Евергетизам у касноантичком сакралном градитељству централног Балкана
Euergetism in Late Antique Sacral Architecture of the Central Balkans

Summary/Abstract: Euergetism is a modern term used in scholarly literature to denote dif­ferent actions undertaken by prominent members of a society aimed at contributing to the appearance or development of a city or society. It also implies the erection of public buildings and monuments – ktetorship, as well as their furnishing and decorating through lavish donations. The material traces of ktetor and donor activity during Late Antiquity are the continuation of the older practice, although they are generally quite rare when compared to the previous period. This paper is dedicated to the scarce late antique examples from the Central Balkans, in order to envision how euergetism is recorded in architectural monuments and some written historical sources, and how it changed during the same epoch alongside religious, political, and cultural changes. According to previous findings that can be positively tied to ktetor and donor activity, it seems that collective euergetism was more common during the 4th century, as is shown by textual floor mosaics from Ulpiana and Stojnik. The turbulent 5th century resulted in an almost complete lack of any material trace of such activity, except for a record in Passio Altera of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, stating that prefect Leontius erected a church dedicated to the same saint in Sirmium. Among preserved testimonies of euergetism in the relatively peaceful and prosperous 6th century, the attention in this text is primarily paid to written sources – Procopius’ Buildings, the imperial monogram of Justinian I from Justiniana Prima, and the inscription of antistes Stefanus from Izbičanj. According to previous testimonies, it can be concluded that euergetism changed following the needs of the new religion – Christianity, as well as the changed relations among the elite. Therefore, the collective euergetism slowly started to make way for more intense euergetism of a few rich individuals.

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