Bandits, Brigands And Other Villains
Outlaws in the Roman Empire
Rome, 75 AD | Caius was walking down the street, turning his head and looking back every few steps. Long after dawn, it was dark already. The alleys were only lit by sporadic torches, oil lamps, or candles shining through some windows. Most of their inhabitants were wise enough to stay inside at this time of the day.
He cursed the gods for allowing him to get lost in the streets of Rome, this megacity full of garbage and dirt. Surely, he had drunk too much and had become careless, but after walking through the night alone for over an hour now he became more and more frightened.
His neck hair rose when he heard some noise somewhere around him. Maybe just one of the many prostitutes, doing her job with some lucky guy around the corner?
He hurried to get ahead. His hand closed on the coin bag that was attached to his belt. Sure, he spent most of his money for good wine, but he was determined to bring the rest of his coins home.
Was that a shadow moving behind that wall? Caius felt a panic rising in him. All of a sudden, he realized that someone was behind him, and obviously the guy was following him.
He wanted to run, but after a few steps, drunk as he was, he stumbled over some rubbish on the ground and fell on his knees.
Caius tried to get up, but then it all happened very quickly. From the corner of his eye he saw someone approaching him from behind. He turned his head again and saw a hooded figure, rushing next to him while raising one arm.
The last thing Caius ever was aware of was the blade the robber stabbed in his crouching body before his throat was cut. He began his long and dark journey to the realm of death.
After finishing his work, Sextus wiped his knife clean on his victim’s tunic. He took a short look in the bag he had cut from the fool’s belt. He smiled. Just a few coins, but even in Rome that was enough for a simple meal, some drinks and maybe a cheap prostitute. It was a good night already, the robber thought as he rushed back into the shadows of Rome’s dark alleys.
Unfortunately, incidents like the one described happened quite often in antiquity. In this story we want to take a short look at an often neglected historical phenomenon: crime in the Roman Empire.
Becoming and being an outlaw
There was a large number of people who did not fit into the system. They weren’t born into a rich family or even had a chance to make their living. There was almost no chance of a social rise, and so for quite a lot of people, the situation was hopeless. Most of all, people who had escaped from slavery usually had no place to go. Though free-born young men often had the chance to join the army, that would mean a hard life full of discipline, drill, work, and danger. Some soldiers even fled from the army becoming deserters who had to expect hard punishments if they were caught by the authorities.
So many of these people decided to seek their fortune as outlaws, taking away from other people what they needed to survive. If they lived long enough to eventually have a family and raise some children, their descendants usually had no choice but to become outlaws as well.
This was mainly because being a criminal had significant consequences for one’s life: The individual, becoming an outcast, lost all personal rights. He or she was — so to say — no member of society anymore. If caught, such an outlaw had no mercy to expect. Death usually was the final consequence.
So criminals had to rely on thoroughness and efficiency when practicing their craft. Society had nothing but persecution and death left for them, so many of them made short work with their victims — a dead person would cause the least problems and would be no risk for their own security. Poor Caius experienced that. If Sextus wouldn’t have stabbed him at first, Caius maybe had the chance to cry for help or struggle and eventually escape. By killing his victim Sextus just had it the easy way.
Our sources
How do we know? Our knowledge of ancient crime is based on different kinds of sources:
- Literary sources (texts and poems written by historians and poets, handwritten notes, for example on writing tablets, certificates, graffiti, and even ancient novels)
- Inscriptions on tombstones of victims (in a way also a kind of literary source, but since they sometimes tell the deceased’s fate in a very unique and personal way, they are regarded as a group of their own)
- Archaeological finds (for example handcuffs, the physical remains of victims or executed criminals, and lots more)
Robbers and robber bands
Besides many other forms of crime such as forgery (for example of coins and dice), theft or fraud, bands of robbers and bandits were feared in particular. Travelling was dangerous for someone who couldn’t afford proper protection. One could never know if there might be someone lurking around the next corner or on the street, ready to take your life first and then your money.
Interfectus a latronibus — “killed by bandits” is a phrase often used on tombstones. This is clear evidence for the usual procedure that a robber used when practicing his craft — kill first, no need to ask later.
Those who are interested in an entertaining way to get into ancient banditry find a very good way in the novel “The Golden Ass” or “Metamorphoses” by the Latin writer Apuleius who lived in the second century AD. This ancient story is full of thieves, robbers, and bandits. It’s about a protagonist called Lucius who is magically transformed into a donkey. Since he is believed to be just an ordinary animal, he is able to watch people talk and act while they are feeling unobserved by other humans. Not only Hollywood couldn’t have done it better, the reader really learns a lot about ancient society and crime.
(In)famous criminals
Even more, the literary sources tell us about many famous people who acted like criminals. A well-known example is Nero, one of the most notorious Roman Emperors:
„No sooner was twilight over than he would catch up a cap or a wig and go to the taverns or range about the streets playing pranks, which however were very far from harmless; for he used to beat men as they came home from dinner, stabbing any who resisted him and throwing them into the sewers. He would even break into shops and rob them […]“ — Suetonius: The Lives of the Caesars 26.1
In Latin: „Post crepusculum statim adrepto pilleo vel galero popinas inibat circumque vicos vagabatur ludibundus nec sine pernicie tamen, siquidem redeuntis a cena verberare ac repugnantes vulnerare cloacisque demergere assuerat, tabernas etiam effringere et expilare […]“
The role of the Roman state
But what about law and order in the Roman Empire? Today we are used to being protected by the state, his laws and it’s executives, mainly the police (at least that should be the case).
In ancient Roman times that was completely different: There simply was no such institution as our modern police. Sometimes soldiers were assigned to do duty at a street post (the beneficiarii), but their ability to ensure safety on the roads was very limited.
Persecution only took place when authorities were convinced that it would be useful to solve a crime, mainly when the state itself was in danger (for example when bandit gangs became too powerful and started riots or even revolts). Often persecution even needed to be organized by private individuals.
The famous Pax Romana, the “Roman Peace”, only meant inner peace without major civil wars or threats from enemies. It did not regard to the safety of individuals — Roman citizens and all other inhabitants of the Roman Empire always were in danger of becoming a victim.
So what you gonna do in such a world? Quite simply, you had to protect yourself.
Barred Windows, Guards and the Gods — Forms of Protection
Surely a solid and suitable architecture was most important to make your home safe: Archaeology gave us finds of locks and keys, massive doors reinforced with metal and barred windows.
A famous source of knowledge about ancient forms of protection against thieves and robbers is a floor mosaic in Pompeii, depicting an obviously aggressive guard dog. Other pictures of such big dogs are known, and bones of such animals were found. So we know it was a common type of keeping intruders out of your house.
Of course, dogs were not the only guards on duty. People who could afford it had servants or slaves as doormen or as guardians to watch the house at night.
If traveling out on the road, you better make sure the gods kept an eye on you: We know that merchants for example sent their prayers to Mercurius and other gods of financial gain, commerce, luck, and travelers.
One has to keep in mind that Roman religion worked quite differently from our modern concepts of faith: Beforehand, the traveler made a deal with the chosen god: He vowed to make a sacrifice after the deity had guarded him safely to his destination. If the deity failed in this task, he or she obviously was not worthy of being worshipped and could simply be replaced by another one (the number of gods in the Roman pantheon was infinite, actually).
Punishments
If a robber or bandit was caught, there was no mercy to be expected. One fact is important to know: Condemned criminals always were locked in prison only temporarily. There was no such thing as prison sentences. To imprison people for a longer period of time simply was too expensive and seen as a waste of resources.
Instead condemned felons were sold as slaves or simply killed.
The death penalty often was executed in a spectacular way — to scare off other criminals or to entertain the masses. Amphitheaters (the most famous one is the Colosseum in Rome) were places of mass entertainment but also were major execution sites). Criminals, rioters, and insurgents were killed there in many “entertaining” ways, the most popular being torn to pieces by wild animals.
Bandits were often merciless to their victims, but so was the Roman state on principle.
Sources (selected)
Ancient:
Lucius Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Latin text on Forum Romanum
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus: The Lives of the Caesars, translation by Lacus Curtius
Research literature:
Grünewald, Thomas: Bandits in the Roman Empire. Myth and reality, London/New York 2004.
Hobsbawm, Eric C.: Bandits, 4th ed., New York 2000.
Hopwood, Keith: All that may become a man. The bandit in the ancient novel, in: L. Foxhall/J. Salmon (Ed.): When men were men. Masculinity, power, and identity in classical antiquity (Leicester-Nottingham Studies of Ancient Society 8), London/New York 1998, pp. 195–204.
van Hooff, A. J. L.: Ancient Robbers. Reflections behind the Facts, in: Ancient Society 19 1988, pp. 105–124.
Shaw, Brent D.: Bandits in the Roman Empire, in: Past & Present 105, 1984, pp. 3–52.
