I collegia e le relazioni clientelari: studio sul patronato delle associazioni professionali nell'Occidente romano tra I e III sec. d.C.

The goal of this study is to analyse the phenomenon of the patronage of professional associations in the Roman West between the first and the third centuries AD. In order to do that, I focused the analysis on the epigraphic sources, and I assembled a catalogue of 214 inscriptions. The text, consisting of six chapters, has a tripartite structure. The first part, consisting of the first two chapters, aims to provide all the conceptual and practical coordinates to move within the next analysis. Chapters three and four constitute the second part of the text, where I inspected the specific contexts of Sarmizegetusa, Lugdunum and Ostia. The last section is formed by chapters five and six, where, instead of an analysis on specific contexts, I have focused on aspects that emerge transversely from our documentation.