decimation was death by utter humiliation. soldiers that deserted or disobeyed an order then they would be decimated. The decimation was carried out by fellow soldiers. so you would be tied to a post and clubbed to death by men who you had fought together with, eaten together etc. but decimation could be different, general Scipio after he had defeated Hannibal caught the few soldiers that had deserted, tied them to the road and rode his elephants over them. so decimation was the ultimate humiliation to a soldier.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

Gaius Marius turned the Roman army professional.

The question refers the practice of decimation, a feature of the Roman Army during the Early Republic, and later abolished. To my knowledge it was last and most famously used in the Late Republic by Crassus. He had every tenth soldier executed to make an example after his army failed to defeat the Slave Army of Spartacus. Despite what you may have seen in movies, it was not done in the days of the Roman Empire, although some other generals may have ordered it at some point in world history.

The Roman Army was very highly organized and very disciplined and they were very efficient as was their equipment!! Roman Generals believed that married soldiers did not fight well - so they made being married before your service in the army illegal in Rome. A Catholic priest was caught marrying Roman soldiers and his head was cut of - his name was Father Valentine - and this is why we celebrate Valentine's Day - as the day of the lover!!! Father Valentine fell in love with his jailer's daughter, who was blind. His last words were a note to her saying "From your Valentine" and we still use these words today!!!!

Also the Roman generals would line up soldiers if they were fighting poorly and they would kill every 10th soldier!!! This made the other 9 fight better the next day, for fear THEY might be the 10th soldier tomorrow. This was known as "an act of decimation" and this is where we get the word decimation - which actually means "to kill 1 of every 10"!!

Echoes of Decimation was created on 2005-03-15.