Leading Roman Armies

“…command was not a uniform concept fixed in positive law, but rather a dynamic set of ideas shaped by traditional practice…”

When we study ancient Roman history we learn about the cursus honorum, the prescribed political-military career path elite males were expected to follow. Romans had only a vague understanding of their own early history. The development of their complex governing institutions was surrounded by myth and legend. Practice was rooted in the mos maiorum — the unwritten “way of the ancestors.” In this book classicist Fred K. Drogula explores what our surviving sources can tell us about how the Roman concept of “command” emerged.

Organized chronologically, the book comprises seven chapters:

1. Concepts and Traditions of Military Leadership in Early Rome (to 367 BC)
2. Fundamental Concepts of Authority in Early Rome (to 367 BC)
3. The Concept of Provincia in Early Rome (to 367 BC)
4. The Development of the Classical Constitution (367 to 197 BC)
5. From Command to Governance
6. The Late Republic (100 to 49 BC)
7. Augustan Manipulation of Traditional Ideas of Provincial Governance

The Latin word imperium had a complex set of meanings relating to command; it could be civil, military, or both. It later came to describe the supreme power of the Roman emperor, but in earlier times imperium was simply a power conferred on a commander by the state. And imperium, which included the absolute power of life and death over citizens, could not be executed within the pomerium, the sacred boundary of the city of Rome itself. A rare exception was made in the case of a dictator, a single individual granted emergency powers for a limited term.

The watershed events in 367 BC that marked a division between “early” and “classical” Republic were the “Sextian-Licinian Rogations,” a series of laws proposed by tribunes Gaius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius Lateranus, which allowed men of the plebeian class to be elected to the consulship, and established the office of praetor, which eventually served a variety of judicial, civil, and military functions.

The concept of provincia is a central theme of the book. Originally it meant something like “task” or “responsibility” (defeat the invading Gauls, fight the Carthaginian, organize the grain supply, etc.). Later it came to mean the bounded geographic area in which the task was to be performed, and a sharp distinction emerged between the roles of civil governors and military commanders.

The text concludes:

“The evolution of provincial command – particularly of imperium and the provincia – is in large part the history of Rome itself.” [p. 382]

In the text, the notes appear at the bottom of the page, a great convenience for the reader.

Commanders and Command is not an easy read. It is a highly academic, technical study that will be of interest mainly to readers with strong background in Roman history. With a deep mastery of the sources, this book questions many conventional assumptions about how the Roman republic operated.

Fred K. Drogula is a historian of ancient Greece and Rome. He received his Ph.D. from the History Department at the University of Virginia. He is Professor of Humanities and a professor of Classics at Ohio University, where he teaches courses in ancient Greek, Latin, and ancient history.

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Our Reviewer: Mike Markowitz is an historian and wargame designer. He writes a monthly column for CoinWeek.Com and is a member of the ADBC (Association of Dedicated Byzantine Collectors). His previous reviews include At the Gates of Rome: The Battle for a Dying Empire, Roman Emperors in Context, After 1177 B.C., Cyrus the Great, Barbarians and Romans: The Birth Struggle of Europe, A.D. 400–700, Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It, The Roman Provinces, 300 BCE–300 CE: Using Coins as Sources, The Cambridge Companion to Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, Archaic Greece, Amazons: The History Behind the Legend, The Byzantine World, Classical Controversies, Reassessing the Peloponnesian War, War and Masculinity in Roman and Medieval Culture, Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy, The Wars of the Roses: A Medieval Civil War, The Emperor and the Elephant, Tiberius, The Roman Empire and World History, Leadership in the Ancient World: Concepts, Models, Theories, and A History of the Greek World from 479 to 323 B.C.

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Note: Commanders and Command in the Roman Republic and Early Empire is also available in e-editions.

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