EVERGETES,
i. e. well doing or Be∣nefactor. The Greeks called by that name, Men who had done some considerable Kind∣ness to their Country: Wherefore so many Kings were proud of the Epithet Evergetes.
'Tis no wonder then, if the Greeks, who were naturally inclined either to Flattery or Satyr, according to the good or bad usage they had received, were used to bestow this Title upon their Kings. Demosthenes says, that being deceived by the counterfeited Ver∣tue of Philip of Macedonia, they called him Benefactor. Antigonus, Sirnamed the Tutor and Giver, was by consent of all the Greeks called Evergetes. The Emperor Julian says, that the Titles of Saviour and Benefactor of the Country were formerly bestowed upon the River Nile, because of the Fertility that its overflowing brings every year to Aegypt. And at the birth of Osiris a voice was heard, says Plutarch, proclaiming that the great and well-doing King Osiris was born. Wherefore the Elogy of Evergetes flattering the Ambition of Princes, became afterwards a Sirname, affect∣ed by a great many of them, to distinguish them from those, who were called by their Name.
The Kings of Syria have very much affect∣ed this Epithet, as we see in their Medals. Alexander Eupator Evergetes, Demetrius, Philome∣tor Evergetes, Philippus Evergetes. Mithridates King of Pontus, the Father of Mithridates the Great, Sirnamed Eupator, is also called Evergetes in Strabo and Appian. The Kings of the Parthi∣ans have followed their Example, as it ap∣pears by the Medal of Arxanes, where he is named King of Kings, Just, Evergetes and Phil∣thellenes or Lover of the Greeks.
After the Romans had subdued Greece, the Greeks gave the same Titles to the Roman Em∣perors. And Philo the Jew, in imitation of them, gives the Titles of Saviour and Everge∣tes to the Emperors Augustus and Caligula. The Romans bestowed the same Titles upon Vespa∣sian at his return from Judaea, and upon Con∣stantine, after he had obtain'd the Victory over Maxentius the Tyrant.