Jeremy Armstrong

Authors, Archaeology, and Arguments: Evidence and Models for Early Roman Politics

Abstract Ancient history begins and ends with the ancient evidence. The evidence represents not only the foundation of the discipline, but the material out of which any argument must be built, and it is not possible to go further than it allows. This is part of the reason why the nature and value of the evidence for early Rome have long been, and remain, matters of considerable and sometimes contentious debate. The best evidence, simply because it is contemporary, is arguably the archaeological, but the sorts of questions that archaeological evidence can answer are often of little help when it comes to matters such as the politics and political structures of early Rome, which are the focus of this collection. For such matters, it is still necessary to work with the literary evidence. However, since the historical value of the literary evidence is so hotly contested, the uses to which that evidence is put and the conclusions that are drawn from it inevitably vary considerably. Despite more than a century of research, there is still nothing even remotely resembling a consensus on how the literary sources should best be handled. This paper explores some of the problems with the evidence for early Rome, considers something of the limits and uses of that evidence, as well as introduces the contributions that make up this collection of studies on power and politics in early Rome.

The Consulship of 367 bc and the Evolution of Roman Military Authority

Abstract A tension exists within the literary sources for early Rome, between the supposedly static nature of military authority, embodied by the grant of imperium which was allegedly shared both by archaic reges and republican magistrates, and the evidence for change within Rome’s military hierarchy, with the early republican army being commanded by a succession of different magistrates including the archaic praetores, the so-called ‘consular tribunes,’ and the finally the consuls and praetors of the mid-fourth century BC. The differences between the magistracies and the motivations driving the evolution of the system have caused confusion for both ancient and modern writers alike, with the usual debate being focused on the number of officials involved under each system and Rome’s expanding military and bureaucratic needs. The present study will argue that, far more than just varying in number, when viewed against the wider backdrop of Roman society during the period, the sources hint that the archaic praetores and consular tribunes might have exercised slightly different types of military authority – possibly distinguished by the designations imperium and potestas – which were unified under the office of the consulship of 367 BC. 1 The changes in Rome’s military hierarchy during the fifth and fourth centuries BC may therefore not only indicate an expansion of Rome’s military command, as is usually argued, but also an evolution of military authority within Rome associated with the movement of power from the comitia curiata to the comitia centuriata.

Circum Mare: Themes in Ancient Warfare

Circum Mare presents a thematic approach to current directions in ancient military studies, bringing together studies on cultures from across the Mediterranean world, ranging from Pharaonic Egypt to Late Antique Europe and from Punic Spain to Persian Anatolia.

Rituals of Triumph: A Brief Introduction

This chapter stresses the failure of many scholars, ancient as well as modern, to grasp one simple yet fundamental theme: that early Rome was not like the Rome of the late Republic and Empire, and her institutions and rituals need to be interpreted in their appropriate context. The chapter argues that when the Roman triumph is viewed in the absence of the anachronistic social and military contexts which are so often foisted upon it a very different interpretation is possible. Various aspects of the post-victory rituals are discussed including the royal progress home as well as the battlefield trophies. The final sections of the chapter move to the historical background of two events: Hellenistic royal processions and the Roman triumph. There is also an effective debunking of the supposition that Antiochus IV copied Roman ideas for his personal triumph. Keywords:Hellenistic royal processions; rituals; Roman triumph