War and Imperialism in Republican Rome: 327-70 B.C.

by William V. Harris

Between 327 and 70 B.C. the Romans expanded their empire throughout the Mediterranean world. This highly original study looks at Roman attitudes and behavior that lay behind their quest for power. How did Romans respond to warfare, year after year? How important were the material gains of military success--land, slaves, and other riches--commonly supposed to have been merely an incidental result? What value is there in the claim of the contemporary historian Polybius that the Romans were driven by a greater and greater ambition to expand their empire? The author answers these questions within an analytic framework, and comes to an interpretation of Roman imperialism that differs sharply from the conventional ones.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Classics

310 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1985

About the author

William V. Harris was born on 13 September 1938 in Nottingham, England. He attended Bristol Grammar School (1949–1956) and then was an Open Scholar in Classics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He earned first class in Classical Moderations in 1959, then first class in Literae Humaniores in 1961. From 1961 he pursued graduate studies as a State Student at Oxford, spending the year 1961-1962 in Rome (where he worked with J.B. Ward-Perkins), and was then the T.W. Greene Scholar in Classical Art and Archaeology. His dissertation supervisor was M. W. Frederiksen, and he received his D. Phil. in 1968.

From 1964 to 1965 Harris served as Lecturer in Ancient History at Queen's University, Belfast. In 1965, he joined the faculty of the Columbia University History Department, which he chaired from 1988 to 1994. In 1995 he was awarded the William R. Shepherd Professorship in History at Columbia. Since 2000, he has been director of Columbia's Center for the Ancient Mediterranean, which he co-founded. Since 2002 he has been Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and in 2008 he was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. In 2011 he was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews

[katherine]

ok sure, why not? i too would like to make some money off of living amongst rampant imperialism under the bellicose state i call home.

[Leonids · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harris is probably one of the biggest names for the topic of mid-Republican Rome. His book, which carries out a lengthy survey of Roman reasons for war in this period, is basically a staple. You cannot study this period without reading Harris.

The problem is, while Harris is pretty easy to read and his argument’s simplicity is very compelling, it lacks rigour (in my opinion). He dismisses all sources other than Polybius and while he correctly points out the flaws in the arguments of other scholars, he doesn’t actually say why they’re flawed.

That said, some of his points are important and illuminating, and the step by step survey with a clear direction is easy to follow. He also correctly weighs up multiple factors in the Roman imperialism debate, providing a succinct summary of possible factors to consider.

Harris is an author I would recommend once you feel relatively well versed in the issues of the period. He chooses to ignore a lot of the evidence that should be addressed in the period and as such, once an understanding of the sources is gained, the lack of nuance in his argument becomes clear. Even if Harris’ views are correct (often they seem pretty plausible), the quality of argument is decidedly lacking.

[Benjie Deford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author-- he is absolutely biased and totally ignorant of modern historiographical considerations in regard to Roman social and cultural aspects as it concerns and is relative to other neighboring Mediterranean cultures. He treats Rome as though it existed in a vacuum and wasn't in the least influenced by other nearby societies and their ways of life.

[Jay Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I find Ecksteins overall analysis of Roman Imperialism more cogent, this book did a great service in dismantling the idea of defensive imperialism at Rome. Nothing in Eckstein contradicts the analyses here. There is no explicit claim that the Romans were somehow more violent than any other ancient state. The discussion of Repetitio Rerum looks all the world like Ecksteins aggressive diplomacy to me.

[stew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A history book that assumes a lot from the reader; not exactly the best thing unless you've spent a lot of time with ancient history...