The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

I n t r o d u c t i o n 23
s t a n d a rd i zed on ly a few dec ades later by Cae s a r ’s gre a t - n eph ew and adopted
son Octavian, who became Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.
F l avius Jo s ephu s : Hi s to ry of the Jewish Wa r. Jo s ephu s , l i ke Po lybiu s , s t a rted out
in oppo s i ti on to Rome and then wro te of what he wi tn e s s edfor himsel f of Roman
po l i tics and military or ga n i z a ti on . He was an ari s toc ra tic Jewish pri e s t , wi t h
s ome ex peri en ce of Rom e , wh i ch he had vi s i ted as part of a del ega ti on in ad 6 4 .
He saw at first hand the immense power of the Roman Empire , and on his retu rn
to Ju d aea he perhaps tri ed to dissu ade his co u n trym en from going to war wi t h
the Rom a n s , but to no ava i l . He was ulti m a tely forced into com p l i a n cewith the
rebels against Rom e , and for a while he ch a m p i on ed Jewish rel i gi on and cultu re ,
but wh en war with Rome finally came he seem i n gly had little hesitati on in defecting
after he was captu red at the siege of Jo t a p a t a . Si n ce the safest place for
him was in the Roman camp under the eye of the Gen eral Flavius Ve s p a s i a nu s ,
he was in a prime po s i ti on to ob s erve the Roman army cl o s ely. Wh en Ve s p a s i a n
travel ed to Al ex a n d ri a , wh ere he was procl a i m ed em peror, Jo s ephus accom p an
i edhim, but then retu rn ed to his hom eland with Ve s p a s i a n’s son Ti tus and rem
a i n edwith him in the military camp while Jeru s a l em was be s i eged . He bera ted
the revo luti on a ry groups and tri ed to persu ade the rebels in Jeru s a l emto give up,
but failed . At the end of the war he was made a Roman citi zen , and he wro te an
account of the Jewish War in Gree k . The first books give a bri ef su rvey of Jewi s h
h i s tory, while the rest of the work consists mostly of his own con tem pora ry obs
erva ti ons of the Roman army. G iven that Vespasian and Ti tus loo ked upon him
very favora bly, he may even have been all owed access to their com m en t a ri e s a n d
n o teboo k s . Cert a i n ly, t h ey en dors edwhat he had wri t ten as a rel i a ble record , a n d
while they were prob a bly mu ch more cl o s ely con cern ed with their own rep ut ati
ons and how they were portrayed in Jo s ephu s’s narra tive , it is to be ex pected
that if t h ere were gross misju d gem ents and mispercepti ons of the army in Jo s ephu
s’s work , t h ey would have poi n ted them out and had them corrected . L i ke
Cae s a r ’s com m en t a ri e s , Jo s ephu s’s work provi des a snapshot vi ew of the Rom a n
a rmy at one point in ti m e , de s c ri bing its appe a ra n ce and its et h i c s , h ow it condu
cted siege s , h ow it made and bro ke camp, and its daily ro uti n e .
Sextus Ju l ius Fron ti nu s : Stra t a gem s . We know more abo ut Fron ti nu s’s career
than abo ut his ori gi n s . He may have been born in Gaul, po s s i bly around ad 30 or
4 0 . He fo ll owed the typical Roman career, taking up a su cce s s i on of posts as an
a rmy of f i cer and moving on to civilian magi s tracies and provincial govern ors
h i p s . He hel ped to su ppress the revolt of Civilis in Gaul in the early 70s, t h en
s erved as con sul in ad 72 or 73 and was appoi n ted govern or of Britain from 74
to 77 or 78. This was a very sen i or, m i l i t a ri ly important post because Britain was
on ly parti a lly su b du ed , and the army had su f fered con s i dera ble reverses in the
rebell i onof Bo u d i cca in ad 6 0 . Fron ti nu s’s main task in Britain was to su bju ga te