Connecting present with a canonized past: Neos and Nea for individuals in the Imperial period

This article analyzes how the adjective Neos / Nea was used to honour elite individuals of Greek cities in the Imperial period as « new » gods, heroes or even mortals from the past. Through an analysis of all attested cases, we present honorands, divinities as honouring agents, the honorific title and the media involved and explore if these titles imply a ritual treatment of the honorands. A final discussion returns to seminal points : the meaning of the term Neos, the relationship between epithets and heroic honours, and the social hierarchy contrasting Emperors equated to new gods to other individuals honoured as important humans from the Classical past. We conclude that the practice of granting Neos epithets was influenced by the Second Sophistic and responded to socio-political needs of self-representation of the elites.