58
I take your question as meaning: when did Romans realize that they were living in a monarchy ? (As opposed to the aristocratic regime previously known as "republic".)
We must first realize that there cannot be a single point in time, because the Roman people did not operate under a uniform and shared mind. Throughout the whole antiquity, three quarters of ...
42
Actually, the Romans used the same phalanx everyone else did for a very long time. Past Hannibal.
The essence of winning a phalanx battle is to attack the flank of the phalanx. One may achieve that many ways, hence the many ways phalanxes were formed in particular battles - adapted to the width of the battlefield usually, though if one's enemy overdid that, ...
33
As Wladimir noted, the precise "vs" analysis is impossible since it depends heavily on what kind of armor, weapons, tactics, training and commanders both infantry and cavalry have, as well as economics of society (which heavily influences these things for the cavalry which is a lot more expensive to equip/train, especially heavy cavalry).
Also, it's ...
32
First of all, Carthage did not fall in the First or Second Punic Wars. The Carthaginians were defeated twice, and compelled to surrender to particularly harsh terms the second time, but the City of Carthage itself was not conquered. Keep in mind that Carthage was not some run of the mill city-state, but rather the capital of a far flung maritime empire.
...
23
I'll answer just the part about the Roman Republic, if that's alight for now.
The Roman Republic is probably best described as a pseudo-democracy of sorts. Its creation and initial set-up actually pre-dated Athenian democracy by a single year, though even until its dying days it was more of a "democracy for the privileged" than anything. Hence, Classical-...
19
The Rubicon river marked the boundary between the province of Cisalpine Gaul and Italy proper. Caesar, as a proconsul, held imperium (the right to command) within the provinces, but only a consul or praetor could hold imperium inside Italy. Generals were expected to lay down their command and re-enter Italy as private citizens; not doing so would be seen as ...
18
@YannisRizos answered the question.
It is not known what he said, but the result was that the Roman masses became very angry with Caesar's murderers, burnt down their houses and made them flee from he city. Livius
Appian's transcript of Mark Anthony's funeral oration, suggests that Shakespeare wrote for the stage, not for historical accuracy (although ...
17
The Romans would have a tactic of three lines, where first the the second and then the third line would press themselves between the first line when needed to let the first line get a breather and reform.
When the first line as a whole had done its best and become weakened and exhausted by losses, it gave way to the relief of fresh men from the second ...
17
Disclaimer: As has been repeatedly pointed out, this is a gradual shift that cannot really be pinpointed. Moreover, in my opinion, it hugely depends on how one interpret any of the several parts in this question.
Duringthe Principate period (27 B.C. – A.D. 284), emperors carefully maintained the façades of Republican government.
The senate continued its ...
15
The Romans were very good in copying tactics and equipment from other peoples.
They learned the Phalanx from the Etruscans. The phalanx works like a wall: difficult to get through, but also almost impossible to maneuver. When the Romans met their new enemies the Samnites, a people from the mountains, they saw that the Samnites were armed with long shields ...
14
There are no magic recipes to win a war. Caesar's tactic was new and surprising, it demoralized the attackers who were certain of their superiority. But this only works once - once that tactic was known it was no longer effective. Note that this wasn't the only reason that Pompey got defeated, it is probably even more important that Pompey's behavior was ...
14
Stability.
Survival is not just a theme in Judaism, but a well-learned lesson. If you are not the threatening party, then you are the threatened party, and more often than not Judaism faced complete annihilation or enslavement at the hands of a larger and unfriendly force.
Aside from the ancillary wonders of societal, cultural, and technological ...
13
I visited Rome and also Pompeii last week. According to our tour guide and the evidence left by the protection provided to the ruins of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, citizens of Pompeii in 79 AD did have street names and house numbers. Some even had signs in the entry way to their home warning “Cave Canem” or “Beware of Dog”.
13
The Graeco-Roman world is a unique example of intertwined cultures, the geographical and historical proximity of the two civilizations is such that's it's often impossible to distinguish where the one ends and the other begins. In extremely broad terms, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that the political system of the Romans were heavily influenced by the ...
13
According to Titus Livius (Livy) the patrician families were founded during the reign of the first King of Rome, namely Romulus. Livy says of Romulus in his Ab Urbe Condita, 1.8:
He created a hundred senators; either because that number was adequate, or because there were only a hundred heads of houses who could be created. In any case they were called ...
13
398 BC
Livy, when writing about the siege of Veii in 398 BC in History of Rome: Book 5, says:
The year was remarkable for such a cold and snowy winter that the
roads were blocked and the Tiber rendered unnavigable.
Source: Book 5: The Veii and the Destruction of Rome by the Gauls
396 BC
Lamb may have copied a mistake here and got two dates (398 BC ...
12
There's a pretty good discussion of this here: http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/socialclass.html
Briefly, in the early republic, the populace was divided into the plebs (common people) and patricians (aristocracy) with most public offices reserved for the patricians. Over time, this evolved into more layers, with the senatorial class (highest) followed by the ...
12
There is extensive documentary and archeological evidence for Celtic chain mail; one Classical writer (Varro) even specifically named the Celts as the inventors of chain mail.
You can take a look at this (PDF) article, for example, which includes quotations from Classical authors, contemporary depictions from archeological relics of Celtic warriors wearing ...
12
Roman senators sat on benches while the consuls had the privilege of sitting on curule chairs (which are not shown in the fresco).
In addition to the arrangement of the seating, Cesare Maccari's Cicerone denuncia Catalina contains other errors, among which are the location of this particular meeting and Cicero's (apparent) age. The seating depicted is the ...
11
Wikiquote renders it
No one dances sober, unless he is insane.
The quotation is
Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte insanit.
from Pro Murena vi.13, 63 BC. Cato has accused L. Murena of dancing, and Cicero replies that Murena is accused of dancing but not of activities that would be precursors to dancing. Cicero says no sane man would dance ...
11
On very many statues from antiquity exserted parts are broken, in most cases hands, but noses are also very often. The purely mechanical reasons are evident. There are no reasons to conclude that this statue was defaced.
Here is one example of the many:
They say this is Cleopatra VII. I do not think anyone hated her so much as to break the nose on her ...
10
1995 = MCMXCV.
The rules are:
first triad: I, V, and X:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X
Then all is repeated with:
second triad: X, L, and C
third triad: C, D, and M
You can't use letters outside of their "triad": So, IM for 999 is wrong. CXC for 190 is correct, and 195 is CXCV (not CVC).
You should write numbers in decreasing order: ...
10
There's actually quite a bit available, even just from wikipedia:
Catapults:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carthage_%28c._149_BC%29
Trireme Rams, Corvus (naval):
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_corvus.html
Sambuca, Claw of Archimedes, Heat Ray, onagers (naval):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Syracuse_%28214%E2%80%93212_BC%29#...
10
The infantry-cavalry balance has changed a lot over time. And back and forth.
In primitive warfare, the addition of a large animal gave the advantage to the cavalry. This changed during the times of the Greeks and Romans, who invented the phalanx and legion INFANTRY formations that had no cavalry counterparts.
By "stabilizing" riders in horses, the ...
10
As I remember, the biggest problems of phalanx were slow pace and inability to operate on a rough terrain (consider the length of their spears). In the battle of Pydna the macedonians had early success yet the romans were able to regroup and won the battle in the later counter-attack.
So the phalanx was pretty good for one-time onslaught but in an advanced ...
10
I doubt that very much. Pecunia non olet, remember? Money doesn't stink, said Vespasian to Titus, when the latter complained about his father for raising tax on urine.
Urine was a valuable ingredient for making leather and as an ingredient for cleaning. Urine was collected wherever possible. Shopkeepers kept jars ready for passers-by and customers relieve ...
10
Through the entire Republican era only Imperium-holding Magistrates of the Roman People were able to lawfully raise an army of citiziens. (a legion)
Private individuals could also form fighting forces from their slaves, clients or hired gladiators. That was sort of borderline, but happened quite often in the civil-strife ridden decades of the late republic.
...
9
It seems to me that most of the things you suggest Vercingetorix might have done is what he actually did. They did try to stop the circumvallation, but failed to make a noticeable impact. Once help arrived they tried to attack from both sides at once, also at night, which was close to succeeding.
Of course, everything we know about this siege comes from ...
9
One theory from Delbrueck:
Hannibal wanted to win the battle with his infantry, which was superior to the Romans, and distract the Roman cavalry. Therefore, he wanted the cavalry clash to happen first, the idea being that his cavalry would be routed, the Roman cavalry would pursue them and be out of the battle, and he could start the infantry battle.
...
9
Although Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon, which marked the border of his province, was significant in that it marked the start of full on hostilities, it was by no means certain that he would be victorious. According to both Plutarch and Suetonius, Caesar had doubts in his mind as he reached the river, the latter claiming that these doubts were soothed only ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
