APRIL 2007

A N C I E N T

WARFARE
Introductory brochure, ISSUE 1, VOL I

Free upon request Copyright Karwansaray BV


The so called ‘Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus’ shows soldiers wearing crested
Montefortino type helmets. Now in the Louvre, Paris.
IN REPUBLICAN ROME SYMBOLS OF
VALOUR WERE TO BE ENCOUNTERED
AT EVERY TURN AND THEY EXERTED
A POWERFUL INFLUENCE.
Scars of Honour
In 95 BC Manius Aquilius, a former
consul, was tried in Rome on charges
of corruption and extortion committed
during his recent tenure as governor
of Sicily. The evidence of numerous
witnesses proved that Aquilius was
guilty and his condemnation seemed
assured. His defence lawyer, how-
ever, was not unduly concerned; his
client would walk free. The lawyer was
Marcus Antonius, grandfather of Mark
Antony and one of the most renowned
orators in Rome. While addressing the
jury, he suddenly ripped open Aquilius’
clothing to reveal a scarred torso. See
how all the scars are at the front of his
body, declared Antonius, they are the
distinguished marks of combat, the
wounds sustained by a man who has
never turned his back to the enemy.
Antonius then directed the jury to
examine a scar on Aquilius’ head,
and reminded them that it had been
received in a desperate single com-
bat with Athenion, leader of a slave
rebellion in Sicily. It was a dangerous
wound, yet Aquilius had conquered his
opponent and saved Sicily for Rome.
Aquilius’ corruption was thus made
to seem trivial; he was a hero and was
duly acquitted.
SPECIAL
The exoneration of Aquilius empha-
sises the fundamentally militaristic
nature of Roman society. The Romans
believed they were the children of the
war god Mars and the field of battle
was the arena in which a man showed
his true worth. Virtus (manly courage
and excellence) and gloria (fame and
renown) were won in war. Scars were
a symbol of virtus, proudly displayed
and giving some men an authority
that went beyond the usual confines of
their social status. When campaigning
for election to the consulship, Rome’s
supreme magistracy, Gaius Marius
announced that he was nothing like
the usual aristocratic candidates.
His was not a member of one of the
famous Roman clans; he was a self-
made man.
“I cannot, to justify your confi-
dence, display family portraits
[the wax effigies of accomplished
ancestors displayed by nobles]
or the triumphs and consulships
of my forefathers; but if occasion
requires, I can show spears, a ban-
ner, horse trappings and other
military prizes, as well as scars on
my chest. These are my portraits,
my patent of nobility, not left to
me by inheritance as theirs were
[the nobles], but won by my own
innumerable efforts and perils.”
Sallust, The War With Jugurtha,
85.29-30
Like the jurors at Aquilius’ trial, the
Roman electorate could not resist such
proof of courage: Marius was duly elect-
ed consul for 107 BC, and subsequently
re-elected for five consecutive terms
(104-100 BC). It is probable that Marius
had loosened his toga to fully expose
the scars on his chest and regaled the
crowds with tales of how he had won
them. This was a standard practice. In
167 BC Sulpicius Galba, an ambitious
young tribune, attempted to deny a
triumphal procession to the victorious
general Aemilius Paullus. An ancient
senator called Servilius Geminus Pulex
was disgusted by the political manoeu-
Ancient Warfare 3
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vrings and spoke in support of Paullus. body decorated with honourable scars, honour’. Whatever the true origins of
To establish his authority and seniority, all of them received in the front!” Such the custom (probably deriving from the
Servilius bared his upper body to dis- success linked men with the greatest of folk memory that in the eighth, seventh
play a mass of scars, and he singled out Roman heroes and demonstrated con- and sixth centuries BC Roman leaders
particular wounds and recounted how tinuity with the glories of the past. had fought in ‘battles of champions’
they had been received. The old warrior with the leading warriors of other
got carried away and his toga slipped Romulus himself, the legendary Italic cities and tribes in order to settle
down to expose his groin: founder of Rome, was believed to have disputes), it was a potent incentive for
killed Acron, king of Caenina, in single Roman bellatores (warriors) of the fifth
combat. The tradition maintained that to first centuries BC to be associated
Romulus dedicated the weapons and with a deed performed by Romulus.
He accidentally uncovered what armour he stripped from Acron to
should have been kept concealed, Jupiter, king of the gods, in his guise as The first historic example of the taking
and the swelling in his groin raised Feretrius, ‘the bearer of trophies’. The of the spolia opima occurred in 437 BC,
a laugh among the nearest spec- spoils taken from an enemy king killed when Cornelius Cossus, a military tri-
tators but Servilius retorted, “Yes, by a Roman in single combat were bune, unhorsed Lars Tolumnius, king
you laugh at this. I got this as well known as spolia opima, the ‘spoils of of Veii, at the battle of Fidenae. As the
by sitting on my horse for days
and nights on end, and I have no
more shame or regret about this
than about these wounds, since
it never hindered me from suc-
cessful service to the state either
at home or abroad. I am a vet-
eran soldier, and I have displayed
before these young troops [i.e. the
soldiers supporting Galba] this
body of mine which has often
been assailed by the sword. Now
let Galba lay bare his smooth and
unblemished body.”

Livy, 45.39.18-19

In the face of this extraordinary display,

and with no scars or deeds of bravery
to bolster his position, Galba’s motion
was thrown out.

Spoils of Honour
The virtus of men like Aquilius, Marius
and Servilius was enhanced because
they were the victors of single com-
bats. As a young military tribune
Marius fought a successful duel with a
Celtiberian warrior in 134 or 133 BC. His
triumph brought him to the attention
of the great general Scipio Aemilianus
(another famous Roman duellist),
who encouraged him to pursue his
ambition to be the leading man in
Rome. Servilius was perhaps the most
accomplished of all Roman duellists:
“On 23 occasions I have challenged
and fought an enemy. I brought back
the spoils from everyman with whom I
engaged in single combat and I have a One of Julius Caesar’s centurions. c Graham Sumner

4 Ancient Warfare

The tombstone of Marcus Caelius clearly shows this man’s wide range of decora-
tions for valour in battle. Now at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn.
king struggled to get to his feet, Cossus
leapt from his own horse, battered
Tolumnius back to the ground with
his shield, then repeatedly stabbed
him with his lance until he was dead.
Cossus proceeded to strip the king
of his armour and decapitated him.
The head was impaled on the end of
Cossus’ lance, and he brandished it at
the enemy cavalry, who were horrified
and fled. Cossus dedicated the spoils
to Jupiter Feretrius and they were still
to be seen in the god’s temple on the
Capitoline Hill in Rome in 30 BC.
Cossus’ decapitation of Lars Tolumnius
was probably a key element in the ritu-
al of single combat. The famous single
combat between Manlius Torquatus
and a Gallic champion in c. 361 BC, cul-
minated with the Gaul’s decapitation.
One account of Claudius Marcellus’
duel with Viridomarus, king of the
Gaesati (222 BC), tells of the Roman
consul taking both the king’s armour
and his head. Marcellus’ defeat of
Viridomarus allowed him to dedicate
the spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius.
This dedication, and that of Cornelius
Cossus, may then have included the
heads of the defeated kings. Severed
heads were certainly used to decorate
victory monuments on battlefields.
In 45 BC Julius Caesar’s men stacked
the corpses and weapons of their
enemies to form a tropaeum (trophy)
and crowned it with heads impaled on
spears and swords.
The spoils from ordinary single com-
bats, and other prizes taken in battle,
were customarily displayed on the
doorposts of houses and in public
rooms. The weapons and armour were
inscribed with brief details of where
and from whom they had been taken.
Once set up the spoils could not be
removed, even if the house passed
into different ownership. The surviv-
ing Roman literary sources indicate
that some displays of spolia lasted for
centuries.
Splendour in Battle
The symbolism of valour was of course
most conspicuous on the field of battle.
Roman warriors of all ranks went into
combat in their best war gear; it is a
common misconception that the most
splendid armour was worn only by
senior officers or reserved for parades.
When Licinius Lucullus won his famous
victory at Tigranocerta in 69 BC, he had
24 cohorts, that is two complete legions
and another four legionary cohorts,
totalling 10,000 men. His combined
force of cavalry, archers and slingers
numbered only 1000. Ranged against
Lucullus was the immense army of
Tigranes, king of Armenia: 55,000
cavalry, 17,000 of which were heavily
armoured cataphract lancers; 10,000
archers and slingers; 150,000 infantry,
and 35,000 engineers, smiths and other
specialists. No doubt these figures are
hugely exaggerated but, nonetheless,
SPECIAL
Lucullus’ small army was massively
outnumbered. Tigranes could not
believe that the Romans would dare
fight with so few men and quipped to
his entourage, “If they come as ambas-
sadors, they are too many; if they come
as soldiers, they are too few!”
Lucullus marched on the enemy in line
of battle. When a river obstructed his
line of advance, the legionary cohorts
wheeled into a column to make the
crossing. Tigranes saw the Romans
begin their manoeuvre and thought
they were in the process of turning
about. He poured scorn on them for
retreating, but the Romans forded the
river and came on, and his minister
Taxiles, evidently knowledgeable in
Roman battle customs, said to the
king:
“When these men are merely on
the march, they do not put on
gleaming armour, nor have their
shields polished and helmets
uncovered, as they have now
taken the leather covers from
their armour. No, this splendour
means they are going to fight,
and are now advancing on their
enemies.”
Plutarch, Lucullus, 27.5
And it was in the their splendour that
Lucullus’ few warriors routed one wing
of Tigranes’ horde and caused the rest
of his soldiers to flee in panic.
Other examples make it clear that
the splendour of Lucullus’ men was
not exceptional. In his account of the
battle of the Sabis (57 BC), Julius Caesar
remarked that the surprise attack
of the Belgae meant his men had no
time to put on their usual insignia
meaning helmet crests, plumes which
identified the wearer with the war
god Mars (especially when worn on
either side of the helmet), and military
decorations such as torques, armlets,
and embossed discs called phalerae.
During the Munda campaign (45 BC),
one of Caesar’s courageous centurions
was killed while covering the retreat of
Ancient Warfare 5
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Titus Manlius Torquatus duelling the chieftain

in the mid 4th century BC. His subsequent tak-
ing of the Celt’s torque gained him his nickname
and made the torque one of Rome’s decorations
for bravery. c Graham Sumner.

some legionaries. He went to his death Conclusion Further reading:

in full insignia and was despoiled by
the enemy when he fell. During the
same campaign, the aristocratic offi-
cers Pompeius Niger and Antistius
Turpio advanced from their respective
armies to fight a single combat ‘with
their shields and battle decorations
shining’. The hilts and scabbards of the
swords and daggers of Caesar’s veteran
legionaries were decorated with silver
and gold. This was another symbol of
their prowess; only victorious warriors
who had despoiled their vanquished
enemies and taken much plunder
could afford such embellishment.
The ancient sources do occasionally
reveal instances when commanders
criticised the ostentation of their sol-
diers’ equipment, but the complaints
were directed at those whose reputa-
tions for valour did not justify such
finery, or when decoration came at the
expense of practicality. The helmets of
Lucullus’ and Caesar’s legionaries may
have been highly burnished and crest-
ed, but beneath the decoration there
were always strong defensive pieces of
bronze or iron.
The Greek historian Polybius was a
political prisoner in Rome during the
second century BC. He was fascinated
by the martial character of his cap-
tors and wrote of how the continual
retelling of tales about the heroism
and great feats of ancestors made
young Romans desperate to estab-
lish their own reputations. The scars,
spoils and splendid war gear of living
veterans were another reminder that
the young had a duty to seek ‘the glory
that waits upon the brave’, not only
for themselves, but also for the glory
it conferred on the Roman people as
a whole. Many were killed or maimed
in that pursuit, but it was the way of a
warrior people and was a major factor
in the process that led them to conquer
much of the known world.
Ross H. Cowan went to university with
the intention of studying Medieval
history but was waylaid by Classics,
and emerged ten years later with a
Ph.D. for research on the elite units
of the Roman Army. Now a freelance
writer and historian, he has pub-
lished several books and numerous
R. Cowan, For the Glory of Rome:
A History of Warriors and Warfare.
Forthcoming 2007.
W. V. Harris, War and Imperialism
in Republican Rome, 327-70 BC. Rev.
ed. Oxford, 1985.
J. E. Lendon, Soldiers and Ghosts:
A History of Battle in Classical
Antiquity. New Haven and London,
2005.
J. B. McCall, The Cavalry of the
Roman Republic: Cavalry Combat
and Elite Reputations in the Middle
and Late Republic. London and New
York, 2002.
S. P. Oakley, ‘Single Combat in
the Roman Republic’, Classical
Quarterly 35 (1985), 392-410.
articles on all aspects of warfare in the
Ancient World. He lives and works near
Glasgow, Scotland.

6 Ancient Warfare