Fustuarium
In the military of ancient Rome, ''fustuarium'' (Greek ξυλοκοπία, ''xylokopia''.) or ''fustuarium supplicium'' ("the punishment of cudgeling") was a severe form of military discipline in which a soldier was cudgeled to death. It is described by the Greek historian Polybius in a passage observing that Roman soldiers were motivated to stand fast and maintain their posts by the fear of harsh punishments such as public disgrace, flogging, and death. As a form of discipline imposed on a soldier, ''fustuarium'' thus reflected Roman doubts that courage alone was sufficient to ensure the steadfastness of the average soldier—an awareness that Julius Caesar shows in his war commentaries. ''Fustuarium'' was the penalty when a sentry deserted his post and for stealing from one's fellow soldiers in camp. A soldier who committed an act of theft ''(furtum)'' against civilians by contrast had his right hand cut off. The ''fustuarium'' was also the punishment for falsifying evidenc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Decimation (punishment)
Decimation ( la, decimatio; ''decem'' = "ten") was a form of Roman military discipline in which every tenth man in a group was executed by members of his cohort. The discipline was used by senior commanders in the Roman army to punish units or large groups guilty of capital offences, such as cowardice, mutiny, desertion, and insubordination, and for pacification of rebellious legions. The word ''decimation'' is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth". The procedure was an attempt to balance the need to punish serious offences with the realities of managing a large group of offenders. Procedure A cohort (roughly 480 soldiers) selected for punishment by decimation was divided into groups of ten. Each group drew lots (sortition), and the soldier on whom the lot of the shortest straw fell was executed by his nine comrades, often by stoning, clubbing, or stabbing. The remaining soldiers were often given rations of barley instead of wheat (the latter being the standard soldier' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roman Military Decorations And Punishments
As with most other military forces the Roman military adopted an extensive list of decorations for military gallantry and likewise a range of punishments for military transgressions. Decorations, awards and victory titles Crowns *Grass crown – (Latin: ''corona obsidionalis'' or ''corona graminea''), was the highest and rarest of all military decorations. It was presented only to a general, commander, or officer whose actions saved the legion or the entire army. *Civic crown – (Latin: ''corona civica''), was a chaplet of common oak leaves woven to form a crown. During the Roman Republic, and the subsequent Principate, it was regarded as the second highest military decoration a citizen could aspire to (the Grass Crown being held in higher regard) and was rewarded for saving the lives of fellow Roman citizens (cives) or for standing one's ground in war. Since Augustus, only the princeps was eligible for this decoration. It may have been identical to the Crown of the Preserver m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Military Of Ancient Rome
The military of ancient Rome, according to Titus Livius, one of the more illustrious historians of Rome over the centuries, was a key element in the rise of Rome over "above seven hundred years" from a small settlement in Latium to the capital of an empire governing a wide region around the shores of the Mediterranean, or, as the Romans themselves said, ''mare nostrum'', "our sea". Livy asserts: :... if any people ought to be allowed to consecrate their origins and refer them to a divine source, so great is the military glory of the Roman People that when they profess that their Father and the Father of their Founder was none other than Mars, the nations of the earth may well submit to this also with as good a grace as they submit to Rome's dominion. Titus Flavius Josephus, a contemporary historian, sometime high-ranking officer in the Roman army, and commander of the rebels in the Jewish revolt describes the Roman people as if they were "born readily armed". At the time of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrew Lintott
Andrew William Lintott (born 9 December 1936) is a British classical scholar who specialises in the political and administrative history of ancient Rome, Roman law and epigraphy. He is an emeritus fellow of Worcester College, University of Oxford. Biography From 1958 to 1960, Lintott was a second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. After leaving the service, he was an assistant lecturer then lecturer in classics at King's College London from 1960 to 1967. He was lecturer then senior lecturer in ancient history at the University of Aberdeen (1967–81), and a fellow and tutor in ancient history at Worcester College Oxford (1981–2004), where he became a reader in 1996 and a professor in 1999. In 1990, Lintott was a visiting member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He was a Hugh Last fellow at the British School at Rome in 1994, and a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. Lintott edited and contributed to the ''Cambridge Ancient History' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roman Civil Wars
This is a list of civil wars and organized civil disorder, revolts and rebellions in ancient Rome (Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, and Roman Empire) until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (753 BCE – 476 CE). For the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire after the division of the Empire in West and East, see List of Byzantine revolts and civil wars (330–1453). For external conflicts, see List of Roman wars and battles. 3rd century BC * 241 BC: Falisci revolt – revolt suppressed * 216–203 BC: Defection of Rome's Italian allies to the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War 2nd century BC * 135–132 BC: First Servile War in Sicily - revolt suppressed * 125 BC: Fregellae revolt - revolt suppressed * 104–100 BC: Second Servile War in Sicily - revolt suppressed 1st century BC * 91–87 BC: Social War, between Rome and many of its fellow Italian allies - Roman victory. * 88 BC: Sulla's march on Rome, causing his enemy, Gaius Marius, to be outlawed * 87 BC: ''Bell ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tacfarinas
Tacfarinas ( Latinised form of Berber Tikfarin or Takfarin; died AD 24) was a Numidian Berber from Thagaste, located in the province of Proconsular Africa (now Souk Ahras, in Algeria), who was a deserter from the Roman army who led his own Musulamii tribe and a loose and changing coalition of other Berber tribes in a war against the Romans in North Africa during the rule of the emperor Tiberius (AD 14–37). Though Tacfarinas' personal motivation is unknown, it is likely that the Roman occupation under Augustus of the traditional grazing grounds of the Musulamii was the determining factor. Nevertheless, Tacfarinas' large-scale raids caused severe disruption of the province's grain production, which in turn threatened civil disorder in Rome. The Romans were for a long time unable to eradicate their enemy because of the Numidians' extraordinary mobility and their support from the many desert tribes. Tacfarinas was finally captured and killed in AD 24 by a combination of determine ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Desertion
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which are temporary forms of absence. Desertion versus absence without leave In the United States Army, United States Air Force, British Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force, New Zealand Defence Force, Singapore Armed Forces and Canadian Armed Forces, military personnel will become AWOL if absent from their post without a valid pass, liberty or leave. The United States Marine Corps, United States Navy, and United States Coast Guard generally refer to this as unauthorized absence. Personnel are dropped from their unit rolls after thirty days and then listed as ''deserters''; however, as a matter of U.S. military law, desertion is not measured by time away from the unit, but rather: * by leaving or remaining absent from their unit, organizati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lucius Apronius
Lucius Apronius was a Roman senator and suffect consul in 8 AD. Achievements He became suffect consul in 8 AD, and was a military commander active during the reign of Tiberius. Apronius shared in the achievements of Gaius Vibius Postumus and earned the '' ornamenta triumphalia'' for his distinguished valor in the Dalmatian revolt and the Germanic Wars, along with Aulus Caecina Severus and Gaius Silius in 15 AD. Once back in Rome, Apronius led a motion in the year 22 AD in the Senate that decreed that votive offerings should be made due to the successful prosecution of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, accused of murdering Germanicus in 20 AD. In the year 23 AD, Apronius (along with a former proconsul of Africa, Lucius Aelius Lamia) vouched for the innocence of a man accused of supplying grain to Numidian insurgent Tacfarinas. However, as proconsul of Africa at the time, Apronius also severely punished a cohort of Legio III Augusta for their defeat at Tacfarinas' hands with decima ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spartacus
Spartacus ( el, Σπάρτακος '; la, Spartacus; c. 103–71 BC) was a Thracian gladiator who, along with Crixus, Gannicus, Castus, and Oenomaus, was one of the escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Little is known about him beyond the events of the war, and surviving historical accounts are sometimes contradictory. All sources agree that he was a former gladiator and an accomplished military leader. This rebellion, interpreted by some as an example of oppressed people fighting for their freedom against a slave-owning oligarchy, has provided inspiration for many political thinkers, and has been featured in literature, television, and film. The philosopher Voltaire described the Third Servile War as "the only just war in history". Although this interpretation is not specifically contradicted by classical historians, no historical account mentions that the goal was to end slavery in the Republic. Early lif ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Marcus Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, Irving.Richest People in History Ancient Roman Crassus. Trivia-Library. ''The People's Almanac''. 1975–1981. Web. 23 December 2009."Often named as the richest man ever, a more accurate conversion of sesterce would put his modern figure between $200 million and $20 billion." Peter L. BernsteinThe 20 Richest People Of All Time/ref> Crassus began his public career as a military commander under Lucius Cornelius Sulla during his civil war. Following Sulla's assumption of the dictatorship, Crassus amassed an enormous fortune through real estate speculation. Crassus rose to political prominence following his victory over the slave revolt led by Spartacus, sharing the consulship with his rival Pompey the Great. A political and financi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals (Tacitus), ''Annals'' (Latin: ''Annales'') and the Histories (Tacitus), ''Histories'' (Latin: ''Historiae'')—examine the reigns of the Roman emperor, emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD). These two works span the history of the Roman Empire from the death of Augustus (14 AD) to the death of Domitian (96 AD), although there are substantial Lacuna (manuscripts), lacunae in the surviving texts. Tacitus's other writings discuss Public speaking, oratory (in dialogue format, see ''Dialogus de oratoribus''), Germania (in Germania (book), ''De origine et situ Germanorum''), and the life of his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Agricola (t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Germanicus
Germanicus Julius Caesar (24 May 15 BC – 10 October AD 19) was an ancient Roman general, known for his campaigns in Germania. The son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger, Germanicus was born into an influential branch of the Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician ''gens Claudia''. The Victory title, agnomen ''Germanicus'' was added to his full name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honour of his victories in Germania. In AD 4, he was adopted by his paternal uncle Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor a decade later. As a result, Germanicus became an official member of the Julia gens, ''gens Julia'', another prominent family, to which he was related on his mother's side. His connection to the Julii was further consolidated through a marriage between himself and Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of Augustus. He was also the father of Caligula, the maternal grandfather of Nero, and the older brother of Claudius. During the reign of A ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |