Donative

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The Donativum (plural: Donativa ), German Donativ , was a monetary gift in the Roman Empire that the Roman emperors distributed among the soldiers of the legions or the Praetorian Guard . The purpose of the donativum varied, historical donativa were an expression of gratitude for the favor given or expected, others a first salary from the new Caesar or simply for lasting goodwill that was expected.

background

As early as the late Roman Republic , gifts of money were given to professional soldiers, for example from Sulla , Caesar , Brutus and Cassius .

Emperor Augustus left a considerable sum in his will for the Praetorians, but from the reign of Tiberius onwards, gifts of money became more or less an obligation. The Praetorians were given the money to allow Sejanus , their prefect , to be overthrown: each guardsman was given 10 gold pieces for refraining from defending him. In 41, after the murder of Caligula , the Guard supported Claudius , and after a short time the Senate realized that it was the Guard who had put him on the throne. Claudius gave them 150 aurei , about 3,750 denarii - to which the senators added 100 sesterces annually to commemorate Claudius' enthronement.

Donativa were usually issued when a new emperor took office, but also on other important occasions such as throne anniversaries, the award of honorary titles to a co-regent, on the day of the Tirocinium flori of the heir to the throne or on the occasion of the crown prince's clothing in the toga virilis , during important adoptions or marriages in the imperial family. Situations are also documented in which an emperor tried to use a donative to prevent soldiers from plundering or to win over opposing legionnaires.

In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, however, this form of bribery became a central point for every successful regent, for example with many soldier emperors between 235 and 284 - especially the Praetorian Guard, which was much closer to the emperor and therefore a greater danger to his Security represented. The cohorts stationed in Rome were difficult to keep quiet and quick to reach when it came to committing murder. The donativum served the purpose the support and loyalty to maintain the Praetorian. Conversely, there was no claim to who was a prisoner of war or who was accused of desertion .

Even after the dissolution of the Praetorian Guard in 312, imperial donations to the troops, often referred to as largitio in late antiquity (at least on the occasion of the assumption of power), remained common at least into the 6th century. The regular donativum increasingly replaced pay payments until the terms became completely blurred.

Imperial Donativa to the Praetorian Guard 14–193
year Emperor occasion Amount in denarii and receipt
014th Augustus testament 250
031 Tiberius Loyalty in the fall of Sejanus 1,000
037 Caligula Accession to the throne 250
041 Claudius Accession to the throne 3,750
yearly Claudius Government anniversary 25th
054 Nero Accession to the throne 3,750
069 Galba Pledge to Nymphidius Sabinus , but not paid 7,500
069 Otho Commitment 1,250
069 Vitellius Commitment
069 Vespasian normal donativum unknown
079 Titus normal donativum unknown
081 Domitian Doubling of the donativum planned, but normal sum paid unknown
098 Trajan normal donativum unknown
117 Hadrian normal donative doubled unknown
145 Antoninus Pius Wedding of the daughter Faustina with Marcus Aurelius unknown
161 Marcus Aurelius Joint government with Lucius Verus 5,000
180 Commodus normal donativum ; a second promised but not paid unknown
193 Pertinax paid off the donative promised by Commodus 3,000
193 Didius Julianus auctioned the throne 6,250 promised, 7,500 paid
193 Septimius Severus donativum on the occasion of the victory in the civil war
203 Septimius Severus ten year government anniversary 250

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sallust , On the Conspiracy of Catiline 11: 5.
  2. ^ Suetonius , Iulius Caesar 38.
  3. ^ Appian , Civil War 4.89.
  4. ↑ a b Suetonius, Augustus 101; Tacitus , Annals 1.8; Cassius Dio , Roman History 56,32.
  5. ↑ a b Suetonius, Tiberius 48.2.
  6. ↑ a b Suetonius, Claudius 10.4; Flavius ​​Josephus , Jewish antiquities 19,4,2.
  7. ^ A b Cassius Dio , Roman History 60.12.
  8. ^ A b Cassius Dio, Roman History 77.1.
  9. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 55.6.
  10. ^ Suetonius, Nero 7.
  11. ↑ Historia Augusta , Hadrian 23.
  12. ↑ a b Historia Augusta , Antoninus Pius 8,1; 10.2.
  13. ^ Alfred Richard Neumann : Donativum. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 2, Stuttgart 1967, column 139.
  14. ↑ Codex Iustinianus 12.35.1.
  15. ↑ Digest 49,16,10.
  16. ^ Johannes Wienand : The Emperor as Victor: Metamorphoses of Triumphant Rule under Constantin I. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-05-005903-7 , p. 74 ( online ).
  17. ^ Cassius Dio , Roman History 59.2.
  18. ↑ Tacitus , Annals 12.69.
  19. ↑ Plutarch , Galba 2,2 (The term "drachma" stands for the Roman denarius).
  20. ^ Tacitus, Historien 1.82.
  21. ↑ Tacitus, Histories 2.94.
  22. ^ Tacitus , Historien 2.82.
  23. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 66:26.
  24. ^ Suetonius, Domitian 2; Cassius Dio, Roman History 66.26.
  25. ↑ Pliny the Younger , Panegyricus 25: 2.
  26. ↑ Historia Augusta , Hadrian 5: 7.
  27. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 74, 8; Historia Augusta , Marcus Aurelius 7.9.
  28. ^ Herodian , History of the Empire since Mark Aurel 1.5.
  29. ↑ Cassius Dio, Roman History 74.1; Historia Augusta , Pertinax 4.6; ibid. 7.5.
  30. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 74:11; Historia Augusta , Didius Julianus 3.2; Herodian, History of the Empire since Marcus Aurelius 2.6.
  31. ^ Herodian, History of the Empire since Marcus Aurelius 3.8.