March
21: THE ARMY AND THE SEVERANS
Oral
report by Brian and Nicklas
Summary
of last class: Flavians and “five good emperors”:
The
Severan emperors, whom we talk about today, were among the beneficiaries of
these trends – they were the most “provincial” of emperors we have yet
discussed; their families became Roman citizens because of the promotion of
their native provincial cities.
They
will also be among the most pro-military of Roman emperors (Septimius’
last words to his sons according to Cassius Dio: "Be harmonious,
enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men."
So first I want to discuss changes in the
military.
I.
CHANGES IN THE ROMAN MILITARY IN 2ND AND EARLY 3RD
CENTURIES CE
By 2nd
century, army had become main avenue for social promotion for the lower classes
and a major agent of Romanization for the empire.
A. REVIEW OF BASIC FACTS ABOUT
ROMAN ARMY:
-The
troops: two main types
Legionaries: soldiers who were
already citizens;
Most were
foot-soldiers, not cavalry (legions only had ca. 120 cavalry per legion, out of
5000 men)
they served
on average 20 years (longer if they chose)
auxiliaries - non-citizens who became citizens after service
of 25 years.
most of the Roman cavalry came from the auxiliaries –
Roman valued some ethnic groups like Moors and Arabs for their cavalry skills.
- Size of army: ca. 300,000 troops + in arms (half legionaries / half
auxiliaries) (estimated made from 30 legions, of about 5000 each, with roughly
same number of auxiliaries)
65,000,000 people is the modern estimate of the population of the Roman empire by 170 A.D. (general prosperity within the empire) see http://www.personal.kent.edu/~bkharvey/roman/populaton.htm
Where soldiers recruited from
Both legionaries and auxiliaries recruited from lower social
classes - peasant farmers; sons without an inheritance
Going into army was way
to achieve upward mobility
By the 2nd century,
almost none of the soldiers were from Italy
In 1st
century AD 65% of Roman soldiers had still come from Italy;
by 2nd century only 1% did (Webster 109)
Instead they are coming
from north-western Europe, the Balkans, Syria, Asia Minor (Bithynia), North
Africa
- Command structure of military
Senatorial legates commanded the legions; officially they were sent (legatus)
by the emperor, who was commander in chief.
Their top officers came from the
senatorial and equestrian orders:
Senatorial were the laticlavii
tribunes (less than 25 yrs old);
equestrians the angusticlavii tribunes (these names simply meant that tribunes
could wear wide strip on their togas; tribunes narrow stripe – social rank was
visible in the Roman world by how people dressed)
Some of these senators
or equestrians were military men – like Trajan – who kept serving the army
because they like to,
But most saw military
service as a temporary thing – something you did when you were young, before
going into administration (magistracies, governorships) (EXAMPLE OF PLINY THE YOUNGER)
The Roman army was not
great because of its aristocratic officers – but because of those under them,
especially the centurions.
Centurions: were those men in charge of individual centuries
within the cohorts (6 centuries per cohort; 60 per legion; each commanding 83
men)
Centurions usually came
from municipal decurion families – so part of local town elite, not imperial
elite.
Yet even lesser status
common soldiers who were especially talented could become centurions.
These centurions were
the ones who actually knew what they were doing in the Roman army – they knew
the drills, the means of obtaining supplies, the way to discipline the men.
Best of the centurions could rise to
position of primus pilus (chief centurion – “first spear man”) and (best
of all) camp prefect
When legates and tribune
away, the camp prefect commanded whole legion
Strict Discipline:
As in Republic, imperial armies were
subject to strict discipline
For small offenses during peacetime, there were lesser penalties (standing in front of
general's tent all day holding long pole, fines, being beaten by centurion's
baton)
If soldiers deserted or retreated in battle without permission, death penalty
Augustus decimated a cohort that
retreated in battle (according to Suetonius, who was praising the act)
decimation meant that
soldiers lined up, and every tenth man stepped forwards and was executed were
he stood.
Most Roman soldiers
obeyed their commanders
It was a harsh existence, for a long
chunk of a man’s life
So why join?
Incentives to join:
- pay:
300 denarii a year by 2nd century for legionaries (100 for
auxiliaries); better than most farmers (about equal to skilled laborers) and
didn't have cost of housing
(centurions got
5000; tribune 15,000, camp prefect 37,500)
plus soldiers got bonuses from new
emperors (donativum)
on discharge: reward (8250 denarii
by 3rd c) and centurions got more
(100,000 denarii was enough to qualify for equestrian
status)
- Main
mechanism of social mobility in Roman world was through the army
Some non-citizen peasant - say a
Celt from Britain - could become an
auxiliary at age 17 / 18;
after 25 years of
service (so in his forties), he would
be made a Roman citizen and be given a veteran’s reward
He and his descendents could from that point on become part
of local town elite
If he were a great soldier, he might
become a centurion.
head centurions were
given enough property on discharge to
become equestrians
So serving in the army one of two
main ways conquered peoples of Roman empire became Roman citizens (the other
was inhabiting a town that became a municipium)
B. CONDITIONS OF LIFE: vehicle
for Romanization
A. The forts
The
largest Roman fortresses were built to house a legion, and resembled miniature
cities:
IMAGE
In fact, many of the legionary
fortresses became cities - York in England, Lambaesis in North Africa
Physical structure of a fort:
Surrounded by rectangular walls
(IMAGE)
Principia and praetorium in middle (forum equivalent) -
administrative center where commanders lived
commander's tribunal
there (where judged misbehaving soldiers)
shrine for the standards
(sacellum)
Barracks - took up most of space
rectangular blocks of
facing pairs - 8 men each had two rooms (one for sleeping; one for their
equipment, cooking hearth)
centurion had 8 or 9
rooms just for himself (bedroom, latrine, company office, )
Amenities
helped accustom soldiers to Roman lifestyle
Hospital
Granaries (grain, olive oil, wine)
Latrines !
Bath-house: much like public baths
in towns, courtyard, cold room, hot steam rooms, oil massage at end
For
necessities not available in fort itself, most forts had a canabae or vicus:
civilian settlement outside walls: where women, bars, shops were.
Roman soldiers were not allowed to
marry.
But many kept concubines in the
civilian settlement, or visited prostitutes there.
Descendants of veterans often lived
there (whether illegitimate children, or veterans who settled there after
retirement)
But
rarely did all the men of a legion inhabit the same fortress.
Legions were divided into cohorts
(10 per legion, so each of 500 men) and cohorts often had their own forts.
Auxiliaries were also assigned to groups of ca. 500 ( alae for cavalry) living separately
IMAGE OF FORT TO HOUSE
COHORT OR ALA
Even smaller military settlements
existed:
Many of the soldiers were separated from main troops, and
stationed in guardposts or small fortletts -
often only dozen men.
Their fortletts are
scattered all of the Roman empire - both on borders and within provinces
(IMAGES):
2. Religion in the army
The
Romans quite consciously tried to foster group spirit and patriotism in their
army through religion.
The standards
What looked like: some pole with
metal figure at end (capricorn, eagle); others more like our flags on a pole
(for cavalry esp.)
Whenever camp pitched, first act was
to set up standards
At religious festivals, the men
anointed standards with holy oil and decorated them with garlands (Christians thought this idol worship)
Standards would always be at front
of line of battle; worst humiliation was for an army to loose them to the enemy
Festivals
Surviving papyri show that soldiers were required to
celebrate religious festivals of traditional Roman gods and the emperor
festivals to Jupiter,
Apollo, Mars, Neptune, Hercules - with proper bull sacrifice (cows to
goddesses)
festivals to dead divine
emperors (like Augustus)
celebration of day that
current emperor became emperor (dies imperii) with appropiate sacrifices
to gods for emperor’s health
No
concession to the monotheists - a problem for soldiers who converted to
Christianity or Jews (reason why Jews exempted from military service)
Evidence
that soldiers often devout (dedications to thank for divine assistence – both
to traditional Roman gods, and new gods)
So
through military service, non-Romans became indoctrinated into Roman beliefs
How conditions of life helped
Romanize provincials (esp. auxiliaries but also legionaries from less Romanized
provinces)
After 20 to 25 years of military
service, those men who survived were Romans - even if they had started out
Moors, Celts, Copts or whatever.
As in our army, they were taught useful skills – the Latin language, writing, manufacturing
(incredible variety of goods manufactured by army in papyri), medicine,
engineering.
The forts accustomed them to Roman lifestyle – the bath
houses, the diet (bread, olive oil, wine),
They would bring this Roman culture
to wherever they settled after discharge.
II. Septimius Severus and army reform
A.
North African Origin
.
In
origin, Septimius was an African – the first North African emperor.
The
region was not heavily militarized – only one legion, in Numidia – although for
Numidia, this legion was important agent of Romanization.
North Africa was really a region of
municipia and colonies – Romanized city states.
It's this provincial elite that
Septimius came from
Septimius' family
On one side he was descended from
Roman colonists; on the other from native North Africans, who had become Roman
citizens because of imperial recognition of the important city of Leptis Magna
as a colony
Contemporaries were very much aware
of his African origins – historians commented that he had an accent of the
North Africans “spoke like an African until the day he died” (HA)
He was equestrian in origin – only
becoming senator in course of his life (father hadn’t been one).
As a senator, he pursued military
commands
He married a Syrian woman - the
brilliant and beautiful Julia Domna, whose horoscope had predicted that she
would marry an emperor, even though Septimius was a young army officer at the
time.
She was the daughter of a high
priest of Elagabal, a god that was popular in Syria during the third
century A.D.
Domna, like other
women of the Severan Dynasty, will hold a position of great power.
(IMAGE)
2. How came to power(193CE)
So in
origin and marriage, this guy was the most provincial emperor yet.
He won
power after a series of civil wars, resembling the Year of 4 emperors (69 CE)
Marcus
Aurelius' son (Commodus) had been killed by his own praetorian guards (after
dressing up as a gladiator when presenting himself as consul).
Several
short-lived emperors had followed - including one Julianus who had become
emperor by auction:
made highest bid for a monetary gift
- donativum – to the praetorians (25,000 sestertii each)
The
provincial legions (who hadn't got the donative) each started proclaiming their
own generals emperor.
Septimius
had been legate of Pannonian legions – Danube region, where legions most
concentrated.
He led
these legions to march on Rome and become emperor 193 AD
3. Septimius’ reforms:
Septimius
was disliked by the Senate – non-senatorial, provincial origin; military man.
The
tone of Severan rule was pro-provinces – and of course pro-military rather than
pro senate.
he replaced the praetorians - who
had been only troops required to be Italian in ethnic origin - with
provincials.
He promoted his fellow Africans in the imperial bureaucracy.
Pro-army
reforms:
Open
reliance on soldiers as support of his rule
Julia Domna was designated on
coins Mater castrorum (“mother of the
camps”)
Pay increases from 300 den. to
500 and then to 750.
soldier allowed to marry
(a reversal of Augustus’ policy): this made military service increasingly a
hereditary occupation
Last words to his sons
“Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, scorn everybody else”
Septimius Severus was a
dedicated legal reformer.
He
actually enforced the social legislation of Augustus.
Esp. adultery - Cassius Dio witnessed three thousand
prosecutions for adultery
Promoted
activities of the jurists
Basis
of Roman law was imperial legislation –
Edicts: general application; decrees
(civil and criminal trial decision by emperors, ); rescripts (answers to
indiviualds or officials); mandates (administrative orders).
None of these codified by
government, but instead commented on informally by jurists.
Jurists
were lawyers (jurisconsults rather than advocates ) who worked in imperial
administration – especially those bureaux, initiated originally by Claudius
(staffed by freedmen), but by early 3rd century, mostly by
equestians.
Most
famous jurist: Ulpian, one of
intellectual circle patronized by the empress Julia Domna.
Ulpian’s
comments on imperial legislation form the basis of the Digest – a later (6th
century) compilation of Roman law which will become basis of European law.
Julia
Augusta (Julia Domna), Septimius’ wife, kept court circle of intellectuals and
philosophers with strong provincial flavor
including Philostratus, who wrote Life of
Apollonius of Tyana, miracle worker of 1st century CE resembling
Jesus in some ways
SUMMARY:
- How
did Roman army Romanize the civilian population?
-Septimius