Early Roman clientes1

In the course of his artificial attempt to turn Romulus into the creator of Rome’s basic social and political institutions in the Greek style, 2 the late first century BC historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus provides our only surviving general account of early clientship Antiquitates Romanae 2.9f., see Appendix). According to this, Romulus, supposedly in the eighth century, divided the original population of Rome into two classes, the first an hereditary aristocracy, the patriciate, the second the ordinary free citizen populace, the plebs. Each plebeian selected a patrician as his patron and Romulus defined the obligations of the two parties to the relationship. Patrons were to expound the law to their clients, assist them in their contractual affairs, 3 and defend lawsuits on their behalf. A client was to provide financial assistance (should his patron need it) for a daughter’s dowry, the expenses of office, fines or the ransom of his person. 1 Neither party was to take legal action, give evidence or vote against the other; if they did so, they were to be declared ‘sacred to subterranean Zeus’ (a form of outlawry). The relationship, Dionysius adds, became hereditary

Classical Antiquity Studies · History

• Anti̇k Roma’da Köleleri̇n Eği̇ti̇mi̇

  Open Access•Tolga Uzun•Anadolu (Anatolia)•2025

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