A Bridge too Far? Military Psychology and Roman Republican Warfare

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.