Abstract

This article concerns the Roman awareness of mentally impaired soldiers. A discussion of juristic writings shows that jurists distinguished various mental difficulties a soldier suffered. They even took soldiers’ mental problems into consideration when they determined the sentence for misconduct in the military. Roman literary authors also give proof of a clear insight into the soldiers’ minds and the mental toll military service took on them. With the support of archaeological evidence, several passages of Roman literature will be discussed taking methodological problems into account. In conclusion, Roman society was aware of the mental toll military life could take. Moreover, the many references in the ancient sources suggest mentally impaired soldiers were a familiar presence in the Roman world.