CARACALLA AND ‘ALEXANDER'S PHALANX’: CAUGHT AT A CROSSROADS OF EVIDENCE

IF 0.1 4区历史学 0 CLASSICS

GREECE & ROME Pub Date : 2021-10-01 DOI:10.1017/S0017383521000048

A. Imrie

引用次数: 0

Abstract

It is well known that Alexander the Great offered inspiration to successive monarchs and autocrats. Few of these, however, could claim to match the affection shown by the Roman emperor Caracalla (198–217 ce). Caracalla is said to have been an almost pathological aficionado of Alexander, constantly promoting a public association between himself and his idol. One aspect of Caracalla's imitatio Alexandri was allegedly the levy of a peculiar phalangite formation based on the arms and equipment of Alexander's time. For years it was impossible to gauge whether this was a real development or a hostile literary fabrication, but the discovery of funerary remains at Apamea in Syria, which appear to memorialize phalangites and lanciarii, confirmed to some the historicity of Caracalla's bizarre levy. This article argues, however, that the apparently convincing combination of evidence is illusory, and that Caracalla's ‘phalanx’ was rather a convenient label applied to an inherently Roman formation.

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卡拉卡拉与亚历山大方阵：证据的十字路口

众所周知，亚历山大大帝为后来的君主和独裁者提供了灵感。然而，这些人中很少有人能声称与罗马皇帝卡拉卡拉(公元198-217年)所表现出的感情相媲美。据说卡拉卡拉是亚历山大的近乎病态的狂热粉丝，经常在公众面前宣扬自己和他的偶像之间的联系。卡拉卡拉模仿亚历山德里的一个方面，据称是根据亚历山大时代的武器和装备，采用了一种特殊的phalangite阵型。多年来，人们无法判断这是一个真实的发展，还是一个充满敌意的文学虚构，但在叙利亚的阿帕米亚发现的葬礼遗骸，似乎是纪念phalangites和lanciarii，在某种程度上证实了卡拉卡拉奇怪征税的历史性。然而，这篇文章认为，表面上令人信服的证据组合是虚幻的，卡拉卡拉的“方阵”是一个很方便的标签，适用于固有的罗马阵型。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

GREECE & ROME CLASSICS-

CiteScore

0.30

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Published with the wider audience in mind, Greece & Rome features informative and lucid articles on ancient history, art, archaeology, religion, philosophy, and the classical tradition. Although its content is of interest to professional scholars, undergraduates and general readers who wish to be kept informed of what scholars are currently thinking will find it engaging and accessible. All Greek and Latin quotations are translated. A subscription to Greece & Rome includes a supplement of New Surveys in the Classics. These supplements have covered a broad range of topics, from key figures like Homer and Virgil, to subjects such as Greek tragedy, thought and science, women, slavery, and Roman religion. The 2007 New Survey will be Comedy by Nick Lowe.