Euergetism and religion in the cities of the Peloponnese (first century BC to first century AD)

Yves Lafond (1)

1 HeRMA [Poitiers] - Hellénisation et romanisation dans le monde antique [EA 3811]

The aim of this chapter is to clarify the religious identity of the cities of the Peloponnese in the period between the first century BC and the first century AD. The documentary basis of this research consists of the honorific inscriptions which preserve the eulogies dedicated by the cities to their benefactors and help us describe how religious identities are constructed. These documents clearly reveal the desire to advertise the generosity of the benefactors within the religious space, in order to thank them for enabling the smooth functioning of religious life. This concerted celebration of the generosity of the elites reveals, on the one hand, the impact of a restricted social group on the civic body and on the other, the desire to conform to the most traditional euergetic models, thereby assuring a new civic order based on moral and religious values

Mots clés: epigraphy; Peloponnese; benefaction; piety; honorific decree; honorific statue; elite identity; civic values

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Histoire

Yves Lafond. Euergetism and religion in the cities of the Peloponnese (first century BC to first century AD): Between civic traditions and self-assertion of the elites. Milena Melfi and Olympia Bobou (ed.). Hellenistic sanctuaries‎ : between Greece and Rome, Oxford University Press, p. 18-26, 2016, 978-0-19-965413-0. ⟨hal-01485400⟩