''Ab epistulis'' was the chancellor's

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

with responsibility for the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

's correspondence. The office sent ''mandata'' (instructions) to provincial governors and other officials. ''Ab epistulis'' wrote in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

(''ab epistulis latinis'') and in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(''ab epistulis graecis''), and composed the short responses to petitions on behalf of the emperor. Holders of the position usually had a particular vocation for literary matters.

Notable ''ab epistulis''

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

punished his secretary Thallus "for divulging the contents of a letter". Caligula dictated a letter to an ''ab epistulis''. Narcissus apparently worked as ''ab epistulis'', because he was in charge of the ''grammata'' of Claudius against Agrippina. Beryllus was the ''ab epistulis graecis'' of

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unti ...

. The famous biographer Suetonius Tranquillus was ''ab epistulis'' to Hadrian, according to the '' Historia Augusta'' until he was replaced for too-close relations with Empress Sabina.'' Historia Augusta''
Hadrianus 11,3
/ref> One of the leading

rhetorician Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

s of this time,

Alexander Peloplaton Alexander ( Gr. ), nicknamed Pēloplátōn ( "Clay-Plato"), also known as Alexander of Seleucia and Alexander the Platonic, was a Greek rhetorician and Platonist philosopher of the age of the Antonines and the Second Sophistic. Early life He wa ...

, was

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

's ''ab epistulis'' in the 170s. Marcus was impressed by the

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

Hadrian of Tyre, so he offered him the

job Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...

''ab epistulis'' to recognise his excellence. Aspasius of Ravenna was a Greek orator, who between AD 211 and 216 served as ''ab epistulis''.

Aelius Antipater Aelius Antipater or Antipater of Hierapolis ( grc-gre, Αἴλιος Ἀντίπατρος; fl. AD 200) was a Greek sophist and rhetorician. He was a son of Zeuxidemus, and a pupil of Adrianus, Pollux, and Zeno. In his orations, both extempore a ...

was the ''ab epistulis'' of the

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

, who defined him "my friend and teacher, entrusted with the composition of Greek letters".

Marcius Agrippa Marcius Agrippa (fl. late 2nd/early 3rd century) was originally a slave serving as a beautician. He later became a freedman in some unknown way and then (illegally) started to encroach upon the rank of Equestrian, serving as ''advocatus fisci'' ( ...

was ''

a cognitionibus In Ancient Rome, ''a cognitionibus'' was one of the four offices in the chancellor's Imperial Rome office that helped the emperor in his judicial function. It was a formal office function, like the ''ad legationes''. With the restoration in Hadrian ...

'' and ''ab epistulis'' of Caracalla.

References

Bibliography

* Government of the Roman Empire {{Ancient-Rome-stub