Bandits in the Roman Empire

"This is the most scholarly book I’ve chosen. It was published in 1999 and translated from German, and goes all the way from the second century BC to the third century AD. It’s a little bit dry and dense but it’s a treasure trove of information on enemies and nonconformists in Rome, people who defy Roman law and order, and it’s impossible to find all this stuff in any other single book. The book is about a special, very broad class of enemies within the empire, people that Romans called latrones . The term refers to outlaws, bandits, robbers, pirates, criminals, fugitives from the law, runaway slaves and any other rebels against Roman authority. Some Roman politicians even began to use the term latrones metaphorically to insult and brand their political rivals as enemies of the state. And then, later, people who were underdogs or dissenters assumed the label of outsider as a badge of pride. They started calling themselves ‘noble outlaws’, as a way of idealising their anti-authoritarian activity. Spartacus was one of those people who was branded as an outsider and then took that on as a badge of pride. Grünewald talks about everyday crime in the Roman Empire , individual renegades, criminal gangs, and bandits who hung out in caves on lonely roads and also the fleets of pirates that were preying on Roman shipping – pirates ruled the Mediterranean in the first century BC. Yes. I think Grünewald shows the many different ways that individuals and bands of latrones could defy and threaten Rome, and then he describes how Rome reacted. And I think that’s relevant for any very powerful state today: it can’t tolerate that kind of threat from within to security and to law and order. It was not a good idea to defy Rome, it’s dangerous to defy a forceful, powerful empire from either the inside or the outside. Rome hardly ever loses. They will come and get you. They will track you down and punish you and make an example of you."