The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus
<p>This thesis applies combat motivation theory to the Roman imperial legionary, attempting to understand soldiers’ attachments to their various units, and the motivational mechanisms which the army exerted on its soldiers. The result is a bottom-up exploration of the social environment of the...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1811141041961566208 |
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| author | Angell, B |
| author2 | Prag, J |
| author_facet | Prag, J Angell, B |
| author_sort | Angell, B |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This thesis applies combat motivation theory to the Roman imperial legionary, attempting to understand soldiers’ attachments to their various units, and the motivational mechanisms which the army exerted on its soldiers. The result is a bottom-up exploration of the social environment of the legion, foregrounding issues of identity, community, and social networks. Detailed study of soldiers’ relationships with civilians, and with the members of extended military communities, leads to a full picture of the social context in which Roman legionaries served.</p>
<p>This thesis extends a number of key developments in Roman army studies, including the ‘legion as society/community’ approach, social network theory, the application of military sociology, and the study of the extended communities, providing detailed discussion of numerous issues, some of which until now have only been cursorily considered in modern scholarship.</p>
<p>Chapter 1 considers the idea of the ‘primary group’ in the context of the Roman army, and the importance of interpersonal bonds more generally. The primary group has dominated modern military sociology, leading some ancient historians to apply the concept to the ancient world; I attempt to test the evidence. In chapter 2, I consider attachment to the legion, again testing whether modern analogies to regimental systems hold water. Chapter 3 considers the soldiers’ relationship with the emperor, and how this distant figure manifested himself in the lives of the soldiers. Chapter 4 discusses remuneration, including pay, rewards, and promotion opportunities. Chapter 5 turns to discipline, reassessing the army’s reputation for exceptionally harsh discipline while also offering an examination of training and drill.</p>
<p>Chapter 6 further builds the picture of the legionary’s social world by considering relations between soldiers and civilians, entering a long-standing debate on the isolation of soldiers from regular provincial society. Chapter 7 contains a lengthy discussion of the extended military community, attempting to elucidate some of the different experiences that its constituent groups might have. Here, suppliers, slaves, and prostitutes are treated in particular detail. Chapter 8 makes the case for recognising the detachment of soldiers from units as a key part of the legionary experience, and after exploring the organisation of this practice in detail, considers its implications for the other themes of the thesis.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:31:35Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:3d37ba0a-4b48-470f-af4a-527ddf75fdfb |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:31:35Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:3d37ba0a-4b48-470f-af4a-527ddf75fdfb2024-08-30T08:41:09ZThe experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius SeverusThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:3d37ba0a-4b48-470f-af4a-527ddf75fdfbEnglishHyrax Deposit2024Angell, BPrag, J<p>This thesis applies combat motivation theory to the Roman imperial legionary, attempting to understand soldiers’ attachments to their various units, and the motivational mechanisms which the army exerted on its soldiers. The result is a bottom-up exploration of the social environment of the legion, foregrounding issues of identity, community, and social networks. Detailed study of soldiers’ relationships with civilians, and with the members of extended military communities, leads to a full picture of the social context in which Roman legionaries served.</p> <p>This thesis extends a number of key developments in Roman army studies, including the ‘legion as society/community’ approach, social network theory, the application of military sociology, and the study of the extended communities, providing detailed discussion of numerous issues, some of which until now have only been cursorily considered in modern scholarship.</p> <p>Chapter 1 considers the idea of the ‘primary group’ in the context of the Roman army, and the importance of interpersonal bonds more generally. The primary group has dominated modern military sociology, leading some ancient historians to apply the concept to the ancient world; I attempt to test the evidence. In chapter 2, I consider attachment to the legion, again testing whether modern analogies to regimental systems hold water. Chapter 3 considers the soldiers’ relationship with the emperor, and how this distant figure manifested himself in the lives of the soldiers. Chapter 4 discusses remuneration, including pay, rewards, and promotion opportunities. Chapter 5 turns to discipline, reassessing the army’s reputation for exceptionally harsh discipline while also offering an examination of training and drill.</p> <p>Chapter 6 further builds the picture of the legionary’s social world by considering relations between soldiers and civilians, entering a long-standing debate on the isolation of soldiers from regular provincial society. Chapter 7 contains a lengthy discussion of the extended military community, attempting to elucidate some of the different experiences that its constituent groups might have. Here, suppliers, slaves, and prostitutes are treated in particular detail. Chapter 8 makes the case for recognising the detachment of soldiers from units as a key part of the legionary experience, and after exploring the organisation of this practice in detail, considers its implications for the other themes of the thesis.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Angell, B The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title | The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title_full | The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title_fullStr | The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title_full_unstemmed | The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title_short | The experience of Roman legionary service from Augustus to Septimius Severus |
| title_sort | experience of roman legionary service from augustus to septimius severus |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT angellb theexperienceofromanlegionaryservicefromaugustustoseptimiusseverus AT angellb experienceofromanlegionaryservicefromaugustustoseptimiusseverus |