Book Details

Scholars, military men, and casual observers alike have devotedsignificant energy to understanding how the armies of the Roman Middle Republic (300 ? 100 BCE) were able to function so effectively,examining their organization, hierarchy, recruitment, tactics, andideology in close detail. But what about the concerns, interests, andgoals of the soldiers who powered it? The present study argues thatthe military forces of the Middle Republic were not simply cogs in the Roman military machine, but rather dynamic and diverse social unitsthat played a key role in shaping an ever-changing Mediterraneanworld. Indeed, the soldiers in the armies of this period not onlydeveloped connections with one another, but also formed bonds withnon-military personnel who traveled with as well as inhabitants of the places where they campaigned. The connections soldiers developedwhile on campaign gave them significant power and agency as a group.Throughout the third and second centuries BCE, soldiers tookcollective actions, ranging from mutiny to defection to looting, toensure that their economic, social, and political interests wereadvanced and protected. Recognizing the communities that Romansoldiers formed and the power that they exerted not only reframes ourunderstanding of the Middle Republic and its armies, but fundamentally alters how we conceptualize the turbulent years of the Late Republicand the massive social, political, and military changes that followed.