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How is "product of their time" in any way softening it? If your life is short and brutal, odds are you will have niceness kicked out of you early on. And Roman

How is "product of their time" in any way softening it? If your life is short and brutal, odds are you will have niceness kicked out of you early on. And Roman life could be very brutish. One of the things we inherited from them was the word decimation, which came from a punishment of picking every tenth person to be put to death ( usually used for soldiers or uncooperative city ). It does not soften it. It just explains it.

cogman10 5y ago
> How is "product of their time" in any way softening it? If your life is short and brutal, odds are you will have niceness kicked out of you early on. I don't know enough Roman history to really say if "product of their time" works that way. But I do know enough about US history and figures where "product of their time" is meant solely to excuse horrendous behaviors. That was more my point. You do have to be careful applying today's morality against yesterday's figures. However, you also have to be careful that you aren't using "it was a brutal time" as an excuse for yesterday's atrocities. Was everyone calling for decimation or was this a tactic meant to shock the enemies? Did everyone agree with it or were there critics? We know of the extremes of roman culture, but was that because historians needed to paint them as the extreme?
- A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
  I had to think about it a little before I posted. Part of me is perfectly willing to superimpose my cultural norms ( how US dealt with 9/11 and integrated it into its history being an example of that ). I am just interested in history of Rome. If a Roman expert could chime in, it would probably be best since it is just a speculation on my end. In other words, I am no expert. That said, while I am willing to believe that propaganda effect alone was probably worth the trouble ( not to mention the unpractical nature of killing your own troops ), it is difficult for me to believe that the concept would have survived this long without..uhh.. reinforcing it. I did find some interesting sources, but I think this conversation[1] covers it well from several angles including ones you suggested. In other words, I think it is possible. [1]https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/26019/how-common-was-decimation-in-the-roman-army/26026 https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/26019/how-common...

cogman10 5y ago

> How is "product of their time" in any way softening it? If your life is short and brutal, odds are you will have niceness kicked out of you early on. I don't know enough Roman history to really say if "product of their time" works that way. But I do know enough about US history and figures where "product of their time" is meant solely to excuse horrendous behaviors. That was more my point. You do have to be careful applying today's morality against yesterday's figures. However, you also have to be careful that you aren't using "it was a brutal time" as an excuse for yesterday's atrocities. Was everyone calling for decimation or was this a tactic meant to shock the enemies? Did everyone agree with it or were there critics? We know of the extremes of roman culture, but was that because historians needed to paint them as the extreme?

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
I had to think about it a little before I posted. Part of me is perfectly willing to superimpose my cultural norms ( how US dealt with 9/11 and integrated it into its history being an example of that ). I am just interested in history of Rome. If a Roman expert could chime in, it would probably be best since it is just a speculation on my end. In other words, I am no expert. That said, while I am willing to believe that propaganda effect alone was probably worth the trouble ( not to mention the unpractical nature of killing your own troops ), it is difficult for me to believe that the concept would have survived this long without..uhh.. reinforcing it. I did find some interesting sources, but I think this conversation[1] covers it well from several angles including ones you suggested. In other words, I think it is possible. [1]https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/26019/how-common-was-decimation-in-the-roman-army/26026 https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/26019/how-common...