Talk:Benefactors

" "Euergetism"

Reciprocity was basic to all forms of social interaction in ancient Mediterranean society. Cicero (De officiis 1.47), for example, tells us that if obligations are incurred between two parties, an adequate response is required, for no duty is more imperative than that of proving one's gratitude. Seneca (De beneficiis I.4.2), in turn, does not hesitate to point out reciprocal interchange constitutes the chief bond that holds people together in society. Within the socially stratified Graeco-Roman world the exchange of services were never voluntary, but always reciprocal.

According to the late first-century magnate, Dio Chrysostom of Prusa (Oratio 75.6), at least the following three social relationships were marked by reciprocal obligations: children to parents, beneficiaries to private benefactors, and cities to their public benefactors. Perhaps the best "introduction" to the last two of these exchange relation. ships is presented in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In his sketch of the so-called "magnificent" man (IV.2.5) and the "great-souled" man (IV.3. 1ff.), he presents us with the outlines of the two basic types of benefactors in the Hellenistic world: namely (a) the noble figure who engaged in collective undertakings for the common good of all his fellow citizens, and (b) the individual in the upper social strata of society who engaged in reciprocal interchanges of a more personal nature with status-equals, or near-equals. Following..."