Hostages and Hostage-Taking in the Roman Empire

Hundreds of foreign hostages were detained among the Romans as the empire grew in the Republic and early Principate. As prominent figures at the center of diplomacy and as exotic representatives or symbols of the outside world they drew considerable attention in Roman literature and other artistic media. Our sources discuss hostages in terms of the geopolitics that motivated their detention as well as in accordance with other structures of power. Hostages thus could be located in a social hierarchy in a family network in a cultural continuum or in a sexual role. In these schemes an individual Roman or Rome in general becomes not just a conqueror but also a patron father teacher or generically masculine. By focusing on the characterizations of hostages in Roman culture we witness Roman attitudes toward ethnicity and imperial power. Joel Allen received his Ph.D. from Yale University and currently is Assistant Professor of History at Queens College City University of New York.