Friends in high (and low) places? The Allobroges and the politics of patronage and provincial society in the late Roman Republic

Abstract

The Allobroges, a subject people living in the province of Gallia Transalpina, played a variety of minor but significant roles in the political history of the later Roman Republic. From using the rite of deditio in fidem to play favourites between their prospective conquerors c.123-120BCE, through acting as potential recruits for and informants against the Catilinarian Conspiracy and intermittent rebels against Roman dominance, to becoming valuable allies of Caesar in his conquest of Gallia Comata and the Civil War against Pompey, the Allobroges were able to make their presence felt in the sphere of Roman politics. Though only seen in brief glimpses in the extant textual record, the experiences of the Allobroges in interacting with the Roman Republic and its political framework after their annexation make for a fascinating case study in the often enigmatic world of the provinces of the Republican period. This paper examines the surviving accounts of Roman- Allobrogan interactions across this period through the lens of Roman patronclient relations. In doing so, it will analyse how they, as a group, fit into the shifting web of conflicts and alliances of Roman politics and how their relationships with specific members or factions of the Roman elite structured their experiences of provincial administration.