Patterns of patronage, the politics and ideology of public building in the Eastern Roman Empire, 31 bce-600 ce

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis examines the private patronage of public building in selected cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, ca. 31 BCE to 600. It argues that the complex ideological and political meaning of public budding can be understood through the extension of a model of patron/client relations in Roman society which defines patronage as a reciprocal, non-commercial exchange of goods or services between people of different social status. Part One of the study demonstrates the usefulness of the model for examining the patterns of building patronage in early imperial Ephesos. The first chapter locates the ideological and political functions of the patronage of public building within the context of Roman patronage as a whole. Chapter Two uses epigraphic evidence to show that it was the local élite who dominated public budding at Ephesos and describes the types of structures they built. Chapter Three analyses the placement, form and content of building-related inscriptions from Ephesos in order to reveal the political and ideological meanings and motivations behind the private finance of public building. Chapter Four presents a case study in the social and political uses of building, focusing on a series of buildings and inscriptions related to the activities of Marcus Claudius Publius Vedius Antoninus Phaedrus Sabinianus, a prominent citizen of mid-second century Ephesos. In Part Two, the model is extended to budding patronage in Late Antique Asia Minor. Chapter Five uses the inscriptions of Aphrodisias and Ephesos to show that there were two major shifts in the Patterns of patronage ca. 284-600. In the first phase of development, the patronage of public building was dominated by provincial governors. In the second, responsibility for the finance of civic structures returned to the local élite. Chapter Six then analyses the language and content of building inscriptions in order to show that, despite these shifts in personnel, the ideological and political meaning of building remained remarkably constant from the first through sixth centuries CE.Ph.D