Roman Civilization

CMS 206 /History 206

Rome in the 2nd Century B.C.E.

Part I - Conquering the World

The 3rd century B.C.E., was a period in which Rome consolidated its control of the Italian peninsula, was tested as a geopolitical power in its contests with Carthage, and aquired its first overseas provinces. During the 2nd century B.C.E., Rome became the dominant military and political power in the Mediterranean world, and faced and failed the test of its Republican constitution. For many scholars, the "Roman Revolution" that culminated with Augustus' establishment of monarchical at the end of the first century B.C.E., actually began in the second half of the 2nd century B.C.E.
The Second Punic War ended in 202 B.C.E., with Rome's defeat of Carthage's armies at Zama. Even before the end of this war, Rome engaged in a largely inconclusive campaign in Macedonia which ended in a treaty on terms more favorable to Macedonia than Rome. In these encounters with the Greeks, Rome displayed no interest in expanding its empire and was motivated mostly by a desire to deprive Hannibal of resources he might use against Rome. Philip V of Macedon, in contrast, hoped to unite and reinvigorate Macedonia so that it might resume its historic leadership of the Greek speaking world.
Other Greek political powers, however, did not welcome the rebirth of Macedon. As with the Punic Wars, local cities sometimes appealed to Rome to take her side in these disputes. Rome, under the leadership of men like Scipio Africanus and Flamininus, initially took a "pro-hellenic" posture. They envisioned Rome excercising a benign influence over a protecterate of Grecian territories which would enjoy a great degree of local independence. Philip survived and retained control of Macedon, where he toed the Roman line until his death in 179 BCE.
Flamininus, for example, after defeating Philip V at the battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BCE, thus ending the 2nd Macedonian War, gave a speech at the Isthmian Games, in which he declared that the peoples of Greece were free, to live without Roman troops or taxes and to to govern themselves by their own laws. (See also his letter to the Chreytians).

The "pro-Hellenic" party, however, faced political opposition in Rome. Cato the Elder, a novus homo, was ideologically opposed to the embrace of Hellenic culture that the Scipiones and their allies supported. He further believed that Hellenic cultural influences would corrupt Roman values. On the foreign policy front, the activities of Antiochus of Syria immediately after the defeat of Philip of Macedon created all sorts of problems for Flamininus. Antiochus hoped to reunite the various kingdoms that had been created out of Alexander the Great's imperial conquests on his death. For several years he played high stakes diplomacy with the Romans, finding allies among various Greek factions that had gotten less from Flamininus' settlement of Greece than they hoped for. Greek feistiness suggested that the "protecterate" policy of the pro-Hellenic party in Rome was not going to work. Another problem, from the Roman point of view, was that Antiochus was harboring Hannibal, who encouraged and shaped Antiochus' ambitions in order to pursue his own interests in and on behalf of Carthage. Flamininus stayed in Greece, in order to preserve Roman control of the region and Scipio went to Asia Minor, where the Romans finally defeated Antiochus in 189. Rome's "settlement" of the Greek and Asian cities it had won in this war was as problematic both from the Roman administrative and the Greek administered points of view as their earlier efforts to govern Greece had been. Rhodes and cities in Aetolia were particulary recalcitrant and bitter.

In 179, Perseus (or Perses) succeeded his father to the throne of Macedon. Unlike his father, who knew how to stay defeated, Perseus pursued an anti-Roman foreign and domestic policy. After much diplomatic manouevering, the 3rd Macedonian war was declared in 171 BCE. Aemilius Paullus commanded Rome's army and decisively defeated the Macedonians in 168 at the battle of Pydna. Paullus "settled" Macedonia by dividing it up into four separate kingdoms, granting each a considerable amount of freedom, and imposing a tax that was half what they had been paying their kings. The settlement was not especially effective and Rome turned Macedonia into a province 22 years later.

Rome had been particularly dissatisfied with the lack of support they had received from the Greeks during the 3rd Macedonian war. They took to "purging" the leadership class of cities they felt had strayed too far from the fold, and installing local politicans who were loyal to Rome. The Greek historian of Rome, Polybius, was in fact a hostage removed to Rome during this operation. He was befriended by the Scipiones and ended up writing a history of Rome that was designed, in part, to convince Greeks the opposition to Rome was useless. Nevertheless, Greek opposition to Rome intensified. In 146, Rome defeated the rebel Achaean league, and Roman armies under the leadership of Lucius Mummius entered Corinth, and utterly destroyed it. They killed all the men, sold all the women and children into slavery and moved every moveable good within the city to Rome. The days of pro-Hellenic policy were over in Greece. The example of Corinth destroyed Greek opposition to Roman rule.

Cato, the champion of the Hellenophobes in Rome had aquired a great military reputation fighting for Rome in the Macedonian wars and in Spain. [Rome had 'won' Spain from Carthage in the 2nd Punic War, but had to fight the Spaniards to actually keep it. Roman warfare in Spain lasted until 133 BCE.] Cato was particularly alarmed by the Punic capacity to recover from the extraordinary defeats and war reparations Rome had imposed on her. Despite the restrictions Rome had place on Carthage, her old enemy began to prosper again. The Punic government, however, was careful to yield to Rome's opinion in every issue and conflict that arose. Nevertheless, Cato began to end every speech he gave in the Roman sentence with the phrase "Carthago delenda est!" ["..., and Carthage must be destroyed!"]. The problem from the Roman point of view was complicated by the fact that Numidia, Carthage's neighbor, under the leadership of Masinissa, which had been loyal to Rome in the 2nd Punic War was beginning itself to aquire a threatening amount of influence in the western Mediterranean and in North Africa. Numida began to provoke Carthage and eventually Carthage attacked. That was all the excuse that Rome needed to cross the Mediterranean and settle affairs in North Africa to their liking. In 149 BCE, Rome declared war on Carthage. In 146, Roman troops, under the command of P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus [the natural son of Aemilius Paullus and grandson by adoption of Scipio Africanus], sacked Carthage. 50,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery. The city was burned to the ground. Its ruins were razed. A plow was drawn over what was left of the land and salt sowed in its furrows.

Further Sites of Interest:

The 2nd Century BCE - Part 2

How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Republic

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