Security in Roman Times: Rome, Italy and the Emperors

315 Pages·2017·4.225 MB·English

by  Cecilia Ricci

Security in Roman Times
Using literary, epigraphic, numismatic and iconographic sources this book
investigates the safety devices that were in place for the protection of the
emperor and the city of Rome in the imperial age. In the aftermath of the civil
wars Augustus continued to provide for his physical safety in the same way as
in the old Republic while, at the same time, overturning the taboo of armed
men in the city. During the Augustan age, the division of the city into regions
and vici was designed to establish control over the urban space. Augustus’ suc-
cessors consolidated his policy but the specific roles of the various military or
paramilitary forces remain a matter for debate. Drawing on the testimony of
ancient authors such as Tacitus and Suetonius and on material evidence, the
volume examines both the circumstances in which these forces intervened and
the strategies adopted on these occasions. It also examines the pre-Augustan,
Augustan and post-Augustan meaning of ‘securitas’, both as a philosophical and
a political concept. The final section expands the focus from the city of Rome
to the Italian peninsula where the security of the emperor as he travelled to his
country residences required advance planning and implementation.
Cecilia Ricci is Professor at the University of Molise. Her main research con-
cerns urban troops in the first two centuries of the empire and the relationship
between the military and civilians, the ‘memory of Rome’ and the funeral rites
of the Roman world and the presence of foreigners in the city in imperial
times. She is author of a number of books, including Orbis in urbe: Fenomeni
migratori nella Roma imperiale (2005), Qui non riposa. Cenotafi antichi e moderni fra
memoria e rappresentazione (2006), Soldati, ex soldati e vita cittadina: l’Italia romana
(2010) and Venafro città di Augusto (2015).

Security in Roman Times
Rome, Italy and the Emperors
Cecilia Ricci
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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 2018 Cecilia Ricci
The right of Cecilia Ricci to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
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ISBN: 978-1-472-46015-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-60810-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo Std
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
List of figures vii
Preamble viii
Notes on translation and bibliographical references xiv
PART I
From public order to security 1
1 Studies on military forces and public order in Rome and
Italy from Republic to Principate: points of view 3
2 Between Pax, Disciplina and Securitas: moving the focus 23
3 The security of Rome and the security of the emperor:
the slow development of a discourse and its transformation
into a communicative instrument 31
PART II
The birth of a dispositive 71
Introduction: Augustan criminal legislation and military reforms 73
4 The security of the Princeps in Rome: military
escorts and bodyguards 89
5 The security of the urban area and its inhabitants:
civilian, paramilitary and military personnel 105
PART III
Testing a dispositive 119
Introduction: the security of the Princeps and of urban spaces
in Rome from Tiberius to the Severans 121
vi Contents
6 A topography of security and dangerous places:
with an episode 141
7 The urban soldiers and the city 165
PART IV
Policing and security in imperial Italy 187
Introduction: security in Italy and the role of the central
government between Augustus and the Severans 189
8 Praesidia Urbis et Italiae: Grumentum and its
territory – a case study 201
9 Praetoria and praetorians: the emperor’s travels and
security (Latium Vetus) 208
10 Emperors on the move: security in the Campanian
cities and in the Albanum Domitiani (first century AD) 230
Epilogue: Securitati Caesaris totiusque Urbis 245
Bibliography 259
Index 292
Figures
Every attempt has been made to trace copyright holders for the illustrations
used in this book. Any omissions are unintentional.
P.1 A medieval allegory of Securitas x
3.1a and A Denarius of Mescinius Rufus, 16 bc. On the reverse,
3.1b in a wreath, first letters of a prayer (vota) of the
Roman senate and people for Augustus 44
3.2a and A Dupondius of Nero, ad 63, Rome mint. On the
3.2b reverse, the Securitas Augusti is stripped to the waist,
draped on the sides, sitting on a throne facing to
the right. The left hand holds a short sceptre;
the right hand is brought to the head, the elbow
leaning back off the seat; in front, a flaming
altar, against which is a lighted torch 49
3.3 The reverse of an Aureus of Hadrianus, ad 145–161.
A matronly figure of Securitas is sitting on a throne,
with two cornucopiae 55
5.1 The so-called ‘basis of the vicomagistri’, ad 20–40 107
6.1 Map of the Castra Praetoria 142
6.2 Map of Rome with Castra and Stationes militum 145
8.1 The triangle between Tegianum, Atina
and Grumentum 204
10.1 Standing figure (maybe a soldier) on the wall of the
Cryptoporticus of the Albanum Domitiani 237
10.2 Historical relief recovered from the Albanum
Domitiani: the prince is represented as sacrificing;
next to him a soldier, or rather a mythological figure 238
Preamble
Security is currently a highly topical issue. Even if the notion of ‘public
security’, which is the product of nation states, explicitly refers to the protec-
tion, provided by the state, of persons and is a typically modern cornerstone,
today the same word – whether or not linked to the adjective ‘public’ – refers
to a wide range of issues that concern, first of all, the reliability of the places
where people work and live; and then the assurance of people’s safety at work
and in their private lives.
In the ancient world, and particularly that of the Romans, there was not a
sovereign body in charge of the security of people and places, at least not in
the sense as we intend it today. However, with the conclusion of the civil wars
at the end of the Republican era, a new stage begins with the Princeps who, in
wanting to give a new order to the Res Publica, assumed the role (and essen-
tially implemented the project) of guarantor of peace and safety of persons and
of public places.
This book aims to investigate why and how such a plan was conceived and
implemented; when; if and why it was modified or adjusted over two centu-
ries; and whether or not, and if so, to what extent such a plan was extended to
include all of Italy.
The period of time that is taken into consideration is the first two centuries
of the empire, with an extension to the first three decades of the following
century (the Severan age); the frame of reference is represented by the city
of Rome and Italy. The reason for this choice will be made clear first, in the
Introduction, and then it will be illustrated in the first two chapters.
Thus, the book is structured in the following way: in Part I, I review and
comment upon studies of Roman history that, between the end of the 1960s
and today, have dealt (exclusively or secondarily) with the issue of public
order in Rome and in Italy.1 This review is preceded by an overview of those
studies that can be considered, for those who have dealt with security, as
reference texts, namely monographs that in the last century have investigated
separately the various units of the urban troops and the paramilitary forces
present in Rome in the period between Augustus and Constantine. All these
works, some in a more consistent way, represent points of views that often
converge on the idea of security in the Roman world. I acknowledge my debt
Preamble ix
of gratitude to many of these contributions, which represent, in this area of
research, a fundamental point of reference.
Nothing in my treatment is intended as definitive. It is likely that whoever
reads these pages may be disappointed not to find cited those works that are
considered well grounded and useful for the purposes of a study like this.
Despite the undeniable methodological principle of completeness and con-
tinuity of bibliographic update, it is also true that the selection of books and
articles that are considered is the result of a choice; and – with the necessary
distinctions – I completely agree with what Italo Calvino writes when discuss-
ing books that each person considers critical to their education and knowledge:
The only thing that can be done is for each person to come up with its
own ideal library of classics; and I would say that half the books should
be the ones we have read and that have counted for us, and half are the
ones we intend to read and that we assume can count; leaving a section of
empty space for those books that become surprises, occasional discoveries.2
In this book the word ‘classic’ naturally has a different meaning, as we have
just seen, because of the subject which is being treated: it refers to a ‘reference
text’, which sometimes represents a positive model, other times a negative one
and more often, a middle ground between the two. Some books have not been
considered and are not part of this review, mainly for lack of my knowledge; or
even as a result of a motivated choice (which is often, as you will see, pointed
out). Other books have been included because they have counted for me; they
have been a guide and an inspiration. Moreover, other books could still count
and I am more than willing, after having been informed, to fill in those empty
spaces with those that will prove to be unexpected surprises or ‘occasional dis-
coveries’. If I do not pursue certain themes, it is not for lack of appreciation of
their interest and importance.
After having reviewed other opinions and methods, I will try to illustrate
my own point of view: my intention is to look away from both the abstract
speculations on the idea of public order of the Romans and the individual
events (which of course will also find space in this work) that may affect social
balance; and broaden the focus on detecting the signs of an extended plan on
prevention put into action starting from the last decades of the first century
bc. Such an operation, as will be seen, embraced a wide range of services and
contemplated a very articulated number of protagonists.
Then, I present and discuss, as far as it has been possible to reconstruct, what
‘security’ meant in the eyes of the Romans; how this idea had increasingly
developed to slowly modify during the first century of the empire.3 Particular
emphasis is placed on the last fifty years of the history of the Roman Republic:
at this time, the term Securitas and its corresponding adjective, along with
Tutela, became central to Cicero’s thought and found space in the work of
Lucretius. Here security became the focus, together with peace, of a primary
need and therefore a pressing demand that the inhabitants of Italy addressed to