Competitive spaces: monarchical euergetism, urban space and integration in Hellenistic Athens (2nd century BC)

Abstract

After the critique of the ‘polis decadence’ model in the study of Hellenistic societies, many scholars started stressing the centrality of the ‘agonistic culture’ for the history of Mediterranean urban landscapes and international relations. Athens, a polis as culturally prestigious as militarily fragile, used its agonistic traditions to construct euergetic relations with Hellenistic monarchs. This article discusses the interaction between agonistic culture, euergetic practices, and integration processes, using the spatial interventions in the Athenian urban space during the second century BC as a case study. They are related to monarchical euergetism and to the Great Panathenaia