion
- Index
- Index locorum
- References
Summary
Is it legitimate to refer to a ‘Christian euergetism’? This is the question posed by this study, by examining a series of representations of benefactors on mosaic floors in the churches of Aquileia, Thessaloniki and Gerasa, from the fourth to the sixth centuries AD. Analysed in the light of their legal and municipal context, the portraits reveal a fundamental evolution of Late Antiquity society. Churches as private entities were the last places, after the reforms of Valentinian I, where it was possible to freely display one’s social prestige. They allowed the municipal elite to remain socially and religiously attractive. They provided a place of expression for the old competition that was at the root of municipal culture. This new form of euergetism took place in a society whose hierarchy of values had been reversed: the recognition of the imperial court and its agents was sought more than that of a people, whose cheers were expected at most.
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- Benefactors and the PolisThe Public Gift in the Greek Cities from the Homeric World to Late Antiquity, pp. 297 - 329Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
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