Λαμπροτáτη πóλις: The Festivals in the Roman Province of Thrace as Evidence for Inter-city Rivalry

Abstract

The paper aims to present the way in which the municipal festivals became a reflection of open political competition between the cities of the Roman province of Thrace, drawing parallels with cities in other eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. The inter-city rivalry in the province of Thrace is analyzed in the context of the agonistic culture embedded in it as a Roman province under the strong influence of the Hellenistic heritage. Despite the presence of the agonistic programme, the cult worship remains the core of the festival. The process of agonistic festivals merging with the worship of the imperial cult in the Roman Empire was two-folded. On the one hand it was a way for the provincial cities to worship the Roman emperor, hoping thereby to gain his favor. On the other hand, the festivals themselves became an essential part of the propaganda of the central Roman authorities, which being in a position to establish new provincial and municipal festivals, displayed clear preference for some cities and ignored others. This policy inevitably gave rise to rivalry and inter-city competition in the provinces. The role of the agonistic festivals as a political tool to sow the seeds of discord between the cities can also be seen in the Roman province of Thrace. The epigraphic and numismatic evidence from the province of Thrace testifying for changes in the festival names and the dates of the festival editions makes it possible to trace the stages of this peculiar bilateral dialogue between the cities and the central Roman authorities. The epigraphic and numismatic evidence for festivals in Thrace should not be dated, grosso modo, to the late 2nd – first half of the 3rd c. AD. The connection between them, the official worship of the imperial cult and the policy of granting the title neokoros, allows us to trace their diachronic development. Thus, the dates of different festival editions could be refined and certain regularities in their holding valid for the specific historical period could be noticed.