PATRON-CLIENTELISM IN THE FOREIGN POLICY OF ANCIENT ROME

Abstract

The article analyses the emergence and development of the use of patronage in the foreign policy practice of ancient Rome. It argues that the geopolitical space of the Roman Republic and later the Empire (Pax Romana) was not limited to its borders, but also included ‘friendly kingdoms’ that recognised Rome’s suzerainty and coordinated their foreign policy with it. The client kingdoms, though formally independent and allied to the Romans, were in reality heavily dependent on them politically, militarily and economically, and this dependence gradually increased.

The emergence of the ‘friendly kingdoms’ was a by-product of the Roman Republic’s expansion eastwards in the second and first centuries BC. For the weaker Mediterranean states, patronage was a soft form of submission to Rome. The relationship was initially unequal, but at the same time mutually beneficial. The unequal nature of the relationship was primarily manifested in the asymmetry of mutual obligations. The ‘friendly kingdoms’ had to pay an annual contribution to the Roman treasury, send allied troops in case of a Roman military campaign, allow Roman troops free passage through their territory, and supply food and raw materials. In return, Rome promised military assistance if an ally was attacked and granted free trade and Roman citizenship to the allied king and his family.

It is determined that the practice of using patronage in Rome’s foreign po- licy went through three stages in its development. The first stage took place in the second and first centuries BC, when a number of dependent kingdoms emerged in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. At that time, the main elements of the relationship between Rome and the “friendly kingdoms” were formed: military cooperation, Roman control over the transfer of power in the kingdoms, and a legal framework. The second stage includes the first century A.D. The first Roman emperor Octavian Augustus used the client kingdoms for the new needs of Rome, creating a kind of buffer zone around the perimeter of the imperial borders, which was supposed to separate the provinces from the hostile barbarian world. However, his successors gradu- ally abandoned the concept of a buffer zone, and most of the “friendly king- doms” were incorporated into the Roman Empire during the first century AD. At the same time, due to its geographical remoteness, Rome retained its inde- pendence and patron-client relations with such states as the Bosporus King- dom, Greater Armenia, Caucasian Iberia and Albania. The emperors also be- gan to actively enter into alliance agreements with Germanic tribal leaders across the Rhine, hoping to exchange financial subsidies for peace on the borders. From the last third of the first century AD, these allies began to re- ceive subsidies and advisory assistance (engineers) from Rome. Finally, the third stage covers the end of the third and fourth centuries, when, in the face of growing barbarian pressure, the Roman political leaders decided to return to Octavian’s concept of ‘buffer kingdoms’, especially under the emperor Diocletian (284–305).