Ancient weapons & violence

My interest in ancient 'martial material culture' - weapons, armour and other soldierly kit - goes back to childhood, and for my PhD I was fortunate to be able to study the best collection of such material ever found from the Roman empire, at Dura-Europos.

More or less by accident, work on this area also proved to be vital for my research on ancient identities which, then as more recently, were partly defined, defended and policed by weapons, warriors and warfare.

Weapons, martial ideology, violence and fear were prominent features of many Iron Age European societies and especially of the Roman empire. The sword was the symbol as well as principal tool of the trade for the Roman soldiers who created Roman imperial power, and who served as enforcers for the regime. The empire relied on political and religious indoctrination, backed by a biased legal system--and ultimately, the soldiers' swords. For all the glories of Roman art and architecture, city life and central heating, violence and intimidation were, as usual in empires, fundamental tools of power...

On all this, see my book, Rome & the Sword.