Barbarian Genocide?

How possible and/or likely is it for the Roman Empire at any point to systematically and legally conduct a pseudo culling of non citizen imperial residents? Think an Isaurian genocide or something of that sort.

I say at any point, but the Isaurians are sort of my focus.
 
Well I mean you could argue Caesar conducted a genocide of the Gauls in his conquest. Or you could certainly argue what Hadrian did with Judea was an ethnic cleansing.

As for the Isaurians, I'm not familiar enough with them to know how that could happen.
 
Work with me people, I'm trying to make Flavius Hidler.

Ok, the incentive wasn't there, you've all made that clear, but the capacity?
If they actually wished to commit to genocidal policy could they and get away with it?
 
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Genocide in the modern sense is not a policy which would work in an ancient setting, or I think be contemplated, never mind its ethical issues, it would be far more likely that troublesome tribes would at worst have their leadership removed and possibly be either enslaved en mass or translocated to a place which needed more workers but where they would be less of a problem. Attempts to culturally assimilate them are also likely in larger ancient cultures, the Romans in particular did this widely as a general policy.
 
You could possibly do it, but I think it would require a few prerequisites:

-A personal, emotive reason why they would want to kill of a whole people. As other posters have pointed out, enslavement en masse is far more rational. But people can be irrational.

-The person with a grudge must have unquestioned authority within the state, or there will be a lot of opposition to wholesale slaughter. After all, enslavement is the more economical action.

But against all non-citizens? No. Wouldn't happen.

EDIT: Wikipedia has this to say

"The Isaurians were brought partially under control (76–75 BC) by the Romans. During the war of the Cilician and other pirates against Rome, the Isaurians took so active a part that the proconsul P. Servilius deemed it necessary to follow them into their rugged strongholds, and compel the whole people to submission, an exploit for which he received the title of Isauricus (75 BC)."

I guess instead of compelling the whole people to submission, Servilius might convince people that the only way to ensure there isn't any Isaurian resistance is to ensure there are no Isaurians.
 
Ancient cultures where quite capable of massacres and considerable levels of violence towards what we would consider non combatants amongst their enemies. However Genocide in the modern sense is I think unlikely, and even if attempted more likely to leave survivors.
 
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