Prizes of Citizens of Ancient North Pontic Cities
Skrzhinskaya М. V.
The article is devoted to various prizes received by citizens of ancient North Pontic cities for civil and war merits, as well as for the competitions held during festivities. The author bases her analysis upon epigraphic evidence, some passages from ancient writers and depictions on stelae, pedestals and painted burial vaults. The sum evidence of these sources from the 5th century BC to the 3rd century AD shows that citizens of ancient North Pontic cities received all kinds of prizes both at home and in many other cities. At the competitions the winners were crowned with wreaths and bands (tainiai) and were awarded costly gifts, including Panathenaean amphoras, a bronze hydria (won at the Athenean festival of Anakeia) and a silver discus. In Olbia, Chersonesus and Tyra there was a system of civil prizes, similar to that of Athens and other cities. These prizes included: a praise of the citizen's activity, a statue or a relief commemorating him, a stele erected in his name in a public place and bearing the decree of honour, a golden crown, the right of proedria granted to the person, an invitation to public regaling and proxeniai granting special rights and prerogatives to foreign citizens. As far as Bosporus is concerned, one can firmly attest only a few proxeniai and some prizes for local athletic competitions.