Murder Was Not a Crime: Homicide and Power in the Roman Republic (Ashley and Peter Larkin Series in Greek and Roman Culture)

Gaughan makes a very convincing argument that there were no specific laws against murder in the Roman Republic, no authorities empowered to deal with murder, and no specific punishments for murder. She traces the Roman government's attitude toward murder from the monarchy to the end of the Republic. Gaughan makes use of ancient authors' writings, surviving legal documents, epigraphy, and social theory to support her thesis.Gaughan maintains that after the Romans abolished the monarchy, their almost pathological fear of and dislike of placing too much power in the hands of rulers was the precipitating factor that removed the punishment of murder from the hands of legislators. In addition, the Romans had the unique view that citizens were just as responsible for maintaining the Roman "state" and relationships with the gods as did the Senate and other officials. These two factors taken together resulted in placing the onus for punishing murders on the affected families and not one the state.This is a very simplified version of Gaughan's work, and readers who are interested in Roman history and legal history should definitely read the book. It is packed with valuable information and is a must read in order to understand an aspect of the Roman psyche. Even though we can never completely understand the Romans' world view, works like this get us a step closer.