'Dulce et Decorum Est': A Lost Generation of Roman Elites in the Hannibalic War
Loading...
Date
2016-02
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Between 218 and 216 BC, over half of the members of the Roman Senate perished while serving as officers and soldiers in the war against Hannibal of Carthage. That the Republic recovered from such a blow is astounding, for this loss amounted to the deaths of nearly every man of fighting age within the Roman political aristocracy. Yet, Rome did more than simply recover; by 200 BC, under a regime led by a clique of older nobles, the Republic had repulsed Hannibal from Italy and begun its imperial march to Spain, Greece, Africa, and beyond. Understanding both the crisis caused by the unprecedented decimation of Rome’s governing class and the nature of the Roman political and military response to this emergency is, I argue, indispensable to any account of Rome’s rise to Mediterranean hegemon in the decades following the Hannibalic War. Still, despite the decisive role which these events played in the social and political development of the Republic, there have been few meaningful modern attempts to reconstruct the particulars of Rome’s elite casualties in these years or to underline the significance of what was essentially a ‘Lost Generation’ of Roman leaders. My project aims to remedy this omission by combining a thorough analysis of our extant ancient sources with modern demographic modelling techniques. Using Hannibal’s early victories over the Senate and its commanders as a focal point for a larger examination of the internal age, rank, and power dynamics of the Roman ruling class, my paper will explore the disruptive effects of extraordinary elite war-time casualties on the political stability of the Republic and elucidate the general social and political consequences of aristocratic participation in warfare.
What makes this undertaking important is that it aims both to expand on our received narrative for the still-murky era of Rome’s ascension and to correct a number of widely-accepted notions about the very nature of Roman political culture. The Roman Republic amounted to a highly competitive political arena in which Senatorial aristocrats contended annually with one another for election to a limited number of hierarchically-arranged offices, the most important of which offered supreme command over the Republic’s armies. Elites thus constantly vied for access to these offices in order to enhance their own and their family’s prestige, and could marshal vast resources in this pursuit. Custom, conservatism, and class solidarity, however, constrained this competition by tempering the ambitions of those in public life who, for future political gain, might attempt to undermine the larger meritocratic, semi-hereditary aristocracy of Senators by overreaching the customary limits of their office and challenging Senatorial oversight. This internal balance between individual ambition on the one hand, and collective checks on potential overstep on the other, allowed for not only Roman martial success, as commanders fought on behalf of the Republic for personal glory within limit, it also facilitated the transition of political control from one generation of elites to the next effectively and without significant strain. In the face of staggering losses, however, this system came undone, spelling serious consequences for the stability of the Republic with it.
Indeed, my paper argues that the sudden disappearance of a full generation of younger and middle-aged Senators, their subsequent replacement with politically inexperienced and ineffectual aristocrats of lesser pedigrees, and a resulting shift in political power towards older survivors with decades of military experience, all help to account for the unusual and problematic dominance of a few individuals over the Senate’s collective authority. The years following the deaths of an entire cohort of political elites, I will argue, were characterized by the junta-like rule of older oligarchs who saved the Republic, but at the cost of suppressing competition from below for over a decade. Explaining the re-emergence of collective authority over the rule of individual dynasts is a complex undertaking, but as my project will show, a key element will be understanding the internal age and rank dynamics of the Senate and the role of inter-generational conflict in checking the power of any one group within the elite. By utilizing the explanatory potential of demographic modeling as a heuristic tool for enhancing our understanding of the political, social, and economic fallout of Hannibal’s dramatic victories over the Roman officer corps, we emerge with a more nuanced understanding of the Republic’s most important institution, the Senate, in the periods before, during, and after the struggle against Hannibal.
Description
Humanities: 2nd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)
Keywords
Roman Republic Aristocracy Demography