Benefactors and the Polis

Analyses elite public generosity as a structural feature of the polis throughout all periods of ancient Greek history.

Fresh analysis of elite public giving in the Greek cities in all periods of ancient history, highlighting it as a structural feature of polis society. Surveys the main scholarly debates on the phenomenon and continuities and changes between periods, and provides new theories and insights.Historians generally study elite public gift-giving in ancient Greek cities as a phenomenon that gained prominence only in the Hellenistic and Roman imperial periods. The contributors to this volume challenge this perspective by offering analyses of various manifestations of elite public giving in the Greek cities from Homeric times until Late Antiquity, highlighting this as a structural feature of polis society from its origins in the early Archaic age to the world of the Christian Greek city in the early Byzantine period. They discuss existing interpretations, offer novel ideas and arguments, and stress continuities and changes over time. Bracketed by a substantial Introduction and Conclusion, the volume is accessible both to ancient historians and to scholars studying gift-giving in other times and places.