This is a very exciting special episode all about the Roman military. We were incredibly fortunate to speak to an expert in the field about the Roman army in the early and middle republic. 

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Special Episode – The Early Roman Military with Dr Bret Devereaux

Dr Bret Devereaux is a historian specialising in the ancient world and military history. He holds a PhD in ancient history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MA in classical civilizations from Florida State University. He teaches at North Carolina State University. 

His research interests include the Roman economy and the Roman military. Key to this is considering how the lives of people were shaped by structures of power, violence and wealth and the ways these factors shaped military capacity.

His monograph Why the Romans Always Won: Mobilizing Military Power in the Ancient Mediterranean is under contract with Oxford University Press. We cannot wait to get our hands on a copy, and we’re sure you will want to put this on your wish list too! 

Dr Devereaux is an incredibly passionate and eloquent scholar, and he was very generous with his time. In this episode we were able to explore the evolution of Roman warfare from small-scale, localised conflicts to epic clashes with civilisations like the Carthaginians. 

Dr Bret Devereaux

Things to Look Out For:

• Lots of issues in our source material! How unusual for us


• War between powerful Roman clans 


• The Fabulous Fabians and the Battle of the Cremera


• The sophisticated military system developed by the Romans 


• War with King Pyrrhus of Epirus (Pyrrhic Wars)  


• The Punic Wars (Rome vs Carthage)


• Discussion of Livy 8.8


• Polybius’ description of the Roman Army

You can follow and support Bret at his blog A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry: A look at history and popular culture. Here you will find fascinating blog posts, book recommendations and collections of resources that you might find useful if you are a teacher.  

If you are keen to learn more about the academics mentioned during the interview, you can find a list of the scholars mentioned below: 

• Nathan Rosenstein 
  
  
  
  • Imperatores Victi: Military Defeat and Aristocratic Competition in the Middle and Late Republic. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. (1990)
  
  
  • Rome and the Mediterranean 290 to 146 BC : the Imperial Republic
  
  
  
  


• Jeremy Armstrong
  
  
  
  • The Consulship of 367 BC and the Evolution of Roman Military Authority
  
  
  •  Romans at war : soldiers, citizens and society in the Roman Republic
  
  
  •  Early roman warfare : from the regal period to the first Punic War
  
  
  
  


• Walter Schiedel 
  
  
  
  • The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (2017)
  
  
  • On Human Bondage: After Slavery and Social Death (2017) 
  
  
  • The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy (2012)
  
  
  
  


• Peter Connolly
  
  
  
  • Greece and Rome at War (1981)
  
  
  
  


• Lawrence Keppie
  
  
  
  • The making of the Roman Army from Republic to Empire (1984)
  
  
  
  

Sound Credits

Our music is by the wonderful Bettina Joy de Guzman.

Automated Transcript

Dr Rad 0:12
Welcome to the Partial Historians.

Dr G 0:15
We explore all the details of ancient Rome.

Dr Rad 0:20
Everything from political scandals to love affairs, the battles waged and when citizens turn against each other. I’m Dr. Rad. And

Dr G 0:30
I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Roman saw it by reading different ancient authors and comparing their accounts.

Dr Rad 0:41
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr G 1:03
Hello, and welcome to a brand new episode of the partial historians. I am Dr. G,

Dr Rad 1:11
and I’m Dr Rad

Dr G 1:13
and we are super thrilled to be joined by Dr. Brett Devereaux. Hello.

Dr Bret Devereaux 1:19
Hello. Great to be here.

Dr G 1:21
Thank you so much for joining us. We are going to be talking today all about Roman military things, which I think is a super interesting topic and one that Dr. Rad and myself confess that we know not so much about so we wanted to bring in somebody who was a specialist. So Dr. Brett Devereaux is a historian who specialises in the ancient world and military history. He holds a PhD in ancient history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has an MA in classical civilization civilization from Florida State University, and He currently teaches at North Carolina State University. His research interests include the Roman economy and the Roman military. Key to this study is considering how the lives of people were shaped by structures of power. How violence and wealth are factors that influence and shape military capacity. He currently has a monograph under contract with Oxford University Press, which will be entitled Why the Romans Always Won: mobilising military power in the ancient Mediterranean. And he is also very famous online for running the popular blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry: A Look at history and popular culture. So this is super exciting. Thank you.

Dr Bret Devereaux 2:43
So I’m excited. Thanks for having me on.

Dr G 2:46
I feel like our first point of controversy is going to be setting up the periods which might be under discussion. So I have said that we’re going to be talking about things possibly from the early republic, likely from the middle Republic, and we might touch on some things from the late Republic. And I feel like if you’re listening to this show, you might be like, Okay, that’s cool. The Republic has different phases. And you will be unsurprised to learn that historians don’t necessarily agree about these. And only some of the dates are on fuzzy. So the early republic, I’m going to say, start in 509 BCE, when they chuck out the kings, and takes us all the way down to around about 264 BCE, which is the start of the First Punic War. But I will defer to you, Brett, what would you say about that?

Dr Bret Devereaux 3:41
I mean, I think that’s a defensible end date. It’s the mark of when Roman military activity begins to push outside of Italy. And the First Punic War is the first moment where we get because our sources are improving over time, we get to see the Roman military machine very clearly. Because we have Polybius all of a sudden, and so I think that’s a defensible date. I would be tempted to push the transition to the middle Republic earlier, probably in the late fourth century, something like 338 340 Because I think the military system is functioning more or less the same way that far back but the evidence is is weaker, but but somewhere in that space. Yeah. And then the middle Republic runs question mark, question mark. 133? 107? 101? Somewhere in there. Before we begin the Late Republic.

Dr Rad 4:34
Somewhere with the Gracchi. And Marius.

Dr G 4:36
Yeah it gets a little bit dicey as soon as Tiberius Gracchus is elected tribune of the plebs. Yeah, so around about 133 anywhere down to about 101 is the bulk of the end of the middle Republic and the start of the late Republic. And then you get into the controversy of when does the late Republic end and that depends on how you feel about Augustus. So you know, I know I know you have some feelings about it. So do I. Strong feelings about Augustus, I’m going to say that I think the late Republic is fully over in 27. When he gets the title Augustus, it’s at that point where it’s like, he basically owns the whole of the Senate and anybody who’s willing to say anything. And at that point, I think we can say that functionally, the Re