Terrorism in the Ancient World

Abstract

While terrorism is not normally thought of as a phenomenon that was prevalent in the ancient world, there are at least some examples of it from early periods of history. There were secret societies in ancient China that worked against early dynasties, but their revolts involved conventional warfare, and there is no indication that anti-government activities involved the use of any terrorist techniques.¹ The clearest indications of early uses of terrorism in ancient times came from the internal politics of Rome during some periods of the Republic, Jewish revolts in the Eastern Mediterranean first against the Seleucid Greeks and then against its incorporation into the Roman Empire, and battles between different factions in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. In these cases there is little doubt that organized groups were using violence directed toward target audiences beyond the immediate victims in order to achieve political objectives. In these cases the violence was frequently organized and widespread enough to meet the criteria for terrorism.