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A Bridge Too Far? Military Psychology and Roman Republican Warfare

2019/2020, TOM 13

Michał Norbert Faszcza

0000-0003-3562-6217

University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of History

Publication date

12.09.2026

Publishing model

open access

License type

CC BY 4.0 Int.

Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology, culture and religion studies, history

Language of publication

English

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Article

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Abstract

The aim of my article is to present validity of psychological approaches for studies on Roman Republican military. Application of military psychology to ancient warfare seems simply impossible without embedding psychological data in cultural context, that emphasize soldiers’ needs and motivations. The Roman collectivist way of perceiving social relations in addition to methods of gaining political support resulted in the awareness that effective command depends not only on training and proper organization, but also on strengthening soldiers’ morale through emotional interaction. The first Polish historian who drew attention to such a way of building internal unit cohesion in the Roman Republican army was Adam Ziółkowski.

Keywords:

Roman Republic,Roman warfare,military psychology,cultural history

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