Sigere, Samuel Pierre; (2023) Rei publicae (in)felix est: FELICITAS and the Romans’ relationship with the divine. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis examines the role of the divine quality FELICITAS in the political culture of the Late Roman Republic. Through a detailed examination of the way the divine quality is described in social and religious contexts, I argue that FELICITAS epitomises a series of symbolic relationships between the gods, a Roman general, and the Roman community to ensure the safety and the economic prosperity of the res publica. Those relationships allowed FELICITAS to work as ‘religious symbolic capital’ for Roman generals to obtain political and social advantages when the Roman people recognised and accepted their claim to be FELIX. Accepting or contesting the claim to the divine quality of a Roman general constitutes a new social role of the Roman people at the time with important political consequences. Chapter One surveys the place of the word and concept of FELICITAS in the social discourse of the second and first century BCE by exploring both its shared meanings at the time (fertility, good fortune, success, and happiness) and two of the main social contexts in which it was used, ethics and religion. Throughout I argue that the concept was part of a shared Roman cultural heritage involving Romans from all social classes. Chapter Two explores how FELICITAS symbolises the relationship between the gods and the Romans to make the res publica maior and amplior through military victory, that is FELICITAS Romana. FELICITAS Romana found its clearest expression and enactment in two important Roman rituals, the lustrum and the triumph. I argue that Roman generals played a particular role in realising FELICITAS Romana as their connection with the divine in addition to their skills helped bring victory and prosperity to the Romans. Chapters Three, Four and Five examine in detail the ways Romans conceptualised the relationship between the gods and a Roman general, FELICITAS imperatoria, to bring about FELICITAS Romana. I argue that there were two different synchronous conceptions for FELICITAS imperatoria: one in which FELICITAS was a transient quality of the general emanating from the relationship of the Roman people with the divine, the other in which FELICITAS was a permanent quality of the general stemming from his personal relationship with the divine. The latter conception became prevalent at the end of Late Roman Republic. Chapter Six investigates several examples of the acceptance and the contestation of the divine quality to highlight two points: how Roman generals used their FELICITAS imperatoria to gain social and political honours from the Roman community, and how the abuse of power from Sulla and Caesar led to a redefinition of the divine quality on philosophical grounds by members of the Roman elite to ensure that military leaders claiming to be FELIX acted in a way that secured the wellbeing of the res publica.

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