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The Police Apparatus of Early Imperial Rome

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The Police Apparatus of Early Imperial Rome The Police Apparatus of Early Imperial Rome M.J.E. van Nieuwkoop M.J.E. VAN NIEUWKOOP The Police Apparatus of Early Imperial Rome M.J.E. (Melcher) van Nieuwkoop [email protected] s1339044 Thesis Research Master (Ancient) History Supervisor: L.E. Tacoma Words (excluding front page, contents, lists, footnotes, bibliography and source text): 24.047 This thesis was made possible by Leiden University and the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome Front: Gravestone of a praetorian holding in his right a club (Image taken from M. Speidel, ‘The Fustis as a Soldier’s Weapon’, Antiquités Africaines 29 (1993) 139 (edited)). CONTENTS Contents List of Figures v List of Maps vi Introduction: Police in (Pre-)Industrial Societies 01 a. Police and Imperial Rome: A Historiography 03 b. Writing Police History 07 c. A Fragmented System 08 d. Police Theories of Max Weber, Charles Tilly and Michel Foucault 09 e. Controversies within Police Studies 12 f. Police in Pre-Industrial Societies 14 g. Purpose, Method and Relevance 15 h. The Source Record 17 1. Administrative Police Measures: Expulsion of Jews 18 1.1. The Expulsion of Jews in AD 19 18 1.2. Ensuring Order Throughout Rome 22 1.3. Imperial Decrees 25 1.4. Deterrent Measures 27 1.5. Legitimate Police Measures 31 1.6. Conclusion 33 2. Military Police Measures: Entertainment at the Circus 34 2.1. A Chariot Race in AD 40 or AD 41 34 2.2. Biases and Preconceptions: Entertainment and Caligula 35 2.3. Ensuring Order at Circus Games 37 2.4. Imperial Decrees and Soldiers 42 2.5. Deterrent and Coercive Measures 45 2.6. Illegitimate Police Measures 50 2.7. Conclusion 51 3. Practical Police Measures: Fire in Rome 53 3.1. The Great Fire of Rome (AD 64) 53 3.2. Biases and Preconceptions: Nero and the Great Fire 55 - iii - 3.3. Ensuring Order in Times of Disaster 57 3.4. Soldiers and Imperial Decrees 58 3.5. Coercive and Deterrent Measures? 65 3.6. Police Measures? 68 3.7. Conclusion 70 Conclusion: The Police Apparatus of Early Imperial Rome 71 Bibliography 75 Primary Sources 75 Secondary Sources 83 - iv - LIST List of Figures 2.1. Gravestone of a praetorian holding in his right a fustis 42 2.2. Gravestone of Marcus Aurelius Lucianus 43 3.1. Gravestone of Quintus Iulius Galatus 66 - v - LIST List of Maps 3.1. Map showing the extent of the destruction of the Great Fire 54 - vi - INTRODUCTION Police in (Pre-)Industrial Societies THE NEWS OF George Floyd’s death as the result of undue and excessive police violence was featured in headlines in many newspapers.1 Floyd’s death ignited a wave of global protest and subsequently fuelled a massive movement that advocated for police reform, decrease in police power and above all, racial equality.2 Through the Black Lives Matter movement, society began to examine police-related issues and set out to analyse the efficiency of police. The polls show that all over the world and especially in the United States public confidence in police has fallen.3 ‘Defund the police’ is one of the slogans often applied to the current topic of police reform.4 Decreasing investments in police departments (and preferably disbanding the units as well) and increasing them in alternative, non-policing forms of public safety, is a just proposal, but not one that keeps a society in check. Take for example the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments in multiple nations have laid down rules with regard to the coronavirus, and it is now up to the police to ensure that locals comply with these lockdown restrictions.5 In this sense, to specifically halt the spread of the virus, police seem to be an important if not essential form of ensuring public safety. As much as the confidence in police might take a hit here as well the popular idea that a nation can survive without a police service seems quite improbable. 1 See, for example, A. Rourke, ‘Rage and Anguish: How the US Papers have covered the George Floyd Protests’. The Guardian, June 1, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2020/jun/01/rage-and-anguish-how-the-us-papers-have-covered-the-george-floyd-protests. 2 D. Phoenix and M. Arora, ‘Will the Recent Black Lives Matter Protests lead to Police Reform?’. Political Science Now, August 12, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://politicalsciencenow.com/will-the- recent-black-lives-matter-protests-lead-to-police-reform/. 3 See, for example, A. Ortiz, ‘Confidence in Police is at Record Low, Gallup Survey finds’. The New York Times, August 12, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020 /08/12/us/gallup-poll-police.html; N. Yancey-Bragg, ‘Americans’ Confidence in Police falls to Historic Low, Gallup Poll shows’. USA Today, August 12, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/12/americans-confidence-police-falls-new- low-gallup-poll-shows/3352910001/ and G. Eigener, ‘Police Brutality: the UK’s Best-Kept Secret is finally coming to Light’. No Majesty, August 21, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://nomajesty.com/ police-brutality-uk-secret-finally-coming-to-light/. 4 See, for example, L. Welch, ‘What does the ‘Defunding the Police’ mean?’. No Majesty, August 2, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://nomajesty.com/what-is-defund-the-police-movement/ and S. Levin, ‘What does ‘Defund the Police’ mean?’. The Guardian, June 6, 2020. Accessed September 2, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/05/defunding-the-police-us-what-does-it-mean. 5 See, for example, D. Casciani, ‘Coronavirus: What Powers do the Police have?’. BBC News, March 31, 2020. Accessed April 1, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-52106843 and I. Marcus, ‘Corona in Germany: Police end Gatherings, Protests on Sunny Day’. The Berlin Spectator, March 29, 2020. Accessed April 1, 2020. https://berlinspectator.com/2020/03/29/corona-in-germany-police-end-gatherings- protests-on-sunny-day/. - 1 - Few people have noticed that the defences against crime and public unrest are a rather recent achievement from the perspective of universal history. Only as late as 1829 was policing put in the state’s hands and the word ‘police’ confined to a governmental institution responsible for guarding public order. Before that time, there was no institutional police model; each community of this world ‘policed’ themselves. This raises some questions: how did pre-industrial societies manage to ensure orderly behaviour, what were their options to police a society, and how does that aid in the current search for alternative forms of policing? A riot erupted in one of Rome’s theatres in AD 14. At the first Augustala ludi, the games honouring the recently deceased emperor Augustus, actors were not able to reach common agreement on the pay offered to appear on stage. Thus, the games were marred by a disturbance: the populace rioted as the actors ‘did not cease their disturbance, until the tribunes convened the senate that very day and begged it to permit them to spend more than the legal amount’.6 One can imagine that the audience of thousands did not clap or cheer on that day. Instead, the huge crowd must have roared with disdain and urged the tribunes to increase the performers’ pay. The outcome of the impromptu senatorial session that followed is not known, nor is the ending of the games after the tribunes returned, but one thing is clear: this was a tense moment during the Augustal games.7 Disorderly situations like the riot of AD 14 tested the Roman state in all kinds of ways, including the manner in which they could keep unruly crowds in order. It is therefore little wonder that modern scholars have been drawn to these events in Rome and analysed public order, police and the supposed interrelations between the two. Two questions have occupied these scholars’ minds during the last two centuries: were there police in ancient Rome, and if so, did they perform modern police tasks? There is disagreement among scholars on this issue to such an extent that it currently draws a dichotomy between those who argue that Rome did possess something resembling a modern police service and those who argue that it did not. This study contests both claims, explores the ways in which the Roman state policed its capital and establishes its police apparatus. One objective of this study is to assess the conceptual models of police in order to escape the ongoing debate and understand what ‘police’ are. Another objective is to apply these models to the Roman world and generate fresh insights into police work at the imperial capital. 6 Dio Cassius, Roman History 56.47.2 (Eng. trans. Cary and Foster 1924). 7 Tacitus, Annals 1.54.2; Dio Cassius, Roman History 56.47.2 and Velleius Paterculus, Roman History 2.126.2. See also W.J. Slater, ‘Pantomime Riots’, Classical Antiquity 3 (1994) 123-4. - 2 - a. Police and Imperial Rome: A Historiography To count and analyse the individual military or paramilitary units in Rome has always been a standard line of scholarly inquiry into the matter of public order and police in the Roman capital. These studies retraced the history of the troops stationed in Rome under the Principate, finding a city full of soldiers: a city guard (or watchmen), an urban guard and a praetorian guard.8 The various troops stationed in Rome added up to a total of 8,000 soldiers under emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), up to 20,000 under emperor Trajan (AD 98–117) and up to 31,500 under emperor Septimius Severus (AD 193–211).9 Assuming a population of approximately one million, this gives a ratio of one soldier to 125 inhabitants in Rome under Augustus, one
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