Existing comment:
Warfare:
"[The Temple of] Janus Quirinus, which our ancestors wished to be closed whenever peace had been secured by victories throughout the Roman empire by land and sea, was recorded to have been closed before I was born twice altogether since the foundation of the city, but the senate decreed that it should be closed on three occasions while I was princeps."
-- Augustus, Res Gestae
War was such a common feature in Greece that philosophers argued whether it was a natural state of affairs punctuated by peace, or whether peace was a natural state of affairs punctuated by periods of war. The consequences of war could be both devastating -- death and destruction as well as the enslavement of entire populations -- and enriching; some of the most spectacular monuments to survive from antiquity were built with the spoils of war.
In both Greece and Rome, citizens were required to serve in the military. Indeed, almost without exception ancient statesmen and politicians were also military leaders, and even the philosopher Socrates was proud of his service in the Athenian military. Ordinary citizens served in the infantry or the fleet and provided their own equipment; the wealthy who could afford to maintain horses (called hippos in Athens and equites in the later Roman Republic) served in the cavalry. Because the soldiers were citizens, most of whom engaged in agriculture, wars were usually fought during short campaign seasons to the soldiers could tend their farms. |