epigraphy

The article considers a social status of prominent members of political elite of Priene and civic values of the polis during the Early Hellenistic period. Honorary decrees for magistrates and military leaders show that the political elite of Priene in the late 4th and during the 3rd centuries BC based its authority on public office instead of wealth. Civic values in this period were still democratic and egalitarian. The social status of early Hellenistic elite of the polis contrasts with late Hellenistic elite, whose authority was founded on wealth.

The article deals withthe problem of amicitia Caesaris et populi Romani relations in Olbia, where the title σεβαστόγνωστος is fixed in honorary decrees, which can be translated as “familiar with the Augusti” or “known to the Augusti”. Based on the analysis of epigraphic and onomastic evidences, it is concluded that the title σεβαστόγνωστος goes back to a member of the new Olbian aristocracy, who rose to prominence during the “rebirth” of the city in the middle of the 1st century AD.