Patronage (clientela) was the distinctive relationship in ancient Roman society between the patronus ('patron') and their cliens ('client'). Apart from the patron-client relationship between individuals, there were also client kingdoms and tribes, whose rulers were in a subordinate relationship to the Roman state.
The relationship was hierarchical, but obligations were mutual. The patron was the protector, sponsor, and benefactor of the client; the technical term for this protection was patrocinium.[1] Although typically the client was of inferior social class,[2] a patron and client might even hold the same social rank, but the former would possess greater wealth, power, or prestige that enabled him to help or do favors for the client.
From the emperor at the top to the commoner at the bottom, the bonds between these groups found formal expression in legal definition of patrons' responsibilities to clients.[3] Patronage relationships were not exclusively between two people and also existed between a general and his soldiers, a founder and colonists, and a conqueror and a dependent foreign community.[4]
- ^ Quinn, Kenneth (1982). "Poet and Audience in the Augustan Age". In Haase, Wolfgang (ed.). Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Vol. 30/1. p. 117. doi:10.1515/9783110844108-003. ISBN 978-3-11-008469-6.
- ^ Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). . The American Cyclopædia.
- ^ Pollard, Elizabeth (2015). Worlds Together, Worlds Apart concise edition vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 253. ISBN 9780393250930.
- ^ Dillon, Matthew; Garland, Lynda (2005). Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar. Routledge. p. 87. ISBN 9780415224581.