End of Carthage
Hannibal, who after the end of the Second Punic War, had been appointed to an important office, in 195, at the request of Rome,
was forced by his fellow citizens to resign and to leave Carthage. He went to the court of Antiochus III and tried to
convince him to attack Rome in Italy, but these plans had to be abandoned after the king's defeat at Magnesia.
Hannibal had to seek refuge in Bythinia to avoid being consigned to the Romans.
In 183 he eventually killed himself.
Territories (in white) under direct Roman rule at the end of the Third Punic War (modern marble map on the
back of Basilica di Massenzio)
Notwithstanding the death of Hannibal, Rome remained worried about a possible resurgence of Carthage. Cato, a
prominent senator, used to close his speeches, regardless of the issue they addressed, with
the following words Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam (in addition I believe Carthage ought to be destroyed).
In 149 the Carthaginians reacted to a series of violations of treaties by Massinissa, King of Numidia; it was the
casus belli Rome was waiting for. The Carthaginians were defeated by the Romans led by another Scipio (Emilianus).
They capitulated, but when they learnt that the Romans wanted them to leave Carthage, they
refused and fought to the end. Carthage was eventually seized by the Romans, it was totally pulled down and salt was thrown
on its ruins to mean that nothing could ever spring again from that land. The Carthaginian territory became the Roman province of Africa.
Social Unrest
Rome at various stages of its expansion inside and outside the Italian peninsula granted
citizen rights to the inhabitants of other Italian towns. From a legal point of view these
rights had different forms: in certain cases the inhabitants of some towns were regarded as
being inhabitants of Rome, in other cases their rights did not include the political ones and
were mainly about trading and military aspects.
There was a lot of debate in Rome whether
these rights ought to be expanded or limited. By enlarging the number of full title citizens, Rome
gained economic strength and manpower, but that meant that the acquisitions in money, territories, slaves, commodities, etc.
had to be shared among a larger group.
Two brothers, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Gaius Sempronius Gracchus were in favour of promoting laws, which in today's
political jargon, would be called leftist/radical.
Tiberius in 133, in his capacity of tribune of the people, proposed a land reform which would have split the land belonging to the state (Ager publicus) among the members
of the lower classes. His proposals met the opposition of the Senate, largely composed by members
of the wealthiest Roman families. Contrary to the tradition, Tiberius tried to be elected tribune also for the following year, thus
giving his enemies the opportunity to claim he had violated the law. Tiberius and his closest followers
were killed by a mob instigated by the Senate.
His brother Gaius was appointed tribune of the people in 123: being aware of the hostility of the
Senate to land reforms, he managed to gain the consensus of the equites (chevaliers),
a social group between the patricians and the plebeians: he also introduced a law
(lex frumentaria) for the sale of wheat at a subsidized price, thus gaining the favour
of the lower classes. He then proposed to expand the citizen rights of the
Latins and of the Italics (the Italians of the peninsula). The Senate and in general the aristocracy to stop
this initiative which would have diluted their political power, promoted a xenophobic reaction
through a proposal which banned all the foreigners (including Latins and Italics) from Rome. It was a proposal
which immediately gained the favour of the lower classes and isolated Gaius. He was then charged with bringing offence to the
Senate and eventually he killed himself (more precisely he asked a servant to kill him).
The Senate and the aristocracy showed that, by ruthlessly exploiting the feelings of the lower
classes, they were able to retain their grip on the political institutions of Rome.
Ruins of Basilica Aemilia (behind it Curia Julia)
As a consequence of the expansion of Rome, its political, economical and social life grew in complexity.
While in the great civilizations of the past everything revolved around a royal
palace, in Rome such a centre of power did not exist. Rome was a republic based on a
very complex government structure. This led to the development of
new kinds of buildings which responded to the needs of this structure.
A typical building created by the Romans and having civilian purposes (most often hosting law courts and assemblies)
was the basilica,
a large rectangular hall supported by rows of columns and preceded by porticoes.
Basilica Aemilia was erected in the Roman Forum in 179, most likely the second one of such buildings, the first one
being Basilica Porcia built in 184, but completely destroyed by a fire in 52.
The three accesses to the building were located on the longer side of the rectangle: it was
rebuilt by Augustus, so the original republican pavement is underneath that visible today.
It did not have an apse at its end; the apse made its appearance in later buildings (e.g.
Basilica di Massenzio). These halls were so imposing that
they were called "royal palaces" (from the Greek basileus=king), although they had nothing
to do with kings. The name was eventually given to the oldest and largest churches of Rome, although
not all of them have the shape of a basilica (S. Maria Maggiore has it,
S. Pietro does not).
Rise of Marius
One of the means Rome often used to expand its influence was to interfere into dynastic
quarrels occurring in a neighbouring country. North Africa today immediately reminds us of its immense
desert, but 2000 years ago it was regarded as a very fertile land. The Kingdom of Numidia (approximately
today's Algeria) had been an ally of the Romans
during the Punic wars and its king, Massinissa (who is regarded today as a national hero by the autochthonous Berber people),
was helped by the Romans to regain and enlarge his kingdom.
At his death in 148 he placed his kingdom under the tutelage of Rome.
In 111 a quarrel broke out among three princes: one of them, Jugurtha, managed to become the
sole king of Numidia at the expense of his cousins; Rome reacted to what was an usurpation
and sent an army in Africa, led by the consul Gaius Marius. In 105 Jugurtha
was caught in a snare by Silla, at the time an assistant of Marius.
Part of the kingdom of Numidia was included in the Roman province of Africa.
Jugurtha was led to Rome to be shown in the triumph of Marius. He was eventually strangled in Carcere Mamertino.
Marius was elected consul several times and in this capacity he promoted a reform of the
Roman army, giving it stability by establishing a 16 year period of active duty, after which
the soldiers were given a job in the civil administration or a piece of land in a newly founded colony.
As a matter of fact the Roman army was always busy, either supporting the expansion of Rome, or
reacting to outside threats.
Rome had its eyes on the Mediterranean and little interest
in what lay beyond the Alps; but it was from there that nomad tribes of Scandinavian origin, the Teutons and the Cimbri,
passed into northern Italy and southern France, raiding Roman colonies and threatening Massalia, today's Marseilles,
a Greek colony which had helped Rome during the Carthaginian wars.
Marius defeated these two tribes in 102 and in 101, thus consolidating the Roman rule over
southern France: today's Provence, the region between Nice and Marseilles, owes its
name to Provincia the Latin word by which the Romans designated their
foreign territories.
Details of the two panels thought to celebrate the triumphs of Marius against barbarian tribes on the balustrade of Piazza del Campidoglio
"SIXTI V PONT MAX AUCTORITATE TROPHAEA C MARII VII COS DE TEUTONIS ET CIMBRIS EX COLLE ESQUILINO .. IN CAPITOLIUM TRANSLATA"
The inscriptions placed by Pope Sixtus V (1585-90) below two panels of barbarian arms on the balustrade of Piazza del Campidoglio state that they are trophies
celebrating the victories of Marius against the Cimbri and the Teutons. We now know that the
two panels are a much later work, but their traditional association with Marius, shows that the Roman
consul was regarded during the late Renaissance as a
sort of hero for having defeated the Teutons, especially
after new Teutons (the Lansquenets, mercenary Luteran troops fighting for the Catholic Emperor Charles V) had sacked Rome in 1527.
Dictatorship of Silla
The tensions among the social classes of Rome and between the Romans
and the other inhabitants of the Italian peninsula had not disappeared
with the deaths of the Gracchi.
In 89 the confederati,
as the Romans called the people of the other towns of the peninsula,
decided to found a nation of their own and even chose a small town, Corfinium, as
the capital of the new state; Rome had to grant citizenship to all those living south of the
Apennines to quell this open rebellion to its authority.
In 88 Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, a region of today's Turkey on the Black
Sea, attacked the Roman territories in Asia and incited a rebellion among the Greeks. The Roman civilians
who lived in the region were massacred.
The reaction of Rome was hampered by an internal conflict: the Senate had
entrusted to Silla the leadership of the army to be sent against Mithridates,
but the lower classes opposed this appointment and called for Marius to replace Silla, but the latter
moved towards Rome with the army which had remained loyal to him. Marius fled Rome and
Silla having restored the authority of the Senate left for Greece and Asia Minor.
In 86 and 85 he defeated Mithridates, who in 84 had to give up his ambitions and
ask for peace.
While Silla was away, Marius returned to Rome and prosecuted the members of the upper classes which had supported Silla. In 86
he died, but his followers continued his policy; they had the support of the Samnites, a population of southern Italy which had never
entirely accepted the supremacy of Rome (see previous page).
Silla returned to Rome in 83 and defeated the opposite party outside Porta Collina, a gate of the republican walls, not far
from Porta Salaria.
It was now the turn of the aristocrats to take revenge on their enemies; many supporters of Marius were either put to death or exiled. Silla was appointed dictator, but not just
for six months, as established by the tradition, but for an indefinite period.
He redesigned the authorities of the various Roman institutions, increasing both
the number and the powers of the senators and diminishing the role of the tribunes of the
people. In 79 he voluntarily resigned from his post, feeling that he had ensured
the future of the Roman aristocracy.
The Tabularium seen from Foro Romano
During the dictatorship of Silla a fire destroyed most of the buildings and temples on the
Campidoglio hill. Silla did not just rebuild them, but took the opportunity
to emphasize the role of this part of Rome, as centre of the religious and
juridical life of the city.
It is in this framework that one must place the
Tabularium, a large building erected in 79, where the tabulae, the tables of
the Roman laws were kept. To place such a building in a commanding location above the Forum,
meant that Rome was ruled by the law. The Romans were very keen on legal matters and
although Cicero wrote Summum ius, summa iniuria, to mean that the best law may lead to great injustice,
it is fair to say that many key concepts and terms of today's juridical
system derive from those defined by the Romans.
The lower part of the Tabularium is still visible below Palazzo Senatorio. Its ten arches,
flanked by half columns, were closed in the middle ages, but three of them have
been reopened in recent times and with some imagination one can visualize
the shape of the old portico. The use of half columns became a common feature
of later Roman buildings (e.g. Colosseo).
Iconography
The following external links show works of art portraying characters and events
mentioned in this page:
Scipio the African was mainly portrayed while setting free a girl or a young man or woman:
The noble deed of Scipio by Nicolas Poussin.
The generosity of Scipio by Sebastiano Ricci.
Scipio freeing Massiva by Tiepolo.
The Gracchi were mainly portrayed as boys: their mother Cornelia, daughter of Scipio the African, at a social meeting
with a rich Roman lady, who talked only about the jewels she had, replied: "These are my jewels!" and introduced her children:
Cornelia showing her children by Noel Hallé (1711-81).
Cornelia showing her children by Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807).
Death of Caius Gracchus by Jean-Baptiste Topino-Lebrun (1764-1801)
Marius and Silla did not inspire many artists with the remarkable exception of Tiepolo's
Triumph of Marius.
Previous pages:
I - The foundation and the early days of Rome
II - The early republican period
III - The Romans meet the elephants
Next page:
V - Pompey and Caesar
