TY - JOUR
TI - The besieged: Role and place of civilian population during a siege as presented in military treatises of Late Antiquity
AU - Różycki, Łukasz
TI - The besieged: Role and place of civilian population during a siege as presented in military treatises of Late Antiquity
AB - 
	The purpose of the article is to present the psychological aspects of defending a city in Late Antiquity, with particular focus on the role of civilians during a siege, according to the military treatises. The analysis covered mostly fragments of Book IV of Vegetius’ work, Book X of Strategikon and passages from Syrianus Magister. The results clearly indicate that the authors of treatises knew well the significance of the soldiers’ morale and mental strength in a siege, seeing them as key components in ensuring the success of military operations and preventing the surrender of the defended positions. The analyzed writings also emphasize the involvement of civilians, who were supposed to not only seek protection from soldiers, but actually had a clearly defined role in the defence efforts. The authors also understood that civilians, much more vulnerable to external stress factors than soldiers, were untrustworthy and more likely to give in to despair, which was to be prevented by various tricks meant to manipulate their psychology.
VL - 2018
IS - Numer 145 (4)
PY - 2018
SN - 0083-4351
C1 - 2084-4069
SP - 705
EP - 719
DO - 10.4467/20844069PH.18.033.8748
UR - https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/prace-historyczne/artykul/the-besieged-role-and-place-of-civilian-population-during-a-siege-as-presented-in-military-treatises-of-late-antiquity
KW - armia rzymska
KW - psychologia pola walki
KW - oblężenia
KW - Strategikon