War and Revolution in the Roman World

In ancient conceptions of space, mythical geography is often inextricably connected to the phenomenological experience of time. Homer’s Phaeacians experience time differently on the periphery of the world, and the Island of the Blessed exists in a kind of prelapsarian state. One useful theoretical model to explain this phenomenon is Bakhtin’s chronotope of the literary image (Bahktin (1982)). According to this framework, space and time are so intricately interwoven that we cannot speak of one without talking about the other.

In Book 3 of Lucan’s Pharsalia, Caesar is temporarily detained in his rapid march towards Spain by representatives of Massilia, who seek neutrality on behalf of their city. Their appeal, in the form of a long, impassioned monologue, fails to convince their antagonist; after delivering his own speech in response, Caesar besieges the city and engages the Massilians in an extended naval battle that spans over 250 lines. This episode has attracted attention for its historical inaccuracy, and for the bizarre and grisly naval battle that follows.

Tacitus and Dio use intratextual references in their accounts of the Boudican revolt to indicate the sameness of provincial uprisings, as well as the uniqueness of Boudica as an individual. Boudica stands apart as a female leader, and her sex allows each author to meditate on the impact of Rome on the lives of women. Boudica poignantly demonstrates the psychological effects of servitude and the destruction of family life.

Tacitus’ brief narrative of the destruction of the town of Uspe of the Siraci in the Bosphorus in 49 CE (Ann. 12.16-17) provides valuable insight into the use of massacre in the exercise of Roman imperialism. It shows, inter alia, a tension, inherent in imperial rhetoric and ideology, between the ideal of clementia and the perceived necessity for exemplary violence in the context of expanding or maintaining Rome’s empire.