Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

IV - Expansion in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

In this page:
The Three Macedonian Wars (Sepolcro degli Scipioni)
End of Carthage
Social Unrest (Basilica Aemilia)
Rise of Marius (Trofei di Mario)
Dictatorship of Silla (Tabularium)
Iconography

The Three Macedonian Wars

In 215, during the Second Punic War, Hannibal sought the help of Philip V, King of Macedonia. Carthaginians and Romans had been in the past allied in containing the expansion of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, it was now the turn of a Greek/Carthaginian alliance against Rome.
Philip attacked some Roman outposts in Dalmatia, the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, but he was soon forced to retreat, because the Romans made an alliance with several Greek towns, including Sparta, and even with Attalus I, King of Pergamum, a town on the Asian coast of the Aegean Sea. Eventually in 206 both parties agreed to put an end to the war: the Romans were so occupied in fighting the Carthaginians that they preferred not to have another open front. Philip was worried that his hegemony (supremacy) over Greece could be put at risk by a general uprising of the Greek towns.
In 200 Philip made an alliance with Antiochus III, King of Syria to reciprocally support their expansion plans: Antiochus had designs on Egypt, while Philip wanted to quell the resistance of some Greek towns and islands, such as Athens, Rhodes and Pergamum. All the kingdoms in the Eastern Mediterranean area (Macedonia, Syria, Egypt) were ruled by Greek dynasties, because, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323, his empire was partitioned among his generals. The Greeks appealed to Rome for help; a Roman fleet was sent to protect Athens and Rhodes, while a Roman army landed on the coast of today's Albania and from there it crossed the rugged mountains of Epirus to reach the fertile plain of Thessaly: here in 197 at Cynocephali the Romans defeated Philip, who had to give up his hegemonic plans over Greece, pay a substantial amount of gold and hand over his navy to the Romans. In 196 at the Isthmian Games of Corinth, the Roman consul T. Quintius Flamininus announced the freedom of Greece and in 194 the Romans withdrew their army from Greece.
The war continued against Antiochus who, after a failed attempt to invade Greece, had to face the Romans in Asia, where he was defeated in 190 at Magnesia near Pergamum. In 188 he was forced to reach a peace agreement with the Romans: his territories in Asia Minor, e.g. the River Xanthos valley were partitioned among the allies of Rome.

Temporary exhibition at Musei Capitolini: pedestal of a statue to Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, a Roman consul who in 187 BC conquered Ambrakia, today's Arta in Greece; it was found in 1867 near Portico d'Ottavia

The divisions in the Greek world led Rome to hold the balance in that country. When the Greeks realized this new reality it was too late to stop the Romans. In 171, Perseus, son of Philip, feeling that some Greek towns like Rhodes, once key allies of the Romans, were now weary of their influence, made a last attempt to restore the Macedonian hegemony over Greece. His defeat at Pydna in 168 marked the end of his kingdom; Macedonia was split into four principates which after a failed revolt in 148, became a Roman province; the Romans built Via Egnatia a road from the Adriatic coast to Thessalonica, which allowed them to easily deploy their legions in the area.
The attitude of Rome towards the Greeks changed and a rebellion led in 146 to the destruction of Corinth and to the annexation of continental Greece to the Macedonian province.

(left) Via Appia: section within the walls: on the right loggia of Villa Appia delle Sirene; (right) late XVIIIth century entrance to Sepolcro degli Scipioni opposite Villa Appia delle Sirene

In Rome the period of the Macedonian wars saw the rise and fall of the Scipio family; many members of this family were appointed consuls or held other important offices: two of them were surnamed Africanus and Asiaticus for their victories in Africa and Asia.
The laws of Rome did not allow funerary monuments within the pomerium, the city boundary; the Scipio family therefore built a sort of crypt for their dead near Via Appia, in a section which later on was included in the pomerium, but which at that time was outside it. The crypt was cut in a tufa block and its founder, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, was buried in a finely carved sarcophagus. The tomb was discovered in 1780 and it soon became a "must see" for the learned travellers of the Grand Tour.

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 at the court of Prusias I, King of Bithynia; in 183, betrayed by Prusias, he poisoned himself to avoid being consigned to the Romans.

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 (knights), 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, in order 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 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); more images of the basilica in Plate 31

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 Emperor Augustus, so the original republican pavement is underneath that visible today. It did not have an apse at its end (you may wish to see the Basilica of Pompeii); the apse made its appearance in later buildings (e.g. Basilica Severiana at Leptis Magna). 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 Eastern 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 to Africa, led by the consul Gaius Marius. In 105 Jugurtha was caught in a snare by Lucius Cornelius Sulla (aka 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 nomadic tribes of Scandinavian origin, the Teutons and the Cimbri, passed into Northern Italy and Southern France, raiding Roman colonies and threatening Massilia, today's Marseille, 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 Arles, 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 depicting weaponry and other militaria 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 (they decorated a large fountain of the IIIrd century AD), but their traditional association with Marius, shows that he was regarded 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 foederati, Italian tribes that were bound by a treaty (foedus) to come to the defence of Rome but were neither Roman colonies nor beneficiaries of Roman citizenship, decided to found a nation of their own and even chose a small town, Corfinium in today's Abruzzo, 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 Silla with the command 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 troops who 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 persecuted 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 (an opening is shown in the image used as background for this page)

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 judicial activities of the city.
It is in this framework that one must place the Tabularium, a large building erected in 79, where the tabulae, the written laws of the Romans 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 stated that 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 judicial system derive from those defined by the Romans.

(left) Evidence of the "Tabularium" on the northern side of Palazzo Senatorio; (right) inscription related to the construction of the "Tabularium" stating that: "[Q(uintus) Lu]tatius Q(uinti) f(ilius) Q(uinti) n(epos) C[atulus co(n)s(ul)/ de s]en(atus) sent(entia) faciundu[m coeravit]/ eidemque [p]rob[avit]" Quintus Lutatius Catulus was consul in 78 BC. The formula "eidemque probavit" (He tested it himself) was used also at Ponte Fabricio

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 links show works of art portraying characters and events mentioned in this page (they open in another window):
Scipio the African was mainly portrayed while setting free a girl or a young man:
The generosity of Scipio by Nicolas Poussin.
The generosity of Scipio by Sebastiano Ricci.
Scipio freeing Massiva, nephew of Massinissa by Giambattista 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

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V - Pompey and Caesar