ABSTRACT
Kings and the Greek public were of the same opinion as to what characterized a real king: the great empires had been established with the sword, and must be defended by the sword, and a king must prove himself as a victorious warrior. But he was also expected to gain the support of gods and men, by offering them generous gifts: for the gods, sacrifices and votive offerings; for men, all kinds of beneficence, not least generous donations.2 In order to be able to practise the virtues of a great ruler, generosity and liberality, a king needed to be enormously rich – not in order to hoard his wealth in his palace as the Persian Great Kings had done, but in order to distribute it among the people. In praise of King Ptolemy II, Philadelphos Theokritos wrote (I quote A.S.F. Gow’s translation):
Yet not useless in that rich house lie the piles of gold like the riches of the ever-toiling ants. Much the glorious temples of the Gods receive, for first fruits ever, and many another gift he sends them; much has he given to mighty kings, to cities, and to his trusty comrades. And never comes there for the sacred contests of Dionysos one skilled to raise his clear-voiced song but he receives the gift his art deserves, and those mouth-pieces of the Muses sing of Ptolemy for his benefactions. And for a prosperous man what finer aim is there than to win him goodly fame on earth?
