Before any of our modern-day’s government set
up a help and assistance plan in case of emergency or catastrophe, the only
help any citizen could get was from his neighbor. For more serious matters like
fire, flooding or earthquake where more substantial help was needed, the role
of a benefactor was of the highest importance.
Even today, we still have millionaires and
billionaires who donate all or part of their fortune to a good cause, and in
some cases it may be the only help the recipients are getting. The role of
benefactor has not really changed over the course of history, but we seldom
connect it to antiquity. This thought hit me while travelling through Lycia in southwestern Turkey
The main benefactor or maybe the best known is Opramoas of Rhodiapoliswhocontributed approximately 2 billion
denarii for widespread activities, an enormous amount considering that the wage
of a shepherd or manual worker was about 10 denarii. This man deserved a post
of his own. (Please read: Opramoas of Rhodiapolis).
But there are
several others, who definitely merit to be mentioned as well:
A wealthy man from Lycia who donated large amounts to the city of Myra
Another Lycian
philanthropist and a contemporary of Opramoas
and Licinius Lanfus, said to have
contributed to the development many cities; 16 Lycian cities issued honorific
decrees for him. He is said to have given handsome monetary gifts to the city of Myra
Junia Theodora
Theodora was a lobbyist for Lycian interests at Corinth
Diogenes of Oenoanda was a philosopher and prominent citizen who
lived in the second century AD and is famous for making one of the most
extraordinary inscriptions of ancient times. He had found peace of mind in the
teachings of Epicurus and in
order to show the people in Oenoanda
the road to happiness, he commissioned an inscription 80 meters long and more
than 3 meters
high which set out Epicurean doctrines* in about 25,000 words. The huge
inscription was placed in the agora and its large inscribed letters were
painted - nobody could miss seeing them. This inscription is one of the
most important sources for the philosophical school of Epicurus. Today
it is broken but its fragments are being studied. Many of its blocks were used
for building houses, paving streets, etc. – most probably during the
early Christian era. They are being discovered one by one since the late
19th century.
This list is about Lycia
* Epicurism assured
people that there was nothing to fear from death, for the reason that there is
no afterlife: death is the end of us, because the only reality is physical
reality. It conveyed the ultimate conviction that individuals can live in
serene happiness, fortified by the continual experience of modest pleasures.