James Lawrie
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Posts posted by James Lawrie
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On 10/12/2022 at 3:25 AM, nadu98 said:Hi. I am currently writing a thesis on roman siege warfare.Recently I came across Scheidels 'great-leveling' thesis, stating that mass-mobilization warfare, state failure, transformative revolution and plagues are four phenomena that level economic inequality between rich and poor. As siege warfare is quite often a form of mass mobilization warfare and total war, one would expect that in some cases economic inequality between rich and poor would level.I would like to apply Scheidels thesis on sieges involving the roman republic and empire. Scheidel gives some examples of how sieges may contribute to leveling social inequality, but does not extend too much on the topic.Do any of you know some examples of sieges where this thesis could be applied to (even if it is in a very minor form)?Or do you rather think that the thesis does not really apply to roman siege warfare?Excited to hear some of your responses and thanks in advance
And now you have me racing off to read Scheidel so I can think on this.
Best of luck with the thesis, it sounds like an interesting angle. -
On 11/5/2022 at 6:17 AM, caldrail said:
Freedmen were ineligible for citizenship, gladiator or not, in line with traditional Roman practice. But realise that the granting of citizenship was not an ongoing process anyway, it was an edict, a one-off event, with citizenship passed on to children of provincials awarded full citizenship of Rome.
Well, libertini (freedmen) had limited rights, not quite as onerous as dediticii, and the libertini gained more rights as the empire progressed
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It also seems that gladiators who were sentenced damnatio et ludii when manumitted weren't given full rights but were instead made peregrinus dediticius; a person who was free but considered a possible danger to the state. This meant that a freed gladiator did not get citizenship under the Constitutio Antoniniana. This meant that if they came within one hundred miles of Rome they were subject to re-enslavement, although this may not have been automatic and more of a form of parole.
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Why do moderns pronounce 'Cicero' with a soft 'c'?
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Over the course of their existence were the vigiles an armed force? If they were, what arms and armour did the carry normally and in emergencies?
It's my understanding that the vigiles were not a paramilitary organisation, but did they veer into one at any point of their existence?
From what I know (ie: I don't have a source 😄) the cohortes urbana patrolled 'half armed' without pila and scutum but otherwise in battle array, is this a model for the vigiles? -
On 8/6/2022 at 3:44 AM, caldrail said:
Not at all. Take gladiators for instance. Professional lanistas weren't the only owners, military officers used them as bodyguards and trainers, even private citizens sometimes had a troupe among their possessions for rent. Cicero, in one of his letters, praises his friend Atticus for the splendid troupe he owns. But then I suppose the association with virile masculinity more than compensated for official infamy.
Prostitutes might be a little different. Wealthy men could of course have any slave they wanted on demand. Wives would suffer of course, that was not the correct behaviour of a Roman matron. I do note however that some of the urban villas in Pompeii have alcoves in the back wall which they could rent to prostitutes quietly. Let's not speak about that eh?
Just revisiting this for anyone reading this thread re: does infamia spread through ownership.
To add to @caldrail's comment:
QuoteMany high-ranking Romans acquired gladiatorial troupes not only for entertainment (for instance, at a banquet) but as bodyguards or hired murderers. It is curious that, unlike a lanista, a noble Roman citizen could rent out or sell his troupe of gladiators without being held in contempt. It was considered a lanistae's trade and principal job, while for noble Romans it was looked upon just as a sideline income.
Nossov, K. "Gladiator" 2009.
(An Osprey edition so not an academic work but I thought an interesting confirmation in print) -
I think the simple question "What was the social institution of slavery like under Roman rule and what would life have been like as a slave? Were there any redeeming features that made slavery less morally reprehensible than we assume it be today?" runs into the Historians' Maxim: Everything Changes With Time And Space.
This makes it almost impossible to answer. Rome existed over an immense time and immense area and it varied so wildly across that area. Some areas evolved different traditions from others and some areas the concept of slavery was considerably out of step with urban Rome. Even then the lot of a mining slave, widely considered to be the worst job a slave could have, varied on exactly what job they did in the mining enterprise, where it was and when it was. -
Poor old Gaius, he really should not have annoyed the senate or he'd have gone down in history as a top bloke 😀
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4 hours ago, caldrail said:
Society of the Cupboards? I haven't come across that before and can't find any reference to it. I suspect you were hoping for something about weaponry which is the meaning of the root Arma, but the inflection is rather different. Do you have any context that would help?
According to a single source it was a collegium for gladiators. I was wondering how such a thing could exist, the bulk of gladiators being unfree. It's from the mid to late Republican period
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Does anyone have any information on the Collegium Armariorum, such as when it was founded and under what rules it operated and who was permitted to join?
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On 1/15/2022 at 10:40 AM, caldrail said:
Firstly one might try remonstrating with the individual. Possibly you might be in a position to use coercion to get that person to comply or else. Or you could complain to a magistrate and have him picked up by urban guards or other soldiers for a stiff telling off, physical punishment, or if considered a severe case, used in some humorous but ultimately fatal way in the next games as a lesson for others not to try this sort of thing.
In addition to this, as people were usually part of a larger family unit it'd be scandalous for a member of your group to be wandering around aping an equestrian for instance. It wouldn't be unlikely I think for the patria familia to drag an offender to an aedile as an example of how upstanding and obedient to mos maiorum the family was. Similarly, neighbours might indignantly do the same thing.
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Thanks, I should be able to get a line on them now.
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Can someone please direct me to a text list of vectigalia and a description of each tax?
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1 hour ago, caldrail said:
They adopt the name, and likely remain a client of him. Infamy is only attached to the individual, and if raised to a situation that doesn't impose infamy, they are nonetheless forever stained with having been so, though this has much less restriction than actual infamy. The patron/former owner is not affected.
Thanks. I knew infamia can spread through a family but I was unsure if it could be transmitted the manumission.
I suppose it would be unlikely you'd hold onto a former infame as a client but if you were a position to own one I suppose your reputation might be a bit dodgy anyway. -
If a slave prostitute, gladiator or so on is freed do they take the names of manumitor or does that impart infamia to the manumitor?
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While the battles are famous the Roman and Auxillia troops didn't just fight in huge, set piece battles. They also patrolled in small numbers, manned the limes and stood town guard. The troops obviously had to fight well in small groups and on bad ground. It should be noted that town troops patrolled 'half armed' without scutum and pilum
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I've read a source before on a gladiatrix where a Roman bemoans the thick padding because he can't see their legs. Does anyone know what source this is?
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It's my view that Caligula was murdered and defamed in a senatorial reaction. You may have been emperor but you couldn't thumb your nose at the senate and expect to live. Nero seems to have fallen the same way and suffered the same blackening of the reputation. Oddly enough both are mentioned in Seutonius 'The Twelve Caesars' (Graves) as having 'ignored the senate' or words to those effects.
A note about Calligula's horse. In the above Seutonius 'The Twelve Caesars' it states that it wasn't his horse but his favourite horse in one of the famous racing factions and that he had said 'that horse would make a better consul'
The section also has a lot of things listed that Calligula was said to have thought, making one suspect that it was retrospective excuse-making for a deposition
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What are the best sources apart from Seutonius for this event?
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Just reading the Graves 'Seutonius' for the first time since uni.
Is his 'Galba' section a white-washed account of a successful revolt against Nero? -
Thank you very much, that makes it very clear
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Regarding the early Augustan period in Rome;
Would an infames be permitted to be a client?
Would it reflect poorly on the patrone?
Would the patrone be necessarily of low status himself?
Was the stereotypical Gladius Completely Useless Without the Stereotypical Scutum or Some other Rectangular Shield?
in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'
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I'm highly dubious that short swords are ineffective or the least effective weapons.
ScholaGladiatora seem to get their bee in a bonnet about many things which seem to work only for them such as their spear obsession. Remember, HEMA is a cesspit of pet theories and personal rivalries and unsupported theories like this balloon in them.
Short swords persist long into history, weapons that last that long tend to have a viable use. Short swords seem to work well in very close combat and are effective at keeping yourself dragged down and stabbed with a dagger, one of the prime dangers of that sort of fighting (along with having your head stove in by a honking great stone someone threw into the air). Short swords even persisted into the era of white harness and long basilards were common among the Swiss and the katsbalger among the Landsknechts.