How Did Rome Maintain Peace in the Provinces? DOCUMENTARY

the Roman piece was one of the most cherished accomplishments of the empire but just how did they accomplish this level of law and order across the equivalent of nearly 50 modern countries thus far in this series we have looked to answer this question from a wide variety of perspectives such as the law the courts the police the jails and more however most of these have had their scopes limited to what went on around the city of Rome itself today we will broaden our horizons by seeing how the Roman Empire maintained peace in the provinces safety and security are concerns shared by both the Roman Empire and our sponsor serf shark VPN they've got your back when it comes to the dangers of the internet like surveillance data mining theft and locked content in addition to top of the line industry offerings surf shark VPNs awesome features also include multi hop which lets you connect using two different servers for increased security whitelist er which allows apps or sites of your choosing to bypass the VPN for things like banking clean web which blocks malware trackers phishing and ads kill switch which protects against accidental exposure if the server connection gets interrupted and no borders mode which maximizes your access in the most restrictive of regions in addition surf shark VPN has very generous terms of use with unloaded devices 24/7 customer support and a 30-day money-back guarantee try it today by clicking the link in the description below and using the promo code Invicta to get 85% off plus three extra months for free so just what are we talking about here when we say the provinces well these were basically administrative regions that came into being as Rome expanded initially such areas were quite poorly defined for instance when Rome first took over Italy it did not simply occupy predefined hexes on a map as one might do in a video game rather control was imposed through a web of treaties between allied and subjugated communities with Rome acting as a central unifying hub thus there was really no province as we would think of it today instead in this period the Latin term provincia referred simply to the land that was a generals responsibility rather than any standard administrative structure however as Rome continued to expand the question of how to treat new territories kept coming up while these were being disputed militarily such theatres of war would be assigned armies and magistrates to carry out the conflict for a set period of time once such lands were conquered it proved convenient to just reuse the wartime jurisdictional bounds and duties for instance following the First Punic War Rome found itself now in control of the Mediterranean islands of Sicily Sardinia and Corsica given their relatively far distance from Rome and geographical isolation it just made sense to lump these lands together as a package and assign someone to deal with them thus Rome's first province of Sicilia was born followed shortly by the provinces of Sardinia at Corsica the rest of the republican provinces would be formed in a similar manner each would be overseen by a governor who held Imperium granted by the Senate and who was assisted by a small staff these magistrates were generally consuls or prey tourists who served for one-year terms however as the number of provinces increased it wasn't uncommon for other Romans to be given the assignment or for individuals to serve multiple years in these positions following the Civil War at the end of the 1st century BC the provincial system would undergo some changes as the Republic turned to Empire when Augustus took power for instance he monopolized many of the roles which had previously existed under the Republic and was made governor of many regions these domains would become the Imperial provinces which were ruled by representatives of the the remaining territories became senatorial provinces which were governed by Pro consuls appointed by the Senate generally speaking Imperial provinces were those by the borders which often had legions attached them while senatorial provinces were those on the interior with little to no legionary presence over time the definition of these provinces would change as new lands were added or existing ones were reorganized so what was the point of all that well this structure is important to understand as it forms the basic administrative system by which peace was maintained in the provinces after all while the Roman government may have spread wide it did not go very deep beneath the surface of each province would remain much of the local administration that had existed before in many cases cities villages and Hamlet's away from the Italian peninsula were left to rule themselves but with the Roman Flair they were often responsible for managing their own communities with appeals to the higher authorities being relatively rare and particularly noteworthy oftentimes the attention of the Roman state regarding internal public order was not a thing that these communities wanted autonomy was highly prized and Imperial interference often led to unwelcome change with all this framework in mind let's now look at the various levels of law and order that trickled down to the average person of the provinces the highest level of authority at the province level was the governor they would be helped by a staff of assistants and advisors whose numbers varied based on the importance of the province and of the magistrate these would generally reside in or around one of the large strategically located cities of the region however the governor and his entourage were by no means constrained to such locations and often travelled around the province to conduct their activities these duties primarily included the maintaining of public order justice and Taxation if they had questions needed clarification or were particularly hesitant about a certain point of law they often sent letters to the Emperor to receive official approval amazingly we actually have records of some of these which are fascinating to read here's an exchange between Pliny the Younger and Trajan I'll read you some portions Pliny begins it is my practice Oh Lord to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt for who can better give me guidance to my hesitation or informed my ignorance I have never participated in trials of Christians I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate and to what extent and I have been not a little hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference between the very young and the more mature whether pardoned is to be granted for repentance or if a man has once been a Christian it does him no good to have ceased to be one whether the name itself even without offence or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished meanwhile in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians I've observed the following procedure he then goes on to describe in detail his current actions and intended plans to this trajan replies you observed proper procedure my dear plenty in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians for it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard they are not to be sought out if they are denounced and proved guilty they are to be punished with this reservation that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it that is by worshipping our gods even though he was under suspicion in the past shall obtain pardon through repentance but anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution for this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age here is another letter from the Emperor Commodus to the city of booble it starts with a sixty-six word list of his titles and a ten word greeting he then states I have commended you for your zeal and bravery and I have endorsed the decision of the Federal Council of the Lycaon League for you set out with such great zeal to catch the brigands and you defeated them and either killed or took them captive and the like he and league acted justly when in response to those deeds it bestowed upon you the appropriate honor of increasing your vote by one this was bound to enhance your reputation and it made others more eager towards such brave deeds I have therefore confirmed the decision taken at the sitting of the federal body and have permitted you to be counted henceforth among the cities that three votes the embassy was undertaken by Millia gar son of melea gar grandson of art Amon be happy I love these letters and the insight they give us on the pulse of the empire as you can see they highlight the numerous sorts of local issues people had to deal with let's now take a look more specifically at how the issues of public order justice and Taxation were handled for a province when it came to public order this generally meant the deployment of military force the governor held Imperium and thus would have command of all the troops in the province these might include some combination of legions auxiliaries Garrison's and militias I should however note that reforms of the late Empire would introduce the use of border and field units which changed how the military command structure work regardless most of the time the governor would be the one to wield the sword of Rome this would be used to fight foreign and domestic threats governors for instance were expected to deal with enemy raids and even invasions however if things got too intense they could expect to receive backup from other commanders or the Emperor internally the military might be used to squash rebellions root out bandits or suppress a disruptive cult the brutality of such activities could be quite terrifying as is evidenced by the response to the great Jewish revolts however not all events rose to such high levels of importance there were constantly mid to low level threats scattered across a province and it was impossible for the governor to be everywhere at once therefore many cities and especially small municipalities were as responsible for their own defense against smaller issues as the governor was for the region as a whole such local forces especially in the east were often organized into bands led by Aaron arcs who were mostly wealthy young men of cities and towns their troops and any assisting militias would be instrumental in clearing local bandits capturing outlaws and conducting limited detective work related to crime the position of Aaron arc was therefore a powerful and desirable one their word was generally taken as the final say in any case and governor's usually defer to their decisions on matters as with any other policing force within a Roman world though this one was rife with abuse and the Aran arcs could often be a little better than Bennet's themselves during their tenure this fact and the relative independence of communities could cause trouble towns often did not get along with their neighbors and disputes between them could lead to open conflict over things like sports rivalries boundary disputes competing gods or even simple ancestral disagreements the governor of course attempted to maintain relative peace between them but that was only possible to some degree in one particular example a man's donkeys were stolen he and a local guard were able to track the thieves to the nearby town of Bacchus and found the thieves as they were apparently about to catch them and make their arrests however the local guards of that town swarmed on top of the to beating them severely and throwing them in prison for three days when they were finally released the thieves had obviously fled in such cases it would often be the Roman governor or one of his representatives who would mediate and ensure the restitution for the injured parties to keep things under control and help out the Roman and military might also send a small detachment of men to a town for instance we have numerous examples of Centurions being assigned to training the local militia and Watchmen this could be anything from managing the traffic in and through a city to helping a town defend itself against a particularly irritating group of nearby bandits all this being said just as today there was no way to ensure perfect Public Order small petty crimes often went unpunished for these the Romans often turned to magic and superstition for instance talismans were commonplace item thought to protect the bearer against various forms of harm if something did happen often the first response would be to lay a curse upon the perpetrator whether or not their identity was known cursed tablets are a common find in Roman towns and cities and could be for anything from someone hurting a person's business to spreading gossip to stealing someone's clothes while they are in a bath in some cases citizens banded together to police themselves established night watches and Institute Fire Brigades however Roman magistrates would keep a wary eye on such groups that could potentially cause trouble sedition and eventually rebellion after all the governor was responsible for the maintenance of the status quo within his province he represented the ultimate stability of Rome and this image had to be maintained at all costs let us now discuss the other primary duty of the Roman governor dispensing justice this principle in and of itself can be quite complicated when you consider the incredibly diverse nature of the Roman Empire its inhabitants were divided into different classes of citizenship each of which carried with them certain rights and privileges these included things like the right to vote run for public office hold property marry have a trial soon court and enjoy a whole host of other benefits it could all be quite confusing thus to facilitate things early on the Romans actually adopted a form of international law which could be applied widely and helped level the playing field somewhat most of the time though local native laws ruled day to day life for those in the provinces however as Rome settled into its role as a cosmopolitan Empire it would increasingly open the doors to its citizenship in fact in 212 AD the Emperor Caracalla issued an edict which declared that all free men in the Empire were to be given full citizenship and all free women were given the same rights as Roman women thus we see that the exact type of justice to be administered by a governor ferried throughout history generally speaking though when they did get involved it mostly came in the form of setting up judicial proceedings to hear and judge cases often times these were held in the governor's court but could also be set up remotely when the magistrate toured his domains in these trials the governor's held supreme authority and were for example the only ones vested with the power to impose capital punishment those with sufficient rights could challenge a ruling but this proved incredibly burdens him as the appeal would have to be presented all the way in Rome before either the praetor Urbanus or the Emperor himself cases were therefore best won by calling on allies with deep pockets or friends in high places it should be noted though that not all cases were tried before the Roman governor as was the case with public order much was handled on the local level according to the customs of the specific community a good example of this whole process in action is with the trial of Jesus as told the Bible in this case Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea who was currently in Jerusalem to oversee the celebration of Passover Roman Jewish relations were incredibly strained at the time and both he and the local authorities were wary of anything that might spark a riot thus when Jesus entered the city being hailed as king the local authorities hauled him before the Romans lest they face any backlash for the situation spiraling out of control the Jewish leaders met Pontius Pilate by his judgment seat in the praetorium here they accused the rabble rouser of several charges the most serious of which was sedition Pontius Pilate however was weary of getting involved in this sensitive case and tried to pass it on to King Herod claiming he had no legal jurisdiction Herod likewise rejected the case sending it back to Pontius Pilate at which point the Roman began a hearing we have no records of the proceedings but it seems that the governor questioned Jesus and eventually asked the crowd whether they wish Jesus or another to walk free when they chose the other man the order was put out for the crucifixion of Jesus in the eyes of Rome this was a success the governor had ensured a peaceful Passover at the mere cost of a Jewish peasants life this episode goes to show how stability was often the guiding principle behind law enforcement rather than true justice the last major duty of the governor was taxation the way this worked in the Republican period is that the governor and his financial officials first estimated the approximate tax to be extracted from a region this included how much was to be sent back to Rome and how much was to be used to support the troops stationed in the region however once the figure was derived the government actually outsourced the collection process the way this usually worked is that an auction was held where by private contractors would bid on the job these publicani would promise the government a lump sum up front in exchange for the right to earn a profit by taxing the province and even higher amount such tax farming inevitably led to ridiculous amounts of corruption exploitation and oppression that eventually led many provinces to the brink of revolt thus in the Imperial period the system was reformed both as a way to increase law and order and also to limit the ability of governors to enrich themselves at the expense of the end the model of this new system was one of direct taxation largely based on wealth its implementation was regulated by contracts which laid out the sums to be collected by a town or local magistrate at each harvest while still prone to abuse it was a far more efficient and fair system the role of the governor was less to levy the required taxes and make sure the dues were paid under threat of legal or military action lower-level roman officials or their local counterparts would be the ones to get this done on the ground level such activity often involved authorities patrolling commercial centers to collect taxes prevent fraud ensure safety and enforce regulations as might be expected the play between merchants and the authorities became quite the game of cat and mouse generally a patrol to check the measures would be sent out at a fixed time in response businesses would attempt to close shop before inspectors made it to their establishment other times the authorities would attempt to collect taxes only to have merchants claimed they had already paid the amount due or simply try to bribe the official however such games could only go so far if the merchants pushed their luck too much they risk being beaten or brought to court in the end we see that peace in the provinces was achieved through the combined efforts of Rome's governors and local authorities it was an efficient administrative system which was laid enough to allow communities to self-regulate yet firm enough to maintain stability this was a marvel of its time which laid the foundations for one of the longest-lived empires in history yet we should be wary of viewing the past with rose tinted glasses the law and order practiced by the Romans was above all else a system built around maintaining the status quo through force it was a system that sacrificed the few for the many on the altar of peace and which led to the brutalization of countless minority groups like the ancient Christians we would do well to heed this lesson and ensure that our own systems of law and order work to the benefit of all I know that the recent movement against police brutality has been an eye-opening moment for myself and that will shape history in profound ways to come stay informed stay engaged and don't let us forget the errors of our past a huge thanks is owed to our patrons for funding this episode please consider contributing to get previews of future content and downloads of the amazing art from each episode if you enjoyed this content be sure to LIKE and subscribe for more history and check out these other videos about our fascinating past see you in the next one

Channel: Invicta

Views: 364,143

Rating: 4.8144197 out of 5

Keywords: roman army, roman history, roman history documentary, ancient rome, pax romana, roman empire, roman empire documentary, roman empire history, law and order, how they did it, punic war, first punic war, invicta, legion, legions, centurion, roman legion, roman legions, pontius pilate, jesus, history, documentary, history documentary hd, history documentary bbc, roman law, trial of jesus, siege of jerusalem, great jewish revolt

Id: nA16E3eYXNw

Length: 19min 45sec (1185 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 21 2020