Bandits in the Roman Empire - Myth and Reality (Hardcover)

Whom did the Romans see as bandits ("latrones") and what did they understand as robbery "(lactrocinium)"?
How pressing was the threat that the bandits posed?
How did their contemporaries perceive the danger?
This book examines the concept of "latrones," literally bandits or robbers, and how the term was used in the Roman world of the late Republic and the early Empire (2nd c. BC - 3rd c. AD). Case studies focus on those who clashed with the imperial authorities, such as Viriatus, Tacfarinus, Maternus and Bulla Felix, and special attention is given to perhaps the best-known bandit of all, Spartacus, and to the men who impersonated the emperor Nero after his death.
We are shown that the term latrones was not just used to refer to criminals but was metaphorically and disparagingly applied to failed political rebels, rivals and avengers. The word also came to represent the 'noble brigand', idealising the underdog as a means of criticising the winning side.The author therefore presents banditry both as a social type and as a literary construct, appearing in many different forms, in all types of writing.
This wide-ranging and informative survey of 'outsider' groups in the Roman Empire will contribute greatly to our understanding of Roman social history.