Francois Gauthier

(He, Him, His)

Lecturer

History, Languages and World Literatures

Office: ART 244
Office Hours: Monday, 11 AM -12 PM
Email: francois.gauthier@ubc.ca

Research Summary

History of the Roman Republic; financing of the Roman army; socio-economic organization of the Roman army; political culture; taxation.

Courses & Teaching

HIST 110 Survey of the Ancient World; HIST 203 The Roman Empire; HIST 302 Classical Greece and the Mediterranean World; HIST 303 The Hellenistic World from the Mediterranean to India; HIST 304 The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic; WRLD 310 Mythologies in Motion; WRLD 351 The Ancient Mediterranean World in Cinema and Literature; HIST/WRLD 353 Ancient Mediterranean Science and Technology; LATN 300 Intensive Introduction to Latin.

Biography

Before coming to the University of British Columbia Okanagan, I held positions at McGill University and Mount Allison University.

Websites

View Website

Degrees

PhD McGill
MA Université de Montréal
BA Université de Montréal

Research Interests & Projects

I am specialized in the political, economic, and military history of the Roman Republic (ca. 509-27 BCE). My current research is dedicated to a book project analyzing the financing of the Roman army in the middle and late Republic (ca. 264-27 BCE). My aim is to understand how a state with relatively crude financial mechanisms was able to fund the conquest of the Mediterranean basin in a relatively short amount of time. The book demonstrates how adaptation and improvisation were constant features of Roman war financing in the Republic.

My second project is focused on the inclusion of foreigners in the military structures of the Roman Republic. I argue that these soldiers have for a long time lived in the shadow of the Roman legions in regards to modern scholarship. In reality, these foreign troops made a significant and often crucial contribution to the Roman war effort in the Republic. Like the Italian allies, these soldiers were most often financed by the community providing them, allowing Rome to save a lot of money if similar numbers of Roman citizens had been mobilized instead. This enabled the Roman state to significantly bolster its ability to project military power without having to implement additional financing mechanisms.

Selected Publications & Presentations

“Auxilia externa  et économie de guerre pendant la Première guerre punique,”  15 pp. (forthcoming)

“Periphery of Empire: Roman Frontiers and Imperial Policy,” in S. Günther (ed.),  Roman  Empire , Empire Series, De Gruyter, 19 pp. (2025)

“The Suspension of the War-Tax (Tributum) in 167 BCE:  A Short-Sighted Decision?,” 15 pp. (forthcoming 2024).

“Army Financing in the Civil War of 44–42,” in H. Cornwell and R. Westall (eds.), Analyzing the Breakdown of Models: The Civil Wars of 49–30 BCE, Bloomsbury Academic, 21 pp. (forthcoming 2024).

“Plunder, Common Soldiers, and Military Service in the 3rd and 2nd Centuries BCE,” in S. Roselaar & M. Helm (eds.), Spoils in the Roman Republic, Franz Steiner Verlag, 20 pp. 357–370 (2023).

“Did velites Really Disappear in the Late Republic?,” Historia, 70, 69–82 (2021).

“The Transformation of the Roman Army in the Last Decades of the Republic,” in J. Armstrong & M. Fronda (eds.), Romans at War: Soldiers, Citizens, and Society in the Roman Republic, London-New York, 283–296 (2020).

“Auxiliaries and War Financing in the Republic,” Journal of Ancient History, 7, 251–268 (2019).

“Remarks on the Existence of a Senatorial Census Rating in the Roman Republic,” Historia, 68, 285–301 (2019).

Co-authored with M. P. Fronda, “Italy and Sicily in the Second Punic War: Multipolarity, Minor Powers, and Local Military Entrepreneurialism,” in T. Ñaco del Hoyo & F. López-Sánchez (eds.) Warlords, War and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean 404 BC – AD 14, Leiden, 308–325 (2018).

“The Changing Composition of the Roman Army in the Late Republic and the So-Called ‘Marian-Reforms’,” Ancient History Bulletin, 30, 103–120 (2016).