A Companion to the Roman Army E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1392

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

This companion provides an extensive account of the Roman army, exploring its role in Roman politics and society as well as the reasons for its effectiveness as a fighting force.

• An extensive account of the Roman army, from its beginnings to its transformation in the later Roman Empire
• Examines the army as a military machine – its recruitment, training, organization, tactics and weaponry
• Explores the relationship of the army to Roman politics, economics and society more broadly
• Considers the geography and climate of the lands in which the Romans fought
• Each chapter is written by a leading expert in a particular subfield and takes account of the latest scholarly and archaeological research in that area

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Half Title Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Illustrations

Notes on the Contributors

Abbreviations of Reference Works and Journals

Abbreviations of Works of Classical Literature

Introduction

Part I: Early Rome

Chapter One: Warfare and the Army in Early Rome

1 Introduction

2 Roman War and Expansion: The Regal Period

3 Roman War and Expansion: The Early Republic

4 Public and Private Warfare

5 The Evolution of the Army

6 War and Society in the Early Republic

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Two: The Army and Centuriate Organization in Early Rome

1 Introduction

2 Rome’s Earliest Political Institutions

3 The Centuriate Organization and Hoplite Warfare

4 Modern Estimates of Early Rome’s Population and Manpower

5 The Later Comitia Centuriata

6 The Beginnings of Roman Expansion

7 Divergence Between the Military Levy and the Centuriate Assembly

8 The Growth in Roman Manpower

9 Epilogue

Acknowledgment

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Part II: Mid- and Late Republic

Chapter Three: Army and Battle During the Conquest of Italy

1 Introduction

2 The Roman Conquest of Italy

3 Armies and Battle During the Conquest

Socii

4 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Four: The Age of Overseas Expansion (264–146 BC)

1 The Era of International Wars: Recruiting the Men

2 The Impact of Military Service

3 Risk Levels in the Great Wars

4 Why did Romans Fight?

5 Military Structures in the Age of Expansion

6 The Armies’ Other Half:

7 The Romans in Battle

8 Enemies on Three Continents

9 Leadership

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Five: The Late Republican Army (146–30 BC)

1 The Roman Army: From a Militia to a Professional Army

2 Formations and Units

3 Equipment and Weapons

4 The Order of Battle

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Six: War and State Formation in the Roman Republic

1 Introduction

2 State and State Formation

3 Human Resources: Citizens, Allies, and Provincials

4 Material Resources: The Needs of War

5 The Mobilization of Resources

6 The Spin-Offs of War

7 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Chapter Seven: Roman Manpower and Recruitment During the Middle Republic

1 Introduction

2 Methods of Recruitment

3 The Demography of a Warrior State

4 More Slaves, Fewer Soldiers?

5 The Property Qualification for Military Service

6 Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Eight: Military Command, Political Power, and the Republican Elite

1 Introduction

2 Courage and the Aristocratic Ethos

3 Warfare and the First Steps in a Political Career

4 Command

5 Military Laurels and Political Power

6 The Late Republic

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Nine: Colonization, Land Distribution, and Veteran Settlement

1 Colonization and Viritane Settlement 338 to 169 BC

2 Colonization and Settlement in the Late Republic

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Ten: Army and General in the Late Roman Republic

1 Introduction

2 State, Army, and Middle Cadre

3 Sulla

4 The Fimbrians

5 Caesar

6 Conclusions

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Part III: The Empire (Actium to Adrianople)

Chapter Eleven: The Augustan Reform and the Structure of the Imperial Army

1 The Establishment of a Professional Army

2 The Army of the Principate

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twelve: Classes. The Evolution of the Roman Imperial Fleets

1 Introduction

2 Shipping and Infrastructure

3 The Late Republic

4 Augustus

5 The Italian Fleets

6 Personnel

7 The Provincial Fleets

8 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Chapter Thirteen: Battle, Tactics, and the Emergence of the Limites in the West

1 The Soldiers’ Battle

2 The General’s Battle

3 On the March

4 Clothing

5 Assaults on Fortified Places

6 The Emergence of the Limites Function: what were the limites for?

7 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Fourteen: The Army and the Limes in the East

1 Scholarly Approaches

2 Prelude

3 Augustus and the Julio-Claudians

4 Collapse and Reorganization: The Northern Theater

5 Reorganization and Expansion: The Southern Theater

6 Transition to the Late Empire

7 Transition: The Southern Theater

8 Transition: The Northern Theater

9 Tactical Developments in the East

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Fifteen: Strategy and Army Structure between Septimius Severus and Constantine the Great

1 The New Army of Diocletian and Constantine, Fact and Fiction

2 The Development of the Imperial Field Army

3 Army Command and Officers

4 Gallienus and the Rise of Cavalry in the Third Century

5 The Development of the Roman Infantry

6 Recruitment

7 The Question of Barbarization

8 Equipment and Logistics

9 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Sixteen: Military Documents, Languages, and Literacy

1 Introduction

2 Writing Materials

3 The Enlistment Process

4 Modernity of Bureaucracy

5 Interim Reports and Pridiana of Units

6 Immunes and THEIR STATUS

7 Commeatus

8 Literacy and Literate Culture

9 Romanization

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Seventeen: Finances and Costs of the Roman Army

1 Introduction

2 Life in the Army

3 Pay

4 Expenses Structure

5 The Empire and the Expenses

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Eighteen: War- and Peacetime Logistics: Supplying Imperial Armies in East and West

1 Sources

2 Military Diet and Daily Needs

3 Organization of Peacetime Logistics: Supplying Armies in Border Provinces and on the March

4 Organizing Wartime Logistics: Supplying Armies in the Field

5 Conclusion: Roman Military Logistic Skills, the Way to Success?

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Nineteen: The Roman Army and Propaganda

1 Imperial Images and Propaganda

2 Propagating Emperor and Army

3 Representing the Soldiers

4 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty: Northern Women during the Age of EmancipationAnd the War Came

1 Introduction

2 Elites of Italy and Empire

3 Whose Power? Constitutionalism and its Discontents

4 Whose Power? The Army and the Land

5 Cities, Soldiers, and Civilians

6 Conclusion: Maximinus at Aquileia

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-One: Making Emperors. Imperial Instrument or Independent Force?

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-Two: Military Camps, Canabae, and Vici. The Archaeological Evidence

1 The Development of Military Camps from the First to the Fourth Century

2 Organization and Structure of Military Camps

3 Types of Camps (units and functions)

4 Camp Villages (canabae and vici)

5 Future Research

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-Three: Marriage, Families, and Survival: Demographic Aspects

1 Marriage and Families

2 Survival

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-Four: Recruits and Veterans

1 Recruits

2 Veterans

Notes

Bibliography

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Religions of the Armies

1 Introduction

2 The Religion of the Army: A Complex “System”

3 The Official Army Religion and Cults Specific to the Military

4 The Private Cults in the Religion of the Roman Army

5 Demise of the “Old” Army Religion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Part IV: The Late Roman Empire (up to Justinian)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Warlords and Landlords

1 Delegating Defense of the Frontier

2 Over-Mighty Generals: West

3 Over-Mighty Generals: East

4 Self-Help in a Disintegrating Empire

5 Landlords Do Not Become Warlords

Notes

Bibliography

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Foederati

1 Some Observations on Terminology

2 Continuity from the Principate

3 The So-Called Barbarization of the Late Roman Army

4 “Reichsfränkisches Kriegermilieu” – An Example of a Successful Integration Policy

5 The “Hunnic Alternative” – Incompatible with the Defense Policies of the Empire

6 Roman Military Policy South of the Danube after AD 376/8

7 The Dilemma of the Western Empire in the Fifth Century

8 Roman Military Policy on the Rhine after AD 406/7

9 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Army and Society in the Late Roman World: A Context for Decline?

1 Introduction

2 Manpower

3 Outsiders

4 Composition

5 Organization

6 Loyalties

7 Soldiers and Civilians

8 Christianity

9 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Army and Battle in the Age of Justinian (527–65)

1 Sources

2 Attitudes

3 Operations

4 Regions

5 Combat

6 Skirmishing and Attrition Warfare

7 Battle

8 Sieges

9 Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Further Reading

Index locorum

Index

A Companion to the Roman Army

BLACKWELL COMPANIONS TO THE ANCIENT WORLD

This series provides sophisticated and authoritative overviews of periods of ancient history, genres of classical literature, and the most important themes in ancient culture. Each volume comprises between twenty-five and forty concise essays written by individual scholars within their area of specialization. The essays are written in a clear, provocative, and lively manner, designed for an international audience of scholars, students, and general readers.

ANCIENT HISTORY

PUBLISHED

A Companion to the Roman Army

Edited by Paul Erdkamp

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Edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx

A Companion to the Roman Empire

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A Companion to the Classical Greek World

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A Companion to the Ancient Near East

Edited by Daniel C. Snell

A Companion to the Hellenistic World

Edited by Andrew Erskine

A Companion to Late Antiquity

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A Companion to Catullus

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A Companion to Greek Religion

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A Companion to the Classical Tradition

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A Companion to Roman Rhetoric

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A Companion to Greek Rhetoric

Edited by Ian Worthington

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Edited by John Miles Foley

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Edited by James Clackson

A Companion to Greek Mythology

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A Companion to Sophocles

Edited by Kirk Ormand

A Companion to Aeschylus

Edited by Peter Burian

A Companion to Archaic Greece

Edited by Kurt A. Raaflaub and Hans van Wees

A Companion to Julius Caesar

Edited by Miriam Griffin

A Companion to Ancient History

Edited by Andrew Erskine

A Companion to Byzantium

Edited by Liz James

A Companion to Ancient Egypt

Edited by Alan B. Lloyd

A Companion to Ancient Macedonia

Edited by Joseph Roisman and Ian Worthington

A Companion to Sparta

Edited by Anton Powell

A Companion to Greek Tragedy

Edited by Justina Gregory

A Companion to Latin Literature

Edited by Stephen Harrison

A Companion to Ovid

Edited by Peter E. Knox

A Companion to Greek and Roman Political Thought

Edited by Ryan K. Balot

A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language

Edited by Egbert Bakker

A Companion to Hellenistic Literature

Edited by Martine Cuypers and James J. Clauss

A Companion to Vergil’s Aeneid and its Tradition

Edited by Joseph Farrell and Michael C. J. Putnam

A Companion to Horace

Edited by Gregson Davis

A Companion to Greek Art

Edited by Tyler Jo Smith and Dimitris Plantzos

A Companion to Families in the Greek and Roman World

Edited by Beryl Rawson

A Companion to Tacitus

Edited by Victoria Pagán

A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East

Edited by Daniel Potts

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A companion to the Roman army / edited by Paul Erdkamp. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-1-4051-2153-8 (hardback : alk. paper) ISBN: 978-1-4443-3921-5 (paperback : alk. paper) 1. Military history, Ancient. 2. Rome—History, Military. 3. Rome—Army. I. Erdkamp, Paul. U35.C648 2007 355.00937—dc22 2006009420

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Set in 10/12pt Galliard by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Printed in Malaysia

1 2011

This book is dedicated with great respect and gratitude to Lukas de Blois on the occasion of his retirement

Illustrations

Plates

16.1 Strength report of Coh. I Tungrorum at Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall in Britain, c. 92–97 AD

16.2 Fragment of petition for leave

19.1 Arch of Titus: relief depicting spoils from the temple of Jerusalem

19.2 Arch of Constantine: Relief depicting part of the Great Trajanic Frieze

19.3 Arch of Septimius Severus: Reliefs depicting the emperor on campaign

19.4 Arch of Septimius Severus: column bases showing Romans with chained Parthians

19.5 Arch of Constantine (attic reliefs): Marcus Aurelius addressing troops

22.1 León. Blocking of the eastern side gate of the legionary fortress

22.2 Köln-Marienburg (Alteburg). Reconstruction of the earth-and-timber rampart of the principal base of the Classis Germanica

22.3 Hofheim (Taunus). Plan of the “Steinkastell”

22.4 Lambaesis. Entrance hall of the headquarters of the legionary fortress

22.5 Masada. View of siege camp C and the circumvallatio

22.6 Reconstruction of the limes fort Zugmantel and the camp vicus

25.6a The bust of Zeus-Ammon-Sarapis, god of Legio III Cyrenaica on the reverse of an urban coin-issue from its garrison town Bostra

25.6b Zeus-Ammon-Sarapis, god of Legio III Cyrenaica, on the reverse of an urban coin-issue from Bostra

Figure

Figure 23.1 Percentage of men currently married or commemorated by their wives

Maps

1.1 Early Latium and its environs

14.1 Roman East: Southern Theater

14.2 Roman East: Northern Theater

22.1 Legionary fortresses and camps with legionary troops in the Roman Empire from Augustus until the Tetrarchy 396–7

Tables

Table 7.1 Census figures for the period 265 BC-AD

Table 23.1 Civilian and military dedications by commemorator

Table 23.2 Commemorations of soldiers dedicated by their wives

Notes on Contributors

Clifford Ando is Professor of Classics and the College at the University of Chicago. He writes on the history of law, religion, and culture in the Roman world. He is author of Imperial Ideology and Provincial Loyalty in the Roman Empire (2000) and editor of Roman Religion (2003).

Anthony R. Birley was Professor of Ancient History at the universities of Manchester from 1974 to 1990 and Düsseldorf from 1990 to 2002. His publications include biographies of the emperors Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Septimius Severus. He is Chair of the Trustees of the Vindolanda Trust.

Lukas de Blois is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nijmegen. He has published on the history of the Roman Empire in the third century AD, the Late Roman Republic, historiography (Sallust, Tacitus, Cassius Dio), Plutarch’s biographies, and Greek Sicily in the fourth century BC. He also published (with R. J. van der Spek) Introduction to the Ancient World (1997).

Will Broadhead is Assistant Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research is mainly on the history of Roman Italy, with a particular interest in geographical mobility and in the epigraphy of the Sabellic languages.

Pierre Cagniart has earned his doctorate in 1986 at the University of Texas. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of History at Southwest Texas State University. He has published various articles on late republican warfare and his research interests also include Roman law and cultural history of the Roman principate.

Hugh Elton is currently associate professor in the Department of Ancient History and Classics at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario. Previously he was Director of the British Institute at Ankara. He writes on Roman military history in the late empire, and on southern Anatolia (especially Cilicia). He is author of Warfare in Roman Europe, AD 350–425 (1996) and Frontiers of the Roman Empire (1996).

Paul Erdkamp is Research Fellow in Ancient History at Leiden University. He is the author of Hunger and the Sword. Warfare and Food Supply in Roman Republican Wars (264–30 BC) (1998) and The Grain Market in the Roman Empire (2005). He is the editor of The Roman Army and the Economy (2002).

Gary Forsythe received his Ph.D. in ancient history at the University of Pennsylvania; and after teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, and the University of Chicago, he now is Professor in the Department of History at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas). He is the author of four books, the most recent of which is A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War (2005).

Kate Gilliver is a lecturer in ancient history at Cardiff University and is a Roman military historian. She has particular interests in military reform in the republic and early empire, atrocities in ancient warfare, and in the relationship between ancient military theory and practice, on which she has published a book, The Roman Art of War (1999).

Norbert Hanel teaches archaeology of the Roman provinces at the universities of Cologne and Bochum (Ruhr-Universität) and has published Vetera I (1995). He has excavated in Germany and other European countries, particularly the Germanic and Hispanic provinces, and studied the naval base of the Classis Germanica KölnMarienburg (Alteburg). His main research interests are the military and cultural history of the provinces especially of the western empire.

Olivier Hekster is Van der Leeuw Professor of Ancient History at the Radboud University Nijmegen. His research focuses on Roman ideology and ancient spectacle. He is author of Commodus: An Emperor at the Crossroads (2002), and co-editor of Representation and Perception of Roman Imperial Power (2003) and Imaginary Kings: Royal Images in The Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome (2005).

Peter Herz studied history, classics, and archaeology at the universities of Mainz and Oxford. He received both his D.Phil. and habilitation in ancient history at the University of Mainz. In 1994 he was appointed Professor of Ancient History at the University of Regensburg. His research interests include social and economic history, epigraphy, the ruler cult, and the history of the Roman provinces.

Dexter Hoyos was born and educated in Barbados. After taking a D.Phil. at Oxford in Roman history, he joined Sydney University where he is Associate Professor in Latin. His academic interests include Roman-Carthaginian relations, Roman expansionism and the problem of sources, the principate, and developing direct-reading and comprehension skills in Latin. His many publications include Hannibal’s Dynasty: Power and Politics in the Western Mediterranean, 247–183 BC (2003).

Peter Kehne studied history, philosophy, classical philology, law of nations, and Roman law at the universities of Kiel, Hanover, and Göttingen. He received his D.Phil. in ancient history and is now Assistant Professor of Ancient History at the Leibniz University, Hanover. He has published on ancient history and historians, foreignpolicy, international relations, and “Völkerrecht” in antiquity, as well as on Greek and Roman military history, especially the Greek-Persian and Roman-German wars.

Wolf Liebeschuetz is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Nottingham. He has published on various aspects of ancient history and late antiquity is a central interest of his. His most recent books are The Decline and Fall of the Roman City (2001) and Ambrose of Milan: Political Letters and Speeches (2005).

Luuk de Ligt is Professor of Ancient History at the University of Leiden. His research interests include the social and economic history, demography, legal history and epigraphy of the Roman Republic and Empire. His major publications include Fairs and Markets in the Roman Empire (1993) and numerous articles, most recently “Poverty and demography: The case of the Gracchan land reforms,” Mnemosyne 57 (2004): 725–57.

Sara Elise Phang received a doctorate in Roman history from Columbia University in 2000. She has held a postdoctoral fellowship in Classics at the University of Southern California. She performs research at the Library of Congress and the Center for Hellenic Studies. Her first book, The Marriage of Roman Soldiers, 13 BC-AD 235, won the 2002 Gustave O. Arlt Award in the Humanities for Classical Studies. She is currently conducting research into Roman military discipline.

Louis Rawlings is a lecturer in ancient history at Cardiff University. His research interests include Italian, Greek, Punic, and Gallic warfare, especially the military interaction between states, such as Rome and Carthage, and tribal societies, and the roles warriors have in state-formation. He is the author of The Ancient Greeks at War (2006).

John Rich is Reader in Roman History at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Declaring War in the Roman Republic in the Period of Transmarine Expansion (1976), Cassius Dio: The Augustan Settlement (Roman History 53–55.9) (1990), and articles on various aspects of Roman history, especially warfare and imperialism, historiography, and the reign of Augustus. He has also edited various collections of papers, including (with G. Shipley) War and Society in the Roman World (1993).

Nathan Rosenstein is Professor of History at The Ohio State University. He is the author of a number of works on the effects of war on Roman political culture and society, most recently Rome at War, Farms, Families, and Death in the Middle Republic (2004). He is also the editor, with Robert Morstein-Marx, of the Blackwell Companion to the Roman Republic (2006).

Denis Saddington studied English and classics at the University of the Witwatersrand, before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He has taught in the universities of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Witwatersrand, and Zimbabwe, and has written a book on The Development of the Roman Auxiliary Forces (1982). His main research interests are the early church, Josephus, Roman auxiliaries, and Roman provincial administration.

Walter Scheidel is Professor of Classics at Stanford University. His research focuses on ancient social and economic history, pre-modern historical demography, and comparative and interdisciplinary world history. His publications include Measuring Sex, Age and Death in the Roman Empire (1996) and Death on the Nile: Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt (2001).

Timo Stickler is Akademischer Rat in Ancient History at the Heinrich-HeineUniversity, Düsseldorf. His research interests include the political and social history of late antiquity, especially in the western part of the Mediterranean. He is the author of Aetius: Gestaltungsspielräume eines Heermeisters im ausgehenden Weströmischen Reich (2002).

Oliver Stoll teaches ancient history at the University of Mainz and is research fellow at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz (RGZM). His research focuses on the Roman army, archaeology, and history of the Roman provinces. Various articles are included in his Römisches Heer und Gesellschaft. Gesammelte Beiträge 1991–1999 (2001). He is the author of Zwischen Integration und Abgrenzung: Die Religion des Römischen Heeres im Nahen Osten (2001).

Karl Strobel is Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Klagenfurt. His research is concentrated on the history of the Roman Empire, but also on the Hellenistic period, on the economic history of antiquity, and on the history and archaeology of ancient Anatolia. He has written numerous publications on the history of the Roman army, for example Untersuchungen zu den Dakerkriegen Trajans (1984) and Die Donaukriege Domitians (1989).

James Thorne studied archaeology at University College London before joining the British army in 1995, subsequently serving with the Royal Tank Regiment. His Ph.D. thesis (Manchester 2005) was entitled Caesar and the Gauls: Imperialism and Regional Conflict. His current teaching at the University of Manchester includes a course on “Roman Imperialism 264 BC-AD 69”; his other interests include warfare in classical Greece, on which he has published, ancient logistics, and a planned book on the transformation of empires into states.

Gabriele Wesch-Klein teaches ancient history at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She is author of several articles concerning the Roman army during the principate. She has also published Soziale Aspekte des römischen Heerwesens in der Kaiserzeit (1998).

Everett L. Wheeler (Ph.D., Duke University) has taught history and classical studies at University of Missouri/Columbia, University of Louisville, Duke University, and North Carolina State University. Besides publishing numerous papers on ancient military history, the Hellenistic and Roman East, and the history of military theory, he translated (with Peter Krentz) Polyaenus’ Stratagems of War (1994). His Stratagem and the Vocabulary of Military Trickery appeared in 1988. An edited volume, The Armies of Classical Greece, is forthcoming.

Michael Whitby is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick. He is author of several articles on the late Roman army and has recently been responsible for editing the late Roman section of the Cambridge History of Ancient Warfare (2006). His many publications include Warfare in the Late Roman World, 280–640 (1999).

Abbreviations of Reference Works and Journals

AEAnnée épigraphiqueAJAHAmerican Journal of Ancient HistoryAJPAmerican Journal of PhilologyAncSocAncient SocietyANRWAufstieg und Niedergang der römischen WeltBASPBulletin of the American Society of PapyrologistsBGUAegyptische Urkunden aus den staatlichen Museen zu Berlin; Griechische UrkundenBICSBulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of LondonBJBonner JahrbücherBMCRRH. Mattingly and R. A. G. Carson, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, 1923-CAHCambridge Ancient HistoryCBFIRE. Schallmayer et al., Corpus der griechischen und lateinischen Beneficiarier-Inschriften des römischen Reiches, Stuttgart 1990ChLAA. Bruckner and R. Marichal (eds.), Chartae Latinae antiquiores, Basel 1954-CILCorpus Inscriptionum LatinarumCPClassical PhilologyCPLR. Cavenaile, ed. Corpus Papyrorum Latinarum, Wiesbaden 1958CQClassical QuarterlyCRAIComptes rendus de l’académie des Inscriptions et Belles-LettresDarisS. Daris, Documenti per la storia dell’esercito romano in Egitto, Milan 1964EAEpigraphica AnatolicaFIRAS. Riccobono et al., Fontes iuris romani anteiustiniani, 1940–3FOL. Vidman (ed.), Fasti Ostienses, Prague 1982GRBSGreek, Roman, and Byzantine StudiesIGBulgG. Mikailov, Inscriptiones Graecae in Bulgaria repertae, Sofia 1956–1987IGLSyrInscriptions grecques et latines de la SyrieIGR(R)R. Cagnat et al., Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, Paris 1901–27ILAlgInscriptions latines de l’Algerie, 3 vols., Paris 1922, 1957, 1976ILSH. Dessau (ed.), Inscriptiones Latinae selectae, Berlin 1954InscrAqJ. B. Brusin (ed.), Inscriptiones Aquileiae, 3 vols., Udine 1991–3JDAIJahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen InstitutsJHSJournal of Hellenic StudiesJÖBJahrbuch der österreichischen ByzantinistikJRAJournal of Roman ArchaeologyJRGZJahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums MainzJRMESJournal of Roman Military Equipment StudiesJRSJournal of Roman StudiesLALiber Annuus (Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Jerusalem)LCLLoeb Classical LibraryLib. Hist.Franc.Liber Historia FrancorumLTUREva Margareta Steinby (ed.), Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae, 6 vols., Rome 1993–2000.MAARMemoirs of the American Academy in RomeMitteis, Chr.L. Mitteis und U. Wilcken, Grundzüge und Chrestomatie der Papyruskunde, Leipzig 1912MRRT. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, 3 vols. (1951, 1952, 1986)Not.Dig.Occ.Notitia Dignitatum OccidentisO. Amst.R. S. Bagnall, P. J. Sijpesteijn, and K. A. Worp, Ostraka in Amsterdam Collections, Zutphen 1976O. Bu DjemR. Marichal (ed.), Les Ostraca de Bu Djem, Tripoli 1992O. Claud.J. Bingen et al., Mons Claudianus. Ostraca Graeca et Latina, Cairo 1992, 1997, 2000O. FloridaR. S. Bagnall (ed.), The Florida Ostraka. Documents from the Roman Army in Upper Egypt, Durham, NC 1976OJAOxford Journal of ArchaeologyOLDP. W. G. Glare (ed.), Oxford Latin Dictionary, Oxford 1968–82P. Abinn.H. I. Bell et al. (eds.), The Abinnaeus Archive: Papers of a Roman Officer in the Reign of Constantius II, Oxford 1962P. Berol.G. Ioannidou (ed.), Catalogue of Greek and Latin Literary Papyri in Berlin (P.Berol.inv. 21101–21299, 21911), Mainz 1996P. BrooklynJ. C. Shelton (ed.), Greek and Latin Papyri, Ostraca, and Wooden Tablets in the Collection of the Brooklyn Museum, Florence 1992P. Columb.Columbia Papyri. Vol. I (1929)-XI (1998)P. DuraC. Bradford-Welles et al., The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Final Report V1. The Parchments and Papyri, 1959P. Fay.Fayum Towns and their Papyri, B. P. Grenfell, A. S. Hunt, and D. G. Hogarth (eds.). London 1900P. FouadA. Bataille et al. (eds.), Les papyrus Fouad, Cairo 1939P. Grenf. 1B. P. Grenfell, An Alexandrian Erotic Fragment and Other Greek Papyri, Chiefly Ptolemaic, Oxford 1896P. Grenf. 2B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, New Classical Fragments and Other Greek and Latin Papyri, Oxford 1897P. Hamb.P. M. Meyer (ed.), Griechische Papyrusurkunden der hamburger Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Leipzig/Berlin 1911–24P. Mich.Michigan Papyri. Vol. I (1931)-XIX (1999)P. Osl.Papyri Osloenses. Oslo. Vol. I, S. Eitrem (ed.), Magical Papyri, 1925. Vol. II, S. Eitrem and L. Amundsen (eds.), 1931. Vol. III, S. Eitrem and L. Amundsen (eds.) 1936P. Oxy.B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt et al., The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, London 1898-P. Panop.T. C. Skeat, Papyri from Panopolis in the Chester Beatty Library,BeattyDublin, Dublin 1964P. PetausU. Hagedorn et al. (eds.), Das Archiv des Petaus, Cologne 1969P. Strasb.Griechische Papyrus der kaiserlichen Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek zu StrassburgP. YaleYale Papyri in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript LibraryPBSRPapers of the British School at RomePGJ.-P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, Paris 1857–66P.Gen.Lat.J. Nicole and C. Morel (eds.), Archives militaires du 1er siècle (Texte inédit du Papyrus Latin de Genève No. 1). Geneva 1900PIRE. Klebs et al. (eds.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani, Berlin 1897–8PIR2E. Groag et al., Prosopographia Imperii Romani, Berlin 1933-PLREJ. Morris et al. (ed.), Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Cambridge 1971–92PSIG. Vitelli et al. (eds.), Papiri greci e latini, Florence 1912-RACReallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Stuttgart 1950-REBRevue des études byzantinesREMARevue des études militaires anciennesRIBR. G. Collingwood and R. P. Wright, The Roman Inscriptions of Britain. Vol. 1. Inscriptions on Stone, Oxford 1965RICThe Roman Imperial Coinage. Vols. I-X, London 1923–94RIUDie römischen Inschriften Ungarns, Budapest, 5 vols., Amsterdam 1972–91RMDM. M. Roxan, Roman Military Diplomas, 1 (1954–77), 2 (1978–84), 3 (1985–93), London 1978, 1985, 1994RMRR. O. Fink, Roman Military Documents on Papyrus, Cleveland 1971RPCA. Burnett et al., Roman Provincial Coinage, London 1992-RRCM. H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge 1974SBF. Preisigke et al., Sammelbuch griechischer Urkunden aus Ägypten, Strassburg/Berlin/Leipzig 1913-SEGSupplementum Epigraphicum GraecumSel. Pap.A. S. Hunt and C. C. Edgar (eds. and trans.), Select Papyri Vol. I: Non-Literary Papyri Private Affairs, Cambridge, MA: 1932, repr. 1988; and Vol. II: Official Documents, Cambridge, MA 1934, repr. 1995SyllogeW. Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum GraecarumTab. Vindol. 1A. K. Bowman and J. D. Thomas, Vindolanda. The Latin Writing Tablets, Gloucester 1983Tab. Vindol. 2A. K. Bowman and J. D. Thomas, The Vindolanda Writing Tablets, London 1994Tab. Vindol. 3A. K. Bowman and J. D. Thomas, with contributions by John Pearce, The Vindolanda Writing Tablets, London 2003TAPhSTransactions of the American Philosophical SocietyWaddingtonW. H. Waddington, “Inscriptiones grecques et latines de la Syrie recueilles et expliquees,” Paris 1870W.Chr.U. Wilcken, Chrestomathie, Leipzig 1912YCSYale Classical StudiesZPEZeitschrift für Papyrologie und EpigraphikZRGZeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte (Romanistische Abteilung)

Introduction

Paul Erdkamp

The guiding principle behind this companion to the Roman army is the belief that the Roman army cannot adequately be described only as an instrument of combat, but must be viewed also as an essential component of Roman society, economy, and politics. Of course, the prime purpose of the Roman army was to defeat the enemy in battle. Whether the army succeeded depended not only on its weapons and equipment, but also its training and discipline, and on the experience of its soldiers, all of which combined to allow the most effective deployment of its manpower. Moreover, every army is backed by a more or less developed organization that is needed to mobilize and sustain it. Changes in Roman society significantly affected the Roman army. However, the army was also itself an agent of change, determining in large part developments in politics and government, economy and society. Four themes recur throughout the volume: (1) the army as a fighting force; (2) the mobilization of human and material resources; (3) the relationship between army, politics, and empire; and (4) the relationship between the armies and the civilian population. Even in a sizeable volume such as this choices have had to be made regarding the topics to be discussed, but the focus in this volume on the army in politics, economy, and society reflects the direction of recent research.

Modern authors often claim that ancient Rome was a militaristic society, and that warfare dominated the lives of the Roman people. Interestingly, the first outsider in Rome to paint an extensive picture of Roman society and whose account has largely survived essentially says the same thing. Polybius was in a position to know, since he was brought to Rome as a hostage after the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC) and was befriended by one of the leading families. The main task he set himself in his Histories was to explain Rome’s incredible military success during the past decades. To Polybius, the stability of her constitution was one important element, but Rome’s military success is explained by two other elements: manpower and ethos. At the eve of the Hannibalic War, Polybius informs us, Rome was able to mobilize 700,000 men in the infantry and 70,000 horsemen. To be sure, Rome never assembled an armyof such size – even in imperial times her soldiers did not number as many as 700,000. But such a number of men was available to take up arms and fight Rome’s opponents in Italy or overseas. In other words, almost all male, able-bodied citizens of Rome and her allies could be expected to serve in the army at one point or another. Military service was indeed the main duty of a Roman citizen, and military experience was widespread. The empires that Rome had defeated in the past decades – Carthage, Macedon, the Seleucid Empire – had lost the connection between citizenship and military service, instead relying largely on mercenaries. Polybius was also struck by the military ethos that Roman traditions instilled in the Roman elite and common people alike. Citizens and allies were awarded in front of the entire army for bravery in combat. Decorations were worn on public occasions during the rest of the soldiers’ lives. Trophies were hung in the most conspicuous places in their homes.

So when we consider this people’s almost obsessive concern with military rewards and punishments, and the immense importance which they attach to both, it is not surprising that they emerge with brilliant success from every war in which they engage. (Polybius 6.39)

At the time that Polybius witnessed Roman society, the army and military ethos played important roles in the lives of almost all male Roman citizens. In that sense, Rome’s was a militaristic society.

Although war and the army remained important aspects of the Roman Empire, it would be difficult to characterize Roman society at the time of Augustus (31 BC–14 AD) or Trajan (98–117 AD) as militaristic to the same degree. Just as the term “Roman” applied to ever widening circles, more and more recruits enlisting in the legions came from Spain, Gaul, and other provinces, while the people of the capital city did not serve in the armies anymore. Moreover, military service had become a lifetime profession for a minority of the empire’s inhabitants. Recruits signed up to serve for up to 25 years. Many would die while serving in the army, though more of natural causes than due to military action. Many veterans from the legions became prominent members of local society, while those who had served in the auxiliary forces earned Roman citizenship at discharge. However, only a few percent of the empire’s population served in the armies or fleets. Large sections of the empire hardly saw Roman armies at all during the next centuries, while many soldiers never saw combat. The army still held an important place in society, mostly so in the border regions where the majority of troops were concentrated, but this role had changed significantly.

Waging war remained the largest task undertaken by the state, and the army was the largest institution that the state created. It certainly was the most expensive, taking up about three quarters of the annual imperial budget. Mobilizing, equipping, and feeding the several hundred thousand men that were stationed between Brittannia’s northern border and the Arabian desert was an undertaking that could not be sustained by the market alone, and required the direct intervention of the central and local authorities. On the other hand, the presence of Roman legions and auxiliary forces was the engine that drove crucial developments in the economy and society of the border regions. And it was through the army that many members of local aristocracies were integrated into the Roman Empire.

The army retained a central role in the power structures within the empire. Addressing the Roman Senate, Augustus used the phrase “I and the army are well,” leaving no doubt about who ruled the empire and with what backing. Hence the close connection between emperor and armies was an important message to convey not only to the senators in Italy and peoples throughout the empire, but – most crucially – to the armies as well. While the Praetorian Guard, which was stationed near Rome, played an important role on the accession to the throne of Claudius in 41 AD, in the civil wars of 68–69 AD the armies of the Rhine, Danube, and the East decided who would be put on the throne. While the nature of the relationship between the emperors and the senatorial class (to which belonged many of the authors on whose historical narrative we nowadays rely) colors – and possibly distorts – our picture of individual emperors, the most important development in the position of the emperor during the next centuries may be said to have been the changing relationship between army and emperor. Whatever their qualities and intentions, emperors could not function without maintaining close relations with the troops. One of the problems was that many units were almost permanently stationed in the same region, and drew recruits from their locality. Troops developed regional ties that proved stronger in times of crisis than the ties with Rome or the emperor. In the mid-third century AD the position of emperor became the prize in a struggle between the various armies stationed in Britain, along the Rhine and Danube, and in the East. Diocletian (284–305) and Constantine (312–337) managed to restore control of the armies. In the meantime, however, Rome and Italy had lost their centrality, while internal threats played as much a role in the development of the army as did external wars.

The traditional view of the late Roman Empire held that, as the nature of the opponents along the borders changed and their strength became ever greater, the empire threatened to collapse under the stress, leading on the one hand to more state control of society in order to maintain military strength, on the other hand to a weakening army, consisting more and more of barbaric peoples or farmer-soldiers of dubious military value. This picture now seems largely untrue: the central authorities did not suffocate civil society in order to maintain the war effort, nor were the Roman armies of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries AD less capable of striking forceful blows at their opponents. In the fourth century, many Germanic peoples served in the Roman armies. The landowners paid money to hire men, and kept their own people on the land. The western half of the Roman Empire did indeed collapse, as after the battle of Adrianople large tracts of land came under the control of migrating Germanic peoples – in particular Vandals, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths – who were eventually allowed to settle under their own rule, but who increasingly made it impossible for the central Roman authorities to gather the resources necessary to sustain a sizeable army of their own. The armies of the emperor Justinian (527–565), which were backed by a populous eastern empire and reconquered Italy, northern Africa, and southern Spain from their Germanic kings, may be seen as the last Roman armies.

PART I

Early Rome

CHAPTER ONE

Warfare and the Army in Early Rome

John Rich

1 Introduction

By the mid-sixth century BC, Rome had become the largest city in western central Italy and one of its leading powers, but the reach of Roman power remained for a long time confined to the Tiber basin and its immediate environs. The Romans’ penetration further afield began with their intervention in Campania in 343 BC and led in some seventy years to the conquest of all Italy south of the Po Valley. However, this advance and the ensuing expansion overseas cannot be understood without some examination of Roman warfare and military developments in the preceding centuries. This is the subject of the present chapter, and the following chapter considers some aspects in further detail.

The evidence for early Roman history is notoriously problematic. Roman historians developed extensive narratives, preserved most fully for us in two histories written in the late first century BC, by Livy and by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (the latter in Greek, and fully extant only for the period down to 443 BC). However, Roman historical writing only began in the late third century BC, and it is clear that the early accounts were greatly elaborated by later writers. For the period of the kings, most of what we are told is legend or imaginative reconstruction. From the foundation of the republic (traditionally dated to 509 BC), the historians give an annual record. This incorporated a good deal of authentic data, transmitted either orally or from documentary sources such as the record of events kept from quite early times by the Pontifex Maximus. However, this material underwent extensive distortion and elaboration in the hands of successive historians writing up their accounts for literary effect and expanding the narrative with what they regarded as plausible reconstructions. As a result the identification of the hard core of authentic data in the surviving historical accounts is very problematic and its extent remains disputed. There is general agreement that much of what we are told is literary confection, and this appliesin particular to most of the accounts of early wars, which are full of stereotyped and often anachronistic invention.

Despite these difficulties, it is possible to establish a good deal about early Roman history and to make an assessment of the character of its warfare. We are helped in this by a range of further information, including data preserved by other ancient writers, for example antiquarian accounts of Roman institutions, a few inscriptions, and, particularly for the regal period, extensive archaeological evidence.1

2 Roman War and Expansion: The Regal Period

Rome’s early success owed a good deal to its site: a group of defensible hills, at the Tiber crossing where the north-south route from Etruria to Campania intersected with the route from the interior to the sea and the saltbeds at the Tiber mouth. In origin Rome was just one of many communities of Latins, inhabiting the plain south of the Tiber and the immediately surrounding hillsides, and sharing the same Indo-European dialect and material culture and some common sanctuaries. North of the Tiber lived the Etruscans; these were non-Indo-European speakers, but in the early centuries the material culture of the southern Etruscan communities, and in particular Rome’s neighbor Veii, had much in common with that of the Latins. East of Veii, and still north of the river, lived the Faliscans, linguistically close to the Latins. On the Roman side of the river, beyond the Latins lived other linguistically related peoples such as the Sabines. The wide range of peoples sharing and competing for these lands was to be an important factor in the Romans’ early development.

Habitation began at Rome at least c. 1000 BC, and by the eighth century several hut-villages had formed, on the Palatine Hill and elsewhere. Grave furnishings in the region show increased social stratification and some spectacular wealth from the eighth century. In later seventh century Rome we can discern the creation of public buildings and spaces at Rome: by now it had evolved from a village community into a city-state.

Rome was now ruled by kings, perhaps more than the seven recorded by tradition. Modern writers have often supposed that under the last three kings (Tarquin I, Servius Tullius, Tarquin II) Rome was under Etruscan rule, but this doctrine has been refuted by Cornell. These reigns must have covered the mid-to late sixth century, and both the historical tradition and archaeological indications show that this was a period of enhanced prosperity, with Rome now established as the most flourishing city in Latium.2

The Roman historical tradition ascribed victorious wars and expansion against the Latins and other neighboring peoples to all but one of the kings, but very little of this detailed narrative can be historical. It is, nonetheless, likely that by the late sixth century Roman territory had reached roughly the extent which the tradition indicates for the regal period: there was a significant bridgehead on the right bank of the Tiber, and at least on the left bank Roman territory reached the sea, while to the southeast it extended up to the Alban Mount. Alföldi argued that much of this expansion did not take place till the later fifth century, but this must be wrong, since such substantial growth in that period would surely have been reflected in the tradition.3

Map 1.1 Early Latium and its environs

Rome was not the only Latin community to expand in the archaic period, but its territory had become much larger than any other’s. Beloch’s estimates, though highly conjectural, are plausible approximations: he reckoned Roman territory at the end of the sixth century as 822 square kilometers, just over a third of all Latin territory (2,344 km2).4

The literary tradition represents Rome as seeking to assert supremacy over the other Latins from the reign of Tullus Hostilius on, with the Latins frequently mounting combined opposition. Little in this tradition is of any value, but, in view of the greater size of their city and territory, it is likely that the last kings were able to establish some form of hegemony over at least some of the Latins.

Remarkable evidence of the extent of Roman claims in the late sixth century may be afforded by their first treaty with Carthage, preserved by the second century BC Greek historian Polybius (3.22), in which the Carthaginians undertake not to injure “the people of Ardea, Antium, Lavinium, Circeii, Tarracina or any other of the Latins who are subjects.” Although the alternative dating to 348 still has its supporters, most scholars now accept Polybius’ dating of the treaty to the first year of the republic. Whichever dating is correct, the claim to rule over Antium, Circeii, and Tarracina probably represents an exaggeration of Roman power. These coastal towns, and the Pomptine Plain behind them, were occupied by the Volsci, and full Roman control was not established there until 338. It is commonly supposed that the Volsci were invaders who only arrived in the Pomptine region in the early fifth century. However, the tradition represents them as already present there in the time of the Roman kings, and we should accept its accuracy on the point. The supposed fifth-century Volscian invasion of the Pomptine region and ousting of the Latins would have been a momentous event, and it is most unlikely that no trace of it should have survived in Roman memory.5

Warfare was probably not the only means by which the Romans in the seventh and sixth centuries were able to extend their territory and their power. Nonetheless, despite its unreliability in detail, the historical tradition is probably right to portray them as often at war then with their Latin and other neighbors. The profits of such wars will have been one of the sources of the wealth of sixth-century Rome: the tradition that the great temple on the Capitol was built from the spoils from the last Tarquin’s capture of Pometia may be well founded.6

The frequency of these wars can only be conjectured. Violent conflict between Romans and members of other communities may well have occurred most years. Ritual evidence has often been held to show that in early times, as later, war was a regular, annual occurrence for the Romans, with ancient rituals held in March and October being interpreted as opening and closing the campaigning season. However, the original significance of most of these rituals is disputed, and there is no ancient evidence that they constituted a seasonal war-cycle.7

One indication of the significance of warfare in archaic Latium is the spread of fortifications. Earth ramparts with ditches appear at some sites in the eighth century, and at numerous others over the seventh and sixth centuries. Some sites acquired complex defenses, like the three successive ramparts protecting the approach to Ardea. At least one town, Lavinium, seems to have acquired a stone circuit wall by the sixth century.

However, the large cities did not yet feel the need for such comprehensive defenses: the circuit walls at the southern Etruscan cities date to the later fifth and fourth centuries, and, although Rome acquired some partial fortifications in the archaic period, the first circuit wall, the so-called Servian Wall, in fact dates to the early fourth century.

3 Roman War and Expansion: The Early Republic

Little of historical value can be gleaned from the complex tales relating to the overthrow of Tarquin II, but there is no good reason to doubt the core fact, corroborated by the surviving magistrate list, that in the late sixth century BC (conventionally 509) the king was expelled and replaced by two annually elected chief magistrates, originally called praetors, but generally known from their later title, consul.8 As already noted, the historians give an annual record from this point, in which wars bulk large, but any attempt to assess the warfare of the period must take full account of the record’s deficiencies. The campaign details are generally obvious confections; there are some evident duplications, and at least some of the reported campaigns are probably the construction of historians, seeking to fill out the annual record with plausible invention.

It is often supposed that, as in later centuries, the Romans of the early republic were almost constantly at war, but that, whereas their later warfare was generally expansionist, in the fifth century they were mostly on the defensive against enemy attacks, and often fighting for their very survival.9 This assessment requires modification.

The historical tradition itself indicates a striking fluctuation in the frequency of warfare: Roman forces are reported in combat in only fourteen of the years from 454 to 411, whereas before and after that period warfare is said to have occurred almost every year. Much of the recorded warfare may be invented, and much actual warfare may have left no trace in the record. Nonetheless, it is likely that this striking disparity has some correspondence to reality, and that the Romans were engaged in significantly less warfare in the later fifth century than before or after.

The expulsion of the kings appears to have ushered in a phase of widespread turbulence in the Tiber region. Rome may have been occupied for a time by the Etruscan adventurer Lars Porsenna, and, besides other conflicts, the Romans were confronted by a coalition of Latin states. However, they came out of these struggles well. Upstream on the Tiber left bank, they secured possession of Fidenae and Crustumerium.10 The Latins were decisively defeated at Lake Regillus (probably located northwest of Tusculum; the battle is dated to 499 by Livy or 496 by Dionysius). A few years later, treaties of alliance were concluded first with the Latins and then with the Hernici, who lived in the upper valley of the Sacco, separated from the Tiber Valley by the watershed between the Alban Hills and Praeneste. According to tradition, both treaties were negotiated by Spurius Cassius, in respectively 493 and 486.