摘要
This paper aims to evaluate the data relating to the Koan elite around 200 BC,in the light of general trends of the post-Classical polis’s social history.The article first presents prosopographical information regarding the top contributors of the famous wartime subscription list(IG XII 4,1,75–77),their relatives,as well as other contributors with more modest amounts of money who can nevertheless be identified as rich,influential,and prominent members of the local community.The paper demonstrates the existence of an influential elite which exercised its power mostly outside the framework of political offices(archai),through religious activities and priesthoods,patronage in associations,and interstate connections.Furthermore,the paper identifies those factors that limited the influence of the elite:the instability of these families,the sustainment of democratic political institutions,and the tendency to emphasize communal efforts over individual benefactions–what is attested primarily by the specific Koan epigraphic habit.
