Roma Victa: Rome's way of dealing with defeat

Lentzsch, Simon

The history of the Roman Republic was a military success story. Texts, monuments and rituals commemorated Rome's victories, and this emphasis on its own triumphs formed a basis for the Roman nobility's claim to leadership. However, the Romans also suffered numerous heavy defeats during the Republic. This study is the first to comprehensively examine how Rome's defeats at the hands of the Celts, Samnites, and Carthaginians were explained and interpreted in the historical culture of the Republic and early imperial period. What emerges is a specifically Roman culture of dealing with defeats, which helped the Romans to find meaning in the stories of their failures and to assign them a place in their own past. 

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2023-04-25

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9783476059413

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-476-05942-0

Dimensions: 235cm x155cm

Pages: 421