La popularité de Germanicus en Orient : les figures d’un prince héritier sous Tibère

Abstract

During his mission in Orient, in AD 18-19, Germanicus had the occasion to visit many cities and sanctuaries in Greece, Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt. The ancient historiography, in particular Tacitus, and the numerous epigraphic documents in his honour illustrate that the provincials received him favourably. Germanicus became Iulius in AD 4, according to a will of Augustus, and thereafter he represented the first successor of Tiberius, while his Claudian origins and his descendance from Marc Antony made him the most adequate member of the domus Augusta for managing a whole net of patronage in Orient. This article aims at examing the attitude, the acts and the benefactions of the young prince, as well as the reaction of the Greeks, in relation to the nature of the Principate of Tiberius and his policy towards the eastern provinces of the Empire. It seems thus that the memory of the young prince in the written and fi gurative monuments reflected also the Greek perception of the imperial power incarnated then by Germanicus himself.