Blood of the Provinces: The Roman Auxila and the Making of Provincial Society from Augustus to the Severans - Softcover

Haynes, Ian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198795440 ISBN 13: 9780198795445

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2017

Synopsis

Blood of the Provinces is the first fully comprehensive study of the largest part of the Roman army, the auxilia. This non-citizen force constituted more than half of Rome's celebrated armies and was often the military presence in some of its territories. Diverse in origins, character, and culture, they played an essential role in building the empire, sustaining the unequal peace celebrated as the pax Romana, and enacting the emperor's writ.

Drawing upon the latest historical and archaeological research to examine recruitment, belief, daily routine, language, tactics, and dress, this volume offers an examination of the Empire and its soldiers in a radical new way. Blood of the Provinces demonstrates how the Roman state addressed a crucial and enduring challenge both on and off the battlefield--retaining control of the miscellaneous auxiliaries upon whom its very existence depended. Crucially, this was not simply achieved by pay and punishment, but also by a very particular set of cultural attributes that characterized provincial society under the Roman Empire. Focusing on the soldiers themselves, and encompassing the disparate military communities of which they were a part, it offers a vital source of information on how individuals and communities were incorporated into provincial society under the Empire, and how the character of that society evolved as a result.

About this title

About the Author

Ian Haynes is Professor of Archaeology at Newcastle University. He has worked on Roman sites in Britain, Italy, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic, and is currently project director of excavations at Maryport, Cumbria. Professor Haynes was formerly chair of the archaeology committee of the Roman Society and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and a trustee of both the Clayton Trust and the Vindolanda Trust.

Review

"In summary this is a high quality book of tremendous importance for the study of the auxilia in the early empire. The extensive bibliography of some thirty-seven pages is exhaustive and there are a limited number of typographical errors. The work is certain to become the new reference for any study on that topic." --François Gauthier, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"I. Haynes's book is the first fully rounded attempt to evoke auxiliaries as people, family men and social actors, not just within the context of Rome's armies but also in the creation of provincial societies. A century on, it is a worthy twenty-first-century volume to place alongside Cheesmanâs classic." -- Simon James, Britannia

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0198795440
• ISBN 13: 9780198795445
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 448