'Bread and Circuses': Euergetism and municipal patronage in Roman Italy (Routledge Classical Monographs)

Cities in the ancient world relied on private generosity to provide many basic amenities, as well as expecting leading citizens to pay for 'bread and circuses' - free food and public entertainment. This collection of essays by leading scholars from the UK and USA explores the important phenomenon of benefaction and public patronage in Roman Italy. Ranging from the late republican period to the later Roman Empire, the contributions cover a wide range of topics, including the impact of benefactions and benefactors on the urban development of Roman Italy, on cultural and economic activity, and on the changing role of games and festivals in Roman society. They also explore the relationship between communities and their benefactors, whether these were local notables, senators, or the emperor himself, and examine how the nature of benefaction changed under the Empire. BOOK COVER......Page 1 TITLE......Page 4 COPYRIGHT......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 1 The patron as banker......Page 25 2 Public building, urban renewal and euergetism in early Imperial Italy......Page 41 3 The development of public entertainment venues in Rome and Italy......Page 59 4 Euergetism in its place......Page 74 5 The emperor and the cities of Italy......Page 102 6 Imperial building at Rome: the role of Constantine......Page 118 7 Favor populi......Page 138 8 ‘Restored utility, eternal city’......Page 155 Index......Page 180 A generation ago, analysis of the economic structure of the ancient world, where it did not concentrate on the effects of slavery, tended to be in terms of the polarity between a 'primitivist' and a 'modernist' interpretation.