027 - Mopping Up
Hello, and welcome to the History of Rome, episode 27, Mopping Up. For the last hundred years, Rome had been consumed by two major theaters of war, North Africa and Greece. The struggles against Carthage and Macedon had become intergenerational affairs and now the grandsons and great-grandsons of the men who had initially declared the wars donned their armor to finally finish the job. The years just after 150 BC would mark the end of resistance on both fronts. Not that the final act played out the same in both theaters, however. In Greece, a pretender to the Macedonian throne would openly court conflict, whereas in North Africa, the Carthaginians did everything they could to prevent another war with Rome. In both cases, though, the results would be the same, and in the watershed year of 146 BC, both Carthage and the great Greek city of Corinth would burn to the ground after being lit by Roman torches. There would be no more mistaking who ruled the Mediterranean. In that year, the Roman Empire was truly born.
In the years leading up to 146, Greece, the dominant focus of Rome for the last 50 years, still existed in a state of relative independence. The Romans did not wish to garrison the whole country and hoped that the example made of Epirus would instill in the Greeks a self-control that would leave the Romans free from military costs in the east. It was not to be, however. The dream of Greek freedom burnt as bright as ever, forcing the Romans to conclude that there could be no half-measures in Greece.
Trouble began in 150 BC when a pretender to the Macedonian throne named Andriscus appeared with the intention of reuniting Macedon and throwing the Romans out. He claimed to be the son of vanquished Perseus and the grandson of Philip V, the last great king of Macedon. Without a strong Roman military presence in Greece, Andriscus followed the path of his alleged father and started to push the boundaries of Roman patience. At the end of the Third Macedonian War, the country had been divided into four republics, economically and politically cut off from one another. Andriscus worked to secretly reunite the territories and began forming an army to deal with inevitable Roman pushback. However, with efforts in his home territory moving slowly, Andriscus took what soldiers he had and marched south, conquering Thessaly, and then returned to Macedon with some momentum, which he was able to use to unite the four republics under his banner.
Rome did not look kindly on this and sent a force to deal with the revolt. But the Romans underestimated the resistance they would face and the small expeditionary army was repelled by the Macedonians. Andriscus was starting to feel pretty good about himself, but his success was made possible only by the disinterest of the Roman Senate and an ineffectual response. Reports of the Macedonian victory changed all that and a new army was sent, this one at full strength and under the command of a brilliant general named Quintus Metellus. That he would soon be called Quintus Metellus Macedonicus should let you know that Andriscus's luck was not long for the world. Quintus marched into Macedon and crushed Andriscus and the Macedonian army without much effort. Whatever steam the Macedonians had been building proved to be just that, a lot of hot air, and they proved not even close to a match for a truly committed Roman army. The pretender was driven off and captured, sharing the fate of his alleged father, and paraded through Rome in Metellus's triumph.
The Senate finally wised up to the fact that their hands-off oversight of Macedon was an unsustainable policy, and so Macedon, along with Epirus, were incorporated into the Roman Empire as official provinces, the first extension of Roman sovereignty into Greece.
Not long after the Macedonians were pacified, another flare of Greek defiance was fired off, this time from Corinth, the leading city of the Achaean League. Metellus was recalled to Rome to receive his triumph, and in his place the consul Lucius Mummius was sent to command the Greek forces. That he would soon be called Lucius Mummius Achaeus should let you know that Corinthian luck was not long for this world either. In an absolutely brutal display of power, Corinth was besieged, overcome, and burned to the ground. The men were slaughtered, and the women and children sold into slavery. The raising of Corinth marked the total ascension of Roman power in Greece. In a few years, the territory would join Macedonia and Epirus as full Roman provinces. Greek freedom was a dead issue.
Running concurrently to the events in Greece, and one of the principal reasons for the initial indifferent response to Macedonian agitation, was the last act of the great struggle with Carthage. Unlike the Greeks, however, the Carthaginians were simply minding their own business when the Roman Senate decided Carthage must be destroyed. After the Battle of Zama, the war party in Carthage was ousted from power, exemplified by the exile of Hannibal. The Carthaginians at heart were merchants and traders. Prosecuting endless wars of empire was not really in their genetic makeup. The period after the Second Punic War was, for the Carthaginians, a return to their true calling, making lots and lots of money.
Forced by Rome to dissolve its army, Carthage found its ledgers now free of an enormous yearly debit. The money was invested in more productive endeavors, endeavors that actually produced a monetary return. Soon Carthage was riding high, economically at least, which filled the Romans with a mixture of envy and dread. Unwilling to relieve the Carthaginians of their debt, and the subservience that came with it, the Romans rejected offers for the war indemnity to be paid in one lump sum, a sum that the Carthaginians could now easily afford. The Carthaginian Senate kept trying to bribe the Romans with free shipments of grain, but Rome insisted on paying for all goods that arrived from Carthage so as not to appear in any way indebted to the Carthaginians.
During these years, the dominant political power in North Africa had become Numidia, led by the loyal Roman ally Massinissa, who had been with them since the final days of the Second Punic War. In the decades after Zama, Massinissa had led the Numidians into Carthaginian territory numerous times, and had peeled off more and more land with each invasion. The Romans were officially neutral, but obviously they had no problem with the Numidians stealing Carthaginian land. By the 150s BC, however, Carthaginian appeasement of Roman power had once again become a hot button issue. The Carthaginians were supposed to have retained their North African holdings under the terms of the Peace Treaty, and Rome was supposed to act as a protector of those terms. But clearly Rome was allowing the Numidians to run amok, and had no intention of looking out for Carthaginian interests. So the Peace Party in Carthage was ousted in favor of a more aggressive faction.
The new party did not advocate war with Rome, they merely sought to raise an army to defend Carthage, which was, technically, a violation of the peace terms, but Rome had already violated the terms by not protecting Carthage from attack. Plus, the last installments of the indemnity were sent to Rome, and many in Carthage believed this released them of any further obligations to Rome. In 151 BC, the Numidians crossed once again into Carthaginian territory and laid siege to a border city. Carthage raised an army of 25,000 to defend the city and lift the siege. After 50 years of peace, however, it could have been 500,000, and the result probably would have been the same. The 25,000 green recruits were easily crushed by the seized Numidians, and for their trouble, all the Carthaginians really did was give the Romans an excuse to destroy them once and for all.
When word came that a Carthaginian army had taken the field, Cato the Elder and his cohorts persuaded the Senate that Carthage was once again on the rise and would remain forever a threat to Rome if it was not utterly destroyed. The Senate agreed and in 149 BC ordered a massive invasion for 80,000 to North Africa. When they arrived, the Carthaginians attempted at once to come to terms, but Roman demands were too harsh. They demanded that the Carthaginians abandon their city and move no less than 10 miles inland. Flabbergasted by this insane demand, the Carthaginian envoys rejected the terms. Once again, just as in the first Punic War, Carthaginian envoys had failed to give up. This time, though, Xanthippus would not be around to bail them out.
The Romans were all set to take the city by force, but disease ripped through the lines and the legions became so weakened that the Romans had to settle for a siege. Two years passed in inconclusive misery for both sides when the Senate realized the mistake they had made. Simply the fact that the only Roman general who had ever been successful in Africa was a Scipio meant that they needed to appoint a Scipio to head the legions. So they elected as consul Scipio Aemilianus, by blood the son of Paulus who had defeated Perseus in the Third Macedonian War, but by adoption the grandson of Scipio Africanus. Scipio Aemilianus only further cemented the Roman superstition that only Scipios could emerge victorious from Africa. Arriving near the end of 147 BC, he immediately blockaded the harbor and laid waste to the countryside. By the time the spring of 146 BC rolled around, the Carthaginians were at their wits end. But again, Roman terms began and ended with the abandonment of the city, and so, despite their desperate situation, the Carthaginians continued to resist.
Finally, Scipio ordered a full attack and the walls were breached. What followed was six days of intense street fighting as the Carthaginians forced the Romans to fight for every block. The overmatched Carthaginians were finally pushed back into their citadel and the Romans ran loose in the city. By this point, of the 700,000 citizens of Carthage, only about 50,000 remained. Everyone else was either dead, enslaved, or had fled. The great city was in the midst of its death throes. Finally, the citadel was breached and the last of the Carthaginians were captured or killed. Against his own wishes, but acting at the Senate's instructions, Scipio set fire to the city, which, according to legend, took ten days to burn.
Survivors, of whom there were too many to take back to Rome as slaves, were forced to live with the mandate they had fought so hard against. Carthage was not to be rebuilt and no settlements were allowed within ten miles of the coast. The days of life at the vital hub of Mediterranean trade was at an end. It was a life of meager subsistence for the descendants of a power that had once upon a time nearly destroyed the Roman Empire. According to further legend, the Romans then plowed the fields around Carthage with salt so that nothing could ever grow there again. The story only emerged in later years, so it is doubtful that it actually happened, but the account gained widespread acceptance and served as a cautionary tale for future generations. Along with the burning of Corinth, the destruction of Carthage was forever offered as a possible scenario to people who resisted Rome. These are not idle threats the Romans would remind their enemies. This is our history. Now, where would you like us to stick that garrison again?
With overseas provinces sprouting up all over the place, in Sicily, in Spain, Africa, and Greece, the Roman Empire as we think of it was beginning to form into its recognizable shape. With Carthage destroyed and Greece pacified, there were no great powers left to really challenge Rome's dominance. Tribes in Spain would harass the Romans endlessly, and Gallic hordes remained a constant threat, but for the most part, the hard part of winning the empire had been completed. It is at this point, and I like to mark 146 BC with a mental pushpin, that the Romans lost a critical unifying force, a worthy opponent.
From this point forward, Roman competitiveness and ambition began to turn inward, and many of its leading citizens began to look for enemies to fight not outside of the empire, but within it. In the years after 146, Rome would be consumed with internal strife, from the class conflicts egged on by the Gracchi brothers, to the revolt of the Italian allies, to the civil war between Marius and Sulla, and then the greater civil war between the Caesars and the Senate. Roman history would return to the Italian peninsula after years abroad. There will of course be excursions back to Africa and into Gaul with Julius Caesar, but the long period of a unified Roman people holding fast against foreign threats is at an end.
Next week, we will return to the city and take stock of the situation. How were the plebeians faring? How much land did the great landowners now own? Was the Senate a representative body at all anymore, or had it become a law unto itself? Rome was now rich and powerful, to what lengths would men go for a piece of it? What was the result of the massive influx of slave labor into Italy? By the way, if you answered a Best Supporting Actor for Peter Ustinov to that last one, you're right. So strap into your seats, the next hundred years are going to be quite a roller coaster.