Fire and Sword. The archaeology of Caesar’s Gallic War (original) (raw)
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Journal of Roman Archaeology, 2019
The Late Republican to Early Imperial period was one of spectacular territorial expansion into the surrounding ‘tribal periphery’ of the Roman West. There, the indigenous societies were confronted with state-organised warfare on an unprecedented scale and with a range of new military technologies and strategies. The direct societal impact of conquest on the subjected groups varied greatly. Conquest could strengthen certain polities and stimulate processes of state formation, but it could have disastrous effects on other groups. Here I will investigate Roman warfare in the tribal zone, with a special focus on two topics: the use of extreme mass violence against resistant groups, and the relationship between disproportional use of violence and negative ethnic stereotyping of the ‘tribal other’. I hope to show that archaeology can contribute to a wider debate on these topics among historians and anthropologists1 by assessing the short-term demographic impact of conquest.
Caesar and Genocide: Confronting the Dark Side of Caesar’s Gallic Wars
2021
Julius Caesar’s military achievements, described in his Gallic War, are monumental; so are the atrocities his army committed in slaughtering or enslaving entire nations. He stands accused of genocide. For today’s readers, including students and teachers, this poses problems. It raises questions, not least about Caesar’s place in the Latin curriculum. Applying modern definitions of “genocide,” is he guilty as accused? If so, is it justified to condemn him of a crime that was recognized as such only recently? Without condoning Caesar’s actions, this paper seeks fuller understanding by contextual analysis, placing them in the context of Roman—and ancient (if not almost universal)—customs of imperial warfare. It emphasizes the complexity of historical persons and events, juxtaposing Caesar the brutal conqueror to Caesar the clement victor, who established clemency among a ruler’s cardinal virtues.
Julius Caesar's Battle for Gaul. New Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Andrew J. Fitzpatrick and Colin Haselgrove, 2019
Classical Literature and its Times, 2006
The literary work: Commentarii (year-by-year reports) in eight volumes, of Julius Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul and Britain between 58 and 52 B.C.E., published and distributed at the end of each campaigning year. A supplementary eighth volume (covering the years 51 and 50 B.C.E.) was later composed and published by Caesar’s general Aulus Hirtius, in the mid-40s B.C.E. Synopsis: Appointed governor of Rome’s Gallic provinces and Illyricum, Julius Caesar campaigns against the tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. Despite setbacks, Caesar successfully overcomes his enemies, and establishes Roman dominion over the area that is modern day France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
2020
During its long existence, the Roman Empire was confronted with changing threats. As a response to new geostrategic situation, e.g. during the crisis of the 3rd century AD, induced by the “barbarians” who – often already part of Roman military structures as mercenaries and auxiliaries – became a veritable menace for the Empire, Rome adopted different strategies: they oscillated between inclusion, warfare and different forms of exerting influence. The contributions to this volume try, therefore, to explore the archaeological evidence for Roman practice and especially the probably very different approaches of power and influence in the central regions on the one hand, and the south-eastern parts of the European “Barbaricum” on the other. “Divide et impera” as practical policy based on alliances, as well as consequent warfare (like the Harzhorn-event indicates) and diplomatic initiatives, which are traceable by prestige-goods and subsidia treasures found in the Barbaricum, had been presumably the issue of the day. Thus written sources (Ammianus on the motives of Valens to integrate the Goths as future soldiers against the Parthians), as well as the archaeological record can give us hints about the changing strategies of the Empire in Late Antiquity. The comparison of Roman imports in different parts of Iron-Age Europe provided by scholars from different parts of Europe can help understand better a complex process of shifting power and influence in an emerging new Europe, which transformed the Empire towards medieval “Herrschaft” (M. Weber) and social structure.