amicus Augusti
amicus Augusti
- Nicholas Purcell
Extract
Drawing on the institutionalized philoi (friends) of Hellenistic rulers, political leaders of the 1st cent. bce made friendship a technical term of Roman political life (*popularis politicians were held to have introduced it to grade their clientelae, Sen. Ben. 6. 34; see amicitia; cliens). The emperors adopted the term amicus to identify, essentially as courtiers under the nascent monarchic system, favoured members of the equestrian and senatorial ordines, and as an increasingly formal label for the inner circle who made up their advisory *consilium.Subjects
- Roman Law
