The essay examines the terminology used, in the Greek literary and epigraphical sources – from the classical age down to Roman times –, to indicate the ambassadors: while the nouns presbeis and presbeutai are indifferently used to define the diplomatic agents sent abroad by the Greek poleis in the classical and early Hellenistic times, as both the literary and the epigraphical evidence make clear, and while the literary sources show no recognizable effort to distinguish between Greek and Roman envoys (though they had a much different status) there is a more technical usage in the Greek inscriptions, copies of Roman documents. The examination of the epigraphical dossier concerning the Roman commissions of decem legati, sent to the East in various occasions, allows to conclude that the Roman envoys (legati) were always called presbeutai, while the noun presbeis was only reserved to the Greek ambassadors.
"Presbeis", "presbeutai" e "legati" fra il mondo greco e Roma.
GAZZANO, FRANCESCA
2007-01-01
Abstract
The essay examines the terminology used, in the Greek literary and epigraphical sources – from the classical age down to Roman times –, to indicate the ambassadors: while the nouns presbeis and presbeutai are indifferently used to define the diplomatic agents sent abroad by the Greek poleis in the classical and early Hellenistic times, as both the literary and the epigraphical evidence make clear, and while the literary sources show no recognizable effort to distinguish between Greek and Roman envoys (though they had a much different status) there is a more technical usage in the Greek inscriptions, copies of Roman documents. The examination of the epigraphical dossier concerning the Roman commissions of decem legati, sent to the East in various occasions, allows to conclude that the Roman envoys (legati) were always called presbeutai, while the noun presbeis was only reserved to the Greek ambassadors.
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