Riet van Bremen's last lesson dealt with the representation of Hellenistic neos in the plastic arts and through certain portraits or anecdotes handed down through literary tradition, since it is only through these that we can form an idea of their physical appearance or mental characteristics. Epigraphy has its place among our sources of information, as shown by the case, in Macedonia, of the sons of Noumenios, who are known to us through a letter from King Antigone Dôsôn(SEG 48, 783 and 51,796). But it is above all literature, sometimes colorful, that provides us with biographical details and portraits of the members of this "golden youth". We must, of course, beware of the caricatures that literary topoi can generate. Thus, in the tradition of classical thought (of which Polybius is the full heir), the neoi are characterized above all by their energy on the one hand, and their lack of reflection on the other. In the iconographic field, there are the thousands of seals from Cyprus, Epirus or distant Seleucia on the Tigris, featuring portraits of individuals of all ages. The easiest to identify are, of course, those of kings. But we can also recognize ambassadors, courtiers, etc., i.e. all those politicians that Polybius and the abundant epigraphic documentation tell us about; and, among them, the number of juvenile representations, although a minority, is not negligible.
Riet van Bremen's four lessons, based on sources that were thought to be well known, but which needed to be subjected to ruthless critical scrutiny, have given us a much-renewed picture of the institution of the neoi, making a much-appreciated contribution to our knowledge of Greek society in the Hellenistic period.
