A neocorate was a rank or dignity granted by the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

and the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

under the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

to certain cities which had built temples to the Emperor or had established cults of members of the Imperial family. The city itself was referred to as ''neokoros'' (pl. ''neokoroi''). A temple dedicated to the emperor was also called ''neocorate''. Starting in the 2nd century CE, the title appeared on many coins. The term was first used as a title for a city for

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

and its

Temple of the Sebastoi The Temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesus, formerly called the Temple of Domitian, is a Roman temple dedicated to the Imperial cult of the Flavian dynasty. It was dedicated in CE 89/90 under the reign of Domitian. Its contemporary name is known from an ...

.Steven J. Friesen, ''Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John'', 2001, p. 43-55 There were approximately 37 cities holding the neocorate, concentrated in the

province of Asia The Asia ( grc, Ἀσία) was a Roman province covering most of western Anatolia, which was created following the Roman Republic's annexation of the Attalid Kingdom in 133 BC. After the establishment of the Roman Empire by Augustus, it was the ...

, but also in neighboring provinces.

Etymology

A ''neokoros'' (νεώκoρος or νεωκόρος) was a sort of warden or sacristan of a temple, probably derived from νεώς 'temple' + κορέω 'to sweep', thus literally a temple-sweeper.Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, ''

A Greek–English Lexicon ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell Henry George L ...

Notes

Bibliography

* Barbara Burrell, ''Neokoroi: Greek Cities and Roman Emperors'', Brill, 2004, {{ISBN, 90-04-12578-7.

External links

"Neocorate"
Coins celebrating the Neocorate, Coinarchives.com Roman towns types