Declaring War in Ancient
Rome
By Rishi Pampati, Treasurer
It might feel like all we hear about in the media is some distant war or conflict, but the truth is, war is a constant. Even during the almost two centuries of unprecedented peace ushered in by Augustus, the Pax Romana, Rome was intermittently at war with its German neighbors to the north, Dacians to the northeast, and Parthians and Judeans to the east. The Gates of Janus, which symbolized the state of Rome’ s foreign affairs, were rarely closed to indicate that the Empire was at peace.
But who decided when Rome went to war? During the imperial period, the emperor held imperium, allowing him to lead troops without legislative approval. However, the process was more complicated during the Republic. While today we think of the Senate as the supreme body of the Republic, the Comitia Centuriata was the one with de jure authority to declare war. Rome followed the doctrine of iustum bellum— the belief that the gods would only approve of a just war. To ensure that they always had the moral high ground, Rome only declared war to defend allies, retaliate after an attack, or recover property. However, the Romans believed it was well in their rights to declare war preemptively if they believed any of these threats were imminent, allowing them to“ defensively” conquer the entire Mediterranean.
With these things in mind, the Comitia Centuriata voted either for or against conflict. If it passed, the fetial priests, or fetiales, held a ceremony at the Temple of Bellona and threw a spear into dirt representing enemy soil. They asked the gods for support in the coming war before allowing the declaration to be announced across Rome and in the enemy’ s main city.
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