The Roman elite in ancient Pompeii: private benefactors and public gratitude

In this lecture, using evidence from Pompeii, Professor Mario Torelli, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rome, will show how the funding of public works secured advancement in the ancient world.

Success in high public office in the Roman world was often achieved through the funding of public works. In return benefactors received a variety of special honours and distinctions, including honorary statues, and ultimately grand funerals and elaborate tombs.

In the late Republican and early imperial periods, prior to the centralisation of executive and fiscal powers in the emperor, finance to build temples and other public works was raised through donations from members of the senatorial aristocracy in Rome and by the wealthy elite in the rest of Italy and in the provinces. These donations could secure the prestige and electoral success essential for the ruling classes to secure high public office.