Philoxenos of Cyrene and the Evolution of Benefaction in First-century AD Athens

Philoxenos was a prominent Cyrenaean citizen honoured by the Athenians in the age of Tiberius in a fragmentary decree inscribed at Cyrene (IR Cyrenaica 2020 C.1). The paper argues that he was honoured for contributions to the Athenian gymnasia and/or ephebeia, probably as an Athenian magistrate. Emphasising both his prominence at Athens and his Cyrenaean identity was in the interests of Philoxenos, Cyrene, and Athens. Comparison with other cases, especially Q. Trebellius Rufus of Tolosa, shows that Philoxenos is an early example of a 1st-century AD phenomenon, in which foreign benefactors to Athens were celebrated both in Athens and their ‘home’ communities. The dynamic has its origins in Late Republican Roman aristocrats’ patronage of Athens to demonstrate their paideia and foreshadows the importance of service in Athens for Greek civic elites during the 2nd century AD.