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1 results

  • 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?
  • Edited by Marc Domingo Gygax, Princeton University, New Jersey, Arjan Zuiderhoek, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
  • Book:
    Benefactors and the Polis
    Published online:
    21 January 2021
    Print publication:
    18 February 2021, pp 297-329

  • 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.