The Curious Case of Uspe: Legalism, Profit and Terror in Roman Imperialism

Abstract

Tacitus' brief narrative of the destruction of the town of Uspe of the Siraci in the Bosphorus in 49 CE (<i>Ann</i>. 12.16-17) provides valuable insight into the use of massacre in the exercise of Roman imperialism. It shows, inter alia, a tension, inherent in imperial rhetoric and ideology, between the ideal of <i>clementia</i> and the perceived necessity for exemplary violence in the context of expanding or maintaining Rome's empire. Such a tension is inherent in Augustus' <i>Res Gestae</i>, for example, where he highlights the fact that he spared conquered people, yet only where safe to do so (<i>RG</i> 3.2).