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Donations, endowments, and "foundations" in greco-roman antiquity : problems of terminology

• Αρναούτογλου, Ηλίας

Strategies of memory management in Greco-Roman antiquity varied greatly including among others dedication of statues, composition of epigrams. grandiose burial monuments, but also donations and endowments to counter the increasing demands of urban life in the poleis and to boost the symbolic capital of the benefactor. Scholars use the term “foundation” to describe any property transfer (of land or movables) to a collectivity (i.e. polis, civic subdivisions, gerousia, cult- and occupational associations) in order to finance from its income the performance on a regular basis of public (musical and athletic contests, sacrifices, banquets, provision of oil for the gymnasium, public buildings (baths, libraries), distribution of money or wheat) or private (funerary rites such as rhodismos and stephanosis) events associated with the memory of the benefactor(s), irrespective of the legal form that this transfer assumes. This approach is ambiguous since i) there was no term, either in Greek or in Latin, for a “foundation”, and ii) donations and endowments have each a distinctive set of rules and terms; for example, donations allowed the donator to alter the terms of it or to revoke it altogether. Moreover, since the solemn promise (epangelia) and donation was subject to acceptance by the collectivity, there was room for negotiation or even litigation. None of these alternatives appear in cases of “modal” endowments, whose execution depended exclusively on the conscientious adherence of the legatee to the wishes of the testator. Therefore, the aim of this article is to demonstrate that behind the wide but misleading use of the term “foundation”, more mundane legal forms consistently operate.Inscriptions are the almost exclusive source of information about donations and endowments. They may include the text (in its integrity or fragmentary) of a donation as well as of a testament or more often references to the benefactions of the honoured person in honorary decrees and funerary monuments. Normative texts are few and far between (IK 11 (Ephesos) 17; SEG 56.1359; Gnomon Idioslogos 17; SEG 56.1002).The all encompassing term “foundation” owes a great deal to B. Laum who in an admirable and still useful study of 1914 shaped the contours of the concept; nevertheless, while he wished to avoid a strict juridical definition of “Stiftung”, he succumbed to a wider designation, including donatiens. What Laum’s approach lacks is a consideration of the structure which is going to administer the property transferred. In particular, appointing a collectivity (through a donation sub modo or a modal endowment) to manage a property serves the mode imposed in a quite different manner, largely depending on the prestige of the collectivity, than setting up an ad hoc structure to do exactly the same thing. The great majority of “foundations” in Greco-Roman antiquity are but donations or endowments sub modo-, the term “(proto) foundation” should be reserved for an institutional arrangement appearing mainly in the Hellenistic communities of the Doric Aegean, according to which property was transferred not to an existing collectivity but to one created on purpose by the testator in order to administer the bequeathed property and to perform the prescribed rites. (SEG 15.637; IG xii (4) 348; IG xii (3) 330; IK 34 (Mylasa) 421-423; SEG 33.946; BCH 15 (1891) 550 no. 22) There is no need to assume that there is some sort of historical evolution from one form to another, since “(proto) foundations” seem to operate side-by-side with donations as well as endowments sub modo. Despite the lack of a consistently used terminology, in the great majority of cases there is a clear-cut distinction between transactions performed when the donator is alive (donations (in vivo) are described by terms such as anatithemi, aniern, aphiero. didomi. döroumai, epididömi, kathierö, charizö, dosis. kata dörean) and transactions mortis causa (endowments are designated with the terms, apoleipo, aphekö, didomi. epikataleipS, kataleipS, apoleipsis, kataleipsis, lëgaton. kata diathêkên. dia diathëkës).

• Law
• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία
• Δίκαιο

δωρεά (υπό τρόπο), κληροδοσία (υπό τρόπο), κληροδότημα, ίδρυμα, διαθήκη, donation (sub modo), endowment (sub modo), bequest, legatum, foundation, testament

Πρώιμη μορφή του άρθρου παρουσιάστηκε στην 14η ετήσια συνάντηση των ιστορικών του δικαίου στην Κομοτηνή τον Νοέμβριο του 2011 και στο μεταπτυχιακό σεμινάριο αρχαίας ιστορίας του Τμήματος Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας του Εθνικού και Καποδιστριακού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών τον Μάιο του 2012. Ο υπογράφων ευχαριστεί τους μετέχοντες και ιδιαίτερα την καθ. I. Βελισσαροπούλου-Καράκωστα και την επίκ. καθ. Σ. Ανεζίρη για την ευκαιρία να αναπτύξει τις παραπάνω θέσεις, αλλά και για τις παρατηρήσεις τους., Το άρθρο περιέχεται στο τεύχος-αφιέρωμα: Μνήμη Μενελάου Α. Τουρτόγλου

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