This paper will focus on physically impaired and disfigured soldiers and their perception in Roman antiquity from the late Republic until the early Imperial era (third century bc until third century ad ). Based on case studies from literary sources, this paper aims to explore the integration of impaired and disfigured veterans into Roman civil society. The first part outlines the ambiguous attitudes shown towards these veterans, who were both praised and ridiculed, and seeks explanations. The second part argues that few impairments and disfigurements precluded veterans from holding political or religious office.

Soldiers sustaining battle wounds was both an historical reality as a popular literary theme in the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Battle scars were often instrumentalised as tokens of bravery on the battlefield and equated with military honours, symbolising true virtus. In this paper we analyse how some ancient authors constructed the behaviour of injured soldiers in their writing based on stoic ideals such as an indifferent attitude towards damaged body parts. We further argue that these literary depictions served as powerful metaphorical exempla that had educative and moral purposes not restricted to a military context but in a broader sense, relevant for all aspects of life. The targeted readership was encouraged for introspection and to discern popular from philosophical views in their own frame of mind on achieving virtus. In addition, a stoic framework was cleverly selectively deployed against boasting soldiers and their ideological allies which proved to be very efficient.