WE KNOW YOU’RE THERE: Roman Political Counterintelligence in the Mid-Republic

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v2i3.119

Keywords:

Mid-Republic, Counterintelligence, Espionage, Security

Abstract

This paper explores the strategies undertaken to preserve information in an age without formal services devoted to national security and counterintelligence.  It examines the primary efforts of political counterintelligence denial undertaken by Roman senate during the mid-Republic. The fundamental focus revolved around restricting and monitoring access to available information. The senate determined what information, and in what detail, the public should have access to. This served to control both Roman citizens and the information available to foreigners. Extant sources mention the existence of spies and informers resident in or visiting Rome. These agents gathered information about other states in order to aid their political and martial decisions. Acknowledging this, the Republican senate undertook efforts to protect against these forces. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Sara Margaret Perley, The Australian National University

    PhD Candidate

    Centre for Classical Studies

    A.D. Hope Building (Building 14)

    The Australian National University

    Canberra ACT 2601 Australia

References

AFP 2013

AFP. "Malaysia summons Australian, US representatives over spy row." The Australian, 3 November 2013, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/malaysia-summons-australian-us-representatives-over-spy-row/story-fn59nm2j-1226752114588. Accessed 21 April 2015

AFP 2015

AFP. "A third of Russian diplomats in Sweden are spies, Swedish intelligence says." The Telegraph, 18 Mar 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/11480390/A-third-of-Russian-diplomats-in-Sweden-are-spies-Swedish-intelligence-says.html.

AULIARD 2006

Auliard, Claudine, La diplomatie romaine : l'autre instrument de la conquête : de la fondation à la fin des guerres samnites, 753-290 av. J.-C (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes).

AUSTIN/RANKOV 1995

Austin, N. J. E., and Boris Rankov, Exploratio : military and political intelligence in the Roman world from the Second Punic War to the battle of Adrianople (London: Routledge).

BACHARACH/LAWLER 1976

Bacharach, Samuel B., and Edward J. Lawler, The Perception of Power, Social Forces 55 (1),123-34.

BAUMAN 1990

Bauman, R. A.,The Suppression of the Bacchanals: Five Questions, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 39 (3),334-48.

BAUZON 2007

Bauzon, Élodie., L'enregistrement des Italiens et des Romains de passage ou résidents dans les cités grecques IIe - Ier siècles av. J.-C, In Gens de passage en Méditerranée de l'Antiquité à l'époque moderne: procédures de contrôle et d'identification, edited by Claude Moatti and Wolfgang Kaiser, 183-202. (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose).

BONNEFOND-COUDRY 1989

Bonnefond-Coudry, Marianne, Le Sénat de la République romaine : de la guerre d'Hannibal à Auguste. (Rome: École française de Rome).

BONNEFOND-COUDRY 2004

Bonnefond-Coudry, Marianne, "Contrôle et traitement des ambassadeurs étrangers sous la république romaine." In La mobilité des personnes en Méditerranée de l'antiquité à l'époque moderne : procédures de contrôle et documents d'identification, edited by C. Moatti, 529-65 (Rome: Ecole française de Rome).

BRENNAN 2009

Brennan, T. Corey, "Embassies gone wrong: Roman diplomacy in the Constantinian Exerpta de Legationibus." In Diplomats and diplomacy in the Roman world, edited by Claude Eilers, 171-92. (Leiden: Brill).

BURTON 2009

Burton, Paul J, Ancient International Law, the Aetolian League, and the Ritual of Surrender during the Roman Republic: A Constructivist View The International History Review 31 (2), 237-52.

CANALIDE ROSSI 1997

Canali De Rossi, Filippo, Le ambascerie dal mondo greco a Roma in et`a repubblicana. (Roma: Istituto italiano per la storia antica).

CANALI DE ROSSI 2004

Canali De Rossi, Filippo, Le relazioni diplomatiche di Roma, i: Dall'età regia alla conquista del primato in Italia (753-265 a.C.) (Rome: stampato in proprio).

DEPAUW/COUSSEMENT 2014

Depauw, Mark, and Sandra Coussement, Identifiers and identification methods in the ancient world: legal documents in ancient societies III. (Leuven &Paris: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies).

DVORNIK 1974

Dvornik, Francis, Origins of intelligence services: the ancient Near East, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Arab Muslim Empires, the Mongol Empire, China, Muscovy. (New Brunswick, N.J.,: Rutgers University Press).

ECKSTEIN 1995

Eckstein, A. M, Glabrio and the Aetolians: A note on Deditio, Transactions of the American Philological Association, 125, 271-89.

ECKSTEIN 2009

Eckstein, A. M, Ancient 'International Law', the Aetolian League, and the Ritual of Unconditional Surrender to Rome: A Realist View, International History Review 31 (2),253-67.

FERRARY 2007

Ferrary, J.L, Les ambassadeurs grecs au Sénat romain, In L'audience : rituels et cadres spatiaux dans l'Antiquité et le haut Moyen Âge, edited by Jean-Pierre Caillet and Michel Sot, 113-22. (Paris: Picard).

FERRARY 2009

Ferrary, J.L, After the embassy to Rome: Publication and Implementation, In Diplomats and diplomacy in the Roman world, edited by Claude Eilers, 127-42. (Leiden: Brill).

FOURNIE 2004

Fournie, Daniel A, Harsh Lessons: Roman Intelligence in the Hannibalic War, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 17 (3), 502-38.

GRUEN 1982

Gruen, Erich, Greek pistis and Roman fides. Athenaeum 60, 50-68.

GRUEN 1990

Gruen, Erich, Studies in Greek culture and Roman policy. (Leiden; New York: Brill).

HARRIS 1979

Harris, William V, War and imperialism in Republican Rome, 327-70 B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon Press).

HERMAN 1998

Herman, Michael, Diplomacy and intelligence, Diplomacy & Statecraft 9 (2), 1-22.

IBRAIMOVIC/MASIERO

Ibraimovic, Tatjana, and Lorenzo Masiero, Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? The Impact of Ethnic Segregation Preferences on Neighbourhood Choice, Urban Studies, 51, 693-711

JABOUR 2013

Jabour, Bridie. "Indonesia summons Australian envoy over embassy spying claims." The Guardian, 1 November 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/indonesia-summons-australian-ambassador-embassy-spying-claims. Accessed 23 April 2015.

JOHNSON/WIRTZ 2008

Johnson, Loch K., and James J. Wirtz, Intelligence and national security : the secret world of spies, an anthology (New York; London: Oxford University Press).

LOWENTHAL 2006

Lowenthal, Mark M, Intelligence: from secrets to policy. (Washington, DC: CQ Press).

MOATTI 2004

Moatti, C, La mobilité des personnes en Méditerranée de l'antiquité à l'époque moderne : procédures de contrôle et documents d'identification, Collection de l'Ecole française de Rome, (Rome: Ecole française de Rome).

MOATTI 2006

Moatti, C, Translation, Migration, and Communication in the Roman Empire: Three Aspects of Movement in History, Classical Antiquity 25 (1), 109-40.

MOATTI/KAISER 2007

Moatti, C., and W. Kaiser, Gens de passage en Méditerranée de l'Antiquité à l'époque moderne: procédures de contrôle et d'identification (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose).

MYLES/HOU 2004

Myles, John, and Feng Hou, Changing colours: Spatial assimilation and new racial minority immigrants, The Canadian Journal of Sociology 29 (1), 29-58.

NOUSEK 2010

Nousek, Debra L, Echoes of Civero in Livy's Bacchanlian narrative (39.8–19), The Classical Quarterly 60 (1), 156-66.

PAGÁN 2013

Pagán, Victoria Emma, Conspiracy narratives in Roman history (Austin: University of Texas Press).

PINA POLO 2010

Pina Polo, Francisco, Frigidus Rumor: the creation of a (negative) public image in Rome, In Private and public lies : the discourse of despotism and deceit in the Graeco-Roman world, edited by Andrew J. Turner, K. O. Chong-Gossard and Frederik Vervaet, 75-90. (Leiden: Brill)

RIPAT 2012

Ripat, Pauline, Locating the grapevine in the late Republic: freedmen and communication, In Free at last! The impact of freed slaves on the Roman empire, edited by Sinclair Bell and Teresa Ramsby, 50-65. (London: Bloomsbury).

ROUHANA/FISKE 1995

Rouhana, Nadim N., and Susan T. Fiske, Perception of Power, Threat, and Conflict Intensity in Asymmetric Intergroup Conflict: Arab and Jewish Citizens of Israel, Journal of Conflict Resolution 39 (1), 49-81.

SHELDON 1987

Sheldon, Rose Mary, Tinker Tailor, Caesar, Spy: Espionage in Ancient Rome. PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan.

SHELDON 2005

Sheldon, Rose Mary Intelligence activities in ancient Rome: trust in the gods, but verify. (London; New York: Routledge).

TAKÁCS 2000

Takács, Sarolta A., Politics and Religion in the Bacchanalian Affair of 186 B.C.E. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 100, 301-10.

TIERNEY 1945

Tierney, James J, The Senatus Consultum de Bacchanalibus, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 51, 89-117.

Downloads

Published

2015-09-15

How to Cite

WE KNOW YOU’RE THERE: Roman Political Counterintelligence in the Mid-Republic. (2015). JOURNAL OF ANCIENT HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v2i3.119

Similar Articles

1-10 of 48

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.