Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

the cities of the east 227
their support for one or the other of the colours, 145 and in this way made
sure that one of the factions at least would support him through thick and
thin. An emperor disposed of a wide range of favours by which to demonstrate
his partisanship: gifts in money or in kind, posts in the administration
and positive discrimination in the law courts.
The favour of the factions was sought by a wide range of people. Rich and
powerful men acted as patrons of the factions, and wealthy young men
figured among the organized fans. 146 At least one faction’s support was clearly
essential for anybody with the ambition to become emperor, as emperors
were well aware. When the emperor Phocas heard that the factions had put
up statues of his recently married son-in-law and daughter, he had the leaders
of the factions displayed naked in the Hippodrome, and was only with great
difficulty dissuaded from having them executed. 147 When the praetorian
prefect John the Cappadocian flaunted his support for the Greens, this was
taken as an indication that he had imperial ambitions. 148 When Germanus
decided to claim the empire from Phocas, he offered money to the Greens. 149
The means by which the wealthy and powerful could manipulate the factions
were similar to those at the disposal of the emperor, if on a smaller scale.
They could offer money, or wine or horses, or dancers, over and above those
provided out of taxation. So the accounts of the great Apion family of
Oxyrhynchus in Egypt regularly show payments in wine or in money to
employees of the Blue faction 150 – and even at least one to the Greens. 151
It was not only the great who looked to the factions to represent their
interests. This is suggested by the way minor disturbances escalated into
great riots. Often a riot started over a relatively trivial incident – typically,
fighting between fans of the two factions or the refusal of the authorities
to release a few members of one of the factions arrested for some misdemeanour.
But then attempts by the authorities to check the disturbance and
to punish breakers of the peace produced escalation, until great crowds
were roaming the streets and setting fire to buildings, and the situation was
completely out of control. 152 So it would seem that a large number of
people who did not take part in the street battles of the fans were prepared
to go into the street when they saw the activists being disciplined. It was
evidently a situation where a limited number of violent activists had the
passive support of a large part of the population, who identified with the
faction members when they saw them under pressure.
Alan Cameron has demonstrated that membership of factions, and the
division between them, was not based on either geographical or administrative
divisions of the city. It does, however, seem to have been the case
145 Cameron, Alan, Factions 127–9. 146 E.g. young Menander Protector: FHG iv.201–2.
147 Theoph. 294 AM 6099 (a.d. 606/7). 148 John Lydus, De Mag. iii.36.
149 Theoph. 293 AM 6098 (a.d. 605/6). 150 P.Oxy. 152; 2480.28, 82, 82–3 etc.; PSI 953.49, 77.
151 P.Oxy. 145. 152 E.g. the development of Nika riot: Procop. Wars i.24ff.; Malalas xviii.474–7.
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