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{{Italics title ''Cohors amicorum'' is a
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
term literally meaning "cohort of friends". The notion cohort is to be taken not in the strict, military sense (primarily the constitutive unit of a
Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...
; circa battalion), but indicated a fairly large number; accordingly, friend is to be taken in a loose sense, rather as in ''
amicus curiae An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a Party (law), party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Wheth ...
''; compare the
Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
aulic title ''philos asilikos'.


Roman history

* Originally, since the Roman Republic proper (i.e. before the
Principate The Principate was the form of imperial government of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign of Augustus in 27 BC to the end of the Crisis of the Third Century in AD 284, after which it evolved into the Dominate. The principate was ch ...
), the ''cohors amicorum'' was synonymous with the ''cohors praetoria'' (so called after the '' praetorium'', the tent -in the field- or more permanent dwelling of a Roman commanding general, military headquarters but also site of his other actions, e.g. as a judge, possibly on an adjoining podium called ''tribunal''): the military (including or annexing various logistic, domestic, financial and administrative) staff company functioning as suite and bodyguard of a high Roman official, such as a
Roman governor A Roman governor was an official either elected or appointed to be the chief administrator of Roman law throughout one or more of the many Roman province, provinces constituting the Roman Empire. The generic term in Roman legal language was ''re ...
(who brought a trusted staff of most kinds with him to his post), especially in command of one or more legions. *In the Principate, high administrative offices tended to be separated from military command (transferred to imperial legates), but the various not strictly military functions still had to be acquitted, so there was a mainly civilian 'company' of clerks, advisors, retainers etcetera, still referred to be such terms as ''cohors (amicorum), amici'' (possibly specified by the pivotal personality, e.g. ''Amici principis'' around the Emperor). In fact, the administration was to be streamlined in a rather typical '' officium'' (see that article) with ever more detailed rules on competences, career, etc. The 'company' remained at least as a social notion, if now very informal, and seems to have existed with other persons of high rank, such as imperial princes. * its members were termed ''cohortalis'' (plural ''cohortales''); the diminutive ''cohortalinus'' became a generic term (like '' apparitor'') for non-cadre clerks in a high dignitary's ''officium'' (mainly administrative staff)


See also

* For an alternative, highly formalised evolution of and from the originally parallel notion ''comitatus'' (also 'company'), see the article ''
Comes ''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office. The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...
''. * From this sense of ''cohors'' derives the Italian ''corte'' (a princely, etc.) court' and hence ''corteggio'' 'cortège', which again came to mean a train of attendants or
retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', ...
, a similarly elastic notion * the modern military also knows special units performing various services to a command and its headquarters, by such terms as staff company or staff battalion


Sources and references

* Johann Oehler,
Cohors amicorum
', in: '' Pauly–Wissowa'' (German-language encyclopaedia on nearly everything relevant to Classical Antiquity)
EtymologyOnLine
Court titles Society of ancient Rome