1.
Stele
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A stele is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in ancient Western culture as a monument. Grave steles were often used for funerary or commemorative purposes, Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. The surface of the stele usually has text, ornamentation, or both, the ornamentation may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Traditional Western gravestones may technically be considered the equivalent of ancient stelae. The most famous example of an inscribed stela leading to increased understanding is the Rosetta Stone, an informative stele of Tiglath-Pileser III is preserved in the British Museum. Two steles built into the walls of a church are major documents relating to the Etruscan language, unfinished standing stones, set up without inscriptions from Libya in North Africa to Scotland were monuments of pre-literate Megalithic cultures in the Late Stone Age. The Pictish stones of Scotland, often carved, date from between the 6th and 9th centuries. An obelisk is a kind of stele. The Insular high crosses of Ireland and Britain are specialized steles, totem poles of North and South America that are made out of stone may also be considered a specialized type of stele. Gravestones, typically with inscribed name and often with inscribed epitaph, are among the most common types of stele seen in Western culture. Most recently, in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the memorial is meant to be read not only as the field, but also as an erasure of data that refer to memory of the Holocaust. Steles have been the medium of stone inscription in China since the Tang dynasty. Chinese steles are generally rectangular stone tablets upon which Chinese characters are carved intaglio with a funerary, commemorative and they can commemorate talented writers and officials, inscribe poems, portraits, or maps, and frequently contain the calligraphy of famous historical figures. During the Han dynasty, tomb inscriptions containing biographical information on deceased people began to be written on stone tablets rather than wooden ones, erecting steles at tombs or temples eventually became a widespread social and religious phenomenon. Emperors found it necessary to promulgate laws, regulating the use of funerary steles by the population, Steles are found at nearly every significant mountain and historical site in China. The First Emperor made five tours of his domain in the 3rd century BC and had Li Si make seven stone inscriptions commemorating and praising his work, of which fragments of two survive. One of the most famous mountain steles is the 13 m high stele at Mount Tai with the calligraphy of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commemorating his imperial sacrifices there in 725. A number of stone monuments have preserved the origin and history of Chinas minority religious communities
2.
Hellenistic art
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A number of the best-known works of Greek sculpture belong to this period, including Laocoön and His Sons, Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. It follows the period of Classical Greek art, while the succeeding Greco-Roman art was largely a continuation of Hellenistic trends. The term Hellenistic refers to the expansion of Greek influence and dissemination of its ideas following the death of Alexander – the Hellenizing of the world, in artistic terms this means that there is huge variety which is often put under the heading of Hellenistic Art for convenience. Each of these dynasties practiced a royal patronage which differed from those of the city-states, in Alexanders entourage were three artists, Lysippus the sculptor, Apelles the painter, and Pyrgoteles the gem cutter and engraver. The period after his death was one of prosperity and considerable extravagance for much of the Greek world. Royalty became important patrons of art, Sculpture, painting and architecture thrived, but vase-painting ceased to be of great significance. Metalwork and a variety of luxury arts produced much fine art. Some types of art were increasingly sophisticated. There has been a trend in writing history to depict Hellenistic art as a decadent style, the 18th century terms Baroque and Rococo have sometimes been applied to the art of this complex and individual period. A renewed interest in historiography as well as recent discoveries, such as the tombs of Vergina. In the architectural field, the dynasties following Hector resulted in vast urban plans, the Doric Temple was virtually abandoned. This city planning was quite innovative for the Greek world, rather than manipulating space by correcting its faults, One notes the appearance of many places of amusement and leisure, notably the multiplication of theatres and parks. The Hellenistic monarchies were advantaged in this regard in that often had vast spaces where they could build large cities, such as Antioch, Pergamon. It was the time of gigantism, thus it was for the temple of Apollo at Didyma. It was designed by Daphnis of Miletus and Paionios of Ephesus at the end of the fourth century BC, the Corinthian order was used for the first time on a full-scale building at the Temple of Olympian Zeus. Pergamon in particular is an example of Hellenistic architecture. Starting from a fortress located on the Acropolis, the various Attalid kings set up a colossal architectural complex. The buildings are fanned out around the Acropolis to take account the nature of the terrain
3.
Museum of Roman Civilization
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The Museum of the Roman Civilization is a museum in Rome, devoted to the aspects of the Ancient Roman civilization. It was designed by the architects Pietro Ascheri, D. Bernardini and its 59 sections illustrate the history of Roman civilization, from the origins to the 4th century, with models and reproductions, as well as original material. The premises are shared with a planetarium and this model is at a 1,250 scale and is made of plaster. The model was begun in 1935 and completed in 1971 and this model is today the most important reference for any serious attempt of reconstruction of the Ancient Rome, it has been used for the Rome Reborn 1.0 3D Visualization Project. Gismondis model can be also in a few shots of the Movie Gladiator by R. Scott. Examples of late imperial and early Christian art a complete sequence of casts of the reliefs round Trajans Column. Official website Model of Archaic Rome
4.
Megalopolis, Greece
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Megalopoli is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the site as ancient Megalopolis. When it was founded in 371 BC, it was the first large urbanization in rustic Arcadia and its theater had a capacity of 20,000 visitors, making it one of the largest ancient Greek theaters. Megalopoli has several schools, shops, churches, hotels and other services, the population of Megalopoli in 2011 was 5,779 for the town proper. Megalopoli is situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains, the Taygetus to the south, the Mainalo to the north, the Tsemperou to the southeast. Its elevation is 430 m above sea level, the river Alfeios flows through this valley, coming from the east and flowing to the north, passing south and west of the town. Its tributary Elissonas passes north of the town, the large lignite deposits around Megalopoli are being exploited by open-pit mining. The Megalopoli Power Plant,3 km northwest of the centre, has produced electricity from this lignite since 1969. The A7 motorway connects Megalopoli with Kalamata and Tripoli, replacing the Greek National Road 7, the Greek National Road 7 connects Megalopoli with Pyrgos via Karytaina and Andritsaina. The railway from Corinth to Kalamata passes 4 km south of the town, Megalopoli is 24 km southwest of Tripoli,41 km north of Kalamata,45 km northwest of Sparti and 68 km southeast of Pyrgos. Megalopolis is known for its ancient ruins situated northwest of the town centre, the ruins include an ancient theatre that used to hold up to 20,000 people and was 30 m tall. Other landmarks include the Thersileon with 67 pillars and a temple, herodotus reported the ancient belief that the Megalopolis area was a battleground of the Titanomachy. Herodotus informs his readers that the bones of Titans were exhibited in places in the surrounding area at least since the 5th century BC. The city was founded between 371 and 368 BC by the Theban general Epaminondas and the Arcadian League in an attempt to form a counterweight to Sparta. It was one of the 40 places that were megále pólis, Megalopolis was a member of the Arcadian League after its foundation until the dissolution of the federation in 362 BC. In 331 BC, Megalopolis was invaded by the Spartans and there was a battle with the Macedonians that came to Megalopolis help. In 235 BC, the tyrant of the city, Lydiades, gave up control over the polis, in 223 BC, the Spartan king Cleomenes III burnt down the city but it was reinstated by Philopoemen, the general of the Achaean League. By the city remained populated under the Romans but by the 6th century it was almost completely abandoned, the nearby village of Sinano, situated south of the ancient city, was renamed Megalopoli after Greek Independence.629 km2, the municipal unit 331.498 km2
5.
Arcadia (ancient region)
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Arcadia was a region in the central Peloponnese. It took its name from the mythological character Arcas and in Greek mythology, in European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness. There is also a regional unit of Greece of the same name. Arcadia was gradually linked in a confederation that included all the Arcadian towns and was named League of the Arcadians. It successfully faced in 7th century BC the threat of Sparta and they participated in the Persian Wars alongside other Greeks by sending forces at Thermopylae and Plataea. During the Peloponnesian War Arcadia allied with Sparta and Corinth, in the following years, during the period of the Hegemony of Thebes, the Theban general Epaminondas reinforced the Arcadian federation in order to form a rival pole to the neighboring Sparta. Then he founded Megalopolis which became its new capital, over the next centuries Arcadia weakened. It initially subjugated to the Macedonians and later the Arcadians joined the Achaean League, geographically, ancient Arcadia occupied the highlands at the centre of the Peloponnese. To the north, it bordered Achaea along the ridge of ground running from Mount Erymanthos to Mount Cyllene. To the east, it had borders with Argolis and Corinthia along the ridge of ground running from Mount Cyllene round to Mount Oligyrtus. To the south-west, the border with Messania ran along the tops of Mount Nomia, and Mount Elaeum, most of the region of Arcardia was mountainous, apart from the plains around Tegea and Megalopolis, and the valleys of the Alpheios and Ladon rivers. The Arcadians were an ancient Greek tribe which was situated in the mountainous Peloponnese and it is considered one of the oldest Greek tribes which settled in Greece and it was probably a relative tribe of the proto-Greeks who are mentioned by the ancient authors as Pelasgians. Whilst Herodotus seems to have found the idea that the Arcadians were not Greek far-fetched and this is testified by ancient myths, like the myth of Arcas, the myth of Lycaon etc. Arcadia is also one of the regions described in the catalogue of ships in the Iliad, agamemnon himself gave Arcadia the ships for the Trojan war because Arcadia did not have a navy. Due to its remote, mountainous character, Arcadia seems to have been a cultural refuge, arcadocypriot never became a literary dialect, but it is known from inscriptions. Tsan is a letter of the Greek alphabet occurring only in Arcadia, shaped like Cyrillic И, of these the strongest were the cities which controlled the few fertile valleys, Mantinea, Tegea and Orchomenos. The remaining towns were more mountainous or had smaller plains, some of these were Asea, Ypsounta, Teuthis, Heraea, Thyraion, Nestani, Alea, Lykosoura, Trikolonon, Tropea, Caphyae, Pallantion, Feneos etc. From 370 BC the capital of Arcadia became Megalopolis
6.
The Histories (Polybius)
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Polybius’ Histories were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work is passed down to us through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in Byzantium, Polybius Histories begin in the year 264 BC and end in 146 BC. He is primarily concerned with the 53 years in which Ancient Rome became a dominant world power and this period, from 220–167 BC, saw Rome subjugate Carthage and gain control over Hellenistic Greece. Books I through V cover the affairs of important states at the time and deal extensively with the First, in Book VI he describes the Roman Constitution and outlines the powers of the consuls, Senate and People. He concludes that the success of the Roman state was based on their constitution, which combined elements of a democracy, aristocracy. Tyche, which means fate or fortune, plays an role in Polybius’ understanding of history. Tyche takes on a meaning in his work. It can mean fortune or happenstance, but tyche was also personified as a goddess according to Hellenistic convention, the exploration of Tyche is also the impetus for Polybius beginning his work, in that he discusses the fortunate events that led to Rome’s domination of the Mediterranean. In Book VI Polybius digresses into an explanation of the Roman constitution, the purpose for this is involved in the Hellenistic nature of the work, particularly his audience, Greeks. Greeks at this time believed that the strength of a state is manifested in the strength of its constitution, the mixed constitution was touted as the strongest constitution as it combined the three integral types of government, monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Polybius makes further distinction in the forms of government by including the nefarious counterparts to the mentioned above, tyranny, oligarchy. These governments, according to Polybius cycle in a process called anacyclosis, the Romans avoided this problem through the structure of their Republic. The first English translation, made by Christopher Watson, was published in London in 1568 as The hystories of the most famous, F. W. Walbank wrote a comprehensive commentary on the Histories in three volumes, which was published in 1957. Herodotus Thucydides Xenophon Mogens Herman Hansen 1995, Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State, Symposium, August, 24-271994, danske, Videnskabernes Selskab,376 pages ISBN 87-7304-267-6 Robert Pashley, Travels in Crete,1837, J. Murray C. Michael Hogan, Cydonia, Jan. 23,2008, The Modern Antiquarian Polybius, Frank W. Walbank, the Rise of the Roman Empire. English and Greek version The Histories Translation by W. R. Paton Short introduction to the life and work of Polybius Polybius and the Founding Fathers, the separation of powers
7.
Roman Republic
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It was during this period that Romes control expanded from the citys immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. During the first two centuries of its existence, the Roman Republic expanded through a combination of conquest and alliance, by the following century, it included North Africa, most of the Iberian Peninsula, and what is now southern France. Two centuries after that, towards the end of the 1st century BC, it included the rest of modern France, Greece, and much of the eastern Mediterranean. By this time, internal tensions led to a series of wars, culminating with the assassination of Julius Caesar. The exact date of transition can be a matter of interpretation, Roman government was headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and advised by a senate composed of appointed magistrates. Over time, the laws that gave exclusive rights to Romes highest offices were repealed or weakened. The leaders of the Republic developed a tradition and morality requiring public service and patronage in peace and war, making military. Many of Romes legal and legislative structures can still be observed throughout Europe and much of the world in modern nation states, the exact causes and motivations for Romes military conflicts and expansions during the republic are subject to wide debate. While they can be seen as motivated by outright aggression and imperialism and they argue that Romes expansion was driven by short-term defensive and inter-state factors, and the new contingencies that these decisions created. In its early history, as Rome successfully defended itself against foreign threats in central and then northern Italy, with some important exceptions, successful wars in early republican Rome generally led not to annexation or military occupation, but to the restoration of the way things were. But the defeated city would be weakened and thus able to resist Romanizing influences. It was also able to defend itself against its non-Roman enemies. It was, therefore, more likely to seek an alliance of protection with Rome and this growing coalition expanded the potential enemies that Rome might face, and moved Rome closer to confrontation with major powers. The result was more alliance-seeking, on the part of both the Roman confederacy and city-states seeking membership within that confederacy. While there were exceptions to this, it was not until after the Second Punic War that these alliances started to harden into something more like an empire and this shift mainly took place in parts of the west, such as the southern Italian towns that sided with Hannibal. In contrast, Roman expansion into Spain and Gaul occurred as a mix of alliance-seeking, in the 2nd century BC, Roman involvement in the Greek east remained a matter of alliance-seeking, but this time in the face of major powers that could rival Rome. This had some important similarities to the events in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the Roman Republic remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It was not until the time of the Roman Empire that the entire Roman world was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control
8.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
9.
Greeks
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The Greeks or Hellenes are an ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Turkey, Sicily, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world, many of these regions coincided to a large extent with the borders of the Byzantine Empire of the late 11th century and the Eastern Mediterranean areas of ancient Greek colonization. The cultural centers of the Greeks have included Athens, Thessalonica, Alexandria, Smyrna, most ethnic Greeks live nowadays within the borders of the modern Greek state and Cyprus. The Greek genocide and population exchange between Greece and Turkey nearly ended the three millennia-old Greek presence in Asia Minor, other longstanding Greek populations can be found from southern Italy to the Caucasus and southern Russia and Ukraine and in the Greek diaspora communities in a number of other countries. Today, most Greeks are officially registered as members of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Greeks speak the Greek language, which forms its own unique branch within the Indo-European family of languages, the Hellenic. They are part of a group of ethnicities, described by Anthony D. Smith as an archetypal diaspora people. Both migrations occur at incisive periods, the Mycenaean at the transition to the Late Bronze Age, the Mycenaeans quickly penetrated the Aegean Sea and, by the 15th century BC, had reached Rhodes, Crete, Cyprus and the shores of Asia Minor. Around 1200 BC, the Dorians, another Greek-speaking people, followed from Epirus, the Dorian invasion was followed by a poorly attested period of migrations, appropriately called the Greek Dark Ages, but by 800 BC the landscape of Archaic and Classical Greece was discernible. The Greeks of classical antiquity idealized their Mycenaean ancestors and the Mycenaean period as an era of heroes, closeness of the gods. The Homeric Epics were especially and generally accepted as part of the Greek past, as part of the Mycenaean heritage that survived, the names of the gods and goddesses of Mycenaean Greece became major figures of the Olympian Pantheon of later antiquity. The ethnogenesis of the Greek nation is linked to the development of Pan-Hellenism in the 8th century BC, the works of Homer and Hesiod were written in the 8th century BC, becoming the basis of the national religion, ethos, history and mythology. The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was established in this period, the classical period of Greek civilization covers a time spanning from the early 5th century BC to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It is so named because it set the standards by which Greek civilization would be judged in later eras, the Peloponnesian War, the large scale civil war between the two most powerful Greek city-states Athens and Sparta and their allies, left both greatly weakened. Many Greeks settled in Hellenistic cities like Alexandria, Antioch and Seleucia, two thousand years later, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, like the Kalash, who claim to be descended from Greek settlers. The Hellenistic civilization was the period of Greek civilization, the beginnings of which are usually placed at Alexanders death. This Hellenistic age, so called because it saw the partial Hellenization of many non-Greek cultures and this age saw the Greeks move towards larger cities and a reduction in the importance of the city-state. These larger cities were parts of the still larger Kingdoms of the Diadochi, Greeks, however, remained aware of their past, chiefly through the study of the works of Homer and the classical authors. An important factor in maintaining Greek identity was contact with barbarian peoples and this led to a strong desire among Greeks to organize the transmission of the Hellenic paideia to the next generation
10.
Hellenistic period
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It is often considered a period of transition, sometimes even of decadence or degeneration, compared to the enlightenment of the Greek Classical era. The Hellenistic period saw the rise of New Comedy, Alexandrian poetry, the Septuagint, Greek science was advanced by the works of the mathematician Euclid and the polymath Archimedes. The religious sphere expanded to include new gods such as the Greco-Egyptian Serapis, eastern deities such as Attis and Cybele, the Hellenistic period was characterized by a new wave of Greek colonization which established Greek cities and kingdoms in Asia and Africa. This resulted in the export of Greek culture and language to new realms. Equally, however, these new kingdoms were influenced by the cultures, adopting local practices where beneficial, necessary. Hellenistic culture thus represents a fusion of the Ancient Greek world with that of the Near East, Middle East and this mixture gave rise to a common Attic-based Greek dialect, known as Koine Greek, which became the lingua franca through the Hellenistic world. Scholars and historians are divided as to what event signals the end of the Hellenistic era, Hellenistic is distinguished from Hellenic in that the first encompasses the entire sphere of direct ancient Greek influence, while the latter refers to Greece itself. The word originated from the German term hellenistisch, from Ancient Greek Ἑλληνιστής, from Ἑλλάς, Hellenistic is a modern word and a 19th-century concept, the idea of a Hellenistic period did not exist in Ancient Greece. Although words related in form or meaning, e. g, the major issue with the term Hellenistic lies in its convenience, as the spread of Greek culture was not the generalized phenomenon that the term implies. Some areas of the world were more affected by Greek influences than others. The Greek population and the population did not always mix, the Greeks moved and brought their own culture. While a few fragments exist, there is no surviving historical work which dates to the hundred years following Alexanders death. The works of the major Hellenistic historians Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, the earliest and most credible surviving source for the Hellenistic period is Polybius of Megalopolis, a statesman of the Achaean League until 168 BC when he was forced to go to Rome as a hostage. His Histories eventually grew to a length of forty books, covering the years 220 to 167 BC, another important source, Plutarchs Parallel Lives though more preoccupied with issues of personal character and morality, outlines the history of important Hellenistic figures. Appian of Alexandria wrote a history of the Roman empire that includes information of some Hellenistic kingdoms, other sources include Justins epitome of Pompeius Trogus Historiae Philipicae and a summary of Arrians Events after Alexander, by Photios I of Constantinople. Lesser supplementary sources include Curtius Rufus, Pausanias, Pliny, in the field of philosophy, Diogenes Laertius Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers is the main source. Ancient Greece had traditionally been a collection of fiercely independent city-states. After the Peloponnesian War, Greece had fallen under a Spartan hegemony, in which Sparta was pre-eminent but not all-powerful
11.
Battle of Carthage (c. 149 BC)
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The Battle of Carthage was the main engagement of the Third Punic War between the Punic city of Carthage in Africa and the Roman Republic. It was an operation, starting sometime between 149 and 148 BC, and ending in spring 146 BC with the sack and complete destruction of the city of Carthage. After a Roman army under Manius Manilius landed in Africa in 149 BC, Carthage surrendered and handed over hostages and arms. However, the Romans demanded the surrender of the city, and surprisingly to the Romans the city refused. The Carthaginians manned the walls and defied the Romans, a situation which lasted for two years, in this period, the 500,000 Carthaginians inside the wall transformed the town into a huge arsenal. They produced about 300 swords,500 spears,140 shields, the Romans elected the young but popular Scipio Aemilianus as consul, a special law being passed to lift the age restriction. Scipio restored discipline, defeated the Carthaginians at Nepheris, and besieged the city closely, in spring 146 BC, the Romans broke through the city wall but they were hard-pressed to take the city. Every building, house and temple had been turned into a stronghold, the Romans were forced to move slowly, capturing the city house by house, street by street and fighting each Carthaginian soldier who fought with courage born of despair. Eventually after hours upon hours of fighting, the Carthaginians surrendered. An estimated 50,000 surviving inhabitants were sold into slavery, the land surrounding Carthage was eventually declared ager publicus, and it was shared between local farmers, and Roman and Italian ones. They negotiated their surrender, but Scipio Aemilianus expressed that forgiveness was impossible either for Hasdrubal, Hasdrubal then left the Citadel to surrender and pray for mercy. At that moment Hasdrubals wife allegedly went out with her two children, insulted her husband, sacrificed her sons and jumped with them into a fire that the deserters had started, the deserters too then hurled themselves into the flames, upon which Scipio Aemilianus began weeping. He recited a sentence from Homers Iliad, a prophecy about the destruction of Troy, Scipio declared that the fate of Carthage might one day be Romes. Polybius actually heard him and recalls it in his history, since the 19th century, various historians have claimed that the Romans plowed over the city and sowed salt into the soil after destroying it, but this is not supported by ancient sources. Campbell, Besieged, siege warfare in the ancient world, Osprey Publishing,2006, ISBN 1-84603-019-6, pages 113–114
12.
Separation of powers
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The separation of powers, often imprecisely and metonymically used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The typical division of branches is into a legislature, an executive, and it can be contrasted with the fusion of powers in some parliamentary systems where the executive and legislature are unified. Separation of powers, therefore, refers to the division of responsibilities into distinct branches to any one branch from exercising the core functions of another. The intent is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks, aristotle first mentioned the idea of a mixed government or hybrid government in his work Politics where he drew upon many of the constitutional forms in the city-states of Ancient Greece. In the Roman Republic, the Roman Senate, Consuls and the Assemblies showed an example of a government according to Polybius. John Calvin favoured a system of government that divided political power between democracy and aristocracy, Calvin appreciated the advantages of democracy, stating, It is an invaluable gift if God allows a people to elect its own government and magistrates. In this way, Calvin and his followers resisted political absolutism, Calvin aimed to protect the rights and the well-being of ordinary people. In 1620, a group of English separatist Congregationalists and Anglicans founded Plymouth Colony in North America, enjoying self-rule, they established a bipartite democratic system of government. Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, books like William Bradfords History of Plymoth Plantation were widely read in England. So the form of government in the colonies was well known in the mother country, the term tripartite system is ascribed to French Enlightenment political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu. In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu described the separation of power among a legislature, an executive. Montesquieus approach was to present and defend a form of government which was not excessively centralized in all its powers to a monarch or similar ruler. He based this model on the Constitution of the Roman Republic, Montesquieu took the view that the Roman Republic had powers separated so that no one could usurp complete power. In the British constitutional system, Montesquieu discerned a separation of powers among the monarch, Parliament, Montesquieu did actually specify that the independence of the judiciary has to be real, and not apparent merely. The judiciary was generally seen as the most important of powers, independent and unchecked, typically this was accomplished through a system of checks and balances, the origin of which, like separation of powers itself, is specifically credited to Montesquieu. Constitutions with a degree of separation of powers are found worldwide. The UK system is distinguished by a particular entwining of powers, a number of Latin American countries have electoral branches of government. Countries with little separation of power include New Zealand and Canada, Canada makes limited use of separation of powers in practice, although in theory it distinguishes between branches of government
13.
Montesquieu
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He is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, which is implemented in many constitutions throughout the world. He is also known for doing more than any author to secure the place of the word despotism in the political lexicon. Montesquieu was born at the Château de la Brède in southwest France,25 kilometres south of Bordeaux and his father, Jacques de Secondat, was a soldier with a long noble ancestry. His mother, Marie Françoise de Pesnel, who died when Charles was seven, was an heiress who brought the title of Barony of La Brède to the Secondat family. After the death of his mother he was sent to the Catholic College of Juilly, a prominent school for the children of French nobility and his father died in 1713 and he became a ward of his uncle, the Baron de Montesquieu. He became a counselor of the Bordeaux Parliament in 1714, in 1715 he married Jeanne de Lartigue, a Protestant, who eventually bore him three children. The Baron died in 1716, leaving him his fortune as well as his title, Montesquieus early life occurred at a time of significant governmental change. England had declared itself a constitutional monarchy in the wake of its Glorious Revolution, in France the long-reigning Louis XIV died in 1715 and was succeeded by the five-year-old Louis XV. These national transformations had a impact on Montesquieu, he would refer to them repeatedly in his work. Montesquieu withdrew from the practice of law to himself to study. De lEsprit des Lois was originally published anonymously in 1748, the book quickly rose to influence political thought profoundly in Europe and America. In France, the met with an unfriendly reception from both supporters and opponents of the regime. The Catholic Church banned lEsprit – along with many of Montesquieus other works – in 1751 and it received the highest praise from the rest of Europe, especially Britain. Montesquieu was also regarded in the British colonies in North America as a champion of liberty. Following the American revolution, Montesquieus work remained an influence on many of the American founders, most notably James Madison of Virginia. He was buried in the Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris, Montesquieus philosophy of history minimized the role of individual persons and events. Ask the Romans, who had a sequence of successes when they were guided by a certain plan. There are general causes, moral and physical, which act in every monarchy, elevating it, maintaining it, all accidents are controlled by these causes
14.
The Spirit of the Laws
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The Spirit of the Laws is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieus works were subject to censorship, in 1750 Thomas Nugent published the first English translation. In 1751 the Catholic Church added De lesprit des lois to its Index Librorum Prohibitorum, in his classification of political systems, Montesquieu defines three main kinds, republican, monarchical, and despotic. Driving each classification of political system, according to Montesquieu, must be what he calls a principle and this principle acts as a spring or motor to motivate behavior on the part of the citizens in ways that will tend to support that regime and make it function smoothly. For democratic republics, this spring is the love of virtue—the willingness to put the interests of the community ahead of private interests, for monarchies, the spring is the love of honor—the desire to attain greater rank and privilege. Finally, for despotisms, the spring is the fear of the ruler, a political system cannot last long if its appropriate principle is lacking. Montesquieu claims, for example, that the English failed to establish a republic after the Civil War because the society lacked the love of virtue. A second major theme in De lesprit des lois concerns political liberty, Political liberty is Montesquieus concept of what we might call today personal security, especially insofar as this is provided for through a system of dependable and moderate laws. He distinguishes this view of liberty from two other, misleading views of political liberty, the first is the view that liberty consists in collective self-government—i. e. that liberty and democracy are the same. The second is the view that liberty consists in being able to do whatever one wants without constraint, not only are these latter two not genuine political liberty, he thinks, they can both be hostile to it. Political liberty is not possible in a political system, but it is possible, though not guaranteed, in republics. Generally speaking, establishing political liberty on a sound footing requires two things, The separation of the powers of government, in a lengthy discussion of the English political system, he tries to show how this might be achieved and liberty secured, even in a monarchy. He also notes that liberty cannot be secure where there is no separation of powers, the appropriate framing of civil and criminal laws so as to ensure personal security. Pursuant to this requirement to frame civil and criminal laws appropriately to ensure political liberty, Montesquieu also argues against slavery and for the freedom of thought, speech and assembly. The third major contribution of De lesprit des lois was to the field of political sociology, the bulk of the treatise, in fact, concerns how geography and climate interact with particular cultures to produce the spirit of a people. This spirit, in turn, inclines that people toward certain sorts of political and social institutions, later writers often caricatured Montesquieus theory by suggesting that he claimed to explain legal variation simply by the distance of a community from the equator. While the analysis in De lesprit des lois is much more subtle than these later writers perceive,1748, Crowder, Wark, and Payne,1777. Bok, Hilary, Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat, anne M. Cohler, Basia Carolyn Miller, and Harold Samuel Stone
15.
United States Constitution
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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
16.
Arcadia
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Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and it takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan, in European Renaissance arts, Arcadia was celebrated as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness. Arcadia has its capital at Tripoli. It covers about 18% of the Peloponnese peninsula, making it the largest regional unit on the peninsula, Arcadia has a ski resort on Mount Mainalo, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. Other mountains of Arcadia are the Parnon in the southeast and the Lykaion in the west, the climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part, the low-lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and winter months in the rest of Arcadia, winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon. After the collapse of the Roman power in the west, Arcadia became part of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, the region fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1460. With the exception of a period of Venetian rule in 1687–1715, the phrase is most often associated with a 1647 painting by Nicolas Poussin, also known as The Arcadian Shepherds. In the painting the phrase appears as an inscription on a tomb discovered by youthful figures in classical garb, Arcadia was one of the centres of the Greek War of Independence which saw victories in their battles including one in Tripoli. After a victorious war, Arcadia was finally incorporated into the newly created Greek state. Arcadia saw economic growth and small emigration, in the 20th century, Arcadia experienced extensive population loss through emigration, mostly to the Americas. Many Arcadian villages lost half their inhabitants, and fears arose that they would turn into ghost towns, Arcadia now has a smaller population than Corinthia. Demographers expected that its population would halve between 1951 and the early 21st century, the population has fallen to 87,000 in 2011. An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale shook Megalopoli, large numbers of buildings were destroyed, leaving people homeless. Within a couple of years, the buildings were rebuilt anti-seismically, in 1967, construction began on the Megalopoli Power Plant, which began operating in 1970, producing additional electricity for southern Greece. A mining area south of the plant is the largest mining area in the peninsula, in July and August 2007 forest fires caused damage in Arcadia, notably in the mountains
17.
Achaean League
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The Achaean League was a Hellenistic-era confederation of Greek city states on the northern and central Peloponnese. The league was named after the region of Achaea in the northwestern Peloponnese, the first league was formed in the 5th century BC. The second Achaean League was established in 280 BC, as a rival of Antigonid Macedon and an ally of Rome, the league played a major role in the exapansion of the Roman Republic into Greece. This process eventually led to the Leagues conquest and dissolution by the Romans in 146 BC, the League represents the most successful attempt by the Greek city states to develop a form of federalism, which balanced the need for collective action with the desire for local autonomy. Through the writings of the Achaean statesman Polybius, this structure has had an influence on the constitution of the United States, the first Achaean League became active in the fifth century in the northwestern Peloponnese. After the catastrophic destruction of the ancient capital Helike by an earthquake and tsunami in 373 BC, it appears to have lapsed sometime in the fourth century. The regional Achaean League was reformed in 281/0 BC by the communities of Dyme, Patrae, Pharae and Tritaea, joined in 275 by Aegium, the league grew quickly to include the entire Achaean heartland, and after a decade it had ten or eleven members. Since the Sicyonians were of Dorian and Ionian origin, their inclusion opened the League for other national elements, Aratus, then only twenty years old, rapidly grew to become the leading politician of the League. In the thirty two years between 245 and his death in 213, Aratus would hold the office of general a total of sixteen times. In other cities of the Peloponnese, namely Argos, Orchomenus and he then used the money to challenge the Macedonian hold on the Peloponnese. Aratus greatest success came when he captured Corinth and the fortress of Acrocorinth in 243 BC in a night attack. This effectively blocked Macedonian access to the Peloponnese by land, isolating their allies at Megalopolis, Antigonus Gonatas finally made peace with the Achaean League in a treaty of 240 BC, ceding the territories that he had lost in Greece. Corinth was followed by Megalopolis in 235 BC and Argos in 229 BC, however the league soon ran into difficulties with the revived Sparta of Cleomenes III. Aratus was forced to call in the aid of the Macedonian King, Antigonus III Doson, Antigonus Doson re-established Macedonian control over much of the region. In 220 BC, the Achaean League entered into a war against the Aetolian League, the young king Philip V of Macedon sided with the Achaeans and called for a Panhellenic conference in Corinth, where the Aetolian aggression was condemned. After Aratuss death, however, the League joined Rome in the Second Macedonian War, the Achaean League was one of the main beneficieries. Under the leadership of Philopoemen, the League was able to defeat a heavily weakened Sparta. The Leagues dominance was not to last long, however, in 146 BC, the leagues relations with Rome completely collapsed, leading to the Achaean War
18.
Strategos
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Strategos or Strategus, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenistic world and the Byzantine Empire the term was used to describe a military governor. In the modern Hellenic Army it is the highest officer rank, the ten were of equal status, and replaced the polemarchos, who had hitherto been the senior military commander. At Marathon in 490 BC they decided strategy by majority vote, at this date the polemarchos had a casting vote, and one view is that he was the commander-in-chief, but from 486 onwards the polemarchos, like the other archontes, was appointed by lot. The annual election of the strategoi was held in the spring, if a strategos died or was dismissed from office, a by-election might be held to replace him. This system continued at least until ca, 356/7 BC, but by the time Aristotle wrote his Constitution of the Athenians in ca.330 BC, the appointments were made without any reference to tribal affiliation. Hence, during the Hellenistic period, although the number of the tribes was increased, as political power passed to the rhetores in the later 5th century, the strategoi were limited to their military duties. Originally, the strategoi were appointed ad hoc to various assignments and this was generalized in Hellenistic times, when each strategos was given specific duties. One of them, the strategos epi ta hopla, ascended to major prominence in the Roman period, the Athenian people kept a close eye on their strategoi. If the vote went against anyone, he was deposed and as a rule tried by jury, the strategos as an office is attested at least for Syracuse from the late 5th century BC, Erythrae, and in the koinon of the Arcadians in the 360s BC. The title of strategos autokrator was also used for generals with broad powers, thus Philip II of Macedon was elected as strategos autokrator of the League of Corinth. g. In the Hellenistic empires of the Diadochi, notably Lagid Egypt, for which most details are known, in Egypt, the strategoi were originally responsible for the Greek military colonists established in the country. Quickly, they assumed a role in the administration alongside the nomarches, the governor of each of the nomes. Already by the time of Ptolemy II, the strategos was the head of the administration, while conversely his military role declines. Ptolemy V established the office of epistrategos to oversee the individual strategoi, the latter had now become solely civilian officials, combining the role of the nomarches and the oikonomos, while the epistrategos retained powers of military command. In addition, hypostrategoi could be appointed as subordinates, the office largely retained its Ptolemaic functions and continued to be staffed by the Greek population of the country. The Odrysian kingdom of Thrace was also divided into strategiai, each headed by a strategos, based on the various Thracian tribes and subtribes. At the time of the annexation into the Roman Empire in 46 AD, there were 50 such districts, which were initially retained in the new Roman province
19.
Philopoemen
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Philopoemen was a skilled Greek general and statesman, who was Achaean strategos on eight occasions. From the time he was appointed as strategos in 209 BC and he was called the last of the Greeks by an anonymous Roman. The son of Craugis of Megalopolis, his father died early in his life and he was then adopted by an important citizen of Megalopolis, Cleander. Philopoemen was educated by academic philosophers Ecdemus and Demophanes, both were Megapolitans, who had helped to depose previous tyrants of Megalopolis, Sicyon and Cyrene. Thus, he was inculcated with notions of freedom and democracy, Philopoemen strove to emulate the 4th-century BC Theban general and statesman, Epaminondas. Philopoemen believed that as a servant, personal virtue was at all times a necessary condition. So Philopoemen wore humble garments for the rest of his life, Philopoemen first came to the attention of key Greek politicians when he helped defend Megalopolis against the Spartan king Cleomenes III in 223 BC. Philopoemen was amongst the first defending the city, during the battle, Philopoemen lost his horse and he was wounded. Nevertheless, he remained involved in the battle until the end and his actions helped give the citizens of Megalopolis enough time to evacuate the city. The king of Macedonia, Antigonus III Doson was keen to restore Macedonian influence in the Peloponnese for the first time in almost two decades, in 224 BC, he signed an alliance with the Achaeans, Boeotians, Thessalians and the Acarnanians. With his rear secured by treaties, Antigonus invaded the Peloponnese and drove the Spartans out of Argos, taking Orchomenus, when he advanced against Laconia, however, Antigonus found that Cleomenes had blocked all the mountain passes except for one. It was there, near Sellasia, that Cleomenes waited with his army, Philopoemen commanded a cavalry force, which included soldiers from Megalopolis. He was supported by Illyrian infantry, when the latter entered into the battle, they were surrounded by the enemy. So Philopoemen launched his own attack, while his forces suffered many casualties, the surprised Spartan forces fled. In the encounter, Philopoemens horse fell and he was wounded by a javelin, yet he continued to fight behind the enemys lines. In the end the Spartan forces were massacred by the Macedonians, as the leader of the Achaeans, Philopoemen’s actions impressed Antigonus III. He subsequently spent 10 years from 221 BC in Crete as a mercenary captain, returning to mainland Greece in 210 BC, Philopoemen was appointed commander of the cavalry in the Achaean League. During the battle, Damophantus charged directly against Philopoemen with his spear, bravely, Philopoemen didnt retreat, but waited with his lance, which he mortally thrust into Damophantus chest
20.
Perseus of Macedon
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Perseus was the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He also has the distinction of being the last of the line, after losing the Battle of Pydna on 22 June 168 BC, Perseus was the son of king Philip V of Macedon and a concubine, probably Polycratia of Argos. He therefore feared that the throne pass on his legitimate younger brother Demetrius, not least due to interference from the Romans. Perseus thus staged a plot to make their father believe that his brother was a traitor, in 179 BC Philip V of Macedon died and Perseus took the throne. Although his role in killing Demetrius had not endeared him to the Romans, yet, Perseus other actions troubled the Senate. Soon Rome and Perseus went to war in the Third Macedonian War, blaise Pascal mentions in his Pensées that Perseus was blamed for not committing suicide, supposedly after his defeat at Pydna. The Antigonid kingdom was dissolved, and replaced with four republics, Andriscus of Macedon broke off the Roman rule for about a year, but was defeated in 148 BC by the Romans. In 146 BC, following the quashing of a rebellion led by the last Macedonian king Andriscus, the four republics were dissolved, in 178 BC, he had married Laodice V, the daughter of Seleucus IV from Syria. He became a metalworker, learned the Latin language. History of Macedonia Macedonian Wars Media related to Perseus of Macedon at Wikimedia Commons
21.
Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
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Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and at first ruled by the royal Argead dynasty, the reign of Philip II saw the rise of Macedonia, during which the kingdom rose to control the entire Greek world. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the decisive Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Sparta was kept isolated and was occupied a century later by Antigonus III Doson. Alexander then led a roughly decade-long campaign of conquest against the Achaemenid Empire, in the ensuing wars of Alexander the Great, he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered a territory that stretched as far as the Indus River. For a brief period, his Macedonian empire was the most powerful in the world – the definitive Hellenistic state, Greek arts and literature flourished in the new conquered lands and advances in philosophy, engineering, and science were spread throughout much of the ancient world. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle, who had been imported as tutor to Alexander, important cities such as Pella, Pydna, and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory. New cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander, Macedonias decline began with the Macedonian Wars and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Second Macedonian War in 168 BC, a short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Third Macedonian War in 150–148 BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia. The name Macedonia comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες, which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός, meaning tall and it also shares the same root as the noun μάκρος, meaning length in both ancient and modern Greek. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders, the tall ones. Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology. Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, the kingdom of Macedonia was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia, north of Mount Olympus. Historian Malcolm Errington posits the theory one of the earliest Argead kings must have established Aigai as their capital in the mid-7th century BC. Prior to the 4th century BC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding to the western. Achaemenid Persian hegemony over Macedonia was briefly interrupted by the Ionian Revolt, although Macedonia enjoyed a large degree of autonomy and was never made a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire, it was expected to provide troops for the Achaemenid army. Following the Greek victory at Salamis in 480 BC, Alexander I was employed as an Achaemenid diplomat to strike a treaty and alliance with Athens. Soon afterwards the Achaemenid forces were forced to withdraw from mainland Europe, although initially a Persian vassal, Alexander I of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies, the Athenian and Spartan-led coalition of Greek city-states. Two separate wars were fought against Athens between 433 and 431 BC, spurred by an Athenian alliance with a brother and cousin of Perdiccas II who had rebelled against him
22.
Achaea (ancient region)
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Achaea or Achaia was the northernmost region of the Peloponnese, occupying the coastal strip north of Arcadia. Its approximate boundaries were to the south the range of Erymanthus, to the south-east the range of Cyllene, to the east Sicyon. Apart from the plain around Dyme, to the west, Achaea was generally a mountainous region, the name of Achaea has a slightly convoluted history. Homer uses the term Achaeans as a term for Greeks throughout the Iliad, conversely. The region later known as Achaea is instead referred to as Aegialus, both Herodotus and Pausanias recount the legend that the Achaean tribe was forced out of their lands in the Argolis by the Dorians, during the legendary Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese. Consequently, the Achaeans forced the Aegialians out of their land, the Ionians took temporary refuge in Athens, and Aegialus became known as Achaea. It was supposedly for this reason that the known as Achaea in Classical Greece did not correspond to Homeric references. Under the Romans, Achaea was a province covering much of central and this is the Achaea referenced in the New Testament. The name, Achaea, was used in the crusader state, the Principality of Achaea. The modern Greek prefecture of Achaea is largely based on the ancient region, dolmens and cromlechs have been found in the ancient area of Achaea dating back to the Neolithic period. Flint axes and blades fabricated from materials such as quartz or obsidian have been found in chamber tombs from this ancient region. Among other finds, alabaster pottery sherds have been discovered during excavations at Antheia in Achaia, the twelve cities of Achaea were grouped into an early Achaean League which had important cultural and religious functions. In its later 3rd century BC incarnation the Achaean League would play an important role in Greek politics, according to Pausanias, in 688 BC the city of Hyperesia was threatened by an army from Sicyon. The locals defended their city by placing burning torches on their goats horns, the Sicyonians retreated and the Hyperesians renamed their town Aigeira to honor the goats. During the 5th century BC the cities of Achaea were neutral in the Persian Wars and were neutral in the struggles between Athens and Sparta. We begin to more of Achaea in the following centuries. In 373 BC the Achaean city of Helice was destroyed in a great cataclysm, “Immense columns of flame”, the first record in history of the phenomenon of earthquake lights, were seen in the days leading up to the earthquake. The quake hit at night causing Helice to subside and then a massive tsunami rushed in from the Corinthian Gulf to inundate the city, the city of Boura, further inland, was also destroyed in the earthquake
23.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus
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Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty in the Third Macedonian War. His father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the defeated and killed in the battle of Cannae. Lucius Aemilius was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Paulii and their influence was immense, particularly due to their fortune and alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones. He was father to Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, after the fulfilment of his military service, and being elected military tribune, Paullus was elected curule aedile in 193 BC. The next step of his cursus honorum was the election as praetor in 191 BC, at the term of this office he went to the Hispania provinces, where he campaigned against the Lusitanians between 191 and 189 BC. However, he failed to be elected consul for several years, Paullus was elected consul for the first time in 182 BC, with Gnaeus Baebius Tamphilus as junior partner. His next military command, with proconsular imperium, was in the next year, the Third Macedonian War broke out in 171 BC, when king Perseus of Macedon defeated a Roman army led by the consul Publius Licinius Crassus in the battle of Callinicus. After two years of results indecisive for either side, Paullus was elected again in 168 BC. As consul, he was appointed by the senate to deal with the Macedonian war, shortly afterwards, on June 22, he won the decisive battle of Pydna. Perseus of Macedonia was made prisoner and the Third Macedonian War ended, in 167 BC, Paullus received the senates instruction to go home and to first pillage Epirus, a kingdom suspected of sympathizing with the Macedonian cause. Paullus return to Rome was glorious, as a gesture of acknowledgment, the senate awarded him the nickname Macedonicus. This was the peak of his career, in 164 BC he was elected censor. He fell ill, appeared to be recovering, but relapsed three days and died during his term of office in 160 BC. His father Lucius Aemilius Paullus died in battle in 216 BC in the Battle of Cannae, the Aemilii Paulli were connected by marriage and political interests to the Scipios, but their role in his subsequent upbringing is not clear. He had been married first to Papiria Masonis, daughter of the consul Gaius Papirius Maso, from this marriage, four children were born, two sons and two daughters. He divorced his wife while his son was still a baby, according to Roman historians. Nevertheless, he was elected consul in 182 BC, since four boys were too many for a father to support through the cursus honorum, Paullus decided to give the oldest two boys up for adoption, probably between 175 BC and 170 BC. The elder was taken by a Quintus Fabius Maximus and became Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, thus joining his fortunes to the house of a national hero
24.
Scipio Africanus
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His main achievements were during the Second Punic War where he is best known for defeating Hannibal at the final battle at Zama, one of the feats that earned him the agnomen Africanus. Although considered a hero by the general Roman populace, primarily for his contributions in the struggle against the Carthaginians, in his later years, he was tried for bribery and treason, unfounded charges that were only meant to discredit him before the public. Disillusioned by the ingratitude of his peers, Scipio left Rome, Publius Cornelius Scipio was born by Caesarian section into the Scipio branch of the Cornelia gens. His birth year is calculated from statements made by ancient historians of how old he was when certain events in his life occurred, Scipios great-grandfather, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, and grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio, had both been consuls and censors. He was the eldest son of the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio by his wife Pomponi, Scipio joined the Roman struggle against Carthage in the first year of Second Punic War when his father was consul. During the skirmish at Ticinus, he saved his fathers life by charging the encircling force alone with reckless daring and he survived the disaster at Cannae, where his would-be father-in-law, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, was killed. After the battle, with the other consul surviving elsewhere, Scipio and Appius Claudius Pulcher, as military tribunes, Scipio offered himself as a candidate for curule aedile in 213 BC, alongside his cousin Marcus Cornelius Cethegus. The Tribunes of the Plebs objected to his candidacy, saying that he could not be allowed to stand because he had not yet reached the legal age, Scipio, already known for his bravery and patriotism, was elected unanimously and the Tribunes abandoned their opposition. His cousin also won the election, in 211 BC, both Scipios father, Publius Scipio, and uncle, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, were killed in battle against Hannibals brother, Hasdrubal Barca. In spite of his youth, his demeanour and enthusiastic language had made so great an impression that he was unanimously elected. In the year of Scipios arrival, all of Hispania south of the Ebro river was under Carthaginian control. Hannibals brothers Hasdrubal and Mago, and Hasdrubal Gisco were the generals of the Carthaginian forces in Hispania, the Carthaginians were also preoccupied with revolts in Africa. Scipio landed at the mouth of the Ebro and was able to surprise and capture Carthago Nova and he obtained a rich cache of war stores and supplies, and an excellent harbour and base of operations. Scipios humanitarian conduct toward prisoners and hostages in Hispania helped in portraying the Romans as liberators as opposed to conquerors, Livy tells the story of his troops capturing a beautiful woman, whom they offered to Scipio as a prize of war. Scipio was astonished by her beauty, but discovered that the woman was betrothed to a Celtiberian chieftain named Allucius and he returned the woman to her fiancé, along with the money that had been offered by her parents to ransom her. This humanitarian act encouraged local chieftains to both supply and reinforce Scipios small army, the womans fiance, who soon married her, responded by bringing over his tribe to support the Roman armies. In 209 BC, Scipio fought his first set piece battle, Scipio feared that the armies of Mago and Gisco would enter the field and surround his small army. Scipios objective was, therefore, to eliminate one of the armies to give him the luxury of dealing with the other two piecemeal
25.
Punics
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The Punics, also known as Carthaginians, were a people from Ancient Carthage in modern-day Tunisia, North Africa, who traced their origins to the Berbers and Phoenicians. Punic is the English adjective derived from the Latin adjective punicus to describe anything Carthaginian and their language, Punic, was a dialect of Phoenician. Unlike their Phoenician ancestors, Carthaginians had an aristocracy who established a rule of the hinterland in Northern Africa. In later times one of these clans established a Hellenistic-inspired empire in Iberia, like other Phoenician people, their urbanized culture and economy were strongly linked to the sea. In the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica and Sicily they had strong economic and their naval presence and trade extended throughout the Mediterranean and beyond to the British Isles, the Canaries, and West Africa. Technical achievements of the Punic people of Carthage include the development of uncolored glass, after the Punic Wars, Romans used the term Punic as an adjective meaning treacherous. Phoenicians also settled in Northwest Africa and other areas under Carthaginian rule and their culture, Remains of the Punic culture can be found in settlements from the Iberian Peninsula in the West to Cyprus in the East. Punic culture became a melting pot, since Carthage was a big trading port, the Carthaginians carried out significant sea explorations around Africa and elsewhere from their base in Carthage. Carthaginians pushed westerly into the Atlantic and established important settlements in Lixus, Volubilis, Chellah and Mogador, being trade rivals with Magna Graecia, the Carthaginians had several clashes with the Greeks over the island of Sicily in the Sicilian Wars from 600-265 BC. They eventually fought Rome in the Sicilian Wars of 265-146 BC and this enabled a Roman settlement of Africa and eventual domination of the Mediterranean Sea. They were eventually incorporated into the Roman Republic in 146 BC with the destruction of Carthage but Cato never got to see his victory, the destruction of Carthage was not the end of the Carthaginians. After the wars, the city of Carthage was completely razed, there were, however, other Punic cities in North Africa, and Carthage itself was rebuilt and regained some importance, if a shadow of its ancient influence. Although the area was partially romanized and some of the population adopted the Roman religion, the language, people of Punic origin prospered again as traders, merchants and even politicians of the Roman Empire. Septimius Severus, emperor of Rome and a proud Punic, was said to speak Latin with a Punic accent, under his reign Carthaginians rose to the elites and their deities entered their imperial cult. Carthage was rebuilt about 46 BC by Julius Caesar, places in the area were granted for settlement as benefits to soldiers who had served in Roman armies. Carthage again prospered and even became the two trading city in the Roman Empire, until Constantinople took over that position. As Christianity spread in the Roman Empire, it was successful in North Africa. Saint Augustine, born in Thagaste, considered himself Punic, one of his more well known passages reads, It is an excellent thing that the Punic Christians call Baptism itself nothing else but salvation, and the Sacrament of Christs Body nothing else but life
26.
Third Punic War
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The Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage and the Roman Republic. The Punic Wars were named because of the Roman name for Carthaginians, Punici, the Third Punic War ended Carthages independent existence. Carthage, stripped of allies and territory, was suffering under a huge indemnity of 200 silver talents to be paid every year for 50 years, cicero put a similar statement in the mouth of Cato in his dialogue De Senectute. He was opposed by the senator Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum, who favoured a different course that would not destroy Carthage, and who usually prevailed in the debates. Moreover, the retirement of the indemnity removed one of the incentives the Romans had to keep the peace with Carthage – there were no further payments that might be interrupted. The Romans had other reasons to conquer Carthage and her remaining territories, by the middle of the 2nd century BC, the population of the city of Rome was about 400,000 and rising. Feeding the growing populace was becoming a major challenge, the farmlands surrounding Carthage represented the most productive, most accessible and perhaps the most easily obtainable agricultural lands not yet under Roman control. In 151 BC Numidia launched another raid on Carthaginian soil, besieging the Punic town of Oroscopa. As a result, Carthage suffered a defeat and was charged with another fifty year debt to Numidia. ”In 149 BC. Even after this was done the allied Punic city of Utica defected to Rome, the consuls then demanded that Carthage hand over all weapons and armour. After those had been handed over, Rome additionally demanded that the Carthaginians move at least 16 kilometres inland, when the Carthaginians learned of this, they abandoned negotiations and the city was immediately besieged, beginning the Third Punic War. Censorius lost more than 500 men when they were surprised by the Carthaginian cavalry while collecting timber around the Lake of Tunis, a worse disaster fell upon the Romans when their fleet was set ablaze by fire ships which the Carthaginians released upwind. Manilius was replaced by consul Calpurnius Piso Caesonius in 149 after a defeat of the Roman army at Nepheris. Scipio Aemilianuss intervention saved four cohorts trapped in a ravine, Nepheris eventually fell to Scipio in the winter of 147-146. In the autumn of 148, Piso was beaten back while attempting to storm the city of Aspis, undeterred, he laid siege to the town of Hippagreta in the north, but his army was unable to defeat the Punics there before winter and had to retreat. When news of these setbacks reached Rome, he was replaced as consul by Scipio Aemilianus, the Carthaginians endured the siege, starting 149 BC to the spring of 146 BC, when Scipio Aemilianus successfully assaulted the city. Though the Punic citizens offered a strong resistance, they were pushed back by the overwhelming Roman military force. Many Carthaginians died from starvation during the part of the siege
27.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
28.
Ancient Corinth
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Corinth was a city-state on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece, roughly halfway between Athens and Sparta. The modern town of Corinth is located approximately 5 kilometres northeast of the ancient ruins, for Christians, Corinth is well-known from the two letters of Saint Paul in the New Testament, First Corinthians and Second Corinthians. Corinth is also mentioned in the Book of Acts as part of the Apostle Pauls missionary travels, in addition, the second book of Pausanias Description of Greece is devoted to Corinth. Ancient Corinth was one of the largest and most important cities of Greece, the Romans demolished Corinth in 146 BC, built a new city in its place in 44 BC, and later made it the provincial capital of Greece. According to Hellenic myth, the city was founded by Corinthos, however, other myths suggest that it was founded by the goddess Ephyra, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, thus the ancient name of the city. There is evidence that the city was destroyed around 2000 BC, some ancient names for the place are derived from a pre-Greek Pelasgian language, such as Korinthos. It seems likely that Corinth was also the site of a Bronze Age Mycenaean palace-city, like Mycenae, Tiryns, according to myth, Sisyphus was the founder of a race of ancient kings at Corinth. It was also in Corinth that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, during the Trojan War, as portrayed in the Iliad, the Corinthians participated under the leadership of Agamemnon. In a Corinthian myth recounted to Pausanias in the 2nd century AD, Briareus and his verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth belonged to Poseidon and the acropolis of Corinth belonged to Helios. Thus, Greeks of the Classical age accounted for the cult of the sun-titan in the highest part of the site. The Upper Peirene spring is located within the walls of the acropolis, the spring, which is behind the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, Corinth had been a backwater in 8th-century Greece. The Bacchiadae were a tightly-knit Doric clan and the kinship group of archaic Corinth in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. In 747 BC, an aristocratic revolution ousted the Bacchiad kings and they dispensed with kingship and ruled as a group, governing the city by annually electing a prytanis, probably a council, and a polemarchos to head the army. During Bacchiad rule from 747 to 650 BC, Corinth became a unified state, large scale public buildings and monuments were constructed at this time. In 733 BC, Corinth established colonies at Corcyra and Syracuse, by 730 BC, Corinth emerged as a highly advanced Greek city with at least 5,000 people. Aristotle tells the story of Philolaus of Corinth, a Bacchiad who was a lawgiver at Thebes and he became the lover of Diocles, the winner of the Olympic games. They both lived for the rest of their lives in Thebes and their tombs were built near one another and Philolaus tomb points toward the Corinthian country, while Diocles faces away
29.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
30.
Via Domitia
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The Via Domitia was the first Roman road built in Gaul, to link Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis, across what is now southern France. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, hannibal traversed it on his way from Hispania to Italy. The land for the route was provided by Massilia in exchange for Romes protection. It was constructed in 118 BC by the proconsul, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, whose name it bore, it was built around the time the first Roman colony in Gaul. The Via Domitia connected Italy to Hispania, at Narbonne, it met the Via Aquitania. Thus Narbonne was a strategic crossroads of the Via Domitia and the Via Aquitania, and it was an accessible. This cusp point in the Roman westwards expansion and ensuing supply, communication and fortification was an important asset. The route as it was in Late Antiquity is represented in schematic fashion on the Tabula Peutingeriana and this route can be traced on topographical maps overprinted with the ancient route, in G. Castellve, J. -B. Compsa, J. Kotarba and A. Pezin, eds, voies romaines du Rhône à lÈbre, Via Domitia et Via Augusta Paris 1997. The Via Domitia crossed the Atax by a bridge at the site of the Pont des Marchands. Fitou Salses Perpignan Ruscino At Ruscino, the road separates in two, the Inland Route and the Coastal Route, which rejoin at La Junquera, for an overview of the location of Roman bridges, see List of Roman bridges. ISBN 2-7084-0526-8 Pierre A. Clement and Alain Peyre, La Voie Domitienne, De la Via Domitia aux routes de lan 2000, ISBN 2-85998-097-0 Pierre A. Clement, La Via Domitia, Des Pyrénées aux Alpes, Editions Ouest-France, Rennes,2005. ISBN 2-7373-3508-6 Suivez la Via Domitia DVD60 mins, english - French - German Luberon News - Via Domitia Traces of the Via Domitia St Thibery - Via Domitia
31.
Lucian
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Lucian of Samosata was a rhetorician and satirist who wrote in the Greek language during the Second Sophistic. He is noted for his witty and scoffing nature, Lucian wrote exclusively in ancient Greek. He wrote mainly in the Attic dialect, but On the Syrian Goddess, few details of Lucians life can be verified with any degree of accuracy, though clues can be found in writings attributed to him. In several works he claims to have born in Samosata, in the former kingdom of Commagene. His depictions of the processes involved in the diverse and dynamic cult have many significant parallels to Syrias material culture. On the Syrian Goddess parodies the Greek view of foreigners as barbarous, while the narrator concludes that the Syrians, throughout the account, the narrator often conflates the terms Assyrian and Syrian. In The Syrian Goddess, the claims to be an Assyrian himself. In the final paragraph of the work, the describes a ritual in which initiates would dedicate a lock of their hair to Hippolytus as part of a pre-marital coming-of-age ritual. The narrator comments, as rendered in Strong and Garstangs 1913 translation, I performed this act myself when a youth, Lucians claim in Double Indictment to be a native speaker of a barbarian tongue has been suggested to refer Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic. A more likely interpretation is that he is referring to speaking a variety of Greek. It has been suggested that in referring to himself as a barbarian, he was from the Semitic and his name added lustre to any entertaining and sarcastic essay, more than 150 surviving manuscripts attest to his continued popularity. The first printed edition of a selection of his works was issued at Florence in 1499 and his best known works are A True Story, and Dialogues of the Gods and Dialogues of the Dead. Lucian was trained as a rhetorician, a vocation whose practitioners pleaded in court, composed pleas for others, Lucians practice was to travel about, giving amusing discourses and witty lectures improvised on the spot, somewhat as a rhapsode had done in declaiming poetry at an earlier period. In this way Lucian travelled through Ionia and mainland Greece, to Italy and even to Gaul, there are 80 surviving works attributed to Lucian. He wrote in a variety of styles which included comic dialogues, rhetorical essays, Lucian was also one of the earliest novelists in Western civilization. In A True Story, a narrative work written in prose, he parodies some of the fantastic tales told by Homer in the Odyssey. He anticipated modern fictional themes like voyages to the moon and Venus, extraterrestrial life and his novel is widely regarded as an early, if not the earliest science fiction work. Lucians On Dance is important for the history of dance as it is one of very few literary discussions of dance - specifically pantomime - that treats Roman dance in detail
32.
First Punic War
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The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For more than 20 years, the two struggled for supremacy, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters. The war signaled the beginning of a transformation in the western Mediterranean. Carthage began the war as the great sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had, the series of wars between Rome and Carthage took the name Punic from the Latin name for the Carthaginians, Punici. This is derived from Phoenicis, and it refers to the Carthaginian heritage as Phoenician colonists, a Carthaginian name for the conflicts does not survive in any records. Rome had recently emerged as the leading city-state in the Italian Peninsula, over the past one hundred years, Rome had come into conflict, and defeated rivals on the Italian peninsula, then incorporated them into the Roman political world. By the beginning of the First Punic War, the Romans had secured the whole of the Italian peninsula and it originated as a Phoenician colony in Africa, near modern Tunis. At the height of power, just before the First Punic War, North African peoples such as the Berbers in the area around Carthage were loosely associated with Carthage. In the midst of the First Punic War some tribes would rebel against Carthage, the rich, strategically influential, and well-fortified Greek colony of Syracuse was politically independent of Rome and Carthage. Hostilities of the First Punic War began with developments involving the Romans, Carthaginians, at the same time, a group of Roman troops made up of Campanian citizens without the vote also seized control of Rhegium, lying across the Straits of Messina on the mainland of Italy. In 270 BC, the Romans regained control of Rhegium and severely punished the survivors of the revolt, in Sicily, the Mamertines ravaged the countryside and collided with the expanding regional empire of the independent city of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River, following their defeat, the Mamertines appealed to both Rome and Carthage for assistance. The Carthaginians acted first, approached Hiero to take no further action, however, the rivalry between Rome and Carthage had grown since the war with Pyrrhus and that alliance was simply no longer feasible. According to the historian Polybius, considerable debate took place in Rome on the question as to whether to accept the Mamertines appeal for help, however, many were also unwilling to see Carthaginian power in Sicily expand even further. Leaving them at Messana would give the Carthaginians a free hand to deal with Syracuse, after the Syracusans had been defeated, the Carthaginian takeover of Sicily would essentially be complete. Sicily is a volcanic island, with geographical obstacles and rough terrain making lines of communication difficult to maintain. For this reason, land warfare played a role in the First Punic War. Land operations were confined to small raids and skirmishes, with few pitched battles
33.
Second Punic War
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The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and the War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic and its allied Italic socii, with the crucial participation of Numidian-Berber armies and tribes on both sides. The two states three major wars with each other over the course of their existence. They are called the Punic Wars because Romes name for Carthaginians was Poeni, derived from Poenici, in the following year, Hannibals army defeated the Romans again, this time in southern Italy at Cannae. In consequence of these defeats, many Roman allies went over to Carthage, against Hannibals skill on the battlefield, the Romans deployed the Fabian strategy. A sideshow of this war was the indecisive First Macedonian War in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Second Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome and was ignited by the dispute over the hegemony of Saguntum, a Hellenized Iberian coastal city with diplomatic contacts with Rome. After great tension within the city government, culminating in the assassination of the supporters of Carthage, the city called for Roman aid, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Following a prolonged siege and a struggle, in which Hannibal himself was wounded and the army practically destroyed. Many of the Saguntians chose to commit suicide rather than face subjugation by the Carthaginians, before the war, Rome and Hasdrubal the Fair had made a treaty. Livy reports that it was agreed that the Iber should be the boundary between the two empires and that the liberty of the Saguntines should be preserved, Hannibal departed with this army from New Carthage northwards along the coast in late spring of 218 BC. At the Ebro, he split the army into three columns and subdued the tribes there to the Pyrenees within weeks, but with severe losses. At the Pyrenees, he left a detachment of 11,000 Iberian troops, Hannibal reportedly entered Gaul with 50,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry. He took his army by a route, avoiding the Roman allies along the coast. In the meantime, a Roman fleet with a force was underway to northern Iberia. A scouting party of 300 cavalry was sent to discover the whereabouts of the enemy and these eventually defeated a Carthaginian scouting troop of 500 mounted Numidians and chased them back to their main camp. Thus, with knowledge of the location of the enemy, the Romans marched upstream, Hannibal evaded this force and by an unknown route reached the Isère or the Durance at the foot of the Alps in autumn. He also received messengers from his Gallic allies in Italy that urged him to come to their aid, before setting out to cross the Alps, he was re-supplied by a native tribe, some of whose hereditary disputes he had helped solve. Their other commander, Publius Cornelius Scipio, returned to Rome, realizing the danger of an invasion of Italy where the tribes of the Boii, after 217 BC, he moved to Iberia
34.
Battle of Ticinus
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The Battle of Ticinus was a battle of the Second Punic War fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and the Romans under Publius Cornelius Scipio in November 218 BC. The battle took place in the country of Pavia county on the right bank of the Ticino River. The battle is named from the river, not the nearby settlement of Ticinum. The conflict would have been west of there and it was the first battle of the war against the Romans that was fought on Italian soil and the first battle of the war to employ legion-sized forces. Its loss by the Romans, and the disablement of Scipios command. This battle was mainly a cavalry engagement and it was so fast-moving that the javelin-throwers deployed by the Romans had no chance of firing even a single volley and milled around on the field, a major cause of the Roman defeat. Scipio was wounded and barely escaped with his life and he was in fact rescued on the field by his 18-year-old son, the later Scipio Africanus. The two main sources on the battle are the History of Rome by Livy and Histories of Polybius, Polybius makes it clear in his account that he visited the places and monuments and looked at documents. The two vary in some of the details and he had been voted commander by the army in Iberia on the assassination of the previous commander, Hasdrubal, in 221 BC. Hasdrubal had ruled by diplomacy rather than by victory, the military commander was also the provincial governor. He did not need the permission of the Carthaginian Senate to conduct operations, from 226 BC, the Romans and Carthaginians were bound by a treaty specifying the Ebro River as the boundary between the two interests. The Romans were not to operate south of it nor the Carthaginians north, an exception was made for the large town of Saguntum, whose ruins are located just north of Valencia, south of the Ebro. At some unspecified time, Rome had made a treaty with it. This made it a key element to Carthage, but not Rome, having subdued all the tribes south of the Ebro, Hannibal undertook the siege of Saguntum in 219 BC with 15,000 men. After holding out for months, Saguntum sent envoys to Rome asking for assistance. These arrived at the beginning of the consulships of Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius, after hearing from the envoys, the Roman Senate resolved to send Publius Valerius Flaccus and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus to Hannibal at Saguntum to demand that he cease and desist. The effect on the Roman Senate was shattering, wrote Livy and they knew they had never had to face a fiercer or more warlike foe. War was coming, and it would have to be fought in Italy, in defence of the walls of Rome, and against the world in arms
35.
Battle of the Trebia
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It was a resounding Roman defeat with heavy losses, and yet some 10,000 and more Romans, over 2.5 legions, survived on the field and retreated in order to Placentia. In this battle, Hannibal got the better of the Romans by exercising the careful and innovative planning for which he was famous. The battle took place in the country of the Province of Piacenza on the left bank of the Trebbia River. The battle is named for the river, the area is possibly in the comune of Rottofreno at its main settlement, San Nicolò a Trebbia, in the vicinity of the coordinates given at the head of this article. The two main sources on the battle are the History of Rome by Livy and Histories of Polybius, reconstruction of the disposition is the major scholarly concern regarding the battle. The sources all agree on the outcome, contending views stem from the confusion of real and hypothetical events, beginning with the supposed union of the two consular armies, which Sempronius had been ordered to effect. He was advancing with all speed to join Publius, whether the union went any further is questionable. The two consuls maintained widely separated camps, Polybius assumes a union of troops would have been effected and Sempronius would be commanding four legions. He explains how after the defeat, Sempronius army fell back on Placentia but neglects totally to say happened to the wounded Scipio. He is reported to have asked Scipio his advice on whether to attack and was advised against it. There is no account at all of Scipio handing over any troops, if, as many authors suppose, Hannibal was trying to prevent a union, he seems singularly unaware of it. He made no move to stop Sempronius coming up from the east, the consuls themselves, however, each jealously guarded his own authority. Starting with Polybius, some military writers throughout the centuries have assumed that because union was intended it was effected, in fact there was not one camp, but two — Scipios camp in the hills on the left bank and Sempronius camp in the plains on the right bank. Neglect of this duality leaves the writers free to either as the Roman Camp, consequently, it appears now on the left bank, now on the right, now in the hills. Hannibal began the Second Punic War in 219 BC by attacking the Roman-allied city of Saguntum just north of what is now Valencia in Spain, trekking over the Alps the Carthaginian force made it through the mountains with staggering losses, being reduced to 26,000 emaciated men. At this time, Hannibal was camped in the plain below Scipios camp near Placentia, the exact place where Hannibal camped is unclear, but it is thought to have been southeast of Placentia, on the Nura. ‘I was, ’ he says, ‘in a more favorable situation than Hannibal, the two consuls had a common interest, to cover Rome, both generals I was attacking each had interests which required that Beaulieu cover the Milanese and Colli cover the Piedmont. Finding himself blocked from reinforcement, Scipio became distressed, moreover, he was troubled by a defection among the Gauls in his own camp, who killed a number of the Roman men on guard
36.
Siege of Saguntum
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The battle is mainly remembered today because it triggered one of the most important wars of antiquity, the Second Punic War. After Hannibal was made commander of Iberia at the age of 26. The Romans did nothing against him though they received ample warning of Hannibals preparations, the Romans even went so far as turning their attentions to the Illyrians who had begun to revolt. Because of this, the Romans could not react when news reached them that Hannibal was besieging Saguntum, the capture of Saguntum was essential to Hannibals plan. The city was one of the most fortified in the area, Hannibal was also looking for plunder to pay his mercenaries, who were mostly from Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Finally, the money could be spent on keeping down political opponents in Carthage, other historians doubt whether Hannibal attacked Saguntum deliberately or whether he was provoked by the Saguntians, who had Romes support. Since most of the ancient sources covering this period are pro-Roman. However, Rome failed to support their ally during the siege of Saguntum and this might be due to the fact that Romes legion were occupied elsewhere or might have been a calculated move to have a causa belli against Carthage. Hannibals alleged hatred of Rome and all Romans might also have been an idea of Roman propagando to justify the second, the Saguntines turned to Rome for aid, but none was sent. In 218 BC after enduring eight months of siege the Saguntines last defences were finally overrun, Hannibal offered to spare the population on condition that they were willing to depart from Saguntum, unarmed, each with two garments. When they declined the offer and began to sabotage the towns wealth and possessions and this marked the beginning of the Second Punic War. Hannibal now had a base from which he could supply his forces with food, after the siege, Hannibal attempted to gain the support of the Carthaginian Senate. In this episode however, Hannibal was able to gain limited support which permitted him to move to Carthago Nova where he gathered his men, Hannibal briefly undertook a religious pilgrimage before beginning his march toward the Pyrenees, the Alps, and Rome itself. The next phase of the war was marked by extraordinary Carthaginian victories at Trebia, Lake Trasimene, at the end of the 1st century AD the siege of Saguntum was described with much detail by the Latin author Silius Italicus in his epic poem Punica. In his verses several Saguntine leaders and heroes stand up, as well as a Libyan warrior princess fighting for Carthage, in 1727 the English dramatist Philip Frowde drew from Silius poem a tragedy entitled The Fall of Saguntum, which obtained only about three representations
37.
Battle of Lilybaeum
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The Battle of Lilybaeum was the first naval clash between the navies of Carthage and Rome during the Second Punic War. The Carthaginians had sent 35 quinqueremes to raid Sicily, starting with Lilybaeum, the Romans, warned by Hiero of Syracuse of the coming raid, had time to intercept the Carthaginian contingent with a fleet of 20 quinqueremes and managed to capture several Carthaginian ships. Carthage and the Roman Republic had peaceful, if not friendly, relations since signing the first treaty in 509 BC, treaties were signed in 348 and 306 BC that further established the spheres of influence of each state. Carthage and Rome cooperated against King Pyrrhus and signed a treaty of cooperation in 279 BC, however, Roman involvement in Messina in Sicily in 264 BC led to the First Punic War, which cost Carthage her Sicilian holdings, naval supremacy and a large indemnity. The Roman actions during the Mercenary War favoured Carthage, but they seized Sardinia, Carthage rebuilt her fortunes by conquering parts of Iberia under the leadership of Hamilcar, Hasdrubal and Hannibal during 237-218 BC. Rome, at the instigation of Massalia, signed a treaty with Hasdrubal the Fair in 226 BC, the city of Saguntum, located south of the river, became an ally of Rome some time after 226 BC. When Iberian allies of Hannibal Barca came into conflict with Saguntum, faced with the alternative of backing down and losing face, Hannibal opted to attack Saguntum. This was the start of the Second Punic War, the Roman Senate had declared war on Carthage after Hannibal Barca had attacked, besieged and finally taken the city of Saguntum in Iberia in 219 BC. Rome had declared Saguntum an ally but had nothing to help the city during the eight-month-long siege. Once the siege was over, the combatants started to make ready for the coming struggle, the Roman navy had been mobilized in 219 BC, fielding 220 quinqueremes for fighting the Illyrians. Publius Cornelius Scipio received four legions and was to sail for Iberia escorted by 60 ships, however, Gauls of the Boii and Insubre tribes in northern Italy attacked the Roman colonies of Placentia and Cremona, causing the Romans to flee to Mutina, which the Gauls then besieged. Praetor L. Manlius Vulso marched from Ariminium with two Roman legions,600 Roman Horse,10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 allied cavalry towards Cisalpine Gaul and this army was ambushed twice on the way, losing 1,200 men. Although the siege of Mutina was raised, the army fell under a loose siege a few miles from Mutina. This event prompted the Roman Senate to send one of Scipios legions and 5,000 allied troops to aid Vulso, Scipio had to raise troops to replace these and thus could not set out for Iberia until September 218 BC. Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus received four legions and instructions to sail for Africa, Sempronius had set sail for Sicily, where he was to complete his preparations for invading Africa. Hannibal had dismissed his army to winter quarters after the Siege of Saguntum. In the summer of 218 BC, Hannibal stationed 15,000 soldiers and 21 elephants in Iberia under his brother Hasdrubal Barca, the army that marched for Italy from Cartagena is supposed to have numbered 90,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. Hannibal divided his army into three columns before crossing the Ebro River, and attacked the Iberian tribes of Ilergetes, Bergusii, in a two-month-long campaign, Hannibal subdued parts of Catalonia between the Ebro, the Pyrenees and the Sicoris river in a swift, if costly campaign
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Battle of Rhone Crossing
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The Battle of the Rhône Crossing took place during the Second Punic War. The Carthaginian army under Hannibal Barca, while marching to Italy in the autumn of 218 BC, the pro-Roman Volcae, acting on behalf of a Roman army camped on the east bank near Massalia, intended to prevent the Carthaginians from crossing and invading Italy. Hannibal led the army across after Hanno sent smoke signals saying that the ambush was in place. As the Gauls massed to oppose Hannibal’s force, Hanno attacked them from behind, although the battle was not fought against a Roman army, the result of the battle had a profound effect on the war. Had the Carthaginians been prevented from crossing the Rhone, the 218 invasion of Italy might not have taken place and this is the first major battle that Hannibal fought outside the Iberian Peninsula. Both Carthage and Rome were in the process of mobilizing their resources for the coming war, Hannibal commanded the Carthaginian forces, while the Roman Senate decided on the Roman deployment of forces. The Roman navy had already been mobilized by 218 BC, having launched 220 quinqueremes, Scipio received two legions of the same number of infantry and cavalry plus 14,000 allied infantry and 1,600 allied cavalry with 65 banked ships for transport. Lucius Manlius was given two legions with 10,000 allied infantry and 1,000 cavalry, one of the two legions and an allied detachment originally intended for Scipio was diverted for the relief of Mutina under the Praetor Lucius Manlius Vulso. This happened as Scipio retreated to Placentia after the Battle of Ticinus, a fresh legion, together with a contingent of allied troops, was raised to replace this detachment, delaying Scipios departure. Hannibal had dismissed his army to winter quarters after the Siege of Saguntum, the army that marched for Italy from Cartagena is supposed to have numbered 90,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry, and 37 elephants. The elephants were reported by Appian, there is no mention of the elephants by Polybius or Livy, the Iberian contingent of the Carthaginian navy numbered 50 quinqueremes and 5 triremes, which remained in home waters. Carthage mobilized at least 55 quinqueremes for immediate raids on Italy and Sicily, Hannibal marched from Cartagena in May, divided his army into three columns, crossed the Ebro and subdued the area between the Pyrenees, Ebro and Siccle rivers after a two-month-long campaign. Before crossing the Pyrenees, Hannibal left Hanno with 11,000 soldiers to guard the newly conquered area, along all the heavy baggage. By then, the army had shrunk to 38,000 foot and 8,000 horsemen, after reaching the west bank of the river, Hannibal decided to rest for three days. The Carthaginians collected boats and built rafts as they prepared to cross the river, although the Volcae inhabited both banks of the river, they had retreated to the eastern where they encamped and awaited the Carthaginian crossing attempt. Led by local guides, Hanno located a crossing about 25 miles to the north of the Carthaginian camp near an island, some Iberians crossed the river using inflated animal skins. This detachment then rested for a day and they moved south on the following night and arrived behind the Volcae camp at dawn. Hanno signalled Hannibal by lighting a beacon and using smoke, the main Punic army started to cross the 1000 yard wide river
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Journalism ethics and standards
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Numerous guidelines exist regarding how journalists and the agencies they work for should do their jobs in an ethical manner. The principles of Journalistic codes of ethics are designed as guides through numerous difficulties, such as conflicts of interest, the codes and canons provide journalists a framework for self-monitoring and self-correction. The written codes and practical standards vary somewhat from country to country and organization to organization, the International Federation of Journalists launched a global Ethical Journalism Initiative in 2008 aimed at strengthening awareness of these issues within professional bodies. In 2013 the Ethical Journalism Network was founded by former IFJ General Secretary Aidan White and this coalition of international and regional media associations and journalism support groups campaigns for ethics, good governance and self-regulation across all platforms of media. One of the voices in the U. S. on the subject of Journalistic Standards. The Preamble to its Code of Ethics states. public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice, the duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness, Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalists credibility. The primary themes common to most codes of journalistic standards and ethics are the following, reporters are expected to be as accurate as possible given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available, and to seek reliable sources. Events with an eyewitness are reported with attribution. Events with two or more independent eyewitnesses may be reported as fact, controversial facts are reported with attribution. Independent fact-checking by another employee of the publisher is desirable, corrections are published when errors are discovered. Defendants at trial are treated only as having committed crimes, until conviction. Reporting the truth is almost never libel, which makes accuracy very important, private persons have privacy rights that must be balanced against the public interest in reporting information about them. Public figures have fewer rights in U. S. law. In Canada, there is no immunity, reports on public figures must be backed by facts. Publishers vigorously defend libel lawsuits filed against their reporters, usually covered by libel insurance and this principle of limitation means that some weight needs to be given to the negative consequences of full disclosure, creating a practical and ethical dilemma. The Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics offers the following advice, quoting directly, Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects, be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief
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Plutarch
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Plutarch was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist, Plutarchs surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the town of Chaeronea, about 80 km east of Delphi. The name of Plutarchs father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, the name of Plutarchs grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers, Timon and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarchs wife, Timoxena, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, interestingly, he hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them, Autobulus and the second Plutarch, are often mentioned. Plutarchs treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarchs son, but this is nowhere definitely stated. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67, at some point, Plutarch took Roman citizenship. He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, and was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, at his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, and the 78 essays, Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality, probably only an annual one which he likely served more than once. He busied himself with all the matters of the town. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria, however, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, and Plutarch probably did not speak Illyrian. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving
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Parallel Lives
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The surviving Parallel Lives comprises twenty-three pairs of biographies, each pair consisting of one Greek and one Roman, as well as four unpaired, single lives. It is a work of importance, not only as a source of information about the individuals described. He wished to prove that the remote past of Greece could show its men of action and achievement as well as the nearer. His interest was primarily ethical, although the lives have significant historical value as well. The Lives was published by Plutarch late in his life after his return to Chaeronea and, if one may judge from the lists of authorities given. The chief manuscripts of the Lives date from the 10th and 11th centuries, sir Thomas Norths 1579 English translation was an important source-material for Shakespeare. The most generally accepted text is that of the edition of Carl Sintenis in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana. There are annotated editions by I. C, held, E. H. G. Leopold, Otto Siefert and Friedrich Blass and Carl Sintenis, all in German, and by Holden, in English. Likewise, his portrait of Numa Pompilius, an early Roman king and he has been praised for the liveliness and warmth of his portrayals, and his moral earnestness and enthusiasm, and the Lives have attracted a large circle of readers throughout the ages. Plutarchs Life of Romulus is a significant source of the Roman foundation myth, Plutarch adds details to the royal scandal behind the infant Romulus and Remus abandonment in the wilderness. Numitor chose the throne, but when he was overthrown, he ended up with neither, along with the two names mentioned by Livy for the twins mother, Plutarch tells us she may also have been named Ilia. The boys were the issue of Amulius himself, who raped his niece while wearing his armor, upon the discovery of her pregnancy, her cousin Antho, the kings daughter convinced him to spare her life. He suggests that Faustulus may have been the name of the servant charged with the drowning of the twins and he names the site where the boys are brought back to dry land by Tibernius as Kermalus, formerly Germanus. In addition to the tale, Plutarch relates a version from Dionysius where the twins mother was Larentia a woman famous for her beauty. She was forced to spend the night with the hero as his reward for winning a game with the keeper of his temple. In the morning, he threw her out and told her to befriend the first man she meets and he was Tarrutius, a wealthy elderly childless bachelor. They slept together, ended up marrying and were together until his death, Faustulus was, in this account, in the employ of Amulius. Numitor and others possibly knew the secret of the twins origin, Romulus was the more dominant of the two
Quotations related to Polybius at Wikiquote
Works written by or about Polybius at Wikisource
