Essays on War and the Roman Republic

Over 15 scholars contributed essays to this collection, which looks at various aspects of military service, citizenship, and society from the early days of the Republic through the eve of its collapse (c. 500-c.100 B.C.).

The book opens with an introductory paper by the authors on the history and historiography of writing about Roman military institutions and wars, and a second paper which explores the origins of the military institutions which the republic inherited from monarchy.

The essays that follow cover a variety of topics. Some deal with such broad matters as the relationship among military service, agriculture, and personal debt, what we today might call conscription and tribute, gender, class, and social distinction, and changes in military institutions.

We also get papers looking at narrower subjects, such as senatorial casualties in the Second Punic War, the Social War (a very good essay), a curious “Triumph,” the army of the late Republic, even an account of a former slave who rose to some distinction as a soldier.

All of the papers are excellent examples of serous scholarship. While they are arranged in roughly chronological order, they don’t offer a good overview of Roman history, and will appeal primarily to the specialist or the serious armchair historian.

Note: Romans at War is also available in hard cover & e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org