Abstract
<jats:p>The harsh ritual of decimation (decimatio) represented a disciplinary measure employed by commanders in the army of ancient Rome in order to reinforce military discipline. The purpose of decimation was to punish attempts at mutiny or manifestations of cowardice among soldiers, while simultaneously strengthening the authority of the commanding officer. This paper seeks to deepen and reassess the conclusions reached by D. Salvo, who undertook extensive work in collecting and analyzing ancient written testimonies concerning the ritual of decimation. The study raises the question of whether this type of punishment was indeed crucial for maintaining discipline within Roman military units, or whether it should instead be understood as a literary construct through which ancient authors emphasized the importance of traditions associated with the earliest stages of the Roman state. The available examples indicate that the majority of recorded instances of decimation occurred during civil wars or military operations in the frontier regions of the Roman world—moments when the very foundations of military discipline, as well as the broader doctrinal and institutional principles of the Roman state, could be called into question.</jats:p>