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Recent progress in understanding monumental planning of the big cities of Asia Minor, between the Flavian and the Antonine periods, as well as the deepening of the research on the origin and the situation of their ‘évergètes’, lead to ask the question, rarely raised in study of architecture and urbanism, of the role played by the wealthiest representatives of the Second Sophistic in these prestigious operations. The power issues of this activity, and the enormous financial means available, often incited the évergètes to take an active part in the choice and the ornament of many buildings, with varying success. Philostratus suggests the phenomenon, but the archaeological and epigraphic data authorize, on several sites, a more precise evaluation. The city of Ephesus, capital of the province of Asia, but, so far as we know, never included in the very closed club of the Panhellenion founded by Hadrian, is interesting in this context in many respects. Examination of the stages of its architectural enrichment, from the end of the 1st cent. to the main part of the 2nd cent., and reflection on the very singular nature of the public buildings, rebuilt or built within the framework of programmes, the necessity of which is not always obvious, allow us better to measure here the efforts of a cosmopolitan community to exalt, through the action of some of their most eminent “intellectuals”, allied gladly with the wealthiest notables, their allegiance to imperial power, the seniority of their foundation and, more than anything, the depth of their Hellenism. Considering the continuity of the work undertaken in this frame and the coherence of the projects from which they proceed, the attitude of the ruling class in this magnificent city appears in many respects truly pathetic.