Tabula patronatus

In ancient Rome, a tabula patronatus was a tablet, usually bronze, displaying an official recognition that an individual was a municipal patron.^[1]

Patronage of a city was a political extension of the traditional relationship (clientela) between a patron (patronus or patrona) and client (cliens). The primary responsibilities of the patron of a town (municipium or colonia) were to advocate for local interests at Rome; to help negotiate legal disputes within the community, especially those that might arise from conflicts between local and Roman law; and to act as a benefactor in endowing public works, religious dedications and foundations, and entertainments.^[2] After the death of a patron, it was possible to transfer the agreement and produce another tabula.^[3]

The foundation charter published as the Lex Ursonensis included regulations on patronage.^[2] Not many patronage tablets have been found, most being unearthed in North Africa and Roman Spain. Five Hispanian tablets are known: two found in Bocchorus (10 BC/AD 6), another in Sasamón (AD 239), one with a pediment in Cañete de las Torres (AD 247), and another in Córdoba (AD 349).^[4] In Hispania, the institution of patronage seems to have been linked with hospitium, the Latin name for traditional "guest-host" relations evidenced for pre-Roman Hispania in the form of hospitality tokens (tesserae hospitales or hospitii).^[4]

An inscription found in Rome in AD 222 refers to the patronage of Colonia Clunia Sulpicia.^[5]

• Abascal, Juan Manuel (2003). "La recepción de la cultura epigráfica romana en Hispania" (PDF). La adaptación de las sociedades ibéricas a los modelos romanos. Retrieved 11 September 2019.

• Amorós, Lluís (1952). "Una nueva Tabula Patronatus de Bocchoris". Bolletí de la Societat Arqueològica Lul·liana. 30 (1): 632–637.

• Lomas, Kathryn (1996). Roman Italy 338 BC–AD 200: A Sourcebook. Routledge.

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