Roman Republic
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The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c. 509 BC and lasted over 450 years until its subversion, through a series of civil wars, into the Principate form of government and the Imperial period.
The Roman Republic was governed by a complex constitution, which centered on the principles of a separation of powers and checks and balances. The evolution of the constitution was heavily influenced by the struggle between the aristocracy and the average Roman. Early in its history, the republic was controlled by an aristocracy of individuals who could trace their ancestry back to the founding of the republic. Over time, the laws that allowed these individuals to dominate the government were repealed, and the result was the emergence of a new aristocracy which depended on the structure of society, rather than the law, to maintain its dominance. Thus, only a revolution could overthrow this new aristocracy. Rome also saw its territory expand during this period, from central Italy to the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries, Rome expanded to the point of dominating Italy. During the next century, Rome grew to dominate North Africa, Spain, Greece, and what is now southern France. During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic, Rome grew to dominate the rest of modern France, as well as much of the east. By this point, however, its republican political machinery was finally crushed under the weight of imperialism.
The precise event which signaled the transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire is a matter of interpretation. Historians have variously proposed the appointment of Julius Caesar as perpetual dictator (44 BC), the Battle of Actium (2 September 31 BC), and the Roman Senate's grant of Octavian's extraordinary powers under the first settlement (January 16, 27 BC), as candidates for the defining pivotal event.
[edit] The Constitution of the Roman Republic
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Much of what is known about the Constitution of the Roman Republic comes to us from the Greek historian Polybius. According to Polybius, the senate was the predominate branch of government. Polybius noted that it was the consuls who lead the armies and the civil government in Rome[2], and it was the legislative assemblies which had the ultimate authority over elections, legislation and criminal trials. However, since the senate controlled money, administration, and the details of foreign policy, it had the most control over day-to-day life.[3][4]
[edit] The Senate
The senate's ultimate authority (auctoritas) derived from the esteem and prestige of the senate.[5] This esteem and prestige was based on both precedent and custom (mos maiorum, or "customs of the ancestors"), as well as the high caliber and prestige of the senators.[6] The senate passed decrees, which were called senatus consultum. This was officially "advice" from the senate to a magistrate. In practice, however, these were usually obeyed by the magistrates.[7] The focus of the Roman senate was directed towards foreign policy.[3] While its role in military conflict was officially advisory, the senate was ultimately the force that oversaw those conflicts. The relationship was effectively one of agency, rather than independence. The consuls would have formal command over the armies. However, the consular command of those armies was directed by the senate. The senate managed the civil administration in the city. For example, only the senate could authorize the appropriation of public monies from the treasury.[3] In addition, the senate would try individuals accused of political crimes (such as treason).[3]
[edit] Legislative Assemblies
According to Polybius, it was the People of Rome (and thus the assemblies) who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates[8], the enactment of new laws[9], the carrying out of capital punishment[8], the declaration of war and peace, and the creation (or dissolution) of alliances[8]. Under the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the people (and thus the assemblies) held the ultimate source of sovereignty.[10] There were two types of legislative assemblies. The first was the comitia ("committee"). [11] Comitia were assemblies of all citizens (populus Romanus, or "People of Rome").[12] The second type of assembly was the concilium ("council"). Concilium were forums where specific groups of people would meet for an official purpose (such as to enact a law).[12]
[edit] Assembly of the Centuries
Citizens were organized on the basis of centuries and tribes (for civil purposes). The Comitia Centuriata ("Century Assembly") was the assembly of the centuries (centuriae). The president of the Comitia Centuriata was usually a consul[2]. The 193 centuries[13] in the Comitia Centuriata were divided into three different grades. These were the equites, pedites and unarmed adjuncts.[14][13] The pedites were divided amongst five classes. The centuries in each class would vote, one at a time by seniority, until the entire class had voted. When a measure received a majority of the vote, the voting would end. The Comitia Centuriata would elect magistrates who had imperium powers (consuls and praetors). It also elected censors. Only the Comitia Centuriata could declare offensive war.[15] The Comitia Centuriata could also pass a law that would grant imperium to consuls and praetors, and censorial powers to censors.[15] The Comitia Centuriata also served as the highest court of appeal in certain judicial cases.[16] In addition, it was this assembly that ratified the results of a census.[17]
[edit] Assembly of the Tribes
During the years of the Roman Republic, the tribes would gather into two different assemblies. These two assemblies were the Concilium Plebis (the "Plebeian Council") and the Comitia Tributa (the "Tribal Assembly"). In effect, the Concilium Plebis was an "Assembly of the Plebeian Tribes", while the Comitia Tributa was an "Assembly of the Patricio-Plebeian Tribes".[18] The only difference between the two assemblies was that patricians could not vote in the Plebeian Tribal Assembly (i.e. the Concilium Plebis or "Plebeian Council"). Since patricians were excluded, the Plebeian Tribal Assembly did not constitute the entire populus Romanus ("People of Rome"). The Plebeian Tribal Assembly elected their own officers (plebeian tribunes and plebeian aediles). The Comitia Tributa (Patricio-Plebeian Tribal Assembly), in contrast, was presided over by a consul[2]. Other than the fact that the Concilium Plebis (Plebeian Tribal Assembly) excluded patricians, and thus was presided over by a plebeian officer, it was identical to the Comitia Tributa (Patricio-Plebeian Tribal Assembly).
The two tribal assemblies were composed of thirty-five blocks known as "tribes". The tribes were not ethnic or kinship groups. Tribal divisions were geographical.[19] The order that the thirty-five tribes would vote in was selected randomly by lot.[20] Once a majority of tribes had voted the same way, voting would end. Most laws were passed by the Plebeian Tribal Assembly (the Concilium Plebis). While the Comitia Tributa did not pass many laws, it did elect quaestors, curule aediles, and military tribunes.[21].
[edit] Executive Magistrates
Each magistratus was vested with a degree of maior potestas ("major powers").[22] Each magistrate could only veto an action that was taken by a magistrate with an equal or lower degree of maior potestas. Thus, no magistrate could veto an act of the senate or assemblies (since neither institution possessed any maior potestas). Since plebeian tribunes and plebeian aediles were technically not magistrates,[23] they were outside of the maior potestas standard. In general, this made them independent of the other magistrates.[2][22] Tribunes relied on the sacrosanctity of their person to obstruct. If a magistrate, an assembly or the senate did not comply with the orders of a tribune, the tribune could 'interpose the sacrosanctity of his person' [24] (intercessio) to physically stop that particular action. Any resistance against the tribune would be tantamount to a violation of his sacrosanctity, and thus would be considered a capital offense.
Any magistrate could obstruct ("veto") an action that was being taken by a magistrate with an equal or lower degree of maior potestas. If this obstruction occurred between two magistrates with equal maior potestas (such as two praetors), then it would be called par potestas.[25] To prevent this, magistrates used a principle of alteration, assigned responsibilities by lot or seniority, or gave certain magistrates control over certain functions.[26] If this obstruction occurred against a magistrate with a lower degree of maior potestas it would be called intercessio.[25] In this case, the higher ranking magistrate would interpose his higher maior potestas.
[edit] Magisterial powers, and checks on those powers
Each republican magistrate held certain constitutional powers (potestas). Only the People of Rome (both plebeians and patricians) had the right to confer potestas on any individual magistrate.[27] The most powerful form of potestas was imperium. Imperium was held by both consuls and praetors. Imperium gave a magistrate the authority to command a military force. All magistrates had the power of coercitio (coercion). Coercitio was used by magistrates to maintain public order.[28] While in Rome, all citizens had an absolute protection against coercitio. This protection was called provocatio (see below). Magistrates also had both the power and the duty to look for omens (auspicia). The auspices would often be used to obstruct (obnuntiatio) political opponents.
One check over a magistrate's power was collega (collegiality). Each magisterial office would be held concurrently by at least two people. Another check over the power of a magistrate was provocatio. Provocatio was a primordial form of due process. It was a precursor to our own habeas corpus. If any magistrate was attempting to use the powers of the state against a citizen, that citizen could appeal the decision of the magistrate to a tribune.[29] An additional check over a magistrate's power was that of provincia. Provinicia required a division of responsibilities.[30] In addition, once a magistrate's annual term in office expired, he would have to wait ten years before serving in that office again. Since this did create problems for some magistrates, these magistrates would occasionally have their imperium "prorogued" (prorogare). In effect, they would retain the powers of the office (as a promagistrate), without officially holding that office.[31]
[edit] Consuls, praetors, censors, aediles, quaestors, tribunes, and dictators
The consul of the Roman Republic was the highest ranking ordinary magistrate[2][32]. Throughout the year, one consul would be superior in rank to the other consul. To prevent par potestas, this ranking would flip every month, between the two consuls.[33] Consuls had supreme power in both civil and military matters. While in the city of Rome, the superior consul for the month was the head of the Roman government.[2] The management of the government would be under the ultimate authority of that consul. He would also preside over the senate, the Comitia Centuriata, and the Comitia Tributa.[2][34] While abroad, each consul would command an army.[2][34] His authority would be nearly absolute.[2]
Praetors would administer civil law[35] and command provincial armies. Every five years, two censors would be elected for an eighteen month term. During their term in office, the two censors would conduct a census. During the census, they could enroll citizens in the senate, or purge them from the senate.[36] Aediles were officers elected to conduct domestic affairs in Rome. Aediles had wide ranging powers over day-to-day affairs inside the city of Rome.[37]. The quaestors would usually assist the consuls in Rome, and the governors in the provinces. Their duties were often financial. Since the tribunes were considered to be the embodiment of the plebeians, they were sacrosanct[38]. Their sacrosanctity was enforced by a pledge, taken by the plebeians, to kill any person who harmed or interfered with a tribune during his term of office. All of the powers of the tribune derived from their sacrosanctity. One obvious consequence of this sacrosanctity was the fact that it was considered a capital offense to harm a tribune, to disregard his veto, or to interfere with a tribune[38]. In times of military emergency, a dictator would be appointed for a term of six months[39]. Constitutional government would dissolve, and the dictator would become the absolute master of the state.[40] When the dictator's term ended, constitutional government would be restored.
[edit] Political history of the Roman Republic
The constitutional history of the Roman Republic can be divided into five phases. The first phase began with the revolution which overthrew the monarchy in 510 BC. The final phase ended with the revolution which overthrew the Roman Republic, and thus created the Roman Empire, in 27 BC. Throughout the history of the republic, the constitutional evolution was driven by the struggle between the aristocracy and the ordinary citizens.
[edit] The patrician era (509-367 BC)
According to legend, the last king was overthrown in 510 BC. While this story is nothing more than a legend which later Romans created in order to explain their past, it is likely that Rome had been ruled by a series of kings.[41] The historical monarchy, as the legends suggest, was probably overthrown quickly. The constitutional changes which occurred immediately after the revolution were probably not as extensive as the legends suggest. The most important constitutional change probably concerned the chief executive. Before the revolution, a king (rex) would be elected by the senators (patres or "fathers") for a life term. Now, two consuls were elected by the citizens for an annual term.[41] Each consul would check his colleague, and their limited term in office would open them up to prosecution if they abused the powers of their office. His political powers, when exercised conjointly with his colleague, were no different from those of the old king.[42] In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the senate and the assemblies were as powerless as they had been under the monarchy.
In the year 494 BC, the city was at war with two neighboring tribes.[43] The plebeian soldiers refused to march against the enemy, and instead seceded (secessio) to the Aventine hill. The plebeians demanded the right to elect their own officials. The patricians agreed, and the plebeians returned to the battlefield.[43] The plebeians would call these new officials "plebeian tribunes". The tribunes would have two assistants, called "plebeian aediles". In 367 BC, the tribunes C. Licinius Stolo and L. Sextius passed a law called the lex Satura.[44] This law required the election of at least one plebeian consul each year. In 443 BC, the censorship was created[45], and in 366 BC, the praetorship was created. Also in 366 BC, the curule aedileship was created.[45] Shortly after the founding of the republic, the Comitia Centuriata became the principle legislative assembly. In the Comitia Centuriata, magistrates were elected, and laws were passed. During the fourth century BC, a series of reforms were passed. The result of these reforms was that any law passed by the Concilium Plebis (the Plebeian Tribal Assembly) would have the full force of law. This gave the tribunes (who presided over the Concilium Plebis) a positive character for the first time. Before these laws were passed, tribunes could only interpose the sacrosanctity of their person (intercessio) to veto acts of the senate, assemblies or magistrates.
[edit] The Conflict of the Orders (367-287 BC)
After the plebeian aedileship had been created, the patricians created the curule aedileship.[46] At first the curule aedileship was only open to patricians, but the office was eventually opened to plebeians. After the consulship had been opened to the plebeians, the plebeians acquired a de facto right to hold both the dictatorship and the censorship (since only former consuls could hold either office). In 337 BC, the first plebeian praetor was elected.[47] In 342 BC, two significant laws were passed. One of these two laws made it illegal to hold more than one office at any given point in time. The other law required an interval of ten years to pass before any magistrate could seek reelection to any office.[48] During these years, the tribunes and the senators grew increasingly close.[49] The senate realized the need to use plebeian officials to accomplish desired goals.[49] To win over the tribunes, the senators gave the tribunes a great deal of power. Ultimately, the tribunes began to feel obligated to the senate. As the tribunes and the senators grew closer, plebeian senators were often able to secure the tribunate for members of their own families.[50] In time, the tribunate would become a stepping stone to higher office.[50]
Around the middle of the fourth century BC, the Concilium Plebis enacted the plebiscitum Ovinium.[51] During the early republic, the consuls would appoint new senators. The Ovinian law, however, gave this power to the censors. It also required the censor to appoint any newly-elected magistrate to the senate.[51] By this point, plebeians were already holding a significant number of magisterial offices. Thus, the number of plebeian senators probably increased quickly.[52] Under the new system, magistrates would be awarded with automatic membership in the senate. However, it remained difficult even for a plebeian to enter the senate, if he wasn't from a political family.[52] Ultimately, a new patricio-plebeian aristocracy (nobilitas) emerged.[52] The old nobility existed through the force of law, because only patricians were allowed to stand for high office. Now, however, the new nobility existed due to the organization of society. As such, only a revolution could overthrow this new nobility.[53]
By 287 BC, the economic condition of the average plebeian had become poor. The problem appears to have centered around wide-spread indebtedness.[54] The plebeians demanded relief, but the senators refused to address their situation. The result was the final plebeian secession. The plebeians seceded to the Janiculum hill. To end the secession, a dictator was appointed. The dictator passed a law (the lex Hortensia), which ended the requirement that an auctoritas patrum ("authority of the patrician senators") be passed before any bill could be considered by either the Concilium Plebis or the Comitia Tributa.[54] The lex Hortensia was not the first law to require that an act of the Concilium Plebis have the full force of law.[55] The Concilium Plebis acquired this power during a modification to the original Valerian law in 449 BC.[55] The ultimate significance of this law was in the fact that it robbed the patricians of their final weapon over the plebeians. The result was that the ultimate control over the state fell, not onto the shoulders of the democracy, but onto the shoulders of the new patricio-plebeian nobility.[56]
The plebeians had finally achieved political equality with the patricians.[53] However, the plight of the average plebeian had not changed. Now, a small number of plebeian families had achieved the same standing that the old aristocratic patrician families had always had. As such, these new plebeian aristocrats became as uninterested in the plight of the average plebeian as the old patrician aristocrats had always been.[53]
[edit] The supremacy of the new nobility (287-133 BC)
The great accomplishment of the lex Hortensia was in that it deprived the patricians of their last weapon over the plebeians. Thus, the last great political question of the earlier era had been resolved. As such, no important political changes would occur between 287 BC and 133 BC.[57] This entire era was dominated by foreign wars. When the lex Hortensia was enacted into law, Rome theoretically became a democracy. In reality, however, Rome remained an oligarchy. The critical laws were still enacted by the senate.[58] In effect, democracy was satisfied with the possession of power, but did not care to use it. The senate was supreme during this era because the era was dominated by questions of foreign policy.[59]
The final decades of this era saw a worsening economic situation for many plebeians.[60] The long military campaigns had forced citizens to leave their farms. Their farms would then fall into a state of disrepair. This situation was made worse during the Second Punic War, when Hannibal fought the Romans throughout Italy. The landed aristocracy began buying bankrupted farms at discounted prices. The result was a rapid decline in commodity prices. As these prices fell, many farmers could no longer operate their farms at a profit.[60] The result was the ultimate bankruptcy of countless farmers. Masses of unemployed plebeians soon began to flood into Rome, and thus into the ranks of the legislative assemblies. Their economic state usually led them to vote for the candidate who offered the most for them. A new culture of dependency was emerging, which would look to any populist leader for relief.[61]
[edit] From the Gracchi to Caesar: (133-49 BC)
The prior era saw great military successes, and great economic failures. The patriotism of the plebeians had kept them from seeking any new reforms. Now, the military situation had stabilized, and fewer soldiers were needed. This, in conjunction with the new slaves that were being imported from abroad, inflamed the unemployment situation further. The flood of unemployed citizens to Rome had made the assemblies quite populist. The ultimate result was an increasingly aggressive democracy.
[edit] The Gracchi tribunates
Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune in 133 BC. He attempted to reenact a clause of the old Licinian law, which had never been enforced. This would have limited the amount of land that any individual could own. The aristocrats, who stood to lose an enormous amount of money, were bitterly opposed to this proposal. Tiberius submitted this law to the Concilium Plebis, but the law was vetoed by a tribune named Marcus Octavius. Tiberius used the Concilium Plebis to impeach Octavian. The theory, that a representative of the people ceases to be one when he acts against the wishes of the people, was repugnant to the genius of Roman constitutional theory.[62] If carried to its logical end, this theory would remove all constitutional restraints on the popular will, and put the state under the absolute control of a temporary popular majority.[62] His law would be enacted, but Tiberius would be murdered when he stood for reelection to the tribunate.
Tiberius' brother Gaius was elected tribune in 123 BC. Gaius Gracchus' ultimate goal was to weaken the senate and to strengthen the democratic forces.[63] In the past, for example, the senate would eliminate political rivals either by establishing special judicial commissions or by passing a senatus consultum ultimum ("ultimate decree of the senate"). Both devices would allow the senate to bypass the ordinary due process rights that all citizens had.[64] Gaius outlawed the judicial commissions, and declared the senatus consultum ultimum to be unconstitutional. Gaius then proposed a law which would grant citizenship rights to Rome's Italian allies. By this point, however, the selfish democracy of Rome deserted him.[64] He stood for election to a third term in 121 BC, but was defeated and then murdered. The democracy, however, had finally realized how weak the senate had become.[64]
[edit] The populare party and the optimate party
In 118 BC, the king of the north-African city of Numidia died. The king, Micipsa, was survived by his two natural sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and by his adopted son, Jugurtha. Micipsa divided his kingdom between these three sons. Jugurtha, however, had both a ruthless personality and an open purse. It was both Jurgurtha's open purse, as well as the venality and incapacity of the Roman senate, that brought disgrace to the Roman name and defeat to the Roman arms.[65] Jugurtha defeated several Roman armies. He also bribed several Roman commanders, and at least two tribunes. Ultimate, a young legate named Gaius Marius was elected consul in 107 BC over the objections of the senate. Marius was of a politically unknown family, and brought the war to a quick end. The incompetence of the senate, and the brilliance of Marius, had also been put on full display.[66] The popular party took full advantage of this opportunity by allying itself with Marius.
Several years later, a new power had emerged in Asia. In 88 BC, a Roman army was sent to put down that power, king Mithridates of Pontus. The army, however, was defeated. One of Marius' old quaestors, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, had been elected consul for the year. Sulla was then ordered by the senate to assume command of the war against Mithridates. Marius, a member of the democratic ("populare") party, had a tribune revoke Sulla's command of the war against Mithridates. Sulla, a member of the aristocratic ("optimate") party, brought his army back to Italy and marched on Rome. Sulla had become so angry at Marius' tribune that he passed a law that was intended to permanently weaken the tribunate.[67] He then returned to his war against Mithridates. With Sulla gone, the populares under Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna soon took control of the city.
The populare record was not one to be proud of.[67] They had first elected Marius consul before he was even twenty years old, and then reelected him several times without observing the required ten year interval. They also transgressed democracy by advancing un-elected individuals to magisterial office, and by substituting magisterial edicts for popular legislation.[68] Sulla soon made peace with Mithridates. In 83 BC, he returned to Rome, overcame all resistance, and captured the city again. Sulla and his supporters then slaughtered most of Marius' supporters. Sulla, who had observed the violent results of radical populare reforms was naturally conservative.[68] As such, he sought to strengthen the aristocracy, and thus the senate.[68] Sulla retained his earlier reforms, which required senate approval before any bill could be submitted to the Concilium Plebis, and which had also restored the old Servian organization to the Comitia Centuriata.[67] Sulla then prohibited ex-tribunes from ever holding any other office.[69] He then reaffirmed the requirement that any individual wait for ten years before being reelected to any office. He also established definitively the cursus honorum.[69] The cursus honorum, which required an individual to reach a certain age and level of experience before running for any particular office, had never before been codified. Sulla died in 78 BC.
[edit] Pompey, Crassus, and the Catilinarian Conspiracy
In 77 BC, the senate sent one of Sulla's former lieutenants, Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, to put down an uprising in Spain. By 71 BC, Pompey returned to Rome after having completed his mission. Around the same time, another of Sulla's former lieutenants, Marcus Licinius Crassus, had just put down a slave revolt in Italy. Upon their return, Pompey and Crassus found the populare party fiercely attacking Sulla's constitution.[70] They attempted to forge an agreement with the populare party. If both Pompey and Crassus were elected consul in 70 BC, they would dismantle the more obnoxious components of Sulla's constitution.[71] The two were soon elected, and quickly dismantled most of Sulla's constitution.[71]
Around 66 BC, a movement to use constitutional, or at least peaceful, means to address the plight of various classes began.[72] After several failures, the movement's leaders decided to use any means that were necessary to accomplish their goals. The movement coalesced under an aristocrat named Lucius Sergius Catiline. The movement was based in the town of Faesulae, which was a natural hotbed of agrarian agitation.[73] The rural malcontents were to advance on Rome,[74] and be aided by an uprising within the city. After assassinating the consuls and most of the senators, Catiline would be free to enact his reforms. The conspiracy was set in motion in 63 BC. The consul, Marcus Tullius Cicero, intercepted messages that Catiline had sent in an attempt to recruit more members. The result of this was that the top conspirators in Rome were executed upon the authorization of the senate, and the planned uprising was disrupted. Cicero then sent an army, which cut Catiline's forces to pieces.
The most important result of the Catilinarian conspiracy was that the populare party became discredited.[74] The prior 70 years had witnessed a gradual erosion in senatorial powers. The violent nature of the conspiracy, in conjunction with the senate's skill in disrupting it, did a great deal to repair the senate's image.[74]
[edit] The First Triumvirate
In 62 BC, Pompey returned victorious from Asia. The senate, elated by its successes against Catiline,[75], refused to ratify the arrangements that Pompey had made. Pompey, in effect, became powerless. Thus, when Julius Caesar returned from his governorship in Spain in 61 BC, he found it easy to make an arrangement with Pompey.[75] Caesar and Pompey, along with Crassus, established a private agreement, known as the First Triumvirate. Under the agreement, Pompey's arrangements would be ratified. Caesar would be elected consul in 59 BC, and then serve as governor of Gaul for five years. Crassus would be promised a future consulship.[75]
Caesar became consul in 59 BC. His colleague, Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, was an extreme aristocrat.[75] Caesar submitted the laws that he had promised Pompey to the assemblies. Bibulus attempted to obstruct the enactment of these laws, and so Caesar used violent means to ensure the passage of these laws.[75] Caesar was then made governor of three provinces. Caesar did not wish to leave the senate in the hands of such unskillful politicians as Pompey and Crassus before he had crushed the spirit of the senate and deprived it of its two most dangerous leaders, Cato and Cicero.[76] Therefore, he sent Cato on a mission to Cyprus, which was likely to ruin his reputation.[76] He then facilitated the election of the former patrician Clodius to the tribunate for 58 BC. Clodius was a dangerous demagogue, and a bitter opponent of Cicero.[76]
[edit] The end of the First Triumvirate
Pompey and Crassus proved themselves to be as incompetent as Caesar had hoped.[76] Clodius terrorized the city with his armed gangs. Eventually, the triumvirate was renewed. Pompey and Crassus were promised the consulship in 55 BC, and Caesar's term as governor was extended for five years. Caesar's daughter, and Pompey's wife, Julia, would then die in childbirth. This event severed the last remaining bound between Pompey and Caesar.
Beginning in the summer of 54 BC, a wave of political corruption and violence swept Rome.[77] This chaos reached a climax in January of 52 BC, when Clodius was murdered in a gang war. On January 1 of 49 BC, an agent of Caesar presented an ultimatum to the senate. The ultimatum was rejected, and the senate then passed a resolution which declared that if Caesar did not lay down his arms by July of that year, he would be considered an enemy of the republic.[78] On January 7 of 49 BC, the senate passed a senatus consultum ultimum, which vested Pompey with dictatorial powers. Pompey's army, however, was composed largely of untested conscripts. Caesar then crossed the Rubicon with his veteran army, and marched towards Rome. Caesar's rapid advance forced Pompey, the consuls and the senate to abandon Rome for Greece. Caesar then entered the city unopposed.
[edit] The period of transition (49-29 BC)
The era that began when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, and ended when Octavian returned to Rome after Actium in 29 BC, can be divided into two distinct units. The dividing line between these two units is the assassination of Caesar in March of 44 BC. However, from a constitutional standpoint, there was no clear dividing line between these two periods.[79] The constitutional evolution of the prior century accelerated through this era at a rapid pace. By 29 BC, Rome had completed its transition from being a city-state with a network of dependencies, to being the capital of a world empire.[79]
With Pompey defeated, and order restored, Caesar wanted to ensure that his control over the government was undisputed.[80] The powers which he would give himself would ultimately be used by his imperial successors.[80] He would assume these powers by increasing his own authority, and by decreasing the authority of Rome's other political institutions.
Caesar would hold both the dictatorship and the tribunate, but alternate between the consulship and the proconsulship.[80] In 48 BC, Caesar was given permanent tribunician powers.[81] This made his person sacrosanct. It also allowed him to veto the senate, and to dominate the Concilium Plebis. In 46 BC, Caesar created and held the title of praefectura morum. This title was new only in name. In effect, the functions of this office were identical to those of the censorship.[81] Thus, he could hold censorial powers, while technically not subjecting himself to the same checks that the ordinary censors were subject to. He used this power to fill the senate with his own partisans. Caesar then raised the membership of the senate to 900.[82] This robbed the senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made it increasingly subservient to him.[83] While the assemblies continued to meet, he submitted all candidates to the assemblies for election, and all bills to the assemblies for enactment. Thus, the assemblies became powerless, and were thus unable to oppose him.[83]
Near the end of his life, Caesar began to prepare for a war against the Parthian Empire. Since his absence from Rome would limit his ability to install his own consuls, he passed a law which allowed him to appoint all magistrates in 43 BC, and all consuls and tribunes in 42 BC.[82] This, in effect, transformed the magistrates from being representatives of the people, to being representatives of the dictator.[82]
[edit] Caesar's assassination and the Second Triumvirate
Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. The motives of the conspirators were both personal, as well as political.[84] Most of the conspirators were senators, and many of them were angry about the fact that he had deprived the senate of much of its power and prestige.[84] The grievances that they held against him were vague.[84] As such, their plan against him was vague. The fact that their motives were vague, and that they had no idea of what to do after his assassination, both were plainly obvious by the subsequent course of events.[84]
After his assassination, Mark Antony would form an alliance with Caesar's adopted son and great-nephew, Gaius Octavian. Along with Marcus Lepidus, they would form an alliance known as the Second Triumvirate. They would hold powers that were nearly identical to the powers that Caesar had held under his constitution. As such, the senate and assemblies remained powerless, even after Caesar had been assassinated. The conspirators would be defeated at the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. Eventually, however, Antony and Octavian would fight against each other in one last battle. Antony would be defeated in the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC. In 30 BC, Antony would commit suicide. In 29 BC, Octavian would return to Rome, as the unchallenged master of the state.
[edit] Culture of the Roman Republic
Life in the Roman Republic revolved around the city of Rome, and its famed seven hills. The city also had several theaters, gymnasiums, and many taverns, baths and brothels. Throughout the territory under Rome's control, residential architecture ranged from very modest houses to country villas, and in the capital city of Rome, to the residences on the elegant Palatine Hill, from which the word "palace" is derived. The vast majority of the population lived in the city center, packed into insulae (apartment blocks).
The public spaces in Rome resounded with such a din of hooves and clatter of iron chariot wheels that Julius Caesar had once proposed a ban on chariot traffic at night. Historical estimates indicate that around 20 percent of the population under Roman jurisdiction lived in innumerable urban centers, a very high rate of urbanization by preindustrial standards. The most urbanized part of the republic was Italy. Most Roman towns and cities had a forum and temples and same type of buildings, on a smaller scale, as found in Rome. The large urban population required an endless supply of food which was a complex logistical task. Aqueducts were built to bring water to urban centers and wine and oil were imported from abroad.
There was a very large amount of commerce between the provinces since its transportation technology was very efficient. The average costs of transport and the technology were comparable with 18th century Europe. Landlords generally resided in cities and their estates were left in the care of farm managers. The plight of rural slaves was generally worse than their counterparts working in urban aristocratic households. To stimulate a higher labor productivity most landlords freed a large numbers of slaves and many received wages. Some
Starting in the middle of the second century BC, in every aspect of the private culture of the upper classes, Greek culture was increasingly in ascendancy, in spite of tirades against the "softening" effects of Hellenized culture. By the time of Augustus, cultured Greek household slaves taught the Roman young (sometimes even the girls); chefs, decorators, secretaries, doctors, and hairdressers—all came from the Greek East. Greek sculptures adorned Hellenistic landscape gardening on the Palatine or in the villas, or were imitated in Roman sculpture yards by Greek slaves. The Roman cuisine preserved in the cookery books ascribed to Apicius is essentially Greek. Roman writers disdained Latin for a cultured Greek style. Only in law and governance was the Italic nature of Rome's accretive culture supreme.
[edit] Social history and structure
Many aspects of Roman culture were taken from the ancient Greeks. In architecture and sculpture, the difference between Greek models and Roman paintings are apparent. The chief Roman contributions to architecture were the arch, and the dome it made possible. While much Roman sculpture was derivative of Greek models, and all deeply indebted to Greek techniques, the Roman character made portraiture the strongest and most original aspect of Roman sculpture. Rome has also had a tremendous impact on Western cultures following it. Its significance is perhaps best reflected in its endurance and influence, as is seen in the longevity and lasting importance of works of Virgil and Ovid. Latin, the Rome's primary language, remains used in religion, science, and law.
The center of the early social structure, dating from the time of the agricultural tribal city state, was the family, which was not only marked by blood relations but also by the legally constructed relation of patria potestas. The Pater familias was the absolute head of the family; he was the master over his wife, his children, the wives of his sons, the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen, disposing of them and of their goods at will, even putting them to death. Roman law recognized only patrician families as legal entities.
Slavery and slaves were part of the social order. There were slave markets where they could be bought and sold. Many slaves were freed by the masters for fine services rendered; some slaves could save money to buy their freedom. Generally mutilation and murder of slaves was prohibited by legislation although, outrageous cruelty continued. Apart from these families and the slaves, there were Plebeians that did not exist from a legal perspective. They had no legal capacity and were not able to make contracts.
Life in the cities revolved around the Forum, the central business district, where most of the Romans would go for marketing shopping, trading banking, and for participating in festivities and ceremonies. The Forum was also a place where orators would express themselves to mould public opinion, and elicit support for any particular issue of interest to him or others. Before sunrise, children would go to schools or tutoring them at home would commence. Life in the countryside was slow but lively, with numerous local festivals and social events. Farms were run by the farm managers, but estate owners would sometimes take a retreat to the countryside for rest, enjoying the splendor of the nature and the sunshine, including activities like fishing, hunting, and riding. The average farm owners were better off, spending evenings in economic and social interactions at the village markets. The day ended with a meal, generally left over from the noon time preparations.
[edit] Clothing and dining
The cloth and the dress distinguished one class of people from the other class. The tunic worn by plebeians (common people) like shepherds and slaves was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or white wool. A magistrate would wear the tunic augusticlavi; senators wore a tunic with broad strips, called tunica laticlavi. Military tunics were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. The many types of togas were also named. Boys, up until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga praetexta, which was a toga with a crimson or purple border. The toga virilis, (or toga pura) or mans toga was worn by men over the age of 16 to signify their citizenship in Rome. The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals and had embroidery of their skill on the battlefield. The toga pulla was worn when in mourning.
Even footwear indicated a person’s social status. Patricians wore red and orange sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore heavy boots. Women wore closed shoes of colors like white, yellow or green. The bulla was a locket-like amulet worn by children. When about to marry, the woman would donate her bulla to the household gods, along with her toys to signify maturity and womanhood. Men typically wore a toga, and women a stola. The woman's stola looked different than a toga, and was usually bright colored. A fibula (or brooch) would be used as ornamentation or to hold the stola in place. A palla, or shawl also accessorized a Roman woman.
Romans had very simple food habits. Staple food was simple, generally consumed at around 11 o’clock, and consisted of bread, salad, olives, cheese, fruits, nuts, and cold meat left over from the dinner the night before. Breakfast was called ientaculum, lunch was prandium, and dinner was called cena. Appetizers were called gustatio, and desert was called secunda mensa Usually, a nap or rest followed this. The family ate together, sitting on stools around a table. Later on, a separate dining room with dining couches was designed, called a triclinium. Fingers were used to take foods which was prepared to be handled with fingers beforehand and spoons were used for soups.
Wine was considered a staple drink, consumed at all meals and occasions by all classes and was quite cheap. Many types of drinks involving grapes and honey were consumed, as well. Mulsum was honeyed wine, mustum was grape juice, mulsa was honeyed water. Even the notoriously strict Cato the Elder recommended distributing a daily ration of wine among the slaves forced to work on farms. Drinking nonwatered wine (called mulsum) or on an empty stomach was regarded as boorish and a sure sign for alcoholism whose debilitating physical and psychological effects were known to the Romans. An accurate accusation of being an alcoholic was a favorite and damaging way to discredit political rivals. Prominent Roman alcoholics include Mark Antony, and Cicero's own son Marcus (Cicero Minor). Even Cato the Younger was known to be a heavy drinker.
[edit] Education and language
Before regular schooling systems evolved in ancient Rome, home was the learning center, where children were taught Roman law, customs, and physical training to prepare the boys to grow as Roman citizens and for eventual recruitment into the army. Conforming to discipline was a point of great emphasis. Girls generally received instruction from their mothers in the art of spinning, weaving ,and sewing.
Schooling in a more formal sense was begun around 200 BC. Education began at the age of around six, and in the next six to seven years, boys and girls were expected to learn the basics of reading, writing and counting. By the age of twelve, they would be learning Latin, Greek, grammar and literature, followed by training for public speaking. Oratory was an art to be practiced and learnt and good orators commanded respect; to become an effective orator was one of the objectives of education and learning. Poor children could not afford education. In some cases, services of gifted slaves were utilized for imparting education.
The native language of the Romans was Latin. An inflectional and synthetic language, Latin relies little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems. Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet, is based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is in turn derived from the Greek alphabet. Although surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin, an artificial and highly stylized and polished literary language from the 1st century BC, the actual spoken language was Vulgar Latin, which significantly differed from Classical Latin in grammar, vocabulary, and eventually pronunciation. Greek came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite.
Rome's expansion spread Latin throughout Europe, and over time Vulgar Latin evolved and dialectized in different locations, gradually shifting into a number of distinct Romance languages. Many of these languages, including French, Italian, and Spanish, flourished, the differences between them growing greater over time. Although English is Germanic rather than Romanic in origin, English borrows heavily from Latin and Latin-derived words.
[edit] The arts
Roman literature was from its very inception influenced heavily by Greek authors. Some of the earliest works we possess are of historical epics telling the early military history of Rome. As the republic expanded, authors began to produce poetry, comedy, history, and tragedy. Virgil represents the pinnacle of Roman epic poetry. His Aeneid was produced at the request of Maecenas and tells the story of flight of Aeneas from Troy and his settlement of the city that would become Rome. Lucretius, in his On the Nature of Things, attempted to explicate science in an epic poem. Some of his science seems remarkably modern, but other ideas, especially his theory of light, are no longer accepted. Catullus and the associated group of neoteric poets produced poetry following the Alexandrian model, which experimented with poetic forms challenging tradition. Catullus was also the first Roman poet to produce love poetry, seemingly autobiographical, which depicts an affair with a woman called Lesbia.
The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Roman innovation, and satires were written by, among others, Juvenal and Persius. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War. A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, in particular, were popular. In addition, Cicero's personal letters are considered to be one of the best bodies of correspondence recorded in antiquity.
Most early Roman painting styles show Etruscan influences, particularly in the practice of political painting. In the 3rd century BC, Greek art taken as booty from wars became popular, and many Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists. An early Roman style of note was "Incrustation", in which the interior walls of houses were painted to resemble colored marble. Another style consisted of painting interiors as open landscapes, with highly detailed scenes of plants, animals, and buildings. Portrait sculpture during the period utilized youthful and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. Advancements were also made in relief sculptures, usually depicting Roman victories.
Music was a major part of everyday life. Many private and public events were accompanied by music, ranging from nightly dining to military parades and maneouvres. In a discussion of any ancient music, however, non-specialists and even many musicians have to be reminded that much of what makes our modern music familiar to us is the result of developments only within the last 1000 years; thus, our ideas of melody, scales, harmony, and even the instruments we use would not be familiar to Romans who made and listened to music many centuries earlier.
In initial stages, the ancient Roman architecture reflected elements of architectural styles of the Etruscans and the Greeks. Over a period of time, the style was modified in tune with their urban requirements, and the civil engineering and building construction technology became developed and refined. The Roman concrete has remained a riddle, and even after more than 2000 years some of ancient Roman structures still stand magnificently. The architectural style of the capital city of ancient Rome was emulated by other urban centers under Roman control and influence. Roman cities were well planned, efficiently managed and neatly maintained. Palaces, private dwellings and villas, were elaborately designed and town planning was comprehensive with provisions for different activities by the urban resident population, and for countless migratory population of travelers, traders and visitors passing through their cities. Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a 1st century BC Roman architect’s treatise “De architectura”, with various sections, dealing with urban planning, building materials, temple construction, public and private buildings, and hydraulics, remained a classic text until the Renaissance.
[edit] Sports and entertainment
The ancient city of Rome had a place called Campus, a sort of drill ground for Roman soldiers, which was located near the Tiber river. Later, the Campus became Rome’s track and field playground, which even Julius Caesar and Augustus were said to have frequented. Imitating the Campus in Rome, similar grounds were developed in several other urban centers and military settlements. In the campus, the youth assembled to play and exercise, which included jumping, wrestling, boxing and racing. Riding, throwing, and swimming were also preferred physical activities. In the countryside, pastime also included fishing and hunting. Females did not participate in these activities. Ball playing was a popular sport and ancient Romans had several ball games, which included Handball, field hockey, catch, and some form of Soccer.
Board games played in ancient Rome included Dice (Tesserae or Tali), Roman Chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers (Calculi), Tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli), and Ludus duodecim scriptorum and Tabula, predecessors of backgammon. There were several other activities to keep people engaged like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances,
[edit] Religion
Roman religious beliefs date back to the founding of Rome, around 800 BC, but the Roman religion commonly associated with the republic did not start forming until around 500 BC when Romans came in contact with Greek culture and adopted many of the Greek’s religious beliefs including the representation of Greek gods in the form of humans. Private and personal worship was an important aspect of religious practices. In a sense, each household was a temple to the gods. Each household had an altar (lararium), at which the family members would offer prayers, perform rites, and interact with the household gods. Many of the gods that Romans worshiped came from the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, others were based on Greek gods. The three central deities were Jupiter (who was the god of rain, thunder, and lightning), Mars (the god of war), and Quirinus (who watched over the senate house).
With its cultural influence spreading over most of the Mediterranean, Romans began accepting foreign gods into their own culture, as well as other philosophical traditions such as Cynicism and Stoicism. There were even attempts by many Roman and Greek philosophers to accept other gods that countered their religion, such as the Jewish deity Yahweh by stating that the Jews merely worshiped Jupiter but just under a different name and therefore there should be an acceptance of the Jewish culture.
[edit] Structural history of the Roman Republican military
The structural history of the Roman military describes the major chronological transformations in the organization and constitution of ancient Rome's armed forces, "the most effective and long-lived military institution known to history".[85] At the highest level of structure, Rome's forces were split into the Roman army and the Roman navy, although these two branches were less distinct than in a modern national defence force. Within the top-level branches of army and navy, structural changes occurred both as a result of positive military reform and through organic structural evolution.
[edit] Manipular legion (509–107 BC)
During this period, an army formation of around 5,000 men was known as a legion (Latin: legio). However, in contrast to later legionary formations of exclusively heavy infantry, the legions of the early and middle Republic consisted of both light and heavy infantry. The manipular army was based upon social class, age and military experience. The manipular army got its name from the manner in which its heavy infantry was deployed. Maniples were units of 120 men each drawn from a single infantry class. The maniples were typically deployed into three discreet lines based on the three heavy infantry types of hastati, principes and triarii.
The first type, the hastati, typically formed the first rank in battle formation. Each hastati maniple was formed 40 men across by 3 men deep. They were leather-armoured infantry soldiers who wore a brass cuirass and brass helmet adorned with 3 feathers approximately 30 cm (12 in) in height and carried an iron-clad wooden shield, 120 cm (4 ft) tall and a convex rectangle in shape. They were armed with a sword known as a gladius and two throwing spears known as pila: one the heavy pilum of popular imagination and one a slender javelin.[86] The second type, the principes, typically formed the second rank of soldiers back from the front of a battle line. They were heavy infantry soldiers armed and armoured as per the hastati, except that they wore a lighter coat of mail rather than a solid cuirass.[86] Each principes maniple was formed 12 men across by 10 men deep. The triarii, who typically formed the third rank when the army was arrayed for battle, were the last remnant of hoplite-style troops in the Roman army. They were armed and armoured as per the principes, with the exception that they carried a pike rather than two pila.[86] A triarii maniple was divided into two formations each 6 men across by 10 men deep.
A manipular legion typically contained 1200 hastati, 1200 principes and 600 triarii.[87] The three classes of unit may have retained some slight parallel to social divisions within Roman society, but at least officially the three lines were based upon age and experience rather than social class. Young, unproven men would serve as hastati, older men with some military experience as principes, and veteran troops of advanced age and experience as triarii.
The heavy infantry of the maniples were supported by a number of light infantry and cavalry troops, typically 300 horsemen per manipular legion. The cavalry was drawn primarily from the richest class of equestrians. There was an additional class of troops (Latin: accensi) who followed the army without specific martial roles and were deployed to the rear of the triarii. Their role in accompanying the army was primarily to supply any vacancies that might occur in the maniples. The light infantry of 1200 velites consisted of unarmoured skirmishing troops drawn from the youngest and lower social classes. They were armed with a sword and buckler, as well as several light javelins, each with a wooden shaft the diameter of a finger. The Roman levy of 403 BC was the first to be requested to campaign for longer than a single season, and from this point on such a practice became gradually more common, if still not typical.
A small navy had operated at a fairly low level after the Second Samnite War, but it was massively upgraded during this period. After a period of frenetic construction, the navy mushroomed to a size of more than 400 ships on the Carthaginian pattern. Once completed, it could accommodate up to 100,000 sailors and embarked troops for battle. The navy thereafter declined in size.
The extraordinary demands of the Punic Wars, in addition to a shortage of manpower, exposed the tactical weaknesses of the manipular legion, at least in the short term.[88] In 217 BC, Rome was forced to effectively ignore its long-standing principle that its soldiers must be both citizens and property owners. During the second century BC, Roman territory saw an overall decline in population,[89] partially due to the huge losses incurred during various wars. This was accompanied by severe social stresses and the greater collapse of the middle classes. As a result, the Roman state was forced to arm its soldiers at the expense of the state, since many of the soldiers who made up its lower classes were now impoverished proletarii in all but name, and were too poor to afford their own equipment.[89]
The distinction between the heavy infantry types of hastati, principes and triarii began to blur, perhaps because the state was now assuming the responsibility of providing standard-issue equipment. In addition, the shortage of available manpower led to a greater burden being placed upon its allies (socii) for the provision of allied troops.[90] Eventually, the Romans were forced to begin hiring mercenaries to fight alongside the legions.[91]
[edit] The legion after the reforms of Gaius Marius (107 BC – 27 BC)
In a process known as the Marian reforms, Roman consul Gaius Marius carried out a programme of reform of the Roman military.[92] In 107 BC, all citizens, regardless of their wealth or social class, were made eligible for entry into the Roman army. This move formalised and concluded a gradual process that had been growing for centuries, of removing property requirements for military service.[93] The distinction between hastati, principes and triarii, which had already become blurred, was officially removed, and the legionary infantry of popular imagination was created. Legionary infantry formed a homogeneous force of heavy infantry. These legionaries were drawn from citizen stock; by this time, Roman or Latin citizenship had been regionally expanded over much of ancient Italy and Cisalpine Gaul (Latin: Gallia Cisalpina).[94] Lighter citizen infantry were replaced by non-citizen auxilia that could consist of foreign mercenaries.[95] As a tactical necessity, legions were almost always accompanied by an equal or greater number of lighter auxiliary troops,[96] which were drawn from the non-citizens of the Empire's territories.
After Marius, the legions were drawn largely from volunteer citizens rather than citizens conscripted for duty.[97] Volunteers came forward and were accepted not from citizens of the city of Rome itself but from the surrounding countryside and smaller towns falling under Roman control.[98] The legions of the late Republic remained predominantly Roman in origin. The army's higher-level officers and commanders were still drawn exclusively from the Roman aristocracy.[98]
Unlike earlier in the Republic, legionaries were no longer fighting on a seasonal basis to protect their land.η[›] Instead, they received standard pay, and were employed by the state on a fixed-term basis. As a consequence, military duty began to appeal most to the poorest sections of society, to whom a salaried pay was attractive.[99] A destabilising consequence of this development was that the proletariat "acquired a stronger and more elevated position"[99] within the state.
The legions of the late Republic were, structurally, almost entirely heavy infantry. The legion's main sub-unit was called a cohort and consisted of approximately 480 infantrymen.[100] The cohort was therefore a much larger unit than the earlier maniple sub-unit, and was divided into six centuriae of 80 men each.[100] Each centuria was separated further into 10 "tent groups" (Latin: contubernia) of 8 men each. Legions additionally consisted of a small body, typically 120 men, of Roman legionary cavalry. The equites were used as scouts and dispatch riders rather than battlefield cavalry.[101] Legions also contained a dedicated group of artillery crew of perhaps 60 men, who would operate devices such as ballistae.[100] Each legion was normally partnered with an approximately equal number of allied (non-Roman) auxiliae troops.[102] Auxiliae could be armed with bows, slings, throwing spears, long swords, or thrusting spears.
However, "the most obvious deficiency" of the Roman army remained its shortage of cavalry, especially heavy cavalry;[103] even auxiliary troops were predominantly infantry. As Rome's borders expanded and its adversaries changed from largely infantry-based to largely cavalry-based troops, the infantry-based Roman army began to find itself at a tactical disadvantage, particularly in the East.
After having declined in size following the subjugation of the Mediterranean, the Roman navy underwent short-term upgrading and revitalisation in the late Republic to meet several new demands. Under Caesar, an invasion fleet was assembled in the English Channel to allow the invasion of Britannia; under Pompey, a large fleet was raised in the Mediterranean Sea to clear the sea of Cilician pirates. During the civil war that followed, as many as a thousand ships were either constructed or pressed into service from Greek cities.
By the time of Julius Caesar in 54 BC, regular legionary units were supplemented by exploratores, a body of scouts, and speculatores, spies who infiltrated enemy camps.[104]
[edit] Campaign history of the Roman Republican military
This article is part of the series on: Military of ancient Rome (portal) |
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| Structural history | |||
| Roman army (unit types and ranks, legions, auxiliaries, generals) |
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| Roman navy (fleets, admirals) | |||
| Campaign history | |||
| Lists of wars and battles | |||
| Decorations and punishments | |||
| Technological history | |||
| Military engineering (castra, siege engines, arches, roads) |
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| Personal equipment | |||
| Political history | |||
| Strategy and tactics | |||
| Infantry tactics | |||
| Frontiers and fortifications (limes, Hadrian's Wall) |
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The core of the campaign history of the Roman Republican military is the account of the Roman military's land battles. Despite the encompassing of lands around the periphery of the Mediterranean sea, naval battles were typically less significant than land battles to the military history of Rome.
As with most ancient civilisations, Rome's military served the triple purposes of securing its borders, exploiting peripheral areas through measures such as imposing tribute on conquered peoples, and maintaining internal order. From the outset, Rome's military typified this pattern and the majority of Rome's campaigns were characterised by one of two types. The first is the territorial expansionist campaign, normally begun as a counter-offensive,[105] in which each victory brought subjugation of large areas of territory. The second is the civil war of which examples plagued the Roman Republic right from its foundation to its eventual demise.
Roman armies were not invincible, despite their formidable reputation and host of victories over the centuries the Romans "produced their share of incompetents"[106] who led Roman armies into catastrophic defeats. Nevertheless, it was generally the fate of even the greatest of Rome's enemies, such as Pyrrhus and Hannibal,[107] to win the battle but lose the war. The history of Rome's campaigning is, if nothing else, a history of obstinate persistence overcoming appalling losses.
[edit] Early Roman Republic (458 BC - 274 BC)
[edit] Early Italian campaigns (458-396 BC)
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The first non-apocryphal Roman wars were wars of both expansion and defence, aimed at protecting Rome itself from neighbouring cities and nations and establishing its territory in the region.[108] Initially, Rome's immediate neighbours were either Latin towns and villages[109] on a similar tribal system to Rome itself, or else tribal Sabines from the Apennine hills beyond.[110] One by one Rome defeated both the persistent Sabines and the local cities that were either under Etruscan control or else Latin towns that had cast off their Etruscan rulers, as had Rome.[110] Rome defeated the Lavinii and Tusculi in the Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC,[111][112][109] the Sabines in an Unknown Battle in 449 BC,[111] the Aequi in the Battle of Mons Algidus in 458 BC and the Battle of Corbione in 446 BC[113]), the Volsci[114] in the Battle of Corbione[115] in 446 BC and the Capture of Antium in 377 BC[116]), the Aurunci in the Battle of Aricia,[117] and the Veientes in the Battle of the Cremera in 477 BC,[118][119] the Capture of Fidenae in 435 BC[120][119] and the Siege of Veii in 396 BC.[115][120][119][121] After defeating the Veientes, the Romans had effectively completed the conquest of their immediate Etruscan neighbours,[122] as well as secured their position against the immediate threat posed by the tribespeople of the Apennine hills.
[edit] Celtic invasion of Italia (390-387 BC)
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By 390 BC, several Gallic tribes had begun invading Italy from the north as their culture expanded throughout Europe. Most of this was unknown to the Romans at this time, who still had purely local security concerns, but the Romans were alerted when a particularly warlike tribe,Florus, The Epitome of Roman History, Book 1, ch. 13</ref> the Senones, invaded the Etruscan province of Siena from the north and attacked the town of Clusium, not far from Rome's sphere of influence. The Clusians, overwhelmed by the size of the enemy in numbers and ferocity, called on Rome for help. Perhaps unintentionally the Romans found themselves not just in conflict with the Senones, but their primary target. The Romans met them in pitched battle at the Battle of Allia River around 390-387 BC. The Gauls, under their chieftain Brennus, defeated the Roman army of around 15,000 troops and proceeded to pursue the fleeing Romans back to Rome itself and partially sacked the town[123][124] before being either driven off or bought off. Now that the Romans and Gauls had blooded one another, intermittent warfare was to continue between the two in Italy for more than two centuries. The Celtic problem would not be resolved for Rome until the final subjugation of all Gaul following the Battle of Alesia in 52 BC.
[edit] Roman expansion into Italia (343-282 BC)
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After recovering surprisingly swiftly from the sack of Rome,[125] the Romans immediately resumed their expansion within Italy. The First Samnite War of between 343 BC and 341 BC was a relatively short affair: the Romans beat the Samnites in both the Battle of Mount Gaurus in 342 BC and the Battle of Suessola in 341 BC but were forced to withdraw from the war before they could pursue the conflict further due to the revolt of several of their Latin allies in the Latin War.[126][127] Rome bested the Latins in the Battle of Vesuvius and again in the Battle of Trifanum,[127] after which the Latin cities were obliged to submit to Roman rule.[128][129]
The Second Samnite War, from 327 BC to 304 BC, was a much longer and more serious affair for both the Romans and Samnites,[130]. The fortunes of the two sides fluctuated throughout its course. The Romans then proved victorious at the Battle of Bovianum and the tide turned strongly against the Samnites from 314 BC onwards, leading them to sue for peace with progressively less generous terms. By 304 BC the Romans had effectively annexed the greater degree of the Samnite territory, founding several colonies.
Seven years after their defeat, with Roman dominance of the area looking assured, the Samnites rose again and defeated the Romans at the Battle of Camerinum in 298 BC, to open the Third Samnite War. With this success in hand they managed to bring together a coalition of several previous enemies of Rome at the Battle of Sentinum. In the Battle of Populonia in 282 BC Rome finished off the last vestiges of Etruscan power in the region.
[edit] Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC)
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By the beginning of the third century, Rome had established itself as a major power on the Italian Peninsula, but had not yet come into conflict with the dominant military powers in the Mediterranean at the time: Carthage and the Greek kingdoms.
When a diplomatic dispute between Rome and the Greek colony of Tarentum[131] erupted into open warfare in the naval Battle of Thurii, Tarentum appealed for military aid to Pyrrhus, ruler of Epirus. Motivated by his diplomatic obligations to Tarentum, and a personal desire for military accomplishment, Pyrrhus landed a Greek army of some 25,000 men on Italian soil in 280 BC.
Despite early victories, Pyrrhus found his position in Italy untenable. Rome steadfastly refused to negotiate with Pyrrhus as long as his army remained in Italy.[132] Furthermore, Rome entered into a treaty of support with Carthage. Facing unacceptably heavy losses with each encounter with the Roman army, Pyrrhus withdrew from the peninsula.
When his Sicilian campaign was also ultimately a failure, and at the request of his Italian allies, Pyrrhus returned to Italy to face Rome once more. In 275 BC, Pyrrhus again met the Roman army at the Battle of Beneventum. While Beneventum was indecisive, Pyrrhus realised that his army had been exhausted and reduced by years of foreign campaigns, and seeing little hope for further gains, he withdrew completely from Italy.
The conflicts with Pyrrhus would have a great effect on Rome, however. Rome had shown that it was capable of pitting its armies successfully against the dominant military powers of the Mediterranean, and further showed that the Greek kingdoms were incapable of defending their colonies in Italy and abroad. Rome quickly moved into southern Italia, subjugating and dividing Magna Grecia.[133] Effectively dominating the Italian peninsula,[134] and with a proven international military reputation,[135]
[edit] Mid-Roman Republic (274 BC - 148 BC)
[edit] Punic Wars (264-146 BC)
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The First Punic War began in 264 BC when settlements on Sicily began to appeal to the two powers between which they lay - Rome and Carthage - in order to solve internal conflicts. The war saw land battles in Sicily early on such as the Battle of Agrigentum but the theatre shifted to naval battles around Sicily and Africa. Before the First Punic War there was no Roman navy to speak of. The new war in Sicily against Carthage, a great naval power,[136] forced Rome to quickly build a fleet and train sailors.[137]
The first few naval battles of the First Punic War such as the Battle of the Lipari Islands were catastrophic disasters for Rome. However, after training more sailors and inventing a grappling engine known as a Corvus,[138] a Roman naval force under C. Duillius was able to roundly defeat a Carthaginian fleet at the Battle of Mylae. Further naval victories followed at the Battle of Tyndaris and Battle of Cape Ecnomus.[139] After having won control of the seas, a Roman force landed on the African coast under Regulus, who was at first victorious, winning the Battle of Adys[140]. The Carthaginians then hired Xanthippus to reorganise and lead their army.[141] Xanthippus managed to cut off the Roman army from its base by re-establishing Carthaginian naval supremacy. With their newfound naval abilities, the Romans roundly beat the Carthaginians in naval battle again at the Battle of the Aegates Islands and leaving Carthage without a fleet or sufficient coin to raise one. For a maritime power the loss of their access to the Mediterranean stung financially and psychologically, and the Carthaginians again sued for peace.
Continuing distrust led to the renewal of hostilities in the Second Punic War when Hannibal Barca attacked Saguntum,[142][143] a city with diplomatic ties to Rome.[144] Hannibal then crossed the Italian Alps to invade Italy.[145][146] In the first battle on Italian soil at Ticinus in 218 BC Hannibal defeated the Romans under Scipio the Elder. Hannibal's success continued with victories in the Battle of the Trebia,[147] the Battle of Lake Trasimene,where he ambushed an unsuspecting Roman army,[148][149] and the Battle of Cannae.
In the three battles of Nola, Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus managed to hold off Hannibal but then Hannibal smashed a succession of Roman consular armies. By this time Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal Barca sought to cross the Alps into Italy and join his brother with a second army. Despite being defeated in Iberia, Hasdrubal managed to break through into Italy only to be defeated decisively on the Metaurus River.[145] Unable to defeat Hannibal himself on Italian soil, the Romans boldly sent an army to Africa with the intention of threatening the Carthaginian capital. Hannibal was recalled to Africa, and defeated at the Battle of Zama.
Carthage never managed to recover after the Second Punic War[150] and the Third Punic War that followed is in reality a simple punitive mission to raze the city of Carthage to the ground.[151] Carthage was almost defenceless and when besieged offered immediate surrender, conceding to a string of outrageous Roman demands.[152] The Romans refused the surrender, and the city was stormed after a short siege and completely destroyed.
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Rome's conflict with the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars led them into expansion in the Iberian peninsula (modern-day Spain).[153] The Punic empire of the Carthaginian Barcid family consisted of territories in Iberia, many of which Rome gained control of during the Punic Wars. Over the years Rome had gradually expanded along the southern Iberian coast until in 211 BC it captured the city of Saguntum, and the peninsula became a Roman province known as Hispania.
[edit] Macedon, the Greek poleis, and Illyria (215-148 BC)
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Rome's preoccupation with its war with Carthage provided an opportunity for Philip V of the kingdom of Macedon in northern Greece, to attempt to extend his power westward. Philip sent ambassadors to Hannibal's camp in Italy, to negotiate an alliance as common enemies of Rome.[154][155] However, Rome discovered the agreement when Philip's emissaries, along with emissaries from Hannibal, were captured by a Roman fleet.[154] The First Macedonian War saw the Romans involved directly in only limited land operations and when the Aetolians sued for peace with Philip once more Rome's small expeditionary force, with no more allies in Greece, but having achieved their objective of pre-occupying Philip and preventing him from aiding Hannibal, was ready to make peace.
Macedon began to encroach on territory claimed by several other Greek city states in 200 BC and these states pleaded for help from their newfound ally Rome.[156] Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must submit Macedonia to being essentially a Roman province. Philip refused, and Rome declared war against Philip in the Second Macedonian War.[156] In the Battle of the Aous Roman forces under Titus Quinctius Flamininus defeated the Macedonians,[157] and in a second larger battle under the same opposing commanders in 197 BC, in the Battle of Cynoscephalae,[158] Flamininus again beat the Macedonians decisively.[157][159] Macedonia was forced to sign the Treaty of Tempea, in which it lost all claim to territory in Greece and Asia.
Rome now turned its attentions to Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire to the east. A Roman force under Manius Acilius Glabrio defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Thermopylae[159] and forced him to evacuate Greece:[160] the Romans then pursued the Seleucids beyond Greece, beating them in the decisive engagement of the Battle of Magnesia.[160][161]
In 179 BC Philip died[162] and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne and showed a renewed interest in Greece.[163] Rome declared war on Macedonia again, starting the Third Macedonian War. Perseus initially had greater military success against the Romans than his father. However, as with all such ventures in this period, Rome responded by simply sending another army. The second consular army duly defeated the Macedonians at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC[164][162] and the Macedonians duly capitulated, ending the Third Macedonian War.[165]
The Fourth Macedonian War, fought from 150 BC to 148 BC, was the final war between Rome and Macedon and began when Andriscus usurped the Macedonian throne. The Romans swiftly defeated Andriscus at the Second battle of Pydna. Under Lucius Mummius Corinth was destroyed, following a siege in 146 BC, leading to the surrender and thus conquest of the Achaean League (see Battle of Corinth).
[edit] Late Roman Republic (147 BC - 30 BC)
[edit] Jugurthine War (111-104 BC)
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The Jugurthine War of 111-104 BC was fought between Rome and Jugurtha of Numidia and constituted the final Roman pacification of Northern Africa,[166] after which Rome largely ceased expansion on the continent after reaching natural barriers of desert and mountain. Following Jugurtha's usurpation of the Numidian throne,[167] a loyal ally of Rome since the Punic Wars,[168] Rome felt compelled to intervene. Jugurtha impudently bribed the Romans into accepting his usurpation. Following further aggression and further bribery attempts, the Romans sent an army to tackle him. The Romans finally defeated Jugurtha at the Battle of Cirta(104 BC).[169] Jugurtha was finally captured not in battle but by treachery.
[edit] The Celtic threat (121 BC) and the new Germanic threat (113-101 BC)
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In 121 BC, Rome came into contact with the Celtic tribes of the Allobroges and the Arverni, both of which they defeated with apparent in ease in the First Battle of Avignon near the Rhone river and the Second Battle of Avignon, the same year.[170]
The Cimbrian War (113-101 BC) was a far more serious affair than the earlier clashes of 121 BC. The Germanic tribes of the Cimbri[171] and the Teutons or Teutones[171] migrated from northern Europe into Rome's northern territories,[172] and clashed with Rome and her allies.[173] The Battle of Noreia in 112 BC, was the opening action of the Cimbrian War fought between the Roman Republic and the migrating Proto-Germanic tribes. It ended in defeat for the Romans. However, at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae and the Battle of Vercellae both tribes were virtually annihalated, ending the threat.
[edit] Internal unrest (135-71 BC)
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The extensive campaigning abroad by Roman generals, and the rewarding of soldiers with plunder on these campaigns, led to a general trend of soldiers becoming increasingly loyal to their generals rather than to the state. Rome was also plagued by several slave uprisings during this period, in part because in the past century vast tracts of land had been given over to slave farming in which the slaves greatly outnumbered their Roman masters. In the last century before the common era at least twelve civil wars and rebellions occurred. This pattern did not break until Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) ended it by becoming a successful challenger to the Senate's authority, and was made princeps (emperor).
Between 135 BC and 71 BC there were three "Servile Wars" involving slave uprisings against the Roman state, the third and final uprising the most serious. Additionally, in 91 BC the Social War broke out between Rome and its former allies (Socii) in Italy over dissent among the allies that they shared the risk of Rome's military campaigns, but not its rewards. Although they lost militarily, the Socii achieved their objectives with the legal proclamations of the Lex Julia and Lex Plautia Papiria, which granted citizenship to more than 500,000 Italians.
The internal unrest reached its most serious, however, in the two civil wars or marches upon Rome of the consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla at the beginning of 82 BC. In the Battle of the Colline Gate at the very door of the city of Rome, a Roman army under Sulla bested an army of the Roman senate. Whatever the rights and wrongs of his grievances against those in power of the state, his actions marked a watershed of the willingness of Roman troops to wage war against one another that was to pave the way for the wars of the triumvirate, the overthrowing of the Senate as the de facto head of the Roman state, and the eventual endemic usurpation of the later Empire.
[edit] Conflicts with Mithridates (89-63 BC) and the Cilician pirates (67 BC)
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Mithridates the Great was the ruler of Pontus,[174] a large kingdom in Asia Minor, from 120 to 63 BC. He is remembered as one of Rome's most formidable and successful enemies. Mithridates antagonised Rome by seeking to expand his kingdom,[175] and Rome for her part seemed equally keen for war and the spoils and prestige that it might bring.[176][174] After conquering western Anatolia (modern Turkey) in 88 BC, Mithridates ordered the killing of the majority of the 80,000 Romans living there.[177] The massacre was the official reason given for the commencement of hostilities in the First Mithridatic War. The Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla forced Mithridates out of Greece proper, but then had to return to Italy to answer the internal threat posed by his rival Marius. A peace was made between Rome and Pontus, but this proved only a temporary lull.
The Second Mithridatic War began when Rome tried to annex Bithnyia as a province. In the Third Mithridatic War, first Lucius Licinius Lucullus and then Pompey the Great were sent against Mithridates.[178] Mithridates was finally defeated by Pompey in the night-time Battle of the Lycus.[179]
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The Mediterranean had at this time fallen into the hands of pirates,[179] largely from Cilicia.[180] The pirates not only strangled shipping lanes but also plundered many cities on the coasts of Greece and Asia. Pompey was nominated as commander of a special naval task force to campaign against the pirates.[179][178] It took Pompey supposedly just forty days to clear the western portion of the sea of pirates and restore communication between Iberia, Africa, and Italy.
[edit] Caesar's early campaigns (59-50 BC)
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During a term as praetor in Iberia Pompey's contemporary Julius Caesar defeated the Calaici and Lusitani in battle.[181] Following a consular term, he was then appointed to a five year term as Proconsular Governor of Transalpine Gaul (current southern France) and Illyria (the coast of Dalmatia).[182][181] Not content with an idle governorship, Caesar strove to find reason to invade Gaul, which would give him the dramatic military success he sought. When the Helvetii and Tigurini tribes began to migrate on a route that would take them near (not into) the Roman province of Transalpine Gaul, Caesar had the barely sufficient excuse he needed for his Gallic Wars, fought between 58 BC and 49 BC.
Caesar defeated the Helvetii in 58 BC, the Belgic confederacy (at the Battle of the Axona) and the Nervii in 57 BC. He also defeated the Aquitani, Treviri, Tencteri, Aedui and Eburones in unknown battles. In 55 and 54 BC he made two expeditions to Britain. Caesar then defeated a union of Gauls led by Vercingetorix at the Battle of Alesia,[183][184] completing the Roman conquest of Transalpine Gaul. By 50 BC, the entirety of Gaul lay in Roman hands. Gaul never regained its Celtic identity, never attempted another nationalist rebellion, and remained loyal to Rome until the fall of the Western Empire in 476.
[edit] Triumvirates, Caesarian ascension, and revolt (53-30 BC)
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By 59 BC an unofficial political alliance known as the First Triumvirate was formed between Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus to share power and influence.[185] In 53 BC, Crassus launched a Roman invasion of the Parthian Empire. After initial successes,[186] he marched his army deep into the desert;[187] but here his army was cut off deep in enemy territory, surrounded and slaughtered at the Battle of Carrhae in which Crassus himself perished. The death of Crassus removed some of the balance in the Triumvirate and, consequently, Caesar and Pompey began to move apart. While Caesar was fighting against Vercingetorix in Gaul, Pompey proceeded with a legislative agenda for Rome that revealed that he was at best ambivalent towards Caesar[188] and perhaps now covertly allied with Caesar's political enemies. In 51 BC, some Roman senators demanded that Caesar would not be permitted to stand for Consul unless he turned over control of his armies to the state, and the same demands were made of Pompey by other factions. Relinquishing his army would leave Caesar defenceless before his enemies. Caesar chose Civil War over laying down his command and facing trial.
By the spring of 49 BC, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon river with his invading forces and swept down the Italian peninsula towards Rome, Pompey ordered the abandonment of Rome. Caesar first directed his attention to the Pompeian stronghold of Iberia[189] but decided to tackle Pompey himself in Greece.[190][191] Pompey initially defeated Caesar at the Battle of Dyrrachium in 48 BC[192] but failing to follow up on the victory, Pompey was decisively defeated in the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC[193][194] despite outnumbering Caesar's forces two to one.[195] Pompey fled again, this time to Egypt, where he was murdered.
Pompey's death did not see the end of the civil wars since initially Caesar's enemies were manifold and Pompey's supporters continued to fight on after his death. In 46 BC Caesar lost perhaps as much as a third of his army at the Battle of Ruspina. However, after this low point Caesar came back to defeat the Pompeian army of Metellus Scipio in the Battle of Thapsus, after which the Pompeians retreated yet again to Iberia. Caesar defeated the combined forces of Titus Labienus and Gnaeus Pompey the Younger at the Battle of Munda.
Despite his military success, or probably because of it, fear spread of Caesar, now the primary figure of the Roman state, becoming an autocratic ruler and ending the Roman Republic. This fear drove a group of senators to assassinate him in March of 44 BC.[196] Further civil war followed between those loyal to Caesar and those who supported the actions of the assassins. Caesar's supporter Mark Antony condemned Caesar's assassins and war broke out between the two factions. Antony was denounced as a public enemy, and Octavian was entrusted with the command of the war against him.. At the Battle of Mutina Antony was defeated in battle by the consul Hirtius, who was killed.
Octavian betrayed his party, and came to terms with Caesarians Antony and Lepidus in 43 BC when the Second Triumvirate was formed. In 42 BC Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fought the Battle of Philippi with Caesar's assassins Marcus Brutus and Cassius. Although Brutus defeated Octavian, Antony defeated Cassius, who committed suicide. Brutus also committed suicide shortly afterwards.
However, civil war flared again when the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Lepidus and Mark Antony failed. The ambitious Octavian built a power base and then launched a campaign against Mark Antony.[196] At the Battle of Actium,[197] Octavian decisively defeated Antony and Cleopatra in a naval battle near Greece, using fire to destroy the enemy fleet. Octavian went on to become Emperor under the name Augustus[197] and, in the absence of political assassins or usurpers, was able to greatly expand the borders of the Empire.
[edit] Figures of the Republic
[edit] Latin literature of the Republic
- Julius Caesar
- Catullus
- Cicero
- Ennius
- Fabius Pictor
- Livius Andronicus
- Lucretius
- Naevius
- Plautus
- Terence
- Livy
[edit] See also
- Crisis of the Roman Republic
- Constitution of the Roman Republic
- List of topics related to ancient Rome
[edit] References
- Abbott, Frank Frost (1901). A History and Description of Roman Political Institutions. Elibron Classics (ISBN 0-543-92749-0).
- Byrd, Robert (1995). The Senate of the Roman Republic. U.S. Government Printing Office, Senate Document 103-23.
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius (1841). The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero: Comprising his Treatise on the Commonwealth; and his Treatise on the Laws. Translated from the original, with Dissertations and Notes in Two Volumes. By Francis Barham, Esq. London: Edmund Spettigue. Vol. 1.
- Eck, Werner; translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider; new material by Sarolta A. Takács. (2003) The Age of Augustus. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing (hardcover, ISBN 0-631-22957-4; paperback, ISBN 0-631-22958-2).
- Francis Owen, "The Germanic people; their Origin Expansion & Culture", 1993 Barnes & Noble Books ISBN 0880295791
- Lintott, Andrew (1999). The Constitution of the Roman Republic. Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-926108-3).
- Polybius (1823). The General History of Polybius: Translated from the Greek. By Mr. Hampton. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter. Fifth Edition, Vol 2.
- Taylor, Lily Ross (1966). Roman Voting Assemblies: From the Hannibalic War to the Dictatorship of Caesar. The University of Michigan Press (ISBN 0-472-08125-X).
- "The conquest of Gaul" by Julius Caesar ISBN 0-14-044433-5
- Harriet I. Flower (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic, Cambridge 2004.
- "The Cambridge Ancient History", vols. 7–9, Cambridge 1990ff.
- "The Enemies of Rome" by Philip Matyszak edited by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-25124-X
- "Rubicon : the last years of the Roman Republic" by Tom Holland edited by Doubleday ISBN 0-385-50313-X
- "The Complete Roman Army" by Adrian Goldsworthy edited by Thames & Hudson ISBN 0-500-05124-0
- "Scipio Africanus — Greater than Napoleon" by B. H. Liddell Hart published by DA CAPO Press ISBN 0-306-81363-7
- "The Roman Army" by Peter Connolly
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.". Social Science History 3 (3/4): 125. doi:.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Polybius, 132
- ^ a b c d Polybius, 133
- ^ Lintott, 65
- ^ Byrd, 96
- ^ Cicero, 239
- ^ Byrd, 44
- ^ a b c Polybius, 134
- ^ Polybius, 135
- ^ Lintott, 40
- ^ Lintott, 42
- ^ a b Abbott, 251
- ^ a b Cicero, 226
- ^ Taylor, 85
- ^ a b Abbott, 257
- ^ Cicero, 241
- ^ Taylor, 3, 4
- ^ Abbott, 259
- ^ Lintott, 51
- ^ Taylor, 77
- ^ Taylor, 7
- ^ a b Abbott, 151
- ^ Abbott, 196
- ^ Polybius, 136
- ^ a b Abbott, 154
- ^ Abbott, 155
- ^ Lintott, 95
- ^ Lintott, 97
- ^ Cicero, 235
- ^ Lintott, 101-102
- ^ Lintott, 113
- ^ Byrd, 20
- ^ Cicero, 236
- ^ a b Byrd, 179
- ^ Byrd, 32
- ^ Byrd, 26
- ^ Byrd, 31
- ^ a b Byrd, 23
- ^ Byrd, 24
- ^ Cicero, 237
- ^ a b Abbott, 25
- ^ Abbott, 26
- ^ a b Abbott, 28
- ^ Abbott, 36, 41
- ^ a b Abbott, 37
- ^ Abbott, 42-43
- ^ Abbott, 42
- ^ Abbott, 43
- ^ a b Abbott, 44
- ^ a b Abbott, 45
- ^ a b Abbott, 46
- ^ a b c Abbott, 47
- ^ a b c Abbott, 48
- ^ a b Abbott, 52
- ^ a b Abbott, 51
- ^ Abbott, 53
- ^ Abbott, 63
- ^ Abbott, 65
- ^ Abbott, 66
- ^ a b Abbott, 77
- ^ Abbott, 80
- ^ a b Abbott, 96
- ^ Abbott, 97
- ^ a b c Abbott, 98
- ^ Abbott, 101
- ^ Abbott, 100
- ^ a b c Abbott, 103
- ^ a b c Abbott, 104
- ^ a b Abbott, 105
- ^ Abbott, 108
- ^ a b Abbott, 109
- ^ Abbott, 109-110
- ^ Abbott, 110
- ^ a b c Abbott, 111
- ^ a b c d e Abbott, 112
- ^ a b c d Abbott, 113
- ^ Abbott, 114
- ^ Abbott, 115
- ^ a b Abbott, 129
- ^ a b c Abbott, 134
- ^ a b Abbott, 135
- ^ a b c Abbott, 137
- ^ a b Abbott, 138
- ^ a b c d Abbott, 133
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition (1911), The Roman Army
- ^ a b c Polybius, History, Book 6
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 40
- ^ Smith, Service in the Post-Marian Roman Army, p. 2
- ^ a b Gabba, Republican Rome, The Army and The Allies, p. 9
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 11
- ^ Webster, The Roman Imperial Army, p. 143
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 10
- ^ Gabba, Republican Rome, The Army And the Allies, p. 1
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 27
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 16
- ^ Tacitus, Annals, IV, 5
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 16
- ^ a b Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 29
- ^ a b Gabba, Republican Rome, The Army and The Allies, p. 25
- ^ a b c Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 14
- ^ Webster, The Roman Imperial Army, p. 116
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 15
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 43
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 67
- ^ Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 38
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 15
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 312
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 33
- ^ a b Florus, The Epitome of Roman History, Book 1, ch. 11
- ^ a b Grant, The History of Rome, p. 38
- ^ a b Grant, The History of Rome, p. 37
- ^ Livy, The Rise of Rome, p. 89
- ^ Cassius Dio, The Roman History, Vol. 1, VII, 17
- ^ Cassius Dio, The Roman History, Vol. 1, VII, 16
- ^ a b The Enemies of Rome, p. 13
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 39
- ^ Livy, The Rise of Rome, p. 96
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 41
- ^ a b c Florus, The Epitome of Roman History, Book 1, ch. 12
- ^ a b Grant, The History of Rome, p. 42
- ^ Cassius Dio, The Roman History, Vol. 1, VII, 20
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. II
- ^ Livy, The Rise of Rome, p. 329
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 283
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rme, Ch. IX, para. 4
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 48
- ^ a b Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. IX, para. 13
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 49
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. IX, para. 14
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 52
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 294
- ^ Cassius Dio, The Roman history, Vol. 1, VIII, 3
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 307
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. XI, para. 1
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 80
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. XII, para. 14
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 309
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 113
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 84
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 86
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 88
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 29
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 25
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. XIII, para. 15
- ^ a b Cantor, Antiquity, p. 153
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 27
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 31
- ^ Polybius, The Histories, 243
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 34
- ^ Pennell, Ancient Rome, Ch. XV, para. 24
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 338
- ^ Goldsworthy, The Punic Wars, p. 339
- ^ Florus, The Epitome of Roman history, Book 2, ch. 17
- ^ a b Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 47
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 115
- ^ a b Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 49
- ^ a b Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 73
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 117
- ^ a b Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 325
- ^ a b Grant, The History of Rome, p. 119
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 326
- ^ a b Grant, The History of Rome, p. 120
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 75
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 92
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 53
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 29
- ^ Sallust, The Jugurthine War, XII
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 64
- ^ Sallust, The Jugurthine War, CI
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 152
- ^ a b Appian, History of Rome, §6
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 75
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 6
- ^ a b Florus, The Epitome of Roman history, Book 3, ch. 5
- ^ Florus, The Epitome of Roman history, Book 3, ch. 5
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 76
- ^ Grant, The History of Rome, p. 158
- ^ a b Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 363
- ^ a b c Plutarch, Lives, Pompey
- ^ Florus, The Epitome of Roman history, Book 3, ch. 6
- ^ a b Plutarch, Lives, Caesar
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 58
- ^ Santosuosso, Storming the Heavens, p. 62
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 212
- ^ Cantor, Antiquity, p. 168
- ^ Matyszak, The Enemies of Rome, p. 133
- ^ Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, p. 266
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 214
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 217
- ^ Julius Caesar, The Civil War, 81–92
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 218
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 220
- ^ Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome, p. 227
- ^ Lane Fox, The Classical World, p. 403
- ^ Holland, Rubicon, p. 312
- ^ a b Cantor, Antiquity, p. 170
- ^ a b Luttwak, The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire, p. 7
[edit] External links
- The Roman Republic by Horace Moule (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1860)
- The fall of the Roman Republic by Charles Merivale (London: Longman Brown Green and Longmans, 1853)
- www.roman-empire.net, about the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
- The Late Roman Republic: The decline and fall of trust, An essay on the loss of trust in societies both ancient and modern
- The Roman Republic from In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)
- Nova Roma - Educational Organization a working historical reconstruction of the Roman Republic
- http://www.unrv.com Roman Empire History
- Polish Portal of Ancient Rome
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