Da consularis a praesul: Ambrogio, il primo vescovo aristocratico dell’occidente

This paper aimed to ascertain what Bishop Ambrose’s social background was. In a first part, the differences that ran between the aristocrats of Rome, the senators of Constantinople, and members of the provincial nobility in the fourth century AD are explored. In the second, various testimonies are used to confirm that Ambrose was clarissimus by birth, as the son of a Praetorian Prefect of Emperor Constantine II and of a woman of the gens Aurelia related to the Symmachi. In the third section, it is shown that he reacted to the acclamation and attempted to avoid ordination as narrated by Rufinus of Aquileia and Paulinus of Milan, having so far planned to pursue a typical senatorial career. And finally, it is clear that, precisely because he was the first aristocratic bishop of the West, he was able to engage with emperors and usurpers in the ways described in some of his letters.