Opramoas was an important civic benefactor in the 2nd century CE. He is the best known ancient euergete. He was a magnate from the small Lycian town of Rhodiapolis (southern Anatolia, in modern Turkey). His activities are recorded in extensive Greek inscriptions on the walls of his mausoleum at Rhodiapolis.[1][2][3]

"...apart from his gifts of games and a mass of civic buildings, we have recently found him offering to pay for the primary schooling of all the citizen-children at Xanthus, boys and girls alike"..."he gave funds for burial to people in need and paid the dowries of poor families' daughters"[4]

He is mentioned in the French author Marguerite Yourcenar's novel Memoirs of Hadrian.

References

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  1. ^ C. Kokkinia, Opramoas, in: R. Bagnal et al. (ads), The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Malden M.A. 2012 and online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/9781444338386, sv.
  2. ^ A. Balland, Fouilles de Xanthos vol. 7, Paris 1981, pp. 173-224
  3. ^ E. Kalinka, Tituli Asiae Minoris vol. 2,3, Vienna 1944, no. 905; better edition by C. Kokkinia, Die Opramoas-Inschrift von Rhodiapolis. Euergetismus und Sociale Elite in Lykien, Bonn 2000 (with German translation); see a review of this book, in English, by A. D'Hautcourt, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002.09.06
  4. ^ R. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, London, 1986, p. 60