ENGLISH

The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire: Citizens, Elites and Benefactors in Asia Minor (Greek Culture in the Roman World)

By Arjan Zuiderhoek

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2009
ISBN
0521519306, 9780521519304
LCC
DF240 .Z85 2009
Open Library ID
OL22849503M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1078963 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
186\206
Topic
History
Library
torrents.ru tech collections 2009-11-14
Time added
2010-01-11 02:35:34
Исторические дисциплины;Всемирная история;История

Description

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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