Divide and Conquer

The American Historical Review, 1986

PLATES Between pages 112 and 113 1 Italian hoplites 2 The battle of Pydna, 168 BC, as depicted on the monument of Aemilius Paullus at Delphi 3 Roman soldiers of the later second century BC: detail from the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus 4 The army on the coinage: (a) military standards, 82 BC (b) military standards, 49 BC (c) colonisation programme, c.40 BC (d) Gallic arms (e) the Gauls defeated 5 Soldiers of the Late Republic (a) L. Septumius (b) L. Appuleius (c) C. Raius Perulla (d) P. Gessius 6 Bust of Julius Caesar 7 Caesar's bridge across the Rhine 8 Alesia: general views of the site 9 Alesia: details of the Roman fortifications 10 Gravestone of the brothers Canuleius, who served under Caesar in Gaul 11 A warship of the Late Republic 12 Antony's military coinage, 32-31 BC (a) Antony's fleet (b) legio XII Antiqua (c) cohortes praetoriae (d) cohors speculatorum 13 Catapult-shield of the legio IIII Macedonica 14 Emblems and standards: (a) legio IIII Scythica (b) a monument at Venafro 15 Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, Rome 16 Augustan colonies on the coinage: (a) Emerita (b) Caesarea Augusta (c) Philippi (d) Patrae 17 Imperial propaganda on the coinage: (a) recovery of standards from the Parthians (b) Germanicus recovers an aquila lost with Varus (c) Caligula addressing the men of four legions, AD 39 (d) Nero addressing the German Bodyguard, AD 64-66 18 Cenotaph of Marcus Caelius, a centurion who 'fell in the Varian War' 19 The army of the Early Empire: (a) Cn. Musius, aquilifer (b) C. Romanius, cavalryman of the ala Noricorum (c) Monimus, a Syrian archer (d) P. Flavoleius, a soldier of legio XIV Gemina 20 The Praetorian Guard LINE ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Rome and Italy c. 400 BC 2 The 'Servian Constitution' 3 Roman roads and colonies in Italy 4 The Roman legion, c. 340 BC, as described by Livy 5 Italy and the western Mediterranean 6 A: The battle of Cannae, B: The battle of Zama 7 The battle of Ilipa 8 The Roman legion, c. 160 BC, as described by Polybius 9 The Roman camp according to Polybius 10 The eastern Mediterranean world, c. 200 BC 11 The battle of Cynoscephalae 12 Roman camps at Renieblas 13 Camp III at Renieblas: general plan 14 Camp III at Renieblas: plan of barracks 15 Siegeworks round Numantia 16 Siegecamp at Peña Redonda 17 Siegecamp at Castillejo

The Journal of Military History, 2007

The study of the Roman army’s integration in the provincial system is a difficult terrain to deal with. The first, obvious, limit concerns how the different civilizations reacted to assimilation into the Roman influence: The Romanization process was either embraced or imposed after the subjugation, causing different social responses depending on the cultural features of the defeated. Given these differences, it is important to deliberate on what role the Roman army had in the integration process of the Egyptian province. In fact, Roman soldiers represented the first embodiment of Roman culture outside the Italian peninsula, the first element the local population came in contact with in the aftermath of the conquest. Given this, it is interesting to investigate whether the legionaries were aware of their cultural ‘task’, or if they were only acting as the military representation of the occupying power. The cultural effects of this research are evident: the examination of the Roman perception by the local population has, in fact, ambivalent implications. Firstly, it requires a deep analysis of Roman ideology, namely how Roman elite justified their domination over so many different civilizations. Such a concept is nowadays defined as Roman Imperialism. This aspect can be extrapolated from ancient authors’ testimonies, though we need to keep in mind that the concept of Imperialism has modern, post-capitalist origins, and cannot be semantically detected in the Greco-Latin world. Once the Roman mind-set has been analysed, it is necessary to switch to the local population. The second part of our investigation will therefore be conducted by collecting a series of selected evidence ranging from epigraphic data to papyri. The common denominator of such sources is the perspective on everyday life that connected soldiers and civilians. The final aim is to present, with reasonable precision, how the scenario of reciprocal interactions formed the image of the Roman soldier deployed in the provinces.

This short article takes a fresh approach to untangle Livy's two 'snapshots' of the early Roman Republican army supposedly c.550 BC; and 340 BC and resolves interpretation of 'rorarii' and 'accensi' in the latter and points to anachronisms in the former as described by Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Armstrong, J. and M.P. Fronda (eds.) Romans at War: Soldiers, Citizens, and Society in the Roman Republic. Routledge: London., 2019

This volume addresses the fundamental importance of the army, warfare, and military service to the development of both the Roman Republic and wider Italic society in the second half of the first millennium BC. It brings together emerging and established scholars in the area of Roman military studies to engage with subjects such as the relationship between warfare and economic and demographic regimes; the interplay of war, aristocratic politics, and state formation; and the complex role the military played in the integration of Italy. The book demonstrates the centrality of war to Rome's internal and external relationships during the Republic, as well as to the Romans' sense of identity and history. It also illustrates the changing scholarly view of warfare as a social and cultural construct in antiquity , and how much work remains to be done in what is often thought of as a "traditional" area of research. Romans at War will be of interest to students and scholars of the Roman army and ancient warfare, and of Roman society more broadly.

This paper examines the courage and cowardice of Roman soldiers in the period late 1st century BC to 4th century AD, set within a broader chronological context of service in standing armies. The specific sources for Roman warfare are evaluated together with features of service in the Roman armies. Discussion of courage is based on Roman concepts of virtus and disciplina, and examines religious and ritual observance, standing formations, regional cultural traditions, diet, medical support, training and skills development, military equipment, and service rewards. Cowardice and its consequences are investigated in the contexts of surrender, desertion and enslavement, with particular reference to the literary sources and archaeological evidence for the defeat of Varus’ army in Germany (AD 9).

Review article discussing: The Imperial Roman Army, by Y Le Bohec (1994); The Roman War Machine, by J Peddie (1994); The Roman Army at War, by A K Goldsworthy (1996).

1999

My paper examines Livy’s accounts of formal military punishment from the fifth to third century BC, analyzing evidence not only of the victim and perpetrator of the punishment, but of the reactions and emotions of those who witnessed it. I show how Livy and other historians of the Republic saw these events as crucial to defining early Roman concepts of individual authority and imperium, as well as the relationship between patrician and plebeian. Principally, I demonstrate that corporal and capital punishments in the Roman army did not simply express norms and distinctions between different social groups and individuals, but offered a context where such distinctions could be challenged and redefined. More broadly, I argue that the ability of Rome’s military hierarchy to assert its own position and exact obedience from soldiers through violence was grounded in normative concepts of power that were flexible and frequently contested on the basis of situation and space.

Notice dans Y. Le Bohec (dir.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army, Chichester, 2015

Substack, 2024

Draft of an article published in the 100th issue of Ancient Warfare.

Ancient Warfare VI.6, pp. 44-48

During battle the Roman soldiery could commit acts of extreme violence and brutality against their enemies. Be they the ferocious warriors of Northwest Europe, the Greek phalanxes well-drilled and bristling with spear-points, eastern horse-archers, or their own countrymen during civil wars, the Roman soldier could and did brutally suppress all enemies placed in front of him. What is less often mentioned, however, is their willingness to extend such violence to whole cities of unarmed civilians.

Research and Science Today , 2013

Archaeological Journal 159: 1-58., 2002

The province of Britannia and the Roman world as a whole were largely created and maintained by martial means. However, while Roman military studies in Britain achieved much during the last century, it is argued here that they have become isolated, theoretically stagnant and increasingly marginalized. Current archaeological discourse on the Roman world tends to concentrate excessively on social elites and the supposedly peaceful civil core of the empire. The historical reasons for this situation are discussed, the need for proper theorization of Roman military archaeology is argued, and its potential contributions to central debates in Roman archaeology are explored. Some possible routes towards reintegrating the martial aspect of Roman antiquity into mainstream archaeology are sketched out.