Roman soldiers shared plunder equally, even with comrades who stayed behind
Polybius described strict rules for sacking a conquered city. Never more than half the Roman troops gathered booty while the rest held key positions, and afterwards tribunes sold everything and split the proceeds evenly among all, including guards, the sick and men away on other duties. Nobody needed to abandon a post to claim a share.
For most of history, plunder was treated as a victorious army's customary right. Ordinary soldiers saw it as a way to top up meagre pay, and Roman triumphs paraded captured treasure through the streets. Genghis Khan reportedly declared that the greatest happiness lay in defeating enemies and taking their wealth. Trajan's conquest of Dacia was said to have yielded five million Roman pounds of gold, about 163.6 tonnes, and twice as much silver, helping pay for his forum and the famous carved column.
Restraint sometimes came from faith. Clovis I, king of the Franks, forbade his troops to loot near the shrine of St Martin at Tours for fear of angering the saint. Plunder could also backfire, since soldiers scattered to ransack a town were easy targets for a counter-attack. Portable precious metals were favourite targets, and European colonial powers later carried off treasures from lands they conquered, while Nazi Germany organised looting of art and property on a vast scale.
Norms shifted after the Napoleonic Wars and especially after the Second World War. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 explicitly banned pillage, and looting in wartime is now a war crime under international law.
Disasters raise a different question. When police are overwhelmed or communications fail, people may take goods simply to survive, and governments struggle to draw the line between looting and necessary scavenging. Disaster sociologists argue that media reports routinely exaggerate lawlessness. Studies after Hurricane Katrina found many stories of mass looting and violence were inaccurate, with much of the behaviour involving people seeking food and water, and that such fears diverted effort from aid toward policing. Researchers conclude that cooperation is far more common in a crisis than panic or crime.
Source: Looting
