''Auctoritas'' is a
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 ...
word which is the origin of English "
authority". While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political
history of Rome, the beginning of
phenomenological philosophy
Phenomenology (from Ancient Greek, Greek φαινόμενον, ''phainómenon'' "that which appears" and λόγος, ''lógos'' "study") is the Philosophy, philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophica ...
in the 20th century expanded the use of the word.
In
ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...
, ''auctoritas'' referred to the general level of prestige a person had in Roman society, and, as a consequence, his clout, influence, and ability to rally support around his will. ''Auctoritas'' was not merely political, however; it had a
numinous content and symbolized the mysterious "power of command" of heroic Roman figures.
Noble women could also achieve a degree of auctoritas. For example, the wives, sisters, and mothers of the
Julio-Claudians had immense influence on society, the masses, and the political apparatus. Their auctoritas was exercised less overtly than their male counterparts due to Roman societal norms, but they were powerful nonetheless.
Etymology and origin
According to French linguist
Emile Benveniste, ''auctor'' (which also gives us English "
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
") is derived from Latin ''
augeō'' ("to augment", "to enlarge", "to enrich"). The ''auctor'' is "''is qui auget''", the one who augments the act or the
juridical
{{Short pages monitor
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century.
Arendt was bor ...
considered ''auctoritas'' a reference to founding acts as the source of political authority in ancient Rome. She took foundation to include (as ''augeō'' suggests), the continuous conservation and increase of principles handed down from "the beginning" (see also pietas). According to Arendt, this source of authority was rediscovered in the course of the 18th-century American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...
(see "United States of America" under Founding Fathers), as an alternative to an intervening Western tradition
Eugen Joseph Weber (April 24, 1925 – May 17, 2007) was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western civilization.
Weber became a historian because of his interest in politics, an interest dating back to at least the ag ...
of absolutism
Absolutism may refer to:
Government
* Absolute monarchy, in which a monarch rules free of laws or legally organized opposition
* Absolutism (European history), period c. 1610 – c. 1789 in Europe
** Enlightened absolutism, influenced by the E ...
, claiming absolute authority, as from God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
(see Divine Right of Kings
In European Christianity, the divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandation is a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy. It stems from a specific metaphysical framework in which a monarch is, befor ...
), and later from Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...
, Reason
Reason is the capacity of Consciousness, consciously applying logic by Logical consequence, drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activ ...
, History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
, and even, as in the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
, Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
itself (see La Terreur). Arendt views a crisis of authority as common to both the American and French Revolutions, and the response to that crisis a key factor in the relative success of the former and failure of the latter.
Arendt further considered the sense of ''auctor'' and ''auctoritas'' in various Latin idiom
An idiom is a phrase or expression that typically presents a figurative, non-literal meaning attached to the phrase; but some phrases become figurative idioms while retaining the literal meaning of the phrase. Categorized as formulaic language, ...
s, and the fact that ''auctor'' was used in contradistinction to – and (at least by Pliny) held in higher esteem than – ''artifices'', the artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, ...
s to whom it might fall to "merely" build up or implement the author-founder's vision and design.[Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future, Chapter 3, Section IV. (1968)]
See also
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* Virtues in ancient Rome
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References and sources
;References
;Sources
*Cicero, ''De Legibus
The ''De Legibus'' (''On the Laws'') is a dialogue written by Marcus Tullius Cicero during the last years of the Roman Republic. It bears the same nam