O08. Strains of Empire (I) - Classics 2123 The Roman Way...

Classics 2123: The Roman Way Spring 2008
Lecture 8. The Strains of Empire (I)
Readings: BHR 72-77, 92-110; Shelton 187-189, 266, 317-318
I. Continuation of Roman Imperialism
Macedonian Wars
- Rome fights four wars in Greece, first against the Macedonian king Philip V, then his son
Perseus, then a pretender to the Macedonian throne (215-206, 200-196, 172-167, 150-148)
- also at this time Rome fights with Antiochus III, king of Syria, and this brought the Romans for
the first time into Asia Minor (193-190)
- in 148 the Romans finally made Greece into a province
Rome also fought a third and final Punic War with Carthage (149-146)
- this war was mainly the result of Roman aggression; Romans over the years had harassed them
- Carthaginians finally decide on war, but do not have the resources to withstand Rome
- in 146 Scipio Aemilianus, grandson of Scipio Africanus, presides over the victory at Carthage:
the city itself destroyed, razed to the ground; the site left unoccupied for many years
- province of Africa created out of the most fertile land (in n. and central Tunisia)
In 146, this same year, the Romans became impatient with activity among the Greeks and L. Mummius