The Greek City in the Roman Period each of the citizens throughout the whole festival, bytrikliniaandona
mass basis, and made the most lavish distributions to the tribes, so that,
wherever they wished to take their pleasure, they did so by his grace.
Not only has he spared no expense, but he has had a statue of Caesar
made at his own cost, and has offered it as a permanent memorial of
the beneficence of Augustus to all mankind; he has thus provided an
additional ornament for his native city, and for the god the appropriate
honour and favour.
For these reasons it seems appropriate to the council and people to
praise him for the enlightenment of his spirit and of his generosity
towards his native city, to crown him with a wreath and to vote a stone
(marble?) image of himself, of his father Apollonios and his mother
Stratto; to set up the statues and the decree in whatever place in the
agora theagōnothetēs[Apollonios] chooses, in order that other citizens
might be rendered eager to seek honour and to contribute generously
to their native city.
When the decree was voted (by the assembly), Apollonios accepted
the honour and the gratitude of his homeland, but relieved the city of
the expense.
It was voted on the th of Daisios.This very early inscription encapsulates almost all the key features of the
public life of the imperial Greek city: the role of festivals and of public, com-
munal celebrations; the importance of public writing and publicly placed
images; the ‘‘presence’’ of the absent emperor, both as an object of worship
and as visibly represented in his statue; and the central significance of the
complex symbolic, political, and financial exchanges between leading indi-
viduals and the mass of their fellow citizens which made up the institution
of euergetism. Given the early date, one element is missing: the progressive
extension to the leading families in most Greek cities of the Roman citi-
zenship, and, following on that the acquisition by their members of posi-
tions in the equestrian service and the Roman Senate. This steady evolution,
known to us almost entirely through honorific inscriptions put up by their
native cities, is familiar, and need not be re-examined here.^70 The effect was,
. A detailed study of the equestrian roles of men from the Greek cities is lacking.
See the classic sketch by A. Stein, ‘‘Zur sozialen Stellung der provinzialen Oberpriester,’’
Epitumbion Swoboda(), ; note also F. Quass, ‘‘Zur politischen Tätigkeit der muni-
zipalen Aristokratie des griechischen Ostens in der Kaiserzeit,’’Historia (): , esp.
–, for holders of equestrian posts. For senators, H. Halfmann,Die Senatoren aus dem
östlichen Teil des Imperium Romanum bis zum Ende des z. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. (); S. Pan-