On Some Aspects of the Roman Concept of Authority

Nótári, Tamás (2005) On Some Aspects of the Roman Concept of Authority. Acta Juridica Hungarica, 46 (1-2). pp. 95-114. ISSN 1216-2574

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Abstract

When scrutinizing the concept of authority, presenting the basic definition of auctoritas, the capacity of increase and augmentation, Hannah Arendt appositely quotes the relevant passage by Cicero, according to which the task of founding the state, the human community, as well as the preservation of what has already been founded, highly resembles the function of the numen, the divine operation (Cicero, De re publica 1, 7. "Neque enim est ulla res in qua propius ad deorum numen virtus accedat humana, quam civitatis aut condere novas aut conservare conditas."); and in connection with this, she states that, from this aspect, the Romans regarded religious and political activity as being almost identical. The paper will examine various aspects of the numen, one of the most important phenomena of Roman religion (I.), its etymology (II.), the institution of the triumphus, a phenomenon seeming to be relevant from this point of view (III.), then the concept of numen Augusti, incorporating these elements of the religious sphere into the legitimation of power. (IV.)

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