War and Society
in the Roman World edited by John Rich and Graham Shipley was published by
Routledge in 1993 (hardcover) and in 1995 (paperback). Since 2002 it has been
available as a download for Amazon Kindle. First a few words about the editors:
** John Rich
was, at the time of publication, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University
of Nottingham. I can add the following information: he is the author of a chapter
in Private and Public Lies edited by A. J. Turner and others (2010). His contribution
(which is available online) is called “Deception, Lies, and Economy with the
Truth: Augustus and the Establishment of the Principate.”
** Graham
Shipley was, at the time of publication, Lecturer in Ancient History and Head
of the Ancient History Division at the University of Leicester. I can add the
following information: he is co-editor and co-author of The Cambridge
Dictionary of Classical Civilization (2006, 2008)
This book and
its companion volume - War and Society in the Greek World - are the product of
seminars jointly organized by the Classics Departments of Leicester and
Nottingham Universities. ‘War and Society in the Ancient World’ was the theme
of a series of seminars held in Leicester and Nottingham between 1988 and 1990.
The two volumes contain substantially revised versions of a selection of papers
from that series.
The volume about
the Roman world opens with a brief introduction by one of the editors (Rich).
The main text is divided into 12 chapters written by 12 scholars, including one
of the editors (Rich). Here is the table of contents (the affiliation of each
contributor at the time of publication is added in brackets):
1. The Roman
conquest of Italy
By Steven Oakley
(Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics at Emmanuel College, Cambridge)
2. Fear, greed
and glory: the causes of Roman war-making in the middle Republic
By John Rich
3. Urbs direpta, or how the Romans sacked cities
By Adam Ziolkowski (Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Warsaw)
4. Military organization and social change in the later Roman Republic
By John Patterson (Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and University Lecturer in Ancient History)
5. Roman poetry and anti-militarism
By Duncan Cloud (Associate Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Leicester)
6. The end of Roman imperial expansion
By Tim Cornell (Senior Lecturer in History at University College, London)
7. Roman peace
By Greg Woolf (Andrew and Randall Crawley Fellow in the History of the Ancient World at Magdalen College, Oxford)
8. Piracy under the principate and the ideology of imperial eradication
By David Braund (Lecturer in Classics at the University of Exeter)
9. War and diplomacy: Rome and Parthia, 31 BC-AD 235
By Brian Campbell (Lecturer in Ancient History at the Queen’s University of Belfast)
10. Philosophers’ attitudes to war under the principate
By Harry Sidebottom (doing post-doctoral research at Corpus Christi College, Oxford)
11. The end of the Roman army in the western empire
By Wolfgang Liebeschuetz (Emeritus Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Nottingham and a Fellow of the British Academy)
12. Landlords
and warlords in the later Roman Empire
By Dick Whittaker
(Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, and University Lecturer in Ancient
History)
Each chapter (except
chapter 11) is divided into shorter sections by subheadings, which is very reader-friendly.
Each chapter has its own bibliography. References and additional comments are
given in notes placed at the bottom of the page, which is also very reader-friendly.
At the end of the book there is an index.
What about
illustrations? There is a picture on the front cover of the book. It is a picture
of a terracotta relief from the first or the second century AD showing
prisoners of war in a triumphal cart, probably Roman, now in the British
Museum. But there are no pictures inside the book. There are three figures in
chapter 2 and a chart in chapter 1, but there is not a single map and not a
single picture inside the book. The visual aspects are not exactly the strong
side of this book. The contributors and/or the editors could and should have
paid more attention to this aspect.
Many locations
are mentioned in the text, not only in Italy, but also in the Roman provinces.
That is why we need a map of the Roman Empire plus maps of several smaller
sections of the empire. To give just one example: the city of Olbia is
mentioned three times in chapter 10. That is why we need a map of the Black Sea
area.
The lack of
relevant illustrations is disappointing. Here are three examples:
** The temple of
Janus, the doors of which were closed during peace, is mentioned by Duncan
Cloud in chapter 5 (page 134). But there is no picture to illustrate this
tradition. The temple does not exist anymore, but it is shown on coins, for
instance a sestertius issued during the reign of Nero (54-68).
instance a sestertius issued during the reign of Nero (54-68).
** The Altar of
Pax Augusta, known in Latin as Ara Pacis, is mentioned by Greg Woolf in chapter
7 (page 177). But there is not a single picture of this unique monument. For
more information, see AWOL (The Ancient World Online) 11 July 2014: Ara Pacis Augustae.
** Notitia
Dignitatum is mentioned by Wolfgang Liebeschuetz in chapter 11 (pp. 265-267). But
there is not a single picture of this important map of the empire which tells
us where the Roman civilian and military units were stationed around AD 400.
For more information, see the Medieval Sourcebook by Fordham University.
When you look at
the table of contents, you can see that the 12 chapters follow a chronological
line, moving from the early republic to the age of Augustus and ending with the
fall of the Roman Empire in the west. Each chapter covers a period of Roman
history and/or a topic connected with it. However, you should know that this
book is not a traditional history of the Roman Empire, and that is why it is
not recommended for the beginner. Each contributor assumes the reader already
has a basic knowledge about Roman history. Each chapter is a research paper.
The authors ask questions. They do not ask what happened. They ask why it
happened. If we have information about a certain change, they will ask: what is
the reason for this change? Or perhaps a better question: what are the reasons
for this change? In many cases we need to take account of more than one factor
when we want to explain and understand a certain change.
A good example
is Roman imperialism. It is a well-known fact that Roman territory expanded very
fast during the Roman Republic. Why did this happen? The traditional
interpretation, which goes back to the end of the 19th century and
the beginning of the 20thcentury, says the Romans were reluctant
imperialists; they had to defend themselves against attacks from the outside.
Most modern scholars reject this interpretation. For one thing it is not
supported by the ancient evidence. In addition, there is a hidden agenda: the
traditional interpretation tries to justify the Roman expansion.
In many cases, a
modern interpretation of ancient history is a reflection of the time in which
it was conceived and published. For instance, books about Caesar and Augustus which
were published during the age of British colonialism tend to present these
characters in a positive light, while books written during the age of
decolonization tend to be more critical of them.
War and
Imperialism in Republican Rome by W. V. Harris is mentioned several times.
This book, first published in 1979, was an important milestone (a second
edition appeared in 1985). After this book was published, it was difficult (or
impossible) to maintain the theory about the reluctant imperialists. Harris is
very convincing when he is demolishing the traditional interpretation of Roman
imperialism. But his book can be criticized as well, because he claims Roman
territory expanded because of greed. His interpretation is economic, and he
sees only one factor, it is mono-causal. A more modern approach would take more
than one factor into account, as John Rich says in his contribution (chapter
2).
War and Society in the Roman World
received a positive review in the academic journal Greece & Rome. On the
back cover of the paperback version there is a brief excerpt from this review:
“The papers are
of a high standard of originality and scholarship and form an important
contribution to a field of study increasingly at the centre of ancient
history.”
I agree with the
positive words. The 12 chapters are well-written. It is interesting to see how
the contributors discuss the ancient evidence and modern interpretations of it.
The editors have done a good job. There are several cross references from one
chapter to another. Sometimes the purpose is to give additional information; in
other cases the purpose is to introduce a different point of view.
I like this
book, but I have to mention a few things which bother me. First, there are
three unfortunate misprints:
** On page 121
Duncan Cloud says: “This legislation in described in a way that cannot possibly
be accurate.” The second word in this sentence should be “is” and not “in.”
** On page 149
Tim Cornell places the conquest of Dacia in 106-108. But the wars against Dacia
took place in 101-102 and 105-106.
** On page 196
David Braund says: “Bandits took to the sea, while pirates operated on land.”
Obviously, the two key words were inverted. What he wants to say is: Pirates
took to the sea, while bandits operated on land.
Secondly, and
more importantly, the title of the book is misleading. The title War and
Society in the Roman World is inaccurate. It should be: War and Peace in the
Roman World. Why? Because this is a book about war and peace; about the role
these two types of reality played in Roman society. It is not a book about
Roman society in general. A look at the index confirms my claim. There is an
entry for “war” with several references. There is an entry for “peace” as well
as “pax Romana” again with several references. But there is no entry for
“society,” because none of the 12 scholars writes about Roman society in
general. It goes without saying that the same objection applies to the
companion volume about the Greek world. The title of the companion volume should
have been War and Peace in the Greek World.
There is much to
like in this book. But the lack of relevant illustrations is a serious flaw.
And the misleading title is unfortunate. If you ask me, it is a good book, but
not a great book. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.
PS. This book
was published some twenty years ago. Since then, other scholars have explored
some of the topics discussed here. The Roman triumph is mentioned in chapter 2.
A full-scale study is The Roman Triumph by Mary Beard (2007, 2009). Bandits
are mentioned in chapter 7. A full-scale study is Bandits in the Roman Empire
by Thomas Grünewald (2004, 2008). Piracy is discussed is chapter 8. A
full-scale study is Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World by Philip de Souza
(1999, 2002). The relations between Rome and Parthia are discussed in chapter
9. A full-scale study is Rome and Parthia by Daryn Graham (2013).
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