Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/17916
Title: Lessons of Violence: Mass-Violence and Roman Republican Imperialism
Contributor(s): Taylor, Tristan  (author)
Publication Date: 2015
Open Access: Yes
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/17916
Open Access Link: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/classics/events/2015/abstracts.pdfOpen Access Link
Abstract: In describing the sack of New Carthage in 209 BCE, Polybius digresses on the Roman custom ... in sacking a city, namely to kill all those they encounter, even dismembering animals, until the signal is given to engage in plunder. Polybius states that, in his opinion, this is done for the sake of inspiring terror ... (Hist. 10.15.4-5). Polybius thus regards such mass-violence as both conscious and instrumental. Mass-violence could be utilised instrumentally on at least two levels. At the more immediate level, the threat of mass-violence could inspire opponents to surrender swiftly. At a broader level, it could be used in an exemplary fashion - to make an example of a particular people for their conduct - and thus to deter others from like behaviour. This paper will explore both the extent to which Rome did consciously use mass-violence in an exemplary fashion and the range of circumstances in which such violence could be employed. With regard to the first question, I will argue that Rome did indeed employ such violence consciously; for example, Caesar declares that he executed the senate of the Veneti in 57 BCE after that people's mistreatment of ambassadors so that embassies would be well-treated by others in the future (quo diligentius in reliquum tempus a barbaris ius legatorum conservaretur: BG 3.16). In relation to the second question, I will argue that mass-violence was often, though not exclusively, used in an exemplary way in a retributive context, such as the example of Caesar's treatment of the Veneti. At other times, however, the deployment of mass-violence could be less predictable, such as Lucullus' slaughter of the surrendered Vaccaei in 151 BCE (App. Hisp. 52), distorting the extent to which a 'lesson' might be learned from such actions as mass-killing.
Publication Type: Conference Publication
Conference Details: CA 2015: Classical Association Annual Conference 2015, Bristol, United Kingdom, 10th - 13th April, 2015
Source of Publication: 2015 Classical Association Annual Conference Abstracts, p. 99-99
Publisher: University of Bristol
Place of Publication: Bristol, United Kingdom
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 210306 Classical Greek and Roman History
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 430305 Classical Greek and roman history
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 950504 Understanding Europes Past
970121 Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 130704 Understanding Europe’s past
280113 Expanding knowledge in history, heritage and archaeology
280114 Expanding knowledge in Indigenous studies
HERDC Category Description: E3 Extract of Scholarly Conference Publication
Appears in Collections:Conference Publication
School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

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