Were the Romans Really That Brutal Compared to Us?
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we see ancient Rome as this incredibly brutal society. People cheering at gladiators fighting to the death, public crucifixions, wars of conquest—it’s easy to look at that and think of the Romans as this barbaric, bloodthirsty culture.
But then I look at today.
People watch drone war footage online. Some out of morbid curiosity, some out of horror, some because they viscerally hate one side, and yeah… some just find it entertaining. A lot of us think it’s in bad taste—but plenty of Romans probably thought gladiator fights were in bad taste too. Seneca, for example, respected the skill and bravery of gladiators but still thought the games were barbaric.
And let’s not forget that gladiator fights weren’t always to the death. A lot of them were trained professionals, expensive to replace, and fought many battles. Compare that to modern combat sports like MMA or boxing. Sure, they’re not using weapons, but it’s still two people beating the sh*t out of each other in front of a crowd. The line between “entertainment” and “violence” is still a bit blurry.
Then there’s war. Rome didn’t just say, “We’re stronger, so we take what we want,” even if that’s exactly what they were doing. Generals and consuls had to justify their wars, because the Roman people wouldn’t have accepted conquest without a moral excuse. For example, Julius Caesar put a lot of effort into framing his war in Gaul as necessary—to help their suffering allies or whatever. Not very different from today, where wars are framed as spreading democracy, securing peace, protecting freedoms etc. In fact, their justifications aren’t very different from those of Caesar.
Then there are the gruesome Roman executions. Crucifixions were absolutely brutal, but they weren’t that common, and people found them shocking even back then. Cicero called crucifixion “the most cruel and disgusting penalty.” I think we focus on the most brutal parts of Rome because that’s what’s been written down extensively—but we wouldn’t look at the worst horrors of the 20th century and claim they represent daily life in the modern world, so why would we do that with Rome?
I’m not saying Rome wasn’t more violent than today’s world—at least in the modern West. But I suspect the gap isn’t as wide as we like to think, and I think people were a lot more peace-minded than we give them credit for.
Legendary Lore
Were the Romans Really That Brutal Compared to Us?
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we see ancient Rome as this incredibly brutal society. People cheering at gladiators fighting to the death, public crucifixions, wars of conquest—it’s easy to look at that and think of the Romans as this barbaric, bloodthirsty culture.
But then I look at today.
People watch drone war footage online. Some out of morbid curiosity, some out of horror, some because they viscerally hate one side, and yeah… some just find it entertaining. A lot of us think it’s in bad taste—but plenty of Romans probably thought gladiator fights were in bad taste too. Seneca, for example, respected the skill and bravery of gladiators but still thought the games were barbaric.
And let’s not forget that gladiator fights weren’t always to the death. A lot of them were trained professionals, expensive to replace, and fought many battles. Compare that to modern combat sports like MMA or boxing. Sure, they’re not using weapons, but it’s still two people beating the sh*t out of each other in front of a crowd. The line between “entertainment” and “violence” is still a bit blurry.
Then there’s war. Rome didn’t just say, “We’re stronger, so we take what we want,” even if that’s exactly what they were doing. Generals and consuls had to justify their wars, because the Roman people wouldn’t have accepted conquest without a moral excuse. For example, Julius Caesar put a lot of effort into framing his war in Gaul as necessary—to help their suffering allies or whatever. Not very different from today, where wars are framed as spreading democracy, securing peace, protecting freedoms etc. In fact, their justifications aren’t very different from those of Caesar.
Then there are the gruesome Roman executions. Crucifixions were absolutely brutal, but they weren’t that common, and people found them shocking even back then. Cicero called crucifixion “the most cruel and disgusting penalty.” I think we focus on the most brutal parts of Rome because that’s what’s been written down extensively—but we wouldn’t look at the worst horrors of the 20th century and claim they represent daily life in the modern world, so why would we do that with Rome?
I’m not saying Rome wasn’t more violent than today’s world—at least in the modern West. But I suspect the gap isn’t as wide as we like to think, and I think people were a lot more peace-minded than we give them credit for.
But I’d love to hear what you think…
8 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 112