Pater Patriae

Last updated
The inscription on Trajan's Column includes Pater Patriae as one of the title of Trajan 002 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssaule, Tafel II.jpg
The inscription on Trajan's Column includes Pater Patriae as one of the title of Trajan

Pater Patriae (plural Patres Patriae) was an honorific title in ancient Rome. In Latin, it means "father of the country", or more literally, "father of the fatherland".

Contents

The title was granted by the Roman Senate. During the Roman Republic, it was given only two times: to Camillus and Cicero. Under the Roman Empire, it was exclusively granted to the Roman emperor, usually after many years of successful rule. Not all emperors were offered the title, while others were offered it but refused to accept. A total of 23 emperors received the title.

During the early modern and late modern periods, the same Latin title was granted to several national leaders by their subjects or parliaments. More recently, the equivalent title has been father of the nation, translated into the national language.

Roman history

The honor of being called pater patriae was conferred by the Roman Senate. It was first awarded to Roman general Marcus Furius Camillus in 386 BC, for his role in liberating the city after the Gallic sack of Rome. It reflected the popular view that Camillus was effectively a second founder of the city, after Romulus, who was retrospectively considered to be pater patriae.

Three centuries later, it was awarded to the orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero, for his part in the suppression of the Catilinarian conspiracy in 63 BC. A similar title, Parens Patriae, of similar but lesser connotation, was awarded to Julius Caesar, who had become de facto ruler of Rome as perpetual dictator. Caesar had packed the Senate with his own supporters, who voted him the title in 45 BC for having ended the civil wars that he had started himself. [1] The Roman republic was replaced by the Roman empire in 27 BC, and thereafter the title was exclusively held by the emperor. The first emperor, Augustus, was not awarded the title until 2 BC, after several decades of peaceful rule. The title was therefore not considered necessary for the legitimacy of succeeding emperors. Nor did it convey any legal powers. As such, it did not become a regular part of the imperial honors that were routinely conferred on a new emperor. [lower-roman 1]

The title could be declined. According to the historian Suetonius, Augustus' successor Tiberius was offered this title, but refused it as premature and inappropriate. [2] The following emperor, Caligula, did accept the title, as did his successor Claudius. The next emperor, Nero, declined when it was offered by the Senate during the first year of his reign, on the basis that he was too young for such a title. The Senate offered it again the following year, which Nero accepted.

It thereafter became usual for the Senate to convey the title on emperors only after many years of successful rule. As a result, many emperors with short reigns never received the title. In some cases (such as Nerva) it was granted rapidly, if the new emperor was particularly esteemed by the senators when they acceded. As a sign of humility, several emperors deferred their use of the title for some time even after it was conferred by the Senate. For example, Hadrian deferred it for eleven years. [3]

The title fell out of use in the fourth century AD, during the Christianisation of the empire. The last emperor known to have used the title was Julian, who was also the last pagan emperor.

Chronological list of holders

Pater Patriae
YearHolderReference or notes
BC753 Romulus Legendary founder of Rome
386 Marcus Furius Camillus for liberating the city after the Gallic sack of Rome
63 Marcus Tullius Cicero for suppressing the Catilinarian conspiracy
45 Gaius Julius Caesar for ending his civil wars
2 Augustus
AD37 Caligula
42 Claudius
55 Nero
70 Vespasian
79 Titus
81 Domitian
96 Nerva
98 Trajan
128 Hadrian
139 Antoninus Pius
166 Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus
177 Commodus
193 Septimius Severus
199 Caracalla
217 Macrinus
218 Elagabalus
238 Gordian III
276 Probus
284 Diocletian
286 Maximian
307 Constantine I
361 Julian [lower-roman 2]

Later use by other countries

The Latin honorific was later used for several national leaders during the early modern period and late modern period. It was awarded by national parliaments or loyal subjects to: George Washington, the first President of the United States; King Gustav I of Sweden; the Dutch Stadtholder William of Orange; Pedro II, the last Emperor of Brazil; and the four leaders of Italian unification: Camillo Cavour, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Mazzini and King Victor Emmanuel II.

The Latin title has since fallen into disuse, being replaced by the title father of the nation translated into each the relevant national language.

See also

Notes

  1. Such as imperator, caesar, augustus, princeps senatus, pontifex maximus and tribunicia potestas, which were granted to all new emperors
  2. Julian's coin issued in 361 CE reads: FL CL IVLIA NVS P P AVG (Flavius Claudius Julianus Pater Patriae Augustus)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustus</span> First Roman emperor from 27 BC to AD 14

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the founder of the Roman Empire; he reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta, in which the Roman world was largely free of armed conflict aside from expansionary wars and the Year of the Four Emperors. The Principate system of imperial rule established by Augustus lasted until the Crisis of the Third Century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudius</span> Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio-Claudian dynasty</span> Roman imperial dynasty consisting of the first five emperors

The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiberius</span> Roman emperor from AD 14 to 37

Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Claudius Nero and his wife, Livia Drusilla. In 38 BC, Tiberius' mother divorced his father and married Augustus. Following the untimely deaths of Augustus' two grandsons and adopted heirs, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius was designated Augustus' successor. Prior to this, Tiberius had proved himself an able diplomat, and one of the most successful Roman generals: his conquests of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and (temporarily) parts of Germania laid the foundations for the empire's northern frontier.

This article concerns the period 19 BC – 10 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nero Claudius Drusus</span> Roman general and statesman, step-son of emperor Augustus (38–9 BC)

Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the son of Livia Drusilla and the legal stepson of her second husband, the Emperor Augustus. He was also brother of the Emperor Tiberius, father to both the Emperor Claudius and general Germanicus, paternal grandfather of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-grandfather of the Emperor Nero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livia</span> Wife of Roman emperor Augustus and mother of emperor Tiberius

Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of emperor Augustus. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonia Minor</span> Roman noblewoman (36 BC- AD 37)

Antonia Minor was the younger of two surviving daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor. She was a niece of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, mother of the Emperor Claudius, and maternal great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero. She outlived her husband Drusus, her oldest son, her daughter, and several of her grandchildren.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaius Caesar</span> Grandson and heir of Roman emperor Augustus

Gaius Caesar was the grandson and heir to the throne of Roman emperor Augustus, alongside his younger brother Lucius Caesar. Although he was born to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus' only daughter, Gaius and his younger brother, Lucius Caesar, were raised by their grandfather as his adopted sons and joint-heirs to the empire. He would experience an accelerated political career befitting a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, with the Roman Senate allowing him to advance his career without first holding a quaestorship or praetorship, offices that ordinary senators were required to hold as part of the cursus honorum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claudia gens</span> Ancient Roman family

The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drusus Julius Caesar</span> Son of Emperor Tiberius and Roman politician (14 BC – 23 AD)

Drusus Julius Caesar was the son of Emperor Tiberius, and heir to the Roman Empire following the death of his adoptive brother Germanicus in AD 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nero Julius Caesar</span> Adopted grandson and heir of the Roman emperor Tiberius

Nero Julius Caesar was the adopted grandson and heir of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, alongside his brother Drusus. Born into the prominent Julio-Claudian dynasty, Nero was the son of Tiberius' general and heir, Germanicus. After the deaths of his father and of Tiberius' son, Drusus the Younger, Nero and his brother Drusus were adopted together by Tiberius in September AD 23. As a result of being heirs of the emperor, he and his brother enjoyed accelerated political careers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (father of Nero)</span> Roman politician (2 BC - AD 41)

Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus was a member of the imperial Julio-Claudian dynasty of Ancient Rome. Domitius was the son of Antonia Major. He married Agrippina the Younger and became the father of the emperor Nero.

Tiberius Claudius Nero was a Roman politician, senator, and praetor who lived in the last century of the Roman Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman imperial cult</span> Identification of emperors with divine authority

The Roman imperial cult identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State. Its framework was based on Roman and Greek precedents, and was formulated during the early Principate of Augustus. It was rapidly established throughout the Empire and its provinces, with marked local variations in its reception and expression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octavia the Younger</span> Roman noblewoman, full-sister of Augustus

Octavia the Younger was the elder sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julii Caesares</span> Roman patrician family

The Julii Caesares were the most illustrious family of the patrician gens Julia. The family first appears in history during the Second Punic War, when Sextus Julius Caesar was praetor in Sicily. His son, Sextus Julius Caesar, obtained the consulship in 157 BC; but the most famous descendant of this stirps is Gaius Julius Caesar, a general who conquered Gaul and became the undisputed master of Rome following the Civil War. Having been granted dictatorial power by the Roman Senate and instituting a number of political and social reforms, he was assassinated in 44 BC. After overcoming several rivals, Caesar's adopted son and heir, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, was proclaimed Augustus by the senate, inaugurating what became the Julio-Claudian line of Roman emperors.

<i>The Twelve Caesars</i> Biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 Roman emperors by Suetonius

De vita Caesarum, commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The group are: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Concord</span> Temple in the Roman Forum

The Temple of Concord in the ancient city of Rome refers to a series of shrines or temples dedicated to the Roman goddess Concordia, and erected at the western end of the Roman Forum. The earliest temple is believed to have been vowed by Marcus Furius Camillus in 367 BC, but it may not have been built until 218 BC by L. Manlius. The temple was rebuilt in 121 BC, and again by the future emperor Tiberius between 7 BC and AD 10.

Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Tiberius. He was consul in AD 32. Ten years later, he revolted against the emperor Claudius, but was swiftly defeated.

References

  1. Stevenson, Tom (2009). "Acceptance of the Title Pater Patriae in 2 BC*". Antichthon. 43: 97–108. doi:10.1017/S0066477400001970. S2CID   140903086.
  2. "Suetonius • Life of Tiberius". penelope.uchicago.edu.
  3. Anthony Birley. Marcus Aurelius: A Biography. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT, 1987, p. 57.