Seminar: Euergetism and Cultural Self-Positioning in the Roman World
The aim of this seminar is to explore the ways that the elite citizens of Asia Minor
chose to represent themselves to their fellow citizens and wider audiences and the
ways these identities were reflected in art and architecture.
Questions:
Euergetism: what does it mean? Why did elites spend their money in this way?
What did they fund? Go through your notes for egs of benefactors and their
projects.
*A. Zuiderhoek, The Politics of Munificence in the Roman Empire (Cambridge, 2009)
esp ch 5
*P. Veyne, Bread and Circuses (engl trans, London 1990), 101-56
What different sorts of identities were available for the elite? What roles did they
play?
G. Salmeri, ‘Dio, Rome, and the Civic life of Asia Minor’ in S. Swain ed., Dio
Chrysostom (Oxford, 2000) 53-92.
S. Swain, Hellenism and Empire (Oxford, 1996), ch 3
G. Bowersock, Greek sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969), ch 2
S. Goldhill ed, Being Greek under Rome (Cambridge, 2002) introduction and paper by
R. Preston.
How were these identities expressed in art and architecture? In addition to the
case studies below, find out more about other benefactors, eg. Herodes Atticus
R. R. R. Smith, ‘Cultural Choice and Political Identity in Honorific Portrait Statues in
the Second Century AD’, Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998), 56-93.
J. Tobin, Herodes Attikos and the City of Athens (Amsterdam, 1997), ch 1
S. Dillon, ‘The portraits of a civic benefactor of 2nd century Ephesos’, Journal of
Roman Archaeology 9 (1996) 261-274.
Presentations:
Give an account of each of the following and consider what particular
messages/functions are promoted through the art and architecture of these particular
monuments
– why did their benefactors choose precisely this form of benefaction?
– what does it says about them, and the cities they adorn?
– What role do inscriptions play in guiding our interpretation of the monuments?
Gate of Plancia Magna:
*M. T. Boatwright, ‘The City Gate of Plancia Magna in Perge’ in E. D’Ambra ed.,
Roman Art in Context. An Anthology (1993) 189-207.
R. van Bremen, The Limits of Participation 104-8.
J. Trimble, Women and visual replication in Roman Imperial Art and Culture (2011)
– see index
Library of Celsus:
R. R. R. Smith, ‘Cultural Choice and Political Identity in Honorific Portrait Statues in
the Greek East in the Second Century A.D.’ JRS 88 (1998) 56-93 esp 73-5.
Also P. Scherrer, Ephesus. The New Guide. (2000) 130-3.