Decimation was a form of extreme military discipline used by officers in the Roman Army to punish mutinous or cowardly soldiers. The word decimation is derived from Latin meaning "removal of a tenth." [1] Discipline is any training intended to produce a specific character or pattern of behaviour, especially training that produces moral or mental development in a particular direction. ... Soldiers of the Roman Army (on manoeuvres in Nashville, Tennessee) Rome was a militarized state whose history was often closely entwined with its military history over the 1228 years that the Roman state is traditionally said to have existed. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

(For the Marvel Comics series, see Decimation (comics).) Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Entertainment, Inc. ... Decimation event logo, as shown on the covers of tie-in comics Decimation is the name of the late 2005 Marvel Comics crossover spinning out of the House of M miniseries, focusing on the ramifications of the Scarlet Witchs reality-warping abilities stripping nearly all of the mutant population...

Procedure

A cohort selected for punishment by decimation was divided into groups of ten; each group cast lots, and the soldier on whom the lot fell was executed by his nine comrades, often by stoning or clubbing. The remaining soldiers were given rations of barley instead of wheat and forced to sleep outside of the Roman encampment. A cohort (from the Latin cohors, plural cohortes) is a fairly large military unit, generally consisting of one type of soldier. ... Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... Species T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ...

Because the punishment fell by lot, all soldiers in the selected cohort were eligible for execution, regardless of rank or distinction. As a result, the threat of decimation inspired fear and resolve into the Roman Legions. However, because a decimation significantly reduced the troop strength of an army, it is believed that the punishment was rarely used. A cohort (from the Latin cohors, plural cohortes) is a fairly large military unit, generally consisting of one type of soldier. ... A modern reconstruction of a roman centurion around 70 AD The Roman legion (from Latin , from lego, legere, legi, lectus — to collect) was the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army. ...

Sources

The earliest documented decimation occurred in 471 B.C. during the Roman Republic's early wars against the Volsci and is recorded by Livy (Ab urbe condita, ii.59). The practice was revived by Crassus in 71 B.C. in the Third Servile War against Spartacus. See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... The Volsci were an ancient Italic people, well known in the history of the first century of the Roman Republic. ... A portrait of Titus Livius made long after his death. ... Marcus Licinius Crassus Dives (c. ... The Third Servile War was an unsuccessful slave uprising against the Romans in Italy, under command of the famous Spartacus. ... Spartacus, who was believed to be a Thracian (born in what is now Sandanski in present-day Bulgaria), was enslaved by the Romans and led a large slave uprising in what is now Italy during the period 73 BC to 71 BC. His army of escaped gladiators and slaves defeated...

Decimation was in practice during the Roman Empire: Suetonius records that it was used by Augustus in 17 B.C. (Augustus, 24). For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Augustus (Latin: IMPERATOR CAESAR DIVI FILIVS AVGVSTVS[1]; September 23, 63 BC – August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (in English Octavian) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of the Roman Emperors. ...

Current usage

In current English use, the word decimation refers to an extreme reduction in the number of a population or force, usually far greater than the one tenth specified above. It perhaps more frequently describes an occurrence in which closer to one tenth of the original number remains, rather than is lost (see catachresis). Catachresis is the (usually intentional) use of any figure of speech that flagrantly violates the norms of a language community. ...

The current corporate managerial practice of rank and yank bears some similarities to this practice. A vitality curve is a leadership construct whereby certain proportions of a producing population are credited with certain proportions of the production. ...

External links

• Decimation at Livius.Org
• Decimatio, article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities