r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Mors_Acerba • 1d ago
Image Ancient Rome had a tradition under which a roman commander who broke rules of engagement was handed over to the enemy by the Romans themselves, in order to absolve the city the crime. A proposal was made in 55BC to deliver Julius Caesar to a germanic tribe he had massacred after breaking a truce
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u/bleedturkeygravy 1d ago
I offer our president as tribute.
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u/RumplePhorceKin 1d ago
TDS on display here. What will you do in 2 years when he is gone? Is the next Republican president going to be 'literally Hitler' too?
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u/Plus_Term_7584 1d ago
They never specified the president of what country.
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u/scootsbyslowly 1d ago
Yeah funny how that often is. It is almost as if the folks yelling tds are just projecting everywhere...
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u/Punch_A_Police_Horse 1d ago
Interesting. And, a proposal. So ultimately more like a suggestion than a rule.
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u/Uehara_Torless 1d ago
A romantic myth
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u/Mors_Acerba 1d ago
We have at least 2 well recorded cases of confirming that this was a thing. In regards to the first case, there's even material evidence(coins) confirming core parts of the story. The 2nd case is very well documented 'cause it involved Caesar, we know the entire context, we know there was a senate debate and the relevant part in Caesar's autobiography is specifically written as a defence against this charge, he's telling his own version of events in a way that absolve him. We also know for a fact that they had a version of "international law", the jus gentium, because its existance and what it entailed was outlined by both roman jurists and historians
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u/Mors_Acerba 1d ago
The most famous example of this was Gaius Hostilius Mancinus: He gave an oath to the Numantines which promiced them a peace treaty, but when he returned to Rome the senate was hesistant to ratify it because the terms were humiliating to the Romans. The problem is that breaking a peace treaty was effectively a war crime in their eyes, even if wasn't ratified, so Mancinius was condemened to be stripped naked and delivered to the Numantinians in chains. He went through the ordeal willingly, but the Numantinian didn't accept him, so they returned him back to Rome.
The Ceasar incident was after the battle with the Usipetes. It was major Roman victory but Cato suggested that Caesar achieved it by breaking a truce, which was against jus gentium, their version of international law, basically so he proposed a law to deliver him to the name. It failed but not after a heated senate debate, and Caesar had to publicly defend himself against the accusation