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Per totam Italiam: The very strange triumph of Titus Quinctius Flamininus

Michael Fronda
Thursday, February 22, 2018
4:00-5:00 PM
2175 - Classics Library Angell Hall Map
According to Livy (34.52.2), in 194 BCE Titus Quinctius Flamininus returned from Greece and led his entire army, laden with the staggering spoils from the war against Philip, ‘as if marching in a triumphal procession’ (prope triumphantes) all the way from Brundisium to Rome, where he then celebrated a formal triumph of unprecedented magnitude. Flamininus’ bombastic procession and subsequent triumph fits the general pattern of scaled-up triumphal and manurial demonstrations in the early second century. Specific decisions in the staging of his triumph were designed to respond to and outshine the memory of Scipio Africanus. Lastly, by parading spoils from Brundisium to Rome, Flamininus must have anticipated that his audience would have comprised non-Roman Italians, and his procession would have included allied soldiers as well as Roman legionnaires. References to allies participating in Roman triumphs appear only beginning in the 180s, suggesting the practice of including allies in the triumph only began in this period. Flamininus’ “Italian triumph” represents an early example in this development. These years saw accelerated Roman-Italian interaction in a variety of spheres: elite personal and family networks, economic connections, and shared military service. Flamininus’ elaborate celebration of his victory over Philip points to another mechanism potentially encouraging Roman-Italian integration. Flamininus’ triumph per totem Italiam thus discloses the relationship between warfare, the army, Roman politics, and Roman-allied relations in the early second century BCE.
Building: Angell Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Classical Studies, History