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{{short description, Roman Latin term meaning "cohort of friends" ''Cohors amicorum'' is a Latin term, literally meaning "cohort of friends". The notion
cohort Cohort or cohortes may refer to: * Cohort (educational group), a group of students working together through the same academic curriculum * Cohort (floating point), a set of different encodings of the same numerical value * Cohort (military unit) ...
is to be taken not in the strict, military sense (primarily the constitutive unit of a
Roman legion The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period o ...
; 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 who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision o ...
''; compare the
Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
aulic title '' philos asilikos'.


Roman history

* Originally, since the Roman Republic proper (i.e. before the
Principate The Principate is the name sometimes given to the first period 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 so-called Dominate. ...
), 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
legate Legate may refer to: * Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...
s), 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 etcetera. 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 In ancient Rome, an ''apparitor'' (also spelled apparator in English, or shortened to paritor) was a civil servant whose salary was paid from the public treasury. The ''apparitores'' assisted the magistrates. There were four occupational gra ...
'') 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'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...
* 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 Staff may refer to: Pole * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling), a token authorizing a locomotive driver to use a particula ...
or
staff battalion Staff may refer to: Pole * Staff, a weapon used in stick-fighting ** Quarterstaff, a European pole weapon * Staff of office, a pole that indicates a position * Staff (railway signalling), a token authorizing a locomotive driver to use a particula ...


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