THE END OF SINGLE COMBAT A FINAL BLOW

Single combat effectively ended with the Principate when Augustus denied Crassus, grandson of the infamous triumvir, the right to dedicate his spolia opima at the Temple of Jupiter Feretrius in 29/28 BC. With soldiers fighting solely for the glory of the princeps, individual acts of valour were to be recognized through formal awards given at the discretion of the commanding officer. Soldiers were now disincentivized from engaging in single combat.

Lindsay Powell

In their tents on different sides of the Ambracian Gulf, two opponents waited for one of them to make a move. It was 31 BC. In the unending heat of a Greek summer, with his soldiers suffering from shortages of food and fresh water, M. Antonius was impatient for action. He sent his enemy, Imperator Caesar (Octavian), a personal invitation. “In boastful language,” writes Plutarch: “Antonius matched by challenging Caesar to single combat, although he was an older man than Caesar; and if Caesar declined this, Antonius demanded that they should fight out the issue at Pharsalus, as Caesar and Pompey had once done.” (Plutarch, Antony 62.3) The young heir to the legacy of Julius Caesar was not going to risk the fate of his cause on a reckless gamble.…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVII.6

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