#roman army

[aquitainequeen]

BEST THING IN THE EXHIBIT

[thesilicontribesman]

Roman Bread Stamp, National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon Roman Fort And Town, Wales

[memories-of-ancients]

The Sad Fate of Roman War Veterans and How the Punic Wars Destroyed the Roman Middle Class

There's no question that Rome's victory over Carthage during the Punic Wars drastically changed the Roman Republic. Perhaps the most apparent change was Rome's ascendancy from a smaller power in Italy to the dominant power in the Mediterranean. In other words, a big fish in a small pond, to a big fish in a literal big pond. In the span of 120 years Roman territory expanded by vast amounts followed by further Roman expansionism resulting in Roman territory stretching from Spain and North Africa in the west to Greece and Anatolia in the east.

While the Punic Wars would transform Rome into an (e)mpire militarily, it also transformed Roman socio-economic structures. The early Roman Republic had no standing professional armies. Instead to wage war Rome used a militia system with citizen soldiers who were called up as needed. Since the state had no role in equipping soldiers, it was up to soldiers to equip themselves. Roman lower classes were exempt from military service since they could not afford weapons, armor, or supplies while the Roman upper class served as officers or elite cavalrymen. Thus, the responsibility for providing the rank and file infantry of the army fell to the Roman middle class. The Roman middle class consisted of some skilled artisans and small business owners, but by far most of the Roman middle class were farmers who owned small plots of land.

Up until the Punic Wars, this system worked fine as war was a small, short, local event that occurred within the confines of central and southern Italy. A Roman soldier didn't have far to travel from home as the enemy was within easy marching distance away. War was also a seasonal affair where the fighting occurred on the off season, then a truce was called so that soldiers could tend their farms during the growing season, with the war resuming once the crops were harvested. Now Roman soldiers were expected to be shipped to far off places such as Africa, Spain, Greece, Macedonia, and Anatolia. Whereas before wars were short seasonal affairs, now wars seemed to last forever with no recesses so that soldiers can tend their farms. Both the first and second Punic Wars nearly lasted two decades each. And war was everywhere as the Punic Wars involved multiple fronts all over the Mediterranean. No longer were Roman wars short, small, localized affairs. In the meantime while soldiers were away fighting, their fields were fallow and their businesses had fallen into disrepair. The Republic tried to mitigate the financial strains of the Punic Wars on its soldiers by paying a stipend. However it was not enough to prevent financial disaster. When the war ended and Rome's veterans returned home in triumph, they were broke and impoverished.

In order to make ends meet or pay off debt, most had to sell off their land to wealthy landholders, who consolidated that land into large estates and plantations. Many who sold their land became tenant farmers on the land that they had previously owned. Others moved to the city and tried to eek out a living as a laborer, however the price of labor was plummeting as Rome had taken tens of thousands of slaves during the Punic Wars and were taking tens of thousands more in various wars across the Mediterranean. War veterans found that there was no place for them in Roman society. Their farms and businesses were gone, and there was no need for their labor due to the sudden influx of slaves. Wealthy Roman elites had taken control of most of the Republic's land and wealth while a large percentage of the middle class were booted into poverty.

The result of everything I have previously described was a massive and ever growing rift between the rich and the poor as wealth became more and more concentrated at the top. This event became a hot button issue in Roman politics with Roman government being dominated between two unofficial political parties; the optimates, or those who supported the interests of the Roman elite, and the populares, or those who supported the interests of the common Roman. The clash between the optimates and populares led to increasing political instability resulting in the rise of demagogues and dictators. Civil war became common, and eventually the Roman Republic fell, giving rise to the Roman Empire.

[fanfanlemoko]

Cette peunture est la "Crucifixion et apothéose des dix mille martyrs du mont Ararat", un chef-d'œuvre de la Haute Renaissance italienne réalisé en 1515 par le peintre vénitien Vittore Carpaccio.

Le tableau illustre une célèbre légende chrétienne issue du Moyen Âge. L'histoire raconte que le général romain saint Acace et son armée de 9 000 soldats se convertirent au christianisme après avoir remporté une victoire miraculeuse grâce à l'intervention d'un ange. Rejoints par 1 000 autres convertis, ces 10 000 hommes refusèrent catégoriquement de sacrifier aux idoles païennes et furent condamnés à être crucifiés sur le mont Ararat par l'empereur romain et les rois d'Orient.

Carpaccio organise sa composition à travers plusieurs plans narratifs. Le premier plan met en scène la capture, la flagellation et le jugement des condamnés, entourés de cavaliers et de soldats vêtus de costumes orientaux et de turbans. Au centre, de gigantesques arbres dépourvus de feuilles servent de croix de fortune où des dizaines de martyrs sont crucifiés et suspendus à des hauteurs vertigineuses.

À l'arrière-plan s'élève le mont Ararat, que le peintre a choisi de représenter sous la forme d'une colline aux terrasses circulaires concentriques. Cette forme singulière est une référence directe à la structure du Mont Purgatoire décrit par le poète Dante Alighieri dans la Divine Comédie. Au sommet de cette colline, la composition s'achève par l'apothéose des martyrs, où les âmes des défunts sont accueillies par des anges et s'élèvent vers une ouverture lumineuse et divine dans le ciel.

[bludary]

Unfinished

There was a time I very often drew gas masks for some reason and a Centurion with a gas mask seems so peak? It has such a strange vibe I really liked but I never finished it

[spacenoirdetective]

Tibor Szendrei

[thewhisperofzagreus]

Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall! Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again! Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn, Look on Thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice! Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light, Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!

— A Song to Mithras, Hymn of the XXX Legion: circa A.D. 350.

[tanky-von-krieger]

MORE RANDOM DOODLES !! 🕺🕺🕺

I've made some doodles of Potus, my beloved chubby Centurion, and of Centurion Somniferus/Oursenplus. I just realized when I drew them that Somniferus was less chubby than Potus but still a bit, tho...

MORE OF THE SHIP WITH FASTANEFURIUS AND SOMNIFERUS!!! RAAAAAAAAHHH !!! 🦅🦅🦅

Here are two OC I've made. The first one is an old, grumpy Roman General called Claudius. He got his scar by the attack of a barbarian on him. He has fought and commanded a lot of battles. The second one is my persona (literally me if I was a Roman). He doesn't really have a name (and I need to find a badass name for him). He's younger than Claudius but still a bit old. He's a powerful Roman legatus.

I love to draw, and I love the Roman Empire...

Pov : me waking up one morning with an hyperfixation on the Roman Empire