Jura conloqui. Mechanisms in Official Interviews with Punic Leaders in the Time of the Roman Republican Expansion

Abstract

Direct, official contact between leaders took place in various politico-military circumstances during the period of the Roman Republican expansion. One of these situations is the conloquia, or face-to-face interviews between military chiefs. This diplomatic practice, previously studied by scholars such as García Riaza, has a series of common procedures, as we can deduce from reading the classic texts. These mechanisms seem to have been observed and shared by the Carthaginian commanders and those of other communities and states of the Mediterranean West, which would place us in front of a common framework of diplomatic practice.