Cicero and the search for political and social advancement through his financial relationship with Atticus (I B.C.E.)

• Grant number: 23/11922-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: February 01, 2024
• End date: June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Margarida Maria de Carvalho
• Grantee: Rafaela Manha da Costa
• Supervisor: Maria Cristina Rosillo-López
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/03285-8 - Cicero and the pursuit of social-political promotion through his financial relationship with Atticus (I B.C.E.), BP.MS

Abstract

In the ancient world, men who wanted to ascend to the cursus honorum or have their status consolidated needed to cultivate interpersonal relationships. As a new man, Cicero depended on his well-articulated and well-funded sociability to guarantee social prestige. Naturally, the dependence on these ties grew at times of crisis and for Cicero his social and financial networks were essential after his exile. His main contact and financial advisor was the equestrian Atticus, who was also the senator's most frequent epistolary correspondent and friend. Atticus had an extensive network of contacts and was seen as an influential man. Financial topics were always present in these letters, but with greater resonance when Cicero's social power was threatened. The letters from these periods are marked by requests for financial services from Atticus. We therefore hypothesized that the financial relationship between these two friends may have been guided by Cicero's interests in political and social advancement. For this analysis, we used 53 letters sent to Atticus, the De Amicitia and the Life of Atticus as the main documentary material to support the investigation - which considers the years 57 to 43 B.C.E., from his return from exile until his death. (AU)