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Euergetes and Euergesia in Inscriptions for Public Benefactors from Macedonia*

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Euergetes and Euergesia in Inscriptions for Public Benefactors from Macedonia* doi: 10.2143/AWE.17.0.3284890 AWE 17 (2018) 83-118 EUERGETES AND EUERGESIA IN INSCRIPTIONS FOR PUBLIC BENEFACTORS FROM MACEDONIA* IOANNiS K. XYDOPOULOS Abstract This paper is a presentation of inscriptions in which Roman officials and local citizens are honoured by the cities of Macedonia as benefactors. Immediately after the Roman conquest, the term euergetes is not attested in inscriptions for local benefactors, while the Romans are named as such. The term appears for Greeks ca. the mid-1st century BC, thus implying the creation of a new Macedonian elite. I incline towards another suggestion, since there is evidence that the members of the old elites continued to play a vital part in their cities. The use of the term euergetes (εὐεργέτης – benefactor) occurs in the Hellenistic period, in honorary decrees for both rulers and illustrious citizens, to become wide- spread in the period ending in the 3rd century AD.1 The honorary attribution of this specific title by the Greek cities in such a long period is not surprising, as it echoes a custom deeply rooted in tradition. As early as the end of the Classical period, and especially after 300 BC, beneficence appears in various Greek cities in both main- land Greece and Asia Minor in the form of donations, pious offerings to institu- tions, choregic monuments or other expressions of generosity on behalf of the cities’ prominent citizens.2 What follows is a presentation of well-known honorary inscrip- tions, either voted by the council and the assembly or erected by individuals in cities of pre-Roman and Roman Macedonia, in which the title euergetes and/or the word euergesia are attested. People from southern Greece, Roman officials and local citizens from Macedonia are being honoured with this title during the long period ranging from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century AD. Revisiting this particular epigraphic * I wish to thank P.M. Nigdelis, M.B. Hatzopoulos and N. Giannakopoulos for their comments on this paper as well as the journal’s anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. All shortcomings remain mine. The inscriptions mentioned in the footnotes are found in the Appendix and references to them are shown as Appendix, No. 1, etc. 1 On euergetism in general, see Veyne 1990; Gauthier 1985; Quaß 1993; Oliver 2007; Zuider- hoek 2009; Müller 2011. 2 Xydopoulos 1999, 1372–73. Mladenović 2011, 181 argued that ‘individual municipal euerget- ism grew weaker as one moved further north from the Mediterranean’. I think one should be very careful with such general conclusions. 84 I.K. XYDOPOULOS evidence was necessary, due to specific observations made after its study by the author regarding the use of the title by the Macedonian cities from the era of the kings to late antiquity. In other words, an attempt will be made to illuminate the nature of the title given and the circumstances under which this was offered by a city to the honorands. 4th Century–168 BC Prior to the Roman conquest, the institution of beneficence is epigraphically attested in Macedonia. Although many Macedonians (both private individuals and officials) are honoured as benefactors in cities of southern Greece,3 in the cities of the king- dom of Macedonia not only is the epigraphic evidence for benefactors honoured with the title of euergetes scarce, but the people receiving such honours were prob- ably citizens of other Greek cities of the south – in any case, one cannot be certain whether the honorands were actually Macedonians. The first inscription was found in the area of Haghios Mamas, near ancient Potidaea, and is dated ca. 400–350 (pos- sibly 359–357) BC.4 The council (βουλή) and the assembly (ἐκκλησία) honoured Xenokritos, son of Amyntas, as proxenos and euergetes of the city. The typical gen- eral wording of the decree does not allow any hypotheses regarding the reasons for the honour. The second inscription, which comes from Philippoi and has not been dated yet, refers to the citizens of Antigoneia in Bottike as εὐεργέτας τοῦ [δ]ήμου.5 Even though L. Robert has suggested a possible restoration ([εἶναι δὲ προξένους] καὶ εὐεργέτας τοῦ [δ]ήμου),6 still it is not clear in which way the honorands had bene­ fited the city of Philippoi.7 In another decree from Akrothooi in Chalcidice, dated between 196 and 180 BC, the council and the people of the city honour Dorotheos from Alexandreia, in recognition of the epimeleia (care) he had shown to the city’s temple.8 Finally, one surviving inscription from Pydna refers to two individuals from Demetrias, namely Karponidas and Alexiphaes, who are honoured as proxenoi 3 Xydopoulos 2006, 152–70. 4 SEG 38, 662 (Appendix, No. 1); Hatzopoulos 1988, 55–61. 5 Pilhofer 2009, 681–83, no. 685; Hatzopoulos 1996 II, 56–57, no. 38 (Appendix, No. 2). Robert (1939, 144–46), after a detailed analysis of the available sources, suggested Antigoneia in Bottike as the city the honorands came from. 6 Robert 1939, 144. 7 A decree from the same city, dated most likely in the first quarter of the 2nd century BC (180– 170?), names a certain Deritas(?) as proxenos of the city. He was honoured because he had provided a non-interest loan to it. Still, there is no mention of the title euergetes, despite the great help he had provided to the city. Hatzopoulos 1993 (SEG 43, 448) and 1996 II, 56–57, no. 37 re-edited the inscrip- tion, discussing the financial problems Philippoi were facing during that period. See also Pilhofer 2009, 352–56, no. 348. 8 SEG 46, 710 (Appendix, No. 3); Hatzopoulos 1996 ΙΙ, 62, no. 43. EUERGETES AND EUERGESIA 85 and euergetai because they had contributed to the restoration of the statue of Apollo Dekadryos.9 The editor of the inscription does not rule out the possibility that the two honorands might have been the sculptors of the statue, without excluding the chance that they were the sponsors of the restoration. The inscription is probably dated before 168 BC and is related to the seizing of the Macedonian treasures of Dion by the Romans in the preceding year.10 As deduced from the above, apart from the cases of Akrothooi and Pydna where the ethnic names survived, it is not possible to identify the honorands as Macedo- nians or people coming from cities of the rest of the Greek world. In addition, the actual reasons for the honours paid to these individuals are not provided. The fact that one of the inscriptions comes from Potidaea (i.e. a city-state),11 the other from Philippoi (a city with a different status than that of the other cities of the Macedo- nian state),12 and the third from Akrothooi (namely, a city with mixed Greek and barbarian population),13 is perhaps a parameter supporting the suggestion that all these honorands bearing the title of euergetes were not Macedonians. Still, this does not mean that there were no local benefactors, who were just not mentioned by this title.14 Benefactions by those citizens were sometimes significant, while at other instances the honorands were mentioned even when their contributions were lesser offerings. Such is the case of the citizens of Gazoros who honour Plestis, a rich landowner fellow-citizen who had provided grain to his community at a reasonable price until the next harvest, in a decree dated most likely in 216/5 BC. Although the citizens of Gazoros are invited to imitate in the future the γεγενημένην εὐερ- γεσίαν, the honorand is not mentioned as a euergetes.15 In addition, an inscription 9 Bessios 1993, 1116–19 (= SEG 43, 451) (Appendix, No. 4); Hatzopoulos 1996 ΙΙ, 72–73, no. 55. 10 Hatzopoulos in Bulletin Épigraphique 1994, no. 389. 11 Philip II bestowed Potidaea, a colony of Corinth, on the Olynthians in 356 BC, whilst its citizens were sold as slaves (Diodorus 16. 8. 5). Therefore, the decree, dated to 359–357, comes from a city that did not yet belong to the Macedonian kingdom; cf. Flensted-Jensen 2004, 838–39. 12 On the status of Philippoi, see Hatzopoulos 1996 I, 127, 161, 205, 441. The city was incorpo- rated into the Macedonian kingdom during the reign of Perseus (see also Hatzopoulos’s comments in SEG 43, 448). 13 Thucydides 4. 109. 3–4; Flensted-Jensen 2004, 824. 14 See, for example, the cases in Ma 2013, 86–87 (with a special reference to Amphipolis): ‘In the gymnasion at Amphipolis, a base in front of the northern stoa perhaps belonged to an honorific statue for a benefactor.’ However, not every basis of a statue was used for a benefactor. There is nothing in the original publication of the archaeological finds that implies such a suggestion (Lazaridi 1990, 253). 15 Indicative is the decree from Gazoros edited by Veligianni 1983 (Appendix, No. 5). Related bibliography: Hatzopoulos 1996 II, 57, no. 39 (on the decree: 1996 I, 51–75, where he expresses his objections to Veligianni’s arguments); Paschidis 2006, 263–64 (in agreement with Hatzopoulos). Pilhofer (2009, 536, no. 543) poses the question whether the name Πλῆστις is the benefactor’s 86 I.K. XYDOPOULOS from Moryllos, dated to the period between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 2nd century, mentions a local citizen, Paramonos son of Samagoras, who decided to donate a cow. For many years, the cow’s offspring were sacrificed at the festival of Asclepius, to the satisfaction of both gods and citizens.16 The city decided to honour him by awarding him a θάλλινον wreath, wishing at the same time that others would follow his example (ll.
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