Amicitia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Depiction of Amicitia at the entrance gate to the Peace Palace in The Hague , Netherlands

Amicitia ( Latin friendship ) is a term from Roman history . Amicitia was both the name for a friendship in the sense commonly used today and for friendships in the philosophical, social and political spheres of life.

The term amicitia was formed in Roman society under the influence of the Greek concept of friendship, Philia . Cicero defined the philosophical view of amicitia and thus presented the valid definition for the following centuries. The term familiaris was used for friendship in a personal sense . Amicitia as well as amicus was used to denote a friendly relationship between equal, high-ranking persons of the aristocracy . Especially in the late Roman Republic , these, often inherited, politically friendly connections were important when the friends supported each other in trials, elections and in the administration of office during the unstable times.

There was another friendly relationship between the patron and his clients . The patron was the client's amicus . The tribunes Gaius Sempronius Gracchus and Marcus Livius Drusus introduced the division of friendships into social classes, which was to become common in the period that followed.

Reconciliation after a friendship break between two aristocrats was a solemn and formalized act. Political friendships did not have to be personal. For example, Cicero named Quintus Fufius Calenus amicus , although he personally hated him.

In the imperial era, all high officials were considered amici augusti , friends of the emperor. An imperial amicus had a high social and political status, but the loss of imperial friendship could be fatal. The circle of friends advised the emperor and generally also ensured a smooth succession to the princeps .

The amicitia also played an important role in Roman foreign policy. Friendly rulers were declared amicus populi Romani . At first these friends were "equals". As the Roman Empire grew stronger, this relationship became more and more a clientele. Not infrequently, the assurance of the friendship of Rome was synonymous with securing the rule of the friend of Rome (for example the rulers of Pergamon or Armenia ). The client was obliged to perform certain services, but Rome was not obliged to do anything. Nevertheless, an attack on a friend of Rome was not infrequently understood as an attack on Rome and led to a backlash.

The term was also used by Gerd Althoff and Hagen Keller for the early Middle Ages . They concluded that the East Franconian King Henry I tried to consolidate his royal rule through amicitia alliances with the dukes in the 10th century . His son Otto I gave up this policy and thereby created conflicts.

Verena Epp describes the amicitia in the transition from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages as a "mutual, value-related and morally binding obligation" of at least two aristocratic parties, which includes affective and contractual elements and is expressed in mutual service. Epp distinguishes between four forms of amicitia , which “could not be strictly separated from one another in historical reality”: amcitia as a personal relationship (pp. 27–129), as a client and allegiance relationship (pp. 130–175), as a foreign policy Relationship relationship (pp. 176–233) and as a spiritual relationship (pp. 234–298). The high degree of obligatory character of medieval amicitia and the strong institutionalization led to social ostracism and exclusion in the own ranks and violent clashes between former friends in the event of a friendship break.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. Cicero, Letters to Atticus 15, 4, 1.
  2. Gerd Althoff, Hagen Keller: Heinrich I and Otto the Great. New beginning on the Carolingian legacy. Vol. 1-2, Göttingen et al. 1985. Gerd Althoff: Amicitiae and Pacta. Alliance, unification, politics and prayer commemoration in the early 10th century. Hanover 1992.
  3. ^ Verena Epp: Amicitia. On the history of personal, social, political and spiritual relationships in the early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1999, p. 299.
  4. ^ Verena Epp: Amicitia. On the history of personal, social, political and spiritual relationships in the early Middle Ages. Stuttgart 1999, p. 299.