Bandits In The Roman Empire

This wide-ranging and informative survey of 'outsider' groups in the Roman Empire will contribute greatly to our understanding of Roman social history. Examining men such as as Viriatus, Tacfarinus, Maternus and Bulla Felix, who were called latrones after clashing with the imperial authorities, special attention is given to perhaps the best-known 'bandit' of all, Spartacus, and to those who impersonated the emperor Nero after his death. Topics covered include: * Whom did the Romans see as bandits (latrones)? * What did they understand as robbery (lactrocinium)? * How pressing was the threat that the bandits posed? * How did their contemporaries perceive the danger? We are shown that the term latrones was not just used to refer to criminals but was metaphorically and disparagingly applied to failed political rebels, rivals and avengers. The word also came to represent the 'noble brigands', idealising the underdog as a means of criticising the winning side. The author therefore presents 'the bandit' as a literary construct rather than a social type.

The book aims to show how the concept of the bandit was taken up and manipulated during the Late Roman Republic and early Empire (2nd c. BC - 3rd c. AD.).

Escaping the traumas of Rome for the quiet Italian countryside with those closest to him seems like the perfect solution to Carbo, but the rolling hills harbour a threat he could not have foreseen. When bandits attack, tragedy strikes and Carbo must overcome an evil conspiracy to save himself, his friends, and get the revenge he craves... Bandits of Rome, the sequel to the bestselling novel Watchmen of Rome, is an historical adventure ideal for fans of Wallace Breem’s Eagle in the Snow.

The book studies how the concept of the bandit was taken up and manipulated during the Late Roman Republic and early Empire (2nd c.BC - 3rd c. AD.)

'What are states but large bandit bands, and what are bandit bands but small states?' So asked St Augustine, reflecting on the late Roman world. Here nine original studies, by established historians of Greece, Rome and other ancient civilisations, explore the activities and the images of ancient criminal groups, comparing them closely and provocatively with the Greek and Roman government which the criminals challenged.

Carbo and his loved ones leave Rome for the sleepy Italian countryside, desperate to recover from their recent traumas. But a chance encounter with locally notorious masked bandits leads to a devastating outcome. Carbo has to fight his own demons and an evil conspiracy to save himself and his friends, and avenge his loss. Bandits of Rome, the sequel to the number one bestselling novel Watchmen of Rome, follows Carbo as he plunges from happiness to despair, from the Italian countryside to the lead mines of Sicily. Will Carbo ever find the peace he craves?

Historians often regard the police as a modern development, and indeed, many pre-modern societies had no such institution. Most recent scholarship has claimed that Roman society relied on kinship networks or community self-regulation as a means of conflict resolution and social control. This model, according to Christopher Fuhrmann, fails to properly account for the imperial-era evidence, which argues in fact for an expansion of state-sponsored policing activities in the first three centuries of the Common Era. Drawing on a wide variety of source material--from art, archaeology, administrative documents, Egyptian papyri, laws, Jewish and Christian religious texts, and ancient narratives--Policing the Roman Empire provides a comprehensive overview of Roman imperial policing practices with chapters devoted to fugitive slave hunting, the pivotal role of Augustus, the expansion of policing under his successors, and communities lacking soldier-police that were forced to rely on self-help or civilian police. Rather than merely cataloguing references to police, this study sets policing in the broader context of Roman attitudes towards power, public order, and administration. Fuhrmann argues that a broad range of groups understood the potential value of police, from the emperors to the peasantry. Years of different police initiatives coalesced into an uneven patchwork of police institutions that were not always coordinated, effective, or upright. But the end result was a new means by which the Roman state--more ambitious than often supposed--could seek to control the lives of its subjects, as in the imperial persecutions of Christians. The first synoptic analysis of Roman policing in over a hundred years, and the first ever in English, Policing the Roman Empire will be of great interest to scholars and students of classics, history, law, and religion.

The road to Rome is long and full of peril. Following his retirement, ex-legionnaire Carbo journeys back to Rome, blissfully unaware of the dangers that await him there. On the way he encounters many adventures, strives to solve a mysterious theft, and meets an old friend getting ready for gladiatorial combat. In other stories we visit Elissa, the evil priestess, and Vespillo, the trusty watchman, and discover more about their colourful histories. We see a young boy’s first battle, and travel all the way to the barbaric Hadrian’s Wall. These are vivid tales of ancient Rome, perfect for fans of Wallace Breem, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane.

Alaric, a Goth, driven to avenge for his father's murder and reclaim his stolen birthright. Promotus, a Roman general, shamed by his failure to protect the emperor from an attempt on the his life sought to regain his standing in the emperor's eyes. These were the forces that made Alaric war against the mightiest empire on earth and that drove Promotus to destroy him. The novel Promotus was inspired by real events. Many of the characters in this novel are historical persons. Their actions may be fictionalized, but the greater events, the cultures, and the stage upon which this story unfolds are accurate.

Gaius Galen is a legionary assigned to a legion at Germania, the Northern Frontier. Rome is attempting to conquer the Germanic tribesmen and make them part of the Roman Empire. During the final battle, when the two great armies clash, Galen saves the life of General Petronius Valens, the commander of all the Roman legions. After the great battle, General Valens and Galen are called back to Rome. In Rome, Galen saves the emperor, Marcus Aurelius from an assassination attempt. The emperor makes Galen one of the Riders, exceptional men who answer only to the emperor and ride to hot spots throughout the empire, fighting bandits, murderers, and thieves who are victimizing the local population. They do the job that a clumsy large legion cannot do. Riders have the power of life or death. If they cannot bring the evildoers to justice, then they are to kill them, thus ending the problem.