1.
Punic Wars
–
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were probably the largest wars that had taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus, meaning Carthaginian, the main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicily, part of which lay under Carthaginian control, at the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italy, but it lacked the power of Carthage. The Roman victories over Carthage in these wars gave Rome a preeminent status it would retain until the 5th century AD, during the mid-3rd century BC, Carthage was a large city located on the coast of modern Tunisia. Founded by the Phoenicians in the mid-9th century BC, it was a powerful thalassocratic city-state with a vast commercial network, of the great city-states in the western Mediterranean, only Rome rivaled it in power, wealth, and population. While Carthages navy was the largest in the ancient world at the time, it did not maintain a large, permanent, instead, Carthage relied mostly on mercenaries, especially the indigenous Numidians, to fight its wars. However, most of the officers who commanded the armies were Carthaginian citizens, in 200 BC, the Roman Republic had gained control of the Italian peninsula south of the Po river. Unlike Carthage, Rome had large disciplined armed forces, on the other hand, at the start of the First Punic War, the Romans had no navy, and were thus at a disadvantage until they began to construct their own large fleets during the war. The First Punic War was fought partly on land in Sicily and Africa and it began as a local conflict in Sicily between Hiero II of Syracuse and the Mamertines of Messina. The Mamertines enlisted the aid of the Carthaginian navy, and then subsequently betrayed them by entreating the Roman Senate for aid against Carthage, the Romans sent a garrison to secure Messina, so the outraged Carthaginians then lent aid to Syracuse. With the two powers now embroiled in the conflict, tensions escalated into a full-scale war between Carthage and Rome for the control of Sicily. In 260 BC, they defeated the fledgling Roman navy at the Battle of the Lipari Islands, Rome responded by drastically expanding its navy in a very short time. Within two months, the Romans had a fleet of one hundred warships. Because they knew that they could not defeat the Carthaginians in the tactics of ramming and sinking enemy ships, the Romans added the corvus. The hinged bridge would swing onto enemy vessels with a sharp spike, Roman legionaries could then board and capture Carthaginian ships. This innovative Roman tactic reduced the Carthaginian navys advantage in ship-to-ship engagements, however, the corvus was also cumbersome and dangerous, and was eventually phased out as the Roman navy became more experienced and tactically proficient
Punic Wars
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Depiction of
Hannibal and his army crossing the
Alps during the Second Punic War.
Punic Wars
–
Carthaginian possessions through the Punic Wars
Punic Wars
–
Hannibal's feat in crossing the Alps with war elephants, though many of them did not survive, passed into European legend: detail of a fresco by
Jacopo Ripanda, ca. 1510,
Capitoline Museums, Rome
2.
Carthage
–
Carthage was the centre or capital city of the ancient Carthaginian civilization, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now the Tunis Governorate in Tunisia. The city developed from a Phoenician colony into the capital of an empire dominating the Mediterranean Sea during the first millennium BC, the apocryphal queen Dido is regarded as the founder of the city, though her historicity has been questioned. According to accounts by Timaeus of Tauromenium, she purchased from a tribe the amount of land that could be covered by an oxhide. The ancient city was destroyed by the Roman Republic in the Third Punic War in 146 BC then re-developed as Roman Carthage, the Roman city was again occupied by the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, in 698. The archaeological site was first surveyed in 1830, by Danish consul Christian Tuxen Falbe, Excavations were performed in the second half of the 19th century by Charles Ernest Beulé and by Alfred Louis Delattre. The Carthage National Museum was founded in 1875 by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, the open-air Carthage Paleo-Christian Museum has exhibits excavated under the auspices of UNESCO from 1975 to 1984. The Latin Carthāgō, Carthāginis is an n-stem, as reflected in the English adjective Carthaginian, the Latin adjective pūnicus, a variant of the word Phoenician, is reflected in English in some borrowings from Latin—notably the Punic Wars and the Punic language. The Modern Standard Arabic form قرطاج is an adoption of French Carthage, Carthage was built on a promontory with sea inlets to the north and the south. The citys location made it master of the Mediterraneans maritime trade, all ships crossing the sea had to pass between Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, where Carthage was built, affording it great power and influence. Two large, artificial harbors were built within the city, one for harboring the citys massive navy of 220 warships, a walled tower overlooked both harbors. The city had walls,37 km in length, longer than the walls of comparable cities. Most of the walls were located on the shore, thus could be less impressive, the 4.0 to 4.8 km of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly massive and were never penetrated. The city had a huge necropolis or burial ground, religious area, market places, council house, towers, and a theater, roughly in the middle of the city stood a high citadel called the Byrsa. Carthage was one of the largest cities of the Hellenistic period and was among the largest cities in preindustrial history. Whereas by AD14, Rome had at least 750,000 inhabitants and in the following century may have reached 1 million, according to the not always reliable history of Herodian, Carthage rivaled Alexandria for second place in the Roman empire. On top of Byrsa hill, the location of the Roman Forum, the neighborhood, with its houses, shops, and private spaces, is significant for what it reveals about daily life there over 2100 years ago. The remains have been preserved under embankments, the substructures of the later Roman forum, the housing blocks are separated by a grid of straight streets about 6 m wide, with a roadway consisting of clay, in situ stairs compensate for the slope of the hill. The habitat is typical, even stereotypical, in some places, the ground is covered with mosaics called punica pavement, sometimes using a characteristic red mortar
Carthage
–
Thermes of Antoninus Pius at Carthage
Carthage
–
EO-1
Carthage
Carthage
–
Roman
trireme mosaic from Sousse,
Sousse Archaeological Museum,
Sousse.
3.
Tunisia
–
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia is the northernmost country in Africa, covering 165,000 square kilometres. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent and it is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisias population was estimated to be just under 11 million in 2014, Tunisias name is derived from its capital city, Tunis, which is located on Tunisias northeast coast. Geographically, Tunisia contains the end of the Atlas Mountains. Much of the rest of the land is fertile soil. Tunisia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic and it is considered to be the only full democracy in the Arab World. It has a human development index. In addition, Tunisia is also a state of the United Nations. Close relations with Europe – in particular with France and with Italy – have been forged through economic cooperation, privatisation, in ancient times, Tunisia was primarily inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC, these immigrants founded Carthage, a major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the eight hundred years, introduced Christianity. After several attempts starting in 647, the Arabs conquered the whole of Tunisia by 697, the Ottomans held sway for over three hundred years. The French colonization of Tunisia occurred in 1881, Tunisia gained independence with Habib Bourguiba and declared the Tunisian Republic in 1957. In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution resulted in the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country voted for parliament again on 26 October 2014, and for President on 23 November 2014. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis, an urban hub. The present form of the name, with its Latinate suffix -ia, the French derivative Tunisie was adopted in some European languages with slight modifications, introducing a distinctive name to designate the country. Other languages remained untouched, such as the Russian Туни́с and Spanish Túnez, in this case, the same name is used for both country and city, as with the Arabic تونس, and only by context can one tell the difference. The name Tunis can be attributed to different origins and it is generally associated with the Berber root ⵜⵏⵙ, transcribed tns, which means to lay down or encampment
Tunisia
–
Ancient ruins of a
Roman villa at
Carthage
Tunisia
–
Flag
Tunisia
–
The Roman amphitheater in
El Djem, built during the first half of the 3rd century AD
Tunisia
–
Domes of the
Great Mosque of Kairouan. Founded in 670, it dates in its present form largely from the Aghlabid period (9th century). It is the oldest mosque in the
Maghreb.
4.
Roman Republic
–
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
Roman Republic
–
Route of Pyrrhus of Epirus
Roman Republic
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Roman consul accompanied by two
lictors
Roman Republic
–
Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the people, presiding over the
Plebeian Council
Roman Republic
–
A Roman
denarius struck in 56 BC showing on one side the bust of the
Goddess Diana, and on the reverse the Roman general
Lucius Cornelius Sulla is offered an olive branch by his ally
Bocchus I as the captive
Jugurtha kneels beside Sulla with his hands bound.
5.
Ancient Carthage
–
Carthage was the Phoenician city-state of Carthage and during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, included its sphere of influence, the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia, Carthage was founded in 814 BC. At the height of the prominence it served as a major hub of trade. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed, redesigned, nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands. According to Roman sources, Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by Dido, Queen Elissa was an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. At its peak, the metropolis she founded, Carthage, came to be called the city, ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean Sea. Elissas brother, Pygmalion of Tyre, had murdered Elissas husband, Elissa escaped the tyranny of her own country, founding the new city of Carthage and subsequently its later dominions. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, but the following can be deduced from various sources, according to Justin, Princess Elissa was the daughter of King Belus II of Tyre. When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her brother, Pygmalion and she married her uncle Acerbas, also known as Sychaeus, the High Priest of Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. This led to increased rivalry between the elite and the monarchy. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acerbas, Pygmalion assassinated Acerbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husbands death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, in the Roman epic of Virgil, the Aeneid, Queen Dido, the Greek name for Elissa, is first introduced as a highly esteemed character. In just seven years, since their exodus from Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule and her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived by Virgil as even more noble when she offers asylum to Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from Troy. A spirit in the form of the god, Mercury, sent by Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido. Virgil ends his legend of Dido with the story that, when Aeneas tells Dido, her heart broken, as she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas people and her own, rise up from my bones, avenging spirit she says, an invocation of Hannibal. The settlements at Crete and Sicily were in conflict with the Greeks
Ancient Carthage
–
Carthage and its dependencies in 264 BC
Ancient Carthage
–
Mediterranean sea nations in 323 BC.
Ancient Carthage
–
Trireme mosaic from Carthage,
Bardo Museum, Tunis.
6.
Hasdrubal the Boeotarch
–
Hasdrubal the Boetharch was a Carthaginian general during the Third Punic War. Boetharch is a Carthaginian office, the function of which is unclear. Hasdrubal led the Carthaginian forces at the Siege of Carthage in 146 BC and their defeat by Scipio Aemilianus, a consul of the Roman Republic, brought the war to a close. Hasdrubals military skill was not to be doubted, as his army had been trained and equipped. His work at defending Carthage cost the Romans a difficult campaign to suppress the defenders and his tactical skills, however, were dwarfed by his contemporaries Masinissa and Scipio. Hasdrubal had a wife and two sons, who, according to Polybius, threw themselves into a temple when they witnessed their armys defeat. Hasdrubal had surrendered himself to the Romans prior to his familys deaths and he was taken to Rome and displayed during Scipios triumph, but later allowed to live in peace in Italy. This may be the same general Hasdrubal who was defeated near the town of Tunes by the Numidian king, Masinissa, just after war was declared. Scribner & company,1870 Book XXXVIII of Polybius Histories, English Translation, 7-8,20 William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Volume 2, pp. 359–360, C. C. Little and J. Brown,1849 Polybius, Fragments of Book XXXVIII,7 Livius. org, Hasdrubal William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Volume 2, C. C
Hasdrubal the Boeotarch
–
Adherbal (admiral)
7.
Slavery in ancient Rome
–
Slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the economy. Besides manual labour, slaves performed many services, and might be employed at highly skilled jobs. Accountants and physicians were often slaves, Greek slaves in particular might be highly educated. Unskilled slaves, or those sentenced to slavery as punishment, worked on farms, in mines and their living conditions were brutal, and their lives short. Slaves were considered property under Roman law and had no legal personhood, unlike Roman citizens, they could be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, torture, and summary execution. Over time, however, slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters, attitudes changed in part because of the influence among the educated elite of the Stoics, whose egalitarian views of humanity extended to slaves. Roman slaves could hold property which, despite the fact that it belonged to their masters, skilled or educated slaves were allowed to earn their own money, and might hope to save enough to buy their freedom. Such slaves were freed by the terms of their masters will. A notable example of a slave was Tiro, the secretary of Cicero. Tiro was freed before his masters death, and was enough to retire on his own country estate. However, the master could arrange that slaves would only have enough money to buy their freedom when they were too old to work. They could then use the money to buy a new young slave while the old slave, unable to work, Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership. A slave who had acquired libertas was thus a libertus in relation to his former master, as a social class, freed slaves were libertini, though later writers used the terms libertus and libertinus interchangeably. Libertini were not entitled to public office or state priesthoods. During the early Empire, however, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. Vernae were slaves born within a household or on a farm or agricultural estate. There was a social obligation to care for vernae, whose epitaphs sometimes identify them as such
Slavery in ancient Rome
–
Roman mosaic from
Dougga, Tunisia (2nd century CE): the two slaves carrying wine jars wear typical slave clothing and an
amulet against the
evil eye on a necklace; the slave boy to the left carries water and towels, and the one on the right a bough and a basket of flowers
Slavery in ancient Rome
–
4th-century sarcophagus
relief of Valerius Petronianus, with his slave holding writing tablets
Slavery in ancient Rome
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Mosaic depicting two female slaves (ancillae) attending their mistress.
Slavery in ancient Rome
–
"Here lies Eros, Posidippus' chef, a slave": epitaph on a
stele
8.
First Punic War
–
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
First Punic War
–
Roman arrival and neutralization of Syracuse.
First Punic War
–
Western Mediterranean Sea in 264 BC. Rome is shown in red, Carthage in purple, and Syracuse in green.
First Punic War
–
Hamilcar's attack.
First Punic War
–
Continued Roman advance 260–256 BC.
9.
Mercenary War
–
The dispute grew until the mercenaries seized Tunis by force of arms, and directly threatened Carthage, which then capitulated to the mercenaries demands. They also persuaded the combined armies to revolt against Carthage. What had been a hotly contested labour dispute exploded into a full-scale revolt, heavily outmatched in terms of troops, money, and supplies, an unprepared Carthage fared poorly in the initial engagements of the war, especially under the generalship of Hanno the Great. Hamilcar Barca, general from the campaigns in Sicily and father of Hannibal Barca, was given supreme command, in 241 BC the First Punic War between Rome and Carthage came to an end with Carthaginian defeat. After meeting the Roman demands, a destitute Carthage now found itself in a quandary, it had employed numerous mercenaries in the First Punic War and now found it difficult to pay them. During the First Punic War the Carthaginians had recruited mercenaries from diverse sources, including Iberians, Celt-Iberians, Balearic Islanders, Ligurians, Celts and Greeks. This was a problem, as some 20,000 mercenaries, formerly under the command of Hamilcar Barca and it was his plan to bring the mercenary units back to the capital one at a time, for demobilization and payment. Once in Sicca Veneria, the mercenaries collaborated on a list of demands, unsurprisingly, due to the mistrust and difficulties in communication, the negotiations quickly broke down. A force of mercenaries, about 20,000 strong, armed themselves and marched towards Carthage, not willing to deal with Hanno again, and feeling insulted by Hamilcar for not having met with them in the first round of negotiations, the mercenaries agreed to negotiate with Gesco. Once again Carthage had no choice but to agree, in 240 BC Gesco and other officials were taken prisoner by the mercenary leadership and open warfare ensued. The Libyan population, discontent with Carthaginian rule, supported the rebels, Carthage still had some mercenaries quartered in Tunis, and was also able to deploy the mercenaries still in Sicily and to hire fresh troops. Carthage initially organized an army consisting of mercenaries and citizens to which Hanno was given command, by the time Hanno moved onto the attack, the rebels had already blockaded Utica and Hippakra. Hanno engaged the rebels in the Battle of the Bagradas River which ended with a Carthaginian victory, Hamilcar then won a further victory with the aid of Navaras who had defected from the rebels. As the war progressed, Hamilcar Barca was first given joint command with Hanno, with the aid of a Carthaginian general Hannibal, and reinforcements under the command of Hanno the Great, the remnants of the mercenaries were finally put down. The conduct of the war was even by the standards of the time. These atrocities were intended to prevent any possibility of a negotiated settlement, after the Battle of The Saw Spendius and Autaritus were captured and crucified. Matho was finally captured as well, and executed at Carthage after various tortures inflicted on him by a mob, initially, a smaller mercenary revolt occurred on Sardinia, and the rebels took control of the island. When the conflict in Africa turned in favour of Carthage, the Sardinian rebels appealed to Rome for protection, however, it was in Romes self-interest for Carthage to achieve stability and to recover economically so it could continue paying the indemnities imposed after the First Punic War
Mercenary War
–
Mercenary War
10.
Second Punic War
–
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
Second Punic War
–
Iberian warrior from bas-relief c. 200 BC. The warrior is armed with a
falcata and an oval shield.
National Archaeological Museum of Spain,
Madrid
Second Punic War
–
Western Mediterranean, 218 BC. Italian cities and Celtic tribes that joined Hannibal after the invasion of Italy are depicted in blue.
Second Punic War
–
Iberian
falcata, 4th/3rd century BC. This weapon, a scythe-shaped sword, was unique to Iberia [
citation needed]. By its inherent weight distribution, it could deliver blows as powerful as an axe. National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid
Second Punic War
–
Detail of frieze showing the equipment of a soldier in the
manipular Roman legion (left). Note mail armour, oval shield and helmet with plume (probably horsehair). The soldier in the centre is an officer (bronze cuirass, mantle), prob. a tribunus militum. From an altar built by
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul in 122 BC.
Musée du Louvre, Paris
11.
Battle of Nepheris (147 BC)
–
The Battle of Nepheris was the second battle of the Third Punic War fought at Nepheris, fought in 147 BC. The battle was fought between the forces of the Roman Republic, commanded by Scipio Aemilianus, and the forces of Carthage who were commanded by Diogenes of Carthage. In 147 BC, the Romans blockaded Carthage and effectively cut off all supplies being sent to the defenders at Nepheris whose defense was being conducted by Diogenes of Carthage, Scipio surrounded the Carthaginian camp, forcing them to come out and give battle against the smaller Roman army. Surrounded on all sides, the Carthaginians were soundly defeated, losing thousands of soldiers during the course of the battle, the majority of the remainder of the Carthaginian force was taken prisoner, only 4,000 managed to slip away. The capture of Nepheris marked the point in the morale of the defenders of Carthage. Appian of Alexandria, The Punic Wars, The Third Punic War Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire, Nepheris
Battle of Nepheris (147 BC)
–
Artifacts from the siege of Carthage 149-146 BC
12.
Battle of Carthage (c. 149 BC)
–
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
Battle of Carthage (c. 149 BC)
–
The ruins of Carthage
13.
Latin
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
14.
Phoenicia
–
The enterprising, sea-based Phoenician civilization spread across the Mediterranean between 1500 BC and 300 BC. Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of Ancient Greece, perhaps the most notable of which were Tyre, Sidon, Arvad, Berytus and Carthage. Each city-state was an independent unit, and it is uncertain to what extent the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality. In terms of archaeology, language, lifestyle, and religion there was little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other Semitic Canaanites. The Phoenicians were the first state-level society to make use of alphabets. By their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to Anatolia, North Africa, and Europe, where it was adopted by the Greeks, the name Phoenicians, like Latin Poenī, comes from Greek Φοίνικες. The word φοῖνιξ phoînix meant variably Phoenician person, Tyrian purple, the word may be derived from φοινός phoinós blood red, itself possibly related to φόνος phónos murder. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the ethnonym, the oldest attested form of the word in Greek may be the Mycenaean po-ni-ki-jo, po-ni-ki, possibly borrowed from Ancient Egyptian fnḫw Asiatics, Semites, although this derivation is disputed. The folk-etymological association of Φοινίκη with φοῖνιξ mirrors that in Akkadian which tied kinaḫni, the land was natively known as knʿn and its people as the knʿny. In the Amarna tablets of the 14th century BC, people from the region called themselves Kenaani or Kinaani, the ethnonym survived in North Africa until the 4th century AD. Herodotus account refers to the myths of Io and Europa, according to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began the quarrel. The Greek historian Strabo believed that the Phoenicians originated from Bahrain, Herodotus also believed that the homeland of the Phoenicians was Bahrain. The people of Tyre in South Lebanon in particular have long maintained Persian Gulf origins, however, there is little evidence of occupation at all in Bahrain during the time when such migration had supposedly taken place. Canaanite culture apparently developed in situ from the earlier Ghassulian chalcolithic culture, Byblos is attested as an archaeological site from the Early Bronze Age. The Late Bronze Age state of Ugarit is considered quintessentially Canaanite archaeologically, fernand Braudel remarked in The Perspective of the World that Phoenicia was an early example of a world-economy surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed c, archaeological evidence consistent with this understanding has been difficult to identify. A unique concentration in Phoenicia of silver hoards dated between 1200 and 800 BC, however, contains hacksilver with lead isotope ratios matching ores in Sardinia and Spain. This metallic evidence agrees with the memory of a western Mediterranean Tarshish that supplied Solomon with silver via Phoenicia
Phoenicia
–
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazor II, Phoenician King of Sidon found near Sidon, in southern Lebanon
Phoenicia
–
Map of Phoenicia and its Mediterranean trade routes
Phoenicia
–
Assyrian warship (probably built by Phoenicians) with two rows of oars, relief from
Nineveh, c. 700 BC
Phoenicia
–
A naval action during the siege of Tyre (350 BC). Drawing by
André Castaigne, 1888–1889.
15.
Ancient Rome
–
In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
Ancient Rome
–
Senātus Populus que Rōmānus
Ancient Rome
–
Roman Republic
Ancient Rome
–
According to legend,
Rome was founded in 753 BC by
Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf.
Ancient Rome
–
This bust from the
Capitoline Museums is traditionally identified as a portrait of
Lucius Junius Brutus.
16.
Punic
–
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
Punic
–
Punic praying statuette, c. 3rd century B.C.
17.
Hellenistic civilization
–
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
Hellenistic civilization
–
The
Nike of Samothrace is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of
Hellenistic art.
Hellenistic civilization
–
Alexander fighting the Persian king
Darius III. From the
Alexander Mosaic,
Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Hellenistic civilization
–
Alexander's empire at the time of its maximum expansion.
18.
Macedonian Wars
–
The Macedonian Wars were a series of conflicts fought by the Roman Republic and its Greek allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms. They resulted in Roman control or influence over the eastern Mediterranean basin, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after the Punic wars. Traditionally, the Macedonian Wars include the four wars with Macedonia, in addition to one war with the Seleucid Empire, Roman influence gradually dissolved Macedonian independence and digested it into what was becoming a leading global empire. This had some important similarities to what had occurred in Italy centuries earlier, with some major exceptions of outright military rule, the eastern Mediterranean world remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It wasnt until the time of the Roman Empire that the eastern Mediterranean, during the Second Punic War, Philip V of Macedon allied himself with Hannibal. Fearing possible reinforcement of Hannibal by Macedon, the senate dispatched a praetor with forces across the Adriatic, Roman legions did little more than skirmish with Macedonian forces and seize minor territory along the Adriatic coastline in order to combat piracy. Romes interest was not in conquest, but in keeping Macedon busy while Rome was fighting Hannibal, the war ended indecisively in 205 BC with the Treaty of Phoenice. While a minor conflict, it opened the way for Roman military intervention in Macedon and this conflict, though fought between Rome and Macedon, was largely independent of the Roman-Macedon wars that followed in the next century. The past century had seen the Greek world dominated by the three successor kingdoms of Alexander the Greats empire, Ptolemaic Egypt, Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire. The imperial ambitions of the Seleucids after 230 BC were particularly destabilizing, the Seleucids set out to conquer Egypt, and Egypt responded through a major mobilization campaign. This campaign led to victory against Seleucid incursions, but in 205 BC when Ptolemy IV was succeeded by the five-year-old Ptolemy V. The result was a civil war between north and south. Seeing that all of Egypt could now be conquered easily, the Macedonians and Seleucids forged an alliance to conquer, as Macedonia and the Seleucid Empire were the problem, and Egypt the cause of the problem, the only place to turn was Rome. This represented a change, as the Greeks had recently shown little more than contempt towards Rome. Ambassadors from Pergamon and Rhodes brought evidence before the Roman Senate that Philip V of Macedon, although the exact nature of this treaty is unclear, and the exact Roman reason for getting involved despite decades of apathy towards Greece, the Greek delegation was successful. Initially, Rome didnt intend to fight a war against Macedon, Rome gave Philip an ultimatum that he must cease in his campaigns against Romes new Greek allies. Doubting Romes strength Philip ignored the request, which surprised the Romans, believing their honor and reputation on the line, Rome escalated the conflict by sending an army of Romans and Greek allies to force the issue, beginning the Second Macedonian War. Surprisingly, Philips army buckled under the pressure from the Roman-Greek army, Roman troops led by then consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus reached the plain of Thessaly by 198 BC
Macedonian Wars
–
Greece, Macedonia and their environs. Circa 200 BC.
19.
Illyrian Wars
–
The Illyrian Wars were a set of wars fought in the period 229–168 BC between the Roman Republic and the Ardiaei kingdom. Rome expelled Illyrian garrisons from a number of Greek cities including Epidamnus, Apollonia, Corcyra, Pharos, the Romans also set up Demetrius of Pharos as a power in Illyria to counterbalance the power of Teuta. The Second Illyrian War lasted from 220 BC to 219 BC, in 219 BC, the Roman Republic was at war with the Celts of Cisalpine Gaul, and the Second Punic War with Carthage was beginning. These distractions gave Demetrius the time he needed to build a new Illyrian war fleet, leading this fleet of 90 ships, Demetrius sailed south of Lissus, violating his earlier treaty and starting the war. Demetrius fleet first attacked Pylos, where he captured 50 ships after several attempts, from Pylos, the fleet sailed to the Cyclades, quelling any resistance that they found on the way. Demetrius foolishly sent a fleet across the Adriatic, and, with the Illyrian forces divided, from Dimale the navy went towards Pharos. In 171 BC, the Illyrian king Gentius was allied with the Romans against the Macedonians, but in 169 BC he changed sides and allied himself with Perseus of Macedon. During the Third Illyrian War, in 168 BC, he arrested two Roman legati and destroyed the cities of Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, which were allied to Rome. He was defeated at Scodra by a Roman force under L. Anicius Gallus, in the second half of the third century BC, the Ardiaei kingdom was transformed into a formidable power under the leadership of Agron. During this time, Agron invaded part of Epirus, Corcyra, Epidamnos and Pharos in succession, the Illyrians used the lembus, a small and fast warship with a single bank of oars. Raids by sea from the Adriatic and Ionian were probably a familiar threat to the north-western Greeks, what was new was the use of a land army to follow up and profit from the victories gained by the navy. The Greek cities on the coast of Illyria were systematically attacked, Rome answered an appeal from the island of Issa, threatened by Agron, by sending envoys. They were attacked en route by Illyrian vessels, and one of them was killed and that time a number of political events marked the adjacent Greek states. In 234 BC, the succession in Epirus came to an end. In the south, the part of Acarnania seceded from this arrangement. Besieged at Medion, the Acarnanians sought assistance from Demetrius II of Macedonia, in response, the king requested assistance from Agron to relieve the siege. The Illyrian attack under Agron was mounted in either 232 or 231 BC, one hundred lembi, with 5000 men on board, sailed up to land at Medion. They then formed up in the order that was usual in their own country and this defeat of the Aetolians, who were famed for their victory over the invading Gauls a generation before, caused a sensation in Greece
Illyrian Wars
–
Mediterranean in 218 BC
Illyrian Wars
–
Epirus had to deal with various Illyrian invasions under Agron and Teuta
Illyrian Wars
–
King Gentius of Illyria
20.
Roman-Syrian War
–
The Roman–Seleucid War, also known as the War of Antiochos or the Syrian War, was a military conflict between two coalitions led by the Roman Republic and the Seleucid Empire. The fighting took place in Greece, the Aegean Sea and Asia Minor, the war was the consequence of a cold war between both powers, which had started in 196 BC. In this period Romans and Seleucids had tried to settle spheres of influence by making alliances with the Greek minor powers, the fighting ended with a clear Roman victory. In the Treaty of Apamea the Seleucids were forced to give up Asia Minor, as a main result of the war the Roman Republic gained hegemony over Greece and Asia Minor, and became the only remaining major power around the Mediterranean Sea. Antiochus III the Great, the Seleucid Emperor, first became involved with Greece when he signed an alliance with King Philip V of Macedon in 203 BC, the treaty stated that Antiochus and Philip would help each other conquer the lands of the young Ptolemaic pharaoh, Ptolemy V. In 200 BC, Rome first became involved in the affairs of Greece, in response to this appeal the Romans sent an army to Greece and attacked Macedon. The Second Macedonian War lasted until 196 BC, and it ended when the Romans and their allies, including the Aetolian League. The treatys terms forced Philip to pay a war indemnity and become a Roman ally while Rome occupied some areas of Greece, meanwhile, Antiochus was fighting the armies of Ptolemy in Coele-Syria in the Fifth Syrian War. Antiochus army crushed the Egyptian army at the Battle of Panium in 201 BC, Antiochus then concentrated on raiding Ptolemaic possessions in Cilicia, Lycia and Caria. While attacking Ptolemys possessions in Asia Minor, Antiochus sent a fleet to occupy Ptolemys coastal cities in the area as well as to support Philip, peace was established in 195 BC with the marriage of Antiochus daughter, Cleopatra, to Ptolemy. Antiochus hands were now clear of problems in Asia and he now turned his eyes towards Europe and they also resented how the Romans had prevented them from reincorporating Echinus and Pharsalus, which had formerly been part of the League, at the end of the Second Macedonian War. In 195 BC, when the Romans decided to invade Sparta, however, the Achean League, not wanting Aetolias power to grow, refused. Having defeated Sparta in 195 BC, the Roman legions under Flamininus left Greece the next year, in 192 BC, a weakened Sparta appealed to the Aetolians for military assistance. The Aetolians responded to this request by sending a unit of 1,000 cavalry, however, after they got there, this force assassinated Nabis and tried to gain control of Sparta, only to be defeated. Building on anti-Roman sentiment in Greece, particularly among the city-states of the Aetolian League, Antiochus and the Aetolian league failed to gain the support of Philip V of Macedon and the Achaean League. The Romans responded to the invasion by sending an army to Greece which defeated Antiochus army at Thermopylae and this defeat proved crushing, and Antiochus was forced to retreat from Greece. The Romans under the command of Scipio Asiaticus followed him across the Aegean, the combined Roman-Rhodian fleet defeated the Seleucid fleet commanded by Hannibal at the Battle of the Eurymedon and at the Battle of Myonessus. After some fighting in Asia Minor, the Seleucids fought against the armies of Rome, the Roman-Pergamese army won the battle, and Antiochus was forced to retreat
Roman-Syrian War
–
Map of Asia Minor and the general region after the war.
Roman-Syrian War
–
Silver coin of Antiochus III
21.
Hispania
–
Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces, Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, during the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the part of Tarraconensis was split off, first as Hispania Nova. The name, Hispania, was used in the period of Visigothic rule. The modern placenames Spain and Hispaniola are both derived from Hispania, one theory holds it to be of Punic derivation, from the Phoenician language of colonizing Carthage. Specifically, it may derive from a Punic cognate of Hebrew אי-שפניא meaning Island of the Hyrax or island of the hare or island of the rabbit. Others derive the word from Phoenician span, in the sense of hidden, and make it indicate a hidden, that is, Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis. Occasionally Hispania was called Hesperia Ultima, the last western land in Greek, by Roman writers, another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for border or edge, thus meaning the farthest area or place. The use of Latin Hispania, Castilian España, Catalan Espanya and French Espaigne, a document dated 1292 mentions the names of foreigners from Medieval Spain as Gracien dEspaigne. You are, Oh Spain, holy and always happy mother of princes and peoples and you, by right, are now the queen of all provinces, from whom the lights are given not only the sunset, but also the East. Navarre followed soon after in 1512, and Portugal in 1580, during this time, the concept of Spain was still unchanged. The King of Portugal would protest energetically when during a public act King Fernando talked about the Crown of Spain and it was after the independence of Portugal in 1640 when the concept of Spain started to shift and be applied to all the Peninsula except Portugal. Even so, Portugal would still complain when the terms Crown of Spain or Monarchy of Spain were still used in the 18th century with the Treaty of Utrecht. The Iberian peninsula has long inhabited, first by early hominids such as Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis. In the Paleolithic period, the Neanderthals entered Iberia and eventually took refuge from the migrations of modern humans. In the 40th millennium BC, during the Upper Paleolithic and the last ice age and these were nomadic hunter-gatherers originating on the steppes of Central Asia. When the last Ice Age reached its maximum extent, during the 30th millennium BC, in the millennia that followed, the Neanderthals became extinct and local modern human cultures thrived, producing pre-historic art such as that found in LArbreda Cave and in the Côa Valley. In the Mesolithic period, beginning in the 10th millennium BC and this was an interstadial deglaciation that lessened the harsh conditions of the Ice Age
Hispania
–
Archaeological Roman Ensemble of Mérida (Emerita Augusta), Extremadura, Spain.
Hispania
–
Roman provinces of Hispania
Hispania
–
The
Tower of Hercules in La Coruña, Galicia, Spain, is the world's oldest Roman lighthouse still in use.
Hispania
–
The Roman
Aqueduct of Segovia, Castile, Spain.
22.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
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Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
–
Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
–
Sicilian landscape
Sicily
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Location of the
Salso
23.
Sardinia
–
Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica, the regions official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna, and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city and its indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken by the Sardinians enjoy equal dignity with Italian under regional law. The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *srd-, later romanised as sardus and it makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word Šrdn testifies to the names existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus, one of Platos dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well might have named after Sardò. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, in Classical antiquity, Sardinia was called Ichnusa, Σανδάλιον Sandal, Sardinia and Sardó. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 24,100 square kilometres and it is situated between 38°51 and 41°18 latitude north and 8°8 and 9°50 east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea, to Sardinias east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, the nearest land masses are the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula, the Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone and its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era. Due to long erosion processes, the highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone. The highest peak is Punta La Marmora, part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. The islands ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands. Sardinia has few rivers, the largest being the Tirso,151 km long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas. There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity, the main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the 1,850 km of the coastline, the climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring
Sardinia
–
Cala Goloritzé,
Baunei
Sardinia
–
Sardinia Sardegna (
Italian) Sardìnnia (
Sardinian) Sardenya (
Catalan)
Sardinia
–
View of
Gennargentu, the highest massif of Sardinia
Sardinia
–
Lake Omodeo, the largest reservoir in Italy
24.
Appian
–
Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek origin who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. He was born c.95 in Alexandria, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Aegyptus, he went to Rome c. Because the position of procurator was open only to members of the equestrian order and his principal surviving work was written in Greek in 24 books, before 165. This work more closely resembles a series of monographs than a connected history and it gives an account of various peoples and countries from the earliest times down to their incorporation into the Roman Empire, and survives in complete books and considerable fragments. The work is valuable, especially for the period of the civil wars. The Civil Wars, five of the books in the corpus, concern mainly the end of the Roman Republic. Little is known of the life of Appian of Alexandria and he wrote an autobiography that has been almost completely lost. Information about Appian is distilled from his own writings and a letter by his friend Cornelius Fronto, however, it is certain that Appian was born around the year AD95 in Alexandria, the capital of Roman Egypt. Since his parents were Roman citizens capable of paying for their son’s education and it is believed that Appian moved to Rome in 120, where he became a barrister. In the introduction to his Roman History, he boasts “that he pleaded cases in Rome before the emperors. ”The emperors he claims to have addressed must have been either Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius and definitely Antoninus Pius, for Appian remained in Egypt at least until the end of the reign of Trajan. In the letter of Cornelius Fronto, it is revealed that a request on behalf of Appian to receive the rank of procurator occurred during the co-regency between 147 and 161, although Appian won this office, it is unclear whether it was a real job or an honorific title. The only other certain biographical datum is that Appians Roman History appeared sometime before 162 and this is one of the few primary historical sources for the period. Appian began writing his history around the middle of the second century AD, only sections from half of the original 24 books survive today. The most important remnants of Appians work are the five books on the Civil Wars—books 13-17 of the Roman History, especially notable is this works ethnographic structure. Appian most likely used this structure to facilitate his readers orientation through the sequence of events, a literary example of this can be found from Appian’s Civil Wars. One might expect that a work covering nine centuries and countless different peoples would involve a multitude of testimonials from different periods. However, Appians sources remain uncertain, as he mentions the source of his information under special circumstances. He may have relied primarily on one author for each book, at our present state of knowledge questions regarding Appian’s sources cannot be solved
Appian
–
Appian: Historia Romana. Printed in Venice 1477 by
Erhard Ratdolt
25.
Cato the Elder
–
He was the first to write history in Latin. He came of an ancient Plebeian family who were noted for their military service, like his forefathers, Cato was devoted to agriculture when not serving in the army. As praetor, he expelled usurers from Sardinia, as censor, he tried to preserve Romes ancestral customs and combat degenerate Hellenistic influences. His epithet Elder distinguishes him from his equally famous great-grandson Cato the Younger, Cato the Elder was born in Tusculum, a municipal town of Latium, like some generations of his ancestors. His father had earned a reputation as a soldier. However, the Tusculan Porcii had never obtained the privileges of the Roman magistracy, early in life, he so far exceeded the previous deeds of his predecessors that he is frequently spoken of not only as the leader, but as the founder of the Porcia Gens. Priscus, like Major, may have merely a epithet used to distinguish him from the later Cato of Utica. There is no information as to when he first received the title of Cato. In order to determine the date of Catos birth, we consider the records as to his age at the time of his death, other authors exaggerate the age of Cato. According to Valerius Maximus he survived his 86th year, according to Livy, the exaggerated age, however, is inconsistent with a statement recorded by Plutarch on the asserted authority of Cato himself. Cato is represented to have said that he served his first campaign in his 17th year, when Cato was very young, after his fathers death, he inherited a small property in the Sabine territory, at a distance from his native town. There, he spent most of his childhood hardening his body by exercise, overseeing and sharing the operations of the farm, learning business and the rural economy. Near this land was a small hut abandoned after the triumphs of its owner Manius Curius Dentatus, whose military feats, Cato was inspired to imitate that character, hoping to match the glory of Dentatus. Soon, an opportunity came for a campaign in 217 BC. Experts express some disagreement about Catos early military life, in 214 BC, he served at Capua, and the historian Wilhelm Drumann imagines that already, at the age of 20, he was a military tribune. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus had the command in Campania, during the year of his fourth consulship, while Fabius communicated the valued results of military experience, he chose not to inculcate Cato with his personal and political values and preferences. At the siege of Tarentum,209 BC, Cato was again at the side of Fabius, two years later, Cato was one of the select group who went with the consul Claudius Nero on his northern march from Lucania to check the progress of Hasdrubal Barca. It is recorded that the services of Cato contributed to the victory of Sena on the Metaurus
Cato the Elder
–
The Patrician Torlonia bust thought to be of Cato the Elder
Cato the Elder
–
The theatre at
Tusculum
Cato the Elder
–
Hannibal and his men crossing the Alps
Cato the Elder
–
Part of the Roman Forum. The arch was erected by
Septimius Severus.
26.
Carthago delenda est
–
It represented a policy of the elimination of the enemies of Rome who engaged in aggression, and the rejection of the peace treaty as a means of ending conflict. The phrase was most famously uttered frequently by the Roman senator Cato the Elder, the phrase employs delenda, the feminine singular gerundive form of the verb delēre. The gerundive delenda is an adjective that may be translated as to be destroyed. When combined with a form of the verb esse, it adds an element of compulsion or necessity, yielding is to be destroyed, or, as it is commonly rendered. The gerundive delenda functions as an adjective in this construction. The short form of the phrase, Carthago delenda est, is an independent clause, consequently, the feminine singular subject noun Carthago appears in the nominative case. The verb est functions as a copula—linking the subject noun Carthago to the verbal adjective delenda—and further imports a deontic modality to the clause as a whole. Because delenda is an adjective in relation to the subject noun Carthago, it takes the same number, gender. The fuller forms Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam and Ceterum autem censeo Carthaginem esse delendam use the so-called accusative and infinitive construction for the indirect statement, in each of these forms, the verb censeo sets up the indirect statement Carthaginem esse delendam. Carthaginem, the subject of the statement, is in the accusative case. Delendam is an adjective in relation to the subject noun Carthaginem and thus takes the same number, gender. This grew into an attitude of seeking vengeance and total victory, the city of Carthage was indeed finally razed by the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus after the Third Battle of Carthage in 146 BC, and its entire remaining population was sold into slavery. It thus never again posed a threat to Rome—at least until taken over by the Vandals, the modern legend that the city was sown with salt reflects the perceived savagery of its destruction. The main ancient sources, are, Plutarch, biography of Cato in his Parallel Lives, written in Greek, pliny the Elder, in his Natural History,15.23, clamaret omni senatu Carthaginem delendam. Aurelius Victor in his De Viris Illustribus,47.8, florus, Epitoma de Tito Livio bellorum omnium annorum DCC, Liber primus, XXXI. Cato inexpiabili odio delendam esse Carthaginem, the evolution of the phrasing towards its modern forms has been considered by Silvia Thürlemann, in her article Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam in the journal Gymnasium 81. The phrase is sometimes fully adapted in modern usage, as a reference to total warfare. The pro-German radio station Radio Paris in occupied France between 1940 and 1944 had England, like Carthage, shall be destroyed
Carthago delenda est
–
Cato the Elder (234–149 BC), the most persistent advocate in the Senate for the total destruction of Carthage, and most famously associated with repeated use, in or out of its proper context, of the phrase Delenda est Carthago
Carthago delenda est
–
The ruins of Carthage
27.
Cicero
–
Marcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul, and constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy family of the Roman equestrian order. According to Michael Grant, the influence of Cicero upon the history of European literature, Cicero introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary distinguishing himself as a translator and philosopher. Though he was an orator and successful lawyer, Cicero believed his political career was his most important achievement. During the chaotic latter half of the 1st century BC marked by civil wars, following Julius Caesars death, Cicero became an enemy of Mark Antony in the ensuing power struggle, attacking him in a series of speeches. His severed hands and head were then, as a revenge of Mark Antony. Petrarchs rediscovery of Ciceros letters is often credited for initiating the 14th-century Renaissance in public affairs, humanism, according to Polish historian Tadeusz Zieliński, the Renaissance was above all things a revival of Cicero, and only after him and through him of the rest of Classical antiquity. Cicero was born in 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers southeast of Rome and his father was a well-to-do member of the equestrian order and possessed good connections in Rome. However, being a semi-invalid, he could not enter public life, although little is known about Ciceros mother, Helvia, it was common for the wives of important Roman citizens to be responsible for the management of the household. Ciceros brother Quintus wrote in a letter that she was a thrifty housewife, Ciceros cognomen, or personal surname, comes from the Latin for chickpea, cicer. Plutarch explains that the name was given to one of Ciceros ancestors who had a cleft in the tip of his nose resembling a chickpea. However, it is likely that Ciceros ancestors prospered through the cultivation. Romans often chose down-to-earth personal surnames, the family names of Fabius, Lentulus, and Piso come from the Latin names of beans, lentils. Plutarch writes that Cicero was urged to change this name when he entered politics. During this period in Roman history, cultured meant being able to speak both Latin and Greek, Cicero used his knowledge of Greek to translate many of the theoretical concepts of Greek philosophy into Latin, thus translating Greek philosophical works for a larger audience. It was precisely his broad education that tied him to the traditional Roman elite, according to Plutarch, Cicero was an extremely talented student, whose learning attracted attention from all over Rome, affording him the opportunity to study Roman law under Quintus Mucius Scaevola. Ciceros fellow students were Gaius Marius Minor, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the latter two became Ciceros friends for life, and Pomponius would become, in Ciceros own words, as a second brother, with both maintaining a lifelong correspondence. Cicero wanted to pursue a career in politics along the steps of the Cursus honorum
Cicero
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A first century AD bust of Cicero in the
Capitoline Museums, Rome
Cicero
–
The Young Cicero Reading by
Vincenzo Foppa (fresco, 1464), now at the
Wallace Collection
Cicero
–
Cicero Denounces Catiline,
fresco by
Cesare Maccari, 1882–88
Cicero
–
Cicero's death (France, 15th century)
28.
De Senectute
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On Old Age is an essay written by Cicero in 44 BC on the subject of aging and death. It has remained popular because of its subject matter as well as its clear. The Latin title of the piece is Cato Maior de Senectute, to lend his reflections greater import, Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Africanus and Gaius Laelius Sapiens. A translation by the colonial American scholar James Logan was published by Benjamin Franklin and it was a favorite of former U. S. President John Adams, and was selected for inclusion in the Harvard Classics. The works of Nature must all be accounted good, shuckburgh Text in English, translated by Lamberto Bozzi Text in Latin at The Latin Library Article in Slate Overview of piece
De Senectute
–
Treatises
29.
Roman Senate
–
The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the executive magistrates were quite powerful, since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power, the late Republic saw a decline in the Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
Roman Senate
Roman Senate
–
Ancient Rome
Roman Senate
–
The
Curia Julia in the
Roman Forum, the seat of the imperial Senate.
30.
Numidia
–
Numidia was an ancient kingdom of the Numidians, located in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia and Libya in the Maghreb. The polity was divided between Massylii in the east and Masaesyli in the west. During the Second Punic War, Massinissa, king of the Massylii, the kingdom began as a sovereign state and later alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state. It was bordered by the kingdom of Mauretania to the west, Africa Proconsularis to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and it is considered to be the first major state in the history of Algeria and the Berber territories. The Greek historians referred to these peoples as Νομάδες, which by Latin interpretation became Numidae, the name appears first in Polybius to indicate the peoples and territory west of Carthage including the entire north of Algeria as far as the river Mulucha, about 160 kilometres west of Oran. The Numidians were conceived of two tribal groups, the Massylii in eastern Numidia, and the Masaesyli in the west. During the first part of the Second Punic War, the eastern Massylii, under their king Gala, were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli, under king Syphax, were allied with Rome. However, in 206 BC, the new king of the eastern Massylii, Masinissa, allied himself with Rome, at the end of the war, the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to Masinissa of the Massylii. After the death of the long-lived Masinissa around 148 BC, he was succeeded by his son Micipsa, Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led to war with Adherbal. By 112, Jugurtha resumed his war with Adherbal and he incurred the wrath of Rome in the process by killing some Roman businessmen who were aiding Adherbal. After a brief war with Rome, Jugurtha surrendered and received a favourable peace treaty. The local Roman commander was summoned to Rome to face charges brought by his political rival Gaius Memmius. War broke out between Numidia and the Roman Republic and several legions were dispatched to North Africa under the command of the Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, the war dragged out into a long and seemingly endless campaign as the Romans tried to defeat Jugurtha decisively. Frustrated at the apparent lack of action, Metellus lieutenant Gaius Marius returned to Rome to seek election as Consul, Marius was elected, and then returned to Numidia to take control of the war. He sent his Quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla to neighbouring Mauretania in order to eliminate their support for Jugurtha, with the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania, Sulla captured Jugurtha and brought the war to a conclusive end. Jugurtha was brought to Rome in chains and was placed in the Tullianum, Jugurtha was executed by the Romans in 104 BC, after being paraded through the streets in Gaius Marius Triumph. After the death of Jugurtha, the far west of Numidia was added to the lands of Bocchus I, a rump kingdom continued to be governed by native princes
Numidia
–
Map showing borders of the Numidian kingdoms after the Second Punic War.
Numidia
–
Map of Numidia 230 BC
Numidia
–
Northern Africa under Roman rule.
31.
National Museum of Carthage
–
Carthage National Museum is a national museum in Byrsa, Tunisia. Along with the Bardo National Museum, it is one of the two main local archaeological museums in the region, the edifice sits atop Byrsa Hill, in the heart of the city of Carthage. Founded in 1875, it houses many items from the Punic era. The Carthage National Museum is located near the Cathedral of Saint-Louis of Carthage and it allows visitors to appreciate the magnitude of the city during the Punic and Roman eras. Some of the best pieces found in excavations are limestone/marble carvings, depicting animals, plants, of special note is a marble sarcophagus of a priest and priestess from the 3rd century BC, discovered in the necropolis of Carthage. The Museum also has a collection of masks and jewelry in cast glass, Roman mosaics including the famous Lady of Carthage. It also contains numerous items from the period of the Byzantine Empire. Also on display are objects of ivory, the museum was founded in 1875 by Cardinal Charles Martial Lavigerie in the premises of the monastery, its name until 1956 was the Museum Lavigerie. The museum is the product of excavations conducted by European archaeologists, however, many object unearthed were sold to tourists when the museum had a number of examples of similar objects. The museum received its present name in 1956 and opened for the first time as a museum in 1963. The various excavations at the site have uncovered numerous items characterizing the Phoenician civilization, the museum contains items which reveal a distinct connection with the Levant steeped in Egyptian and in particular Greek culture, and the ties of Carthage with Sicily during the Hellenistic period. Testimonies to these connections are many objects of pottery, oil lamps, the museum has a fine collection of Punic ceramics found from the late 19th century. A number of lamps were found during the excavation of pottery dating back to the Third Punic War. Beautiful sarcophagi, which are dated to the end of the Punic era, have found in the necropolis. Among these is the sarcophagus of the priest and the priestess, the priest has the right hand raised in a gesture of blessing The left hands of the two figures carry vases containing incense for liturgical purposes. Masks of glass also represent numerous deities, including objects which were intended to protect the deceased against the evil eye, there are also various items including razors made of bronze and richly decorated with cast patterns, illustrating Egyptian and Greek influences. A number of Punic amulets are also on display, sometimes this is an inscription on the stele. Masks shaped in the form of the head of Baal Hammon are exposed, the content of the chapel Cintas discovery topheth by Pierre Cintas in 1947, is the subject of its own window
National Museum of Carthage
–
Carthage National Museum
National Museum of Carthage
–
Exterior
National Museum of Carthage
–
Punic items
National Museum of Carthage
–
Interior
32.
Utica, Tunisia
–
Utica /ˌjuːtɪkə/ is an ancient city located between Carthage in the south and Hippo Diarrhytus in the north, near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea. It is traditionally considered to be the first colony to have founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa. After the defeat of Carthage by Rome, Utica was an important Roman colony for seven centuries, Utica was founded as a port located on the trade route leading to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean, thus facilitating Phoenician trade in the Mediterranean. The name Utica is from the Phoenician ˁattiq meaning old, contrasting with the later colony Carthage, the actual founding date of Utica is controversial. Several classical authors date its foundation to around 1100 BC, the archaeological evidence, however, suggests a foundation no earlier than the eighth century BC. By the fourth century BC, Utica came under Punic control, soon, commercial rivalry created problems between Carthage and Utica. Originally, Utica refused to participate in this rebellion, so that the Libyan forces led by Spendius and Matho laid siege to Utica and nearby Hippocritae. ”Eventually, the forces of Carthage proved victorious, forcing Utica and Hippacritae to surrender after a short siege. Utica again defied Carthage in the Third Punic War, when it surrendered to Rome shortly before the breakout of war in 150 BC, after its victory, Rome rewarded Utica by granting it an expanse of territory stretching from Carthage to Hippo. As a result of the war, Rome created a new province of Africa, and Utica became its capital, over the following decades Utica also attracted Roman citizens who settled there to do business. During the Roman Civil War between the supporters of Pompey and Caesar, the remaining Pompeians, including Cato the Younger, Caesar pursued them to Utica, meeting no resistance from the inhabitants. Cato, who was the leader of the Pompeians, ensured the escape of his fellow senators and anyone else who desired to leave, then committed suicide, displaying their fondness for Cato, “the people of Utica. called Cato their saviour and benefactor. And this they continued to do even when word was brought that Caesar was approaching and they decked his body in splendid fashion, gave it an illustrious escort, and buried it near the sea, where a statue of him now stands, sword in hand”. After his death, Cato was given the name of Uticensis, due to the place of his death as well as to his public glorification, Utica obtained the formal status of a municipium in 36 BC and its inhabitants became members of the Quirina tribe. The city was chosen by the Romans as the place where the governor of their new Africa province was resident, but the silting of the port damaged the importance of Utica. During the reign of Augustus, however, the seat of government was moved to a since rebuilt Carthage. When Hadrian was emperor, Utica requested to become a full Roman colony, but this request was not granted until Septimius Severus, a native of the Province of Africa, took the throne. Already eclipsed by the preeminence of Carthage, Utica was faced with the silting up of its port. Most of these structures were placed in the grid of a plan which covered a large part of the city
Utica, Tunisia
–
The ruins of Utica
Utica, Tunisia
–
Utica museum
Utica, Tunisia
–
Statue of Trajan from Utica ruins
Utica, Tunisia
–
Utica columns
33.
Roman consul
–
A consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and the consulship was considered the highest level of the cursus honorum. Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term, the consuls alternated in holding imperium each month, and a consuls imperium extended over Rome, Italy, and the provinces. Originally, consuls were called praetors, referring to their duties as the military commanders. By at least 300 BC the title of Consul was being used, in Greek, the title was originally rendered as στρατηγός ὕπατος, strategos hypatos, and later simply as ὕπατος. The consul was believed by the Romans to date back to the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC. These remained in place until the office was abolished in 367/366 BC, consuls had extensive powers in peacetime, and in wartime often held the highest military command. Additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together, each with power over the others actions. It is thought that only patricians were eligible for the consulship. Consuls were elected by the Comitia Centuriata, which had a bias in its voting structure which only increased over the years from its foundation. If a consul died during his term or was removed from office, a consul elected to start the year - called a consul ordinarius - held more prestige than a suffect consul, partly because the year would be named for ordinary consuls. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was elected the following year and it is possible that only the chronology has been distorted, but it seems that one of the first consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus, came from a plebeian family. Another possible explanation is that during the 5th century social struggles, during times of war, the primary qualification for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla regulated the cursus by law, the age of election to consul became. Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a proconsul. The most commonly chosen province for the proconsulship was Cisalpine Gaul, throughout the early years of the Principate although the consuls were still formally elected by the Comitia Centuriata, they were in fact nominated by the princeps. It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, emperors frequently appointed themselves, or their protégés or relatives, consuls, even without regard to the age requirements
Roman consul
–
Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Sabinianus Pompeius Anastasius (consul 517 AD) in consular garb, holding a sceptre and the mappa, a piece of cloth used to signal the start of
chariot races at the
Hippodrome. Ivory panel from his
consular diptych.
Roman consul
–
Ancient Rome
34.
Lake of Tunis
–
The Lake of Tunis is a natural lagoon located between the Tunisian capital city of Tunis and the Gulf of Tunis. The lake covers a total of 37 square kilometres, in contrast to its size its depth is very shallow and it was once the natural harbour of Tunis. The Tunis-Carthage connection was important to the Romans, as it meant control over the fertile hinterland. The Romans therefore built a dam through the lake, the dam is used today as an expressway for automobiles and railway connecting Tunis to the harbour, La Goulette, and the coastal cities of Carthage, Sidi Bou Said, and La Marsa. The northern lake includes the island of Chikly, once home to a Spanish stronghold, the lake continued to aggrade during the 19th century. French colonial forces traversed the lake with a 10-kilometer long, 450-meter wide, total costs of the investment, considered the biggest in Tunisias history, will be around $18 billion USD. The project should be ready in the next 10 to 15 years
Lake of Tunis
–
Satellite picture of Tunis
Lake of Tunis
–
Lake of Tunis
35.
Fire ship
–
An explosion ship or hellburner was a variation on the fire ship, intended to cause damage by blowing up in proximity to enemy ships. Fireships were famously and cleverly used to great effect by the outgunned English fleet against the Spanish Armada during the Battle of Gravelines. Possibly the oldest account of the use of a fire ship is recorded by the Greek historian Thucydides on the occasion of the failed Athenian Sicilian Expedition. The Athenians, however, alarmed for their ships, contrived means for stopping it and putting it out, and checking the flames and the nearer approach of the merchantman, thus escaped the danger. A fire ship was used in the Battle of Red Cliffs on the Yangtze River when Huang Gai assaulted the enemy force with a fire ship filled with bundles of kindling, dry reeds. Fire ships were employed by the Vandals against the armada sent by the Eastern Roman Empire. The invention of Greek fire in 673 increased the use of ships, at first by the Greeks. In 951 and again in 953 Russian fleets narrowly escaped destruction by fire ships, while fire ships were used in the Medieval period, notably during the crusades, these were typically ships that were set up with combustibles on an adhoc basis. The first modern fireships were put to use in early 17th century Dutch and their use increased throughout that century, with purpose-built fireships a permanent part of many naval fleets, ready to be deployed whenever necessary. Fire ships continued to be used, sometimes to great effect such as by the U. S, warships of the age of sail were highly vulnerable to fire. Made of wood, with seams caulked with tar, ropes greased with fat, accidental fires destroyed many ships, so fire ships presented a terrifying threat. Fire ships were most devastating against fleets which were at anchor or otherwise restricted in movement, at sea, a well-handled ship could evade a fire ship and disable it with cannon fire. The role of incendiary vessels changed throughout the age of the fire ship. The systematic use of ships as part of naval actions peaked around the Third Anglo-Dutch War. By this time, however, admirals and captains had become experienced with the limitations of fire ship attacks and had learned how to avoid them during battle. Great numbers of ships were expended during the Third Dutch War without destroying enemy men-of-war. Though fire ships as a specified class sailed with the British Royal Navy for another century, they would never have a significant impact on a naval victory. The last modern fire ship in the British Royal Navy was Thais, in the Greek War of Independence, 1821-1832, the extensive use of fire ships by the Greeks allowed them to counterbalance the Turkish naval superiority in terms of ship size and artillery power
Fire ship
–
Dutch fire ship attack on the English flagship
Royal James at the
Battle of Solebay (1672). Painting by
Willem van de Velde the Younger
Fire ship
–
Chinese fire ships of the
Song dynasty (960-1279)
Fire ship
–
French fireship at anchorage. The full-resolution image shows details specific to fireships, notably the exit door between the two aftmost gunports; the chain securing an escape boat; an aperture below exit door to light a fuse; and grappling hooks on the yardarms.
Fire ship
–
The attack on the Turkish frigate in the Gulf of Eressos at the Greek island of Lesvos by a fire ship commanded by
Dimitrios Papanikolis during the
Greek War of Independence - Painting by
Konstantinos Volanakis
36.
Cohort (military unit)
–
A cohort was the standard tactical unit of a Roman legion and was composed of 360 soldiers. A Cohort is considered to be the equivalent of a military battalion. The Cohort unit replaced the system following the reforms traditionally attributed to Gaius Marius in 107 BC. Until the middle of the first century AD,10 cohorts made up a Roman Legion, during the 1st century AD, the command structure and make-up of the legions was formally laid down, in a form that would endure for centuries. The first cohort was now made up of five double-strength centuries totalling 800 men and this century was known as the primus pilii, and its centurion was known as the primus pilus. The Primus Pilus could be promoted to Praefectus Castrorum, or Camp Prefect, the Praefectus Castrorum would be in charge of the daily running of a legion. The other cohort consisted of approximately 480 men in six centuriae of 80 men, at various times prior to the reforms, a century might have meant a unit of 60 to 80. The cohort had no permanent commander, it is assumed that in combat, in order of seniority, the six centurions were titled hastatus posterior, hastatus prior, princeps posterior, princeps prior, pilus posterior and pilus prior. The legion at this time numbered about 5,400 men, including officers, engineers, auxiliary cohorts could be quinquagenaria or milliaria. The term was first used to refer to the bodyguard of a general during the Republic, later, cohors togata was a unit of the Praetorian guard in civilian dress tasked with duties within the pomerium. Cohortes urbanae, urban cohort, military police unit patrolling in the capital, cohortes vigilum, watchmen, unit of the police force which also was the fire brigade in the capital. Cohors Germanorum, the unit of Germani custodes corporis, furthermore, the Latin word cohors was used in a looser way to describe a rather large company of people. Auxiliaries List of Roman auxiliary regiments
Cohort (military unit)
–
Denarius, struck under
Mark Antony in honor of the 'Cohors Speculatorum'.
Cohort (military unit)
37.
Cape Bon
–
Cap Bon, also Watan el-kibli, is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia. It is located at around 36°45′N 10°45′E and it is surrounded by the Gulf of Tunis in the north. Towns located on the peninsula include Nabeul, Kelibia and Menzel Temime, the ruins of the Punic town Kerkouane are located here. Djebel Mlezza on Cape Bon had tombs from the time of Agathocles. that were excavated just before WW1, Battle of Cape Bon Battle of Cape Bon
Cape Bon
–
Cap Bon seen from space (false color)
38.
Bizerte
–
Located 65 km north of the capital Tunis, the city had 142,966 inhabitants in 2014. Bizerte is known as the oldest and most European city in Tunisia and it was founded around 1100 BC by Semitic Phoenicians from Tyre. It is also known as the last town to remain under French control after the rest of the country won its independence from France, the city has several very different names in ancient authors. Scylax of Caryanda, who first mentioned the names Hippo Acra and Hippo Polis, the name of Hippo is certainly derived from a Phoenician word and not Ancient Greek, found in simple or compound state across North Africa to Spain. According to Polybius, the ancient Greeks added to Hippo, the nickname Diarrhytos, during the periods of the Romans, the Vandals and the Byzantine Empire, the city kept its names Hippo Diarrhytus and Hippo Zarytus. Its current Arabic name, drift of a transformation of its antique name. Initially a small Phoenician harbor for maritime trading in the western Mediterranean, located 30 kmin the north of Utica and 50 km of Carthage, other cities founded by Phoenicians. The town is shown on the Peutinger Map from around this time, from 534 AD to 642 AD, the city returned to eastern Romans under the Byzantine Empire, after a defeat of the vandals in 534, and they build the Fort of Bizerte. The city then became a harbour and struggled against the French. With the occupation of Tunisia in 1881, France gained control of Bizerte, the ships were never moved from the port and finally were sold there as scrap metal. In March 1939, towards the end of the Spanish Civil War, three cruisers, eight destroyers and two submarines left Cartagena harbor and reached Bizerte where they were impounded by the French authorities. During the Second World War, the German and Italian Army occupied Bizerte until Allied troops defeated them on 7 May 1943, during the fighting between the Allied forces and the German Army, many of the city inhabitants fled to the countryside or Tunis. The city had suffered significant damage during the battle, due to Bizertes strategic location on the Mediterranean, France retained control of the city and her naval base after Tunisian independence in 1956. In 1961 Tunisian forces blockaded the Area of Bizerte and demanded French withdrawal, the face off turned nasty when a French helicopter took off and drew fire. The French brought in reinforcements, when these were fired upon, using state of the art weapons and decisive force the French took Bizerte and Menzel Bourguiba. During the three days,700 Tunisians died, the French lost 24 dead, meetings at the UN security council, and other international pressure moved France to agreement, the French military finally abandoned Bizerte on 15 October 1963. Bizerte has to the west coastal hills forming an outcrop of the Tell Atlas with well-conserved woods and its associated beaches include Sidi Salem, La Grotte, Rasenjela, and Al Rimel. It is on a section of Mediterranean climate coastline, close to Sardinia and Sicily, North are Sidi Salam and Corniche
Bizerte
–
Bizerte City Hall in Belgique Street area
Bizerte
–
Aerial view of Bizerte (October 2008)
Bizerte
–
Roman mosaic with scenes of fishing and village life (
Bardo National Museum,
Tunisia)
Bizerte
–
Phoenician ship carved on the face of a sarcophagus. 2nd century AD.
39.
Battle of Carthage (149 BC)
–
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
Battle of Carthage (149 BC)
–
The ruins of Carthage
40.
Africa Province
–
The Roman province of Africa Proconsularis was established after the Romans defeated Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of modern-day Algeria, and it was one of the wealthiest provinces in the western part of the empire, second only to Italia. The Arabs later named roughly the same region as the original province Ifriqiya, the land acquired for the province of Africa was the site of the ancient city of Carthage. Other large cities in the region included Hadrumetum, capital of Byzacena, the province was established by the Roman Republic in 146 BC, following the Third Punic War. Rome established its first African colony, Africa Proconsularis or Africa Vetus, governed by a proconsul, utica was formed as the administrative capital. The remaining territory was left in the domain of the Numidian client king Massinissa, at this time, the Roman policy in Africa was simply to prevent another great power from rising on the far side of Sicily. In 118 BC, the Numidian prince Jugurtha attempted to reunify the smaller kingdoms, however, upon his death, much of Jugurthas territory was placed in the control of the Mauretanian client king Bocchus, and, by that time, the romanization of Africa was firmly rooted. In 27 BC, when the Republic had transformed into an Empire, several political and provincial reforms were implemented by Augustus and later by Caligula, but Claudius finalized the territorial divisions into official Roman provinces. After Diocletians administrative reforms, it was split into Africa Zeugitana in the north, the region remained a part of the Roman Empire until the Germanic migrations of the 5th century. The Vandals crossed into North Africa from Spain in 429 and overran the area by 439 and founded their own kingdom, including Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Vandals controlled the country as a warrior-elite. They also persecuted Catholicism, as the Vandals were adherents of Arianism, towards the end of the 5th century, the Vandal state fell into decline, abandoning most of the interior territories to the Mauri and other Berber tribes of the desert. In AD533, Emperor Justinian, using a Vandal dynastic dispute as pretext, in a short campaign, Belisarius defeated the Vandals, entered Carthage in triumph and re-established Roman rule over the province. The North African provinces, together with the Roman possessions in Spain, were grouped into the Exarchate of Africa by Emperor Maurice, the exarchate prospered, and from it resulted the overthrow of the emperor Phocas by Heraclius in 610. Heraclius briefly considered moving the capital from Constantinople to Carthage. After 640, the managed to stave off the Muslim Conquest, but in 698. Historian Theodore Mommsen estimated that under Hadrian nearly 1/3 of the eastern Numidia population was descended from Roman veterans, even so, the Roman military presence of North Africa was relatively small, consisting of about 28,000 troops and auxiliaries in Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces. Starting in the 2nd century AD, these garrisons were manned mostly by local inhabitants, a sizable Latin speaking population developed that was multinational in background, sharing the north African region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages. Imperial security forces began to be drawn from the local population, however, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture
Africa Province
–
Northern Africa under Roman rule
Africa Province
–
The province of Africa within the Roman Empire
Africa Province
–
Électrum tridrachme struck at Zeugitane in Carthage
Africa Province
–
The amphitheatre of Thysdrus (modern
El Djem)
41.
Salting the earth
–
Salting the earth, or sowing with salt, is the ritual of spreading salt on conquered cities to symbolize a curse on their re-inhabitation. It originated as a practice in the ancient Near East. Various Hittite and Assyrian texts speak of ceremonially strewing salt, minerals, or plants over destroyed cities, including Hattusa, Taidu, Arinna, Hunusa, Irridu, and Susa. The Book of Judges says that Abimelech, the judge of the Israelites, sowed his own capital, Shechem, with salt, c.1050 BC and this may have been part of a ḥērem ritual. However, no ancient sources exist documenting the salting itself, the Carthage story is a later invention, probably modeled on the story of Shechem. The ritual of drawing a plow over the site of a city is, however, mentioned in ancient sources. When Pope Boniface VIII destroyed Palestrina in 1299, he ordered that it be plowed following the old example of Carthage in Africa, I have run the plough over it, like the ancient Carthage of Africa, and I have had salt sown upon it. The text is not clear as to whether he thought Carthage was salted, the English epic poem Siege of Jerusalem recounts that Titus commanded the sowing of salt on the Temple, but this episode is not found in Josephus. In Spain and the Spanish Empire, salt was poured onto the land owned by a traitor after his house was demolished. Likewise, in Portugal, salt was poured onto the land owned by a convicted traitor, the last known event of this sort was the destruction of the Duke of Aveiros palace in Lisbon in 1759, due to his participation in the Távora affair. His palace was demolished and his land was salted, put to Justice as one of the leaders of the most barbarous and execrable upheaval that. Was committed against the most royal and sacred person of the Lord Joseph I, in this infamous land nothing may be built for all time. In the Portuguese colony of Brazil, the leader of the Inconfidência Mineira, Tiradentes, was sentenced to death and his house was razed and salted, and even the floor will rise up a standard by which the memory is preserved the infamy of this heinous offender. An ancient legend says that Odysseus feigned madness by yoking a horse, jericho and Shechem, A Religio-Literary Aspect of City Destruction. To Be Taken with a Pinch of Salt, The Destruction of Carthage, a Legend of the Destruction of Carthage. On the Destruction of Carthage Again, the Destruction of Carthage, A Retractatio
Salting the earth
–
Stone memorial to the
Duke of Aveiro 's punishment in
Santa Maria de Belém,
Lisbon.
Salting the earth
–
History
42.
Grain supply to the city of Rome
–
In ancient Rome, the Romans used the term Cura Annonae, in honour of their goddess Annona and the grain dole was distributed from the Temple of Ceres. The Aedile took care of the supply as part of his duties. These regions were capable of shipping adequate grain for the population of the capital amounting to 60 million modii annually and these provinces and the shipping lanes that connected them with Ostia and other important ports thus gained great strategic importance. Whoever controlled the supply had an important measure of control over the city of Rome. The widespread use of mills or grain crushers in Italy is mentioned in passing by Pliny the Elder in 79 AD. A sequence of water mills was established at the terminus of the highest Roman aqueduct, traces of the water channels and equipment have been excavated on the Janiculum. Protecting this valuable industrial complex was important, as attested by the actions of Belisarius in the Siege of Rome when the city was besieged by the Ostrogoths. When the water supply to the aqueduct was cut off, he built a bridge of boats across the Tiber and used floating paddle mills to crush the grain, during the Principate, the surrounding Italian countryside only provided ten percent of the total grain imports into Rome. The majority of her grain came from North Africa and Egypt, several assessments have been made toward the total amount of grain that Rome imported from these two regions. Garnsey finds this number too high as this works out to 400,000 tons, an estimate in between these two numbers would probably be most accurate, as an excessive supply of imported grain would be desirable in case grain was lost at sea or spoiled in a warehouse. Grain would have come from Sicily and Sardinia though these regions were not as important as they had been in the Republic after the annexation of Egypt by Augustus. A passage from Pliny also gives locations of grain exportation to Rome from Gaul and these are not the only provinces to ship grain but were probably depended on the most. Throughout most of the Republican era, the care of the supply was part of the aediles duties. The annona was personified as a goddess, and the dole was distributed from the Temple of Ceres. As early as 440 BC, however, the Roman Senate may have appointed an officer called the praefectus annonae with greatly extended powers. An emergency cura annonae was an important source of influence and power for Pompeius Magnus in his later career, a large part of the citys supply was obtained through the free market. Prices in the city were invariably high, and merchants could count on making a profit, grain was also collected as tax in kind from certain provinces, some of this was distributed to officials and soldiers and some was sold at market rates. Under the grain law of Gaius Gracchus in 123 BC, a portion of the grain collected as revenue for the state was sold at a rate to citizens
Grain supply to the city of Rome
–
Neronian coin with the reverse depicting the goddesses
Annona, the personification of the grain supply, and
Ceres, whose temple was the site of the dole
Grain supply to the city of Rome
–
The
sixteen overshot wheels at Barbegal are considered the biggest
ancient mill complex. Their capacity was sufficient to feed the whole nearby city of
Arles
Grain supply to the city of Rome
–
The columns of the statio annonae are now part ot the church of
Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Another statio was found near the
Crypta Balbi.
43.
Mauretania
–
Mauretania is the Latin name for an area of the ancient Maghreb stretching from central Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, seminomadic pastoralists of Berber stock, were known to the Romans as the Mauri, in the late 3rd century, another province, Mauretania Sitifensis, was formed out of the eastern part of Caesariensis. When the Vandals arrived in Africa in 429, much of Mauretania became virtually independent, christianity had spread rapidly there in the 4th and 5th centuries but was extinguished when the Arabs conquered the region in the 7th century. Mauretania existed as a kingdom of the Mauri people. Mauri is recorded as the name by Strabo in the early 1st century. This appellation was also adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was Maurusii, the Mauri would later bequeath their name to the Moors on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, from at least the 3rd century BC. King Atlas was a king of Mauretania credited with the invention of the celestial globe. The first known king of the Mauri is Baga, who ruled during the Second Punic War. The Mauri were in contact with Numidia. Bocchus I was father-in-law to the redoubted Numidian king Jugurtha, Mauretania became a client kingdom of the Roman Empire in 33 BC. The Romans installed Juba II of Numidia as their client-king, when Juba died in AD23, his Roman-educated son Ptolemy of Mauretania succeeded him. The Emperor Caligula had Ptolemy executed in 40, Emperor Claudius annexed Mauretania directly as a Roman province in 44, under an imperial governor. Mauretania Caesariensis was named after its capital Caesarea and comprised western, Mauretania gave the empire one emperor, the equestrian Macrinus. He seized power after the assassination of Caracalla in 217 but was defeated and executed by Elagabalus the next year. Emperor Diocletians Tetrarchy reform further divided the area into three provinces, as the small, easternmost region of Sitifensis was split off from Mauretania Caesariensis, followed by Columnatensis, Vidensis, inferioris, Fortensis, Muticitani, Audiensis, Caputcellensis and Augustensis. A Praeses in the province of Mauretania Sitifensis, direct Roman rule became confined to a few coastal cities by the late 3rd century. In an inscription from Altava in western Algeria, one of these rulers, Masuna, Altava was later the capital of another ruler, Garmul or Garmules, who resisted Byzantine rule in Africa but was finally defeated in 578. The Byzantine historian Procopius also mentions another independent ruler, Mastigas, in the VII century there were eight Romano-Moorish kingdoms, Altava, Ouarsenis, Hodna, Aures, Nemenchas, Capsa, Dorsale and Cabaon
Mauretania
–
Map of the
Roman Empire showing
Mauretania Tingitana and
Mauretania Caesariensis
Mauretania
–
Mauretania Tingitana province (borders in AD 116).
Mauretania
–
Cities of Roman Mauretania in the
Tabula Peutingeriana
44.
Volubilis
–
Volubilis is a partly excavated Berber and Roman city in Morocco situated near the city of Meknes, and commonly considered as the ancient capital of the kingdom of Mauretania. Built in an agricultural area, it developed from the 3rd century BC onward as an Amazigh, then proto-Carthaginian. It grew rapidly under Roman rule from the 1st century AD onward, the city gained a number of major public buildings in the 2nd century, including a basilica, temple and triumphal arch. Its prosperity, which was derived principally from olive growing, prompted the construction of many fine town-houses with large mosaic floors, the city fell to local tribes around 285 and was never retaken by Rome because of its remoteness and indefensibility on the south-western border of the Roman Empire. It continued to be inhabited for at least another 700 years, first as a Latinised Christian community, in the late 8th century it became the seat of Idris ibn Abdallah, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty and the state of Morocco. By the 11th century Volubilis had been abandoned after the seat of power was relocated to Fes, much of the local population was transferred to the new town of Moulay Idriss Zerhoun, about 5 km from Volubilis. The ruins remained substantially intact until they were devastated by an earthquake in the mid-18th century and it was not until the latter part of the 19th century that the site was definitively identified as that of the ancient city of Volubilis. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed for being a well preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire. Built on a slope below the Zerhoun mountain, Volubilis stands on a ridge above the Wadi Khoumane. It overlooks a fertile plain north of the modern city of Meknes. By the third century BC, the Phoenicians had a presence there, as evidenced by the remains of a temple to the Punic god Baal and finds of pottery and stones inscribed in the Phoenician language. The origins of its name are unknown but may be a Latinisation of the Berber word oualilt, meaning oleander, the city lay within the kingdom of Mauretania, which became a Roman client state following the fall of Carthage in 146 BC. The Punic influence lasted for a time afterwards, as the citys magistrates retained the Carthaginian title of suffete long after the end of Punic rule. Juba II of Numidia was placed on the Mauretanian throne by Augustus in 25 BC and it is also mentioned by Pliny the Elder, and the 2nd century Antonine Itinerary refers to its location and names it as Volubilis Colonia. Its population was dominated by Romanised Berbers, the city became the administrative centre of the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. It remained loyal to Rome despite a revolt in 40–44 AD led by one of Ptolemys freedmen, Aedemon, and its inhabitants were rewarded with grants of citizenship and a ten-year exemption from taxes. The city was raised to the status of a municipium and its system of governance was overhauled, with the Punic-style suffetes replaced by annually elected duumvirs, or pairs of magistrates. However, the position was always tenuous, it was located on the south-eastern edge of the province, facing hostile
Volubilis
–
Volubilis ruins
Volubilis
–
Map of Mauretania Tingitania showing the location of Volubilis
Volubilis
–
Panoramic view of Volubilis, looking west. The old Phoenician core of the city is on the left, the Basilica and Capitoline Temple are visible in the centre, while the Arch of Caracalla can be seen on the right behind the Roman extension to the city.
Volubilis
45.
Chellah
–
The Chellah, is a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis located in the metro area of Rabat, Morocco, on the south side of the Bou Regreg estuary. The Phoenicians established a trading emporium at the site and called it Sala and this was later the site of the ancient Roman colony of Sala Colonia, in the Roman province of Mauretania Tingitana. Salā was the given to the city founded by the Muslim conquerors of North Africa. The ruins of their medieval fortress are still extant, the Berber Almohads used the site as a royal burial ground. The Marinids made the site a holy necropolis, or chellah, and built a complex that included mosque, minaret, the tall minaret of the now-ruined mosque was built of stone and zellige tilework, and still stands. Contrary to legend, the corsairs of Salé did not actually operate out of Salé, the Phoenicians founded several colonies in what is now Morocco and built a settlement they called Sala on the banks of the Bou Regreg river that their Carthaginian successors occupied as well. The Romans later built their own city, Sala Colonia, very near the same site, the Roman town was referred to as Sala by Ptolemy. Excavations show a substantial city with ruined Roman architectural elements including a decumanus maximus or principal roadway, a forum. Sala was a center of Christianity since the 2nd century, one of the two main Roman Roads in Mauretania Tingitana reached the Atlantic through Iulia Constantia Zilil, Lixus and Sala Colonia. Another may have been built towards the south, from Sala to modern Casablanca, the Romans had two main naval outposts on the Atlantic coast of the province, Sala Colonia, and Lixus. The port of Sala was used by commercial Roman ships as a way station on their passages to Anfa. Sala remained linked to the Roman Empire even after the withdrawal in the 4th century of the occupying Roman legions to Tingis, a Roman military unit remained there until the end of the 5th century. Sala continued to exist as a town of the Christianized Berbers, the Byzantine governor of the area, Count Julian of Ceuta, surrendered to Uqba ibn Nafi in 683. Around 1030, the town of Salā was founded at the site by the Banu Ashara family, with the extinction of the Umayyad dynasty in 1031, the Almoravids assumed control of the Maghreb and erected new buildings in Salā. They rebuilt the Great Mosque of Salā on the site of the mosque of the Banu Ashara, by 1147, the Almoravids had been overthrown by the Berber Almohads, who used the site as a royal burial ground. His remains were moved to the necropolis after he died at Algeciras in 1286, the tall minaret of the now-ruined mosque was built of stone and zellige tilework, and still stands. Near the minaret is the tomb of the Maranid ruler, Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman, many of the remaining structures in Chellah were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. The site has been converted to a garden and tourist venue, since 2005, the ruins of Chella host an international Festival of Jazz each year, called Jazz au Chellah
Chellah
–
Part of the Chellah/Sala Colonia interior
Chellah
–
Roman walls of Chellah
Chellah
–
Ruins of Chellah & 14th century
minaret, 2005. Note occupied stork nest atop the minaret; see [1].
Chellah
–
Remparts de Chellah
46.
Mogador
–
Essaouira, formerly known as Mogador, is a city in the western Moroccan economic region of Marrakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. The modern name means the little rampart, a reference to the walls that still enclose part of the city. The name of the city is usually spelled Essaouira in Latin script, both spellings represent its name in Moroccan Arabic, ṣ-Ṣwiṛa. This is the diminutive of the noun ṣuṛ which means wall, the pronunciation with pharyngealized /ṣ/ and /ṛ/ is a typically Moroccan development. In Classical Arabic, the noun is sūr, diminutive suwayrah, hence the spelling of the name in Arabic script according to the classical pronunciation is السويرة al-Suwayrah. In the Berber language which is spoken by a proportion of the citys inhabitants, it is called Taṣṣort. In Moroccan Arabic, a single male inhabitant is called ṣwiṛi, plural ṣwiṛiyin, in the Berber language, a single male inhabitant is U-Taṣṣort, plural, Ayt Taṣṣuṛt, a single female inhabitant is Ult Taṣṣort, plural Ist Taṣṣort. Until the 1960s, Essaouira was generally known by its Portuguese name and this name is probably a corruption of the older Berber name Amaqdūl that is mentioned by the 11th-century geographer al-Bakrī. Archaeological research shows that Essaouira has been occupied since prehistoric times, the bay at Essaouira is partially sheltered by the island of Mogador, making it a peaceful harbor protected against strong marine winds. Essaouira has long considered as one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited in the 5th century BC and established the trading post of Arambys and this dye colored the purple stripe in Imperial Roman Senatorial togas. A Roman villa was excavated on Mogador island, a Roman vase was found as well as coinage from the 3rd century CE. Most of the artifacts are now visible in the Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum, during the Middle Ages, a Muslim saint named Sidi Mogdoul was buried in Essaouira, probably giving its origin to the name Mogador. In 1506, the king of Portugal, D. Manuel I, ordered a fortress to be built there, four of them only had a short duration, Graciosa, São João da Mamora, Castelo Real of Mogador and Aguz. Two became permanent urban settlements, Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué, following the 1541 Fall of Agadir, the Portuguese had to abandon most of their settlements between 1541 and 1550, although they were able to keep Ceuta, Tangier and Mazagan. The fortress of Castelo Real of Mogador fell to the resistance of the Regraga fraternity four years after its establishment. During the 16th century, powers including Spain, England, the Netherlands, Essaouira remained a haven for the export of sugar, molasses and the anchoring of pirates. France was involved in an attempt to colonize Mogador in 1629
Mogador
–
Essaouira Sidi Megdoul
Mogador
–
Coat of arms
Mogador
–
Phoenician plate with red
slip, 7th century BCE, excavated in
Mogador island, Essaouira.
Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum.
Mogador
–
Aegean amphora found in Essaouira, 3-4th century CE.
47.
Human settlement
–
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. A settlement can range in size from a number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities with surrounding urbanized areas. Settlements may include hamlets, villages, towns and cities, a settlement may have known historical properties such as the date or era in which it was first settled, or first settled by a particular people. In the field of geospatial predictive modeling, settlements are a city, town, village ghost or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work. The oldest remains that have found of constructed dwellings are remains of huts that were made of mud. The Natufians built houses, also in the Levant, around 10,000 BC, remains of settlements such as villages become much more common after the invention of agriculture. Landscape history studies the form of settlements – for example whether they are dispersed or nucleated, urban morphology can thus be considered a special type of cultural-historical landscape studies. Settlements can be ordered by size, centrality or other factors to define a settlement hierarchy, geoscience Australia defines a populated place as a named settlement with a population of 200 or more persons. The Committee for Geographical Names in Australasia used the term localities for rural areas, the Bulgarian Government publishes a National Register of Populated Places. The Canadian government uses the term populated place in the Atlas of Canada, Statistics Canada uses the term localities for historical named locations. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics records population in units called settlements, the Census Commission of India has a special definition of census towns. The Central Statistics Office of the Republic of Ireland has a definition of census towns. There are various types of inhabited localities in Russia, Statistics Sweden uses the term localities for various densely populated places. The common English-language translation is urban areas, the UK Department for Communities and Local Government uses the term urban settlement to denote an urban area when analysing census information. The Registrar General for Scotland defines settlements as groups of one or more contiguous localities, the Scottish settlements are used as one of several factors defining urban areas. A populated place is not incorporated and by definition has no legal boundaries. However, a place may have a corresponding civil record. Census − a statistical area delineated locally specifically for the tabulation of Census Bureau data, civil − a political division formed for administrative purposes
Human settlement
–
The small town of
Flora, Oregon in the United States is unincorporated, but is considered a populated place
Human settlement
–
Taos Pueblo, an ancient
pueblo belonging to a
Taos speaking
Native American tribe of
Pueblo people. It is approximately 1000 years old and lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the modern city of
Taos,
New Mexico.
Human settlement
–
Abandoned buildings in
Kolmanskop,
Namibia
48.
Neolithic
–
It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
Neolithic
–
An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. Neolithic stone artifacts are by definition polished and, except for specialty items, not chipped.
Neolithic
–
Algerian cave paintings depicting hunting scenes
Neolithic
–
Female figure from
Tumba Madžari,
Republic of Macedonia
Neolithic
–
Skara Brae, Scotland. Evidence of home furnishings (shelves)
49.
History of Carthage
–
Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC on the coast of North Africa, in what is now Tunisia. It developed into a significant trading empire throughout the Mediterranean, and was seen as home to a wealthy, a Roman Carthage was established on the ruins of the first. The city started as one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean that were created to trade from the city of Tyre on the coast of what is now Lebanon. Most Phoenician cities had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, but Carthage, Ancient sources concur that Carthage had become perhaps the wealthiest city in the world via its trade and commerce. The founding of Carthage is variously given in ancient sources as somewhere between 1215 BC and 1234 BC, modern sources feel the city was founded sometime between 846 and 813 BC. According to tradition, the city was founded by Queen Dido, the initial city covered the area around a hill called Byrsa, paid an annual tribute to the nearby Libyan tribes, and may have been ruled by a governor from Tyre, whom the Greeks identified as king. Utica, then the leading Phoenician city in Africa, aided the settlement in her dealings. Around this time the first recorded independent action by Carthage takes place, by the end of the 7th century BC, Carthage was becoming one of the leading commercial centers of the West Mediterranean region, a position it retained until overthrown by the Roman Republic. Carthage would establish new colonies, repopulate old Phoenician ones, come to the defense of other Punic cities under threat from natives/Greeks, Mago I, a general of the army, had assumed power in Carthage by 550 BC. Mago and his sons, Hasdrubal I and Hamilcar I, established the tradition of Carthage by their successes in Africa, Sicily. In 509 BC, a treaty was signed between Carthage and Rome indicating a division of influence and commercial activities and this is the first known source indicating that Carthage had gained control over Sicily and Sardinia, as well as Emporia and the area south of Cape Bon in Africa. Carthage had similar treaties with Etruscan, Punic and Greek cities in Sicily and it was also fighting wars in defense of Punic colonies and commerce. The fall of Carthage came at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC at the Battle of Carthage and this resulted in the end of Carthaginian power and the complete destruction of the city by Scipio Aemilianus. The Romans pulled the Phoenician warships out into the harbor and burned them before the city, about 50,000 Carthaginians were sold into slavery. The city was set ablaze and then, according to tradition, it was ploughed over and it was the center of the province of Africa. Among its major monuments was an amphitheater, Carthage was captured in the fifth century by Genseric, king of the Vandals, a Germanic people who defeated the Roman general Bonifacius and made the city his capital. After a failed attempt to recapture the city in the fifth century, thereafter, the city became the seat of the praetorian prefecture of Africa, which was made into an exarchate during the emperor Maurices reign. In 695, Hasan ibn al-Numan captured Carthage and advanced into the Atlas Mountains, an imperial fleet arrived and retook Carthage, but in 698, Hasan ibn al-Numan returned and defeated Emperor Tiberios III at the 698 Battle of Carthage
History of Carthage
–
Phoenician style glass pendant in the form of a bearded head, 4th-3rd century BC,
National Museum,
Warsaw.
History of Carthage
–
Domitius Alexander on a
follis. On the reverse, the personification of Carthage, his capital.
History of Carthage
–
Roman villas, Carthage
History of Carthage
–
Antonine baths ruins, from the Roman period
50.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Julius Caesar, known as Julius Caesar, was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He played a role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic. In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed an alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate. Caesars victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Romes territory to the English Channel, Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, with the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down from his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province, Civil war resulted, and Caesars victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence. After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms and he centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed dictator in perpetuity, giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March 44 BC, a new series of civil wars broke out, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored. Caesars adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, rose to power after defeating his opponents in the civil war. Octavian set about solidifying his power, and the era of the Roman Empire began, much of Caesars life is known from his own accounts of his military campaigns, and from other contemporary sources, mainly the letters and speeches of Cicero and the historical writings of Sallust. The later biographies of Caesar by Suetonius and Plutarch are also major sources, Caesar is considered by many historians to be one of the greatest military commanders in history. Caesar was born into a family, the gens Julia. The cognomen Caesar originated, according to Pliny the Elder, with an ancestor who was born by Caesarean section. The Historia Augusta suggests three alternative explanations, that the first Caesar had a head of hair, that he had bright grey eyes. Caesar issued coins featuring images of elephants, suggesting that he favored this interpretation of his name, despite their ancient pedigree, the Julii Caesares were not especially politically influential, although they had enjoyed some revival of their political fortunes in the early 1st century BC. Caesars father, also called Gaius Julius Caesar, governed the province of Asia and his mother, Aurelia Cotta, came from an influential family. Little is recorded of Caesars childhood, in 85 BC, Caesars father died suddenly, so Caesar was the head of the family at 16
Julius Caesar
–
The
Tusculum portrait, perhaps the only surviving statue created during Caesar's lifetime.
Julius Caesar
–
Gaius Marius, Caesar's uncle
Julius Caesar
–
Dictator
Lucius Cornelius Sulla stripped Caesar of the priesthood.
Julius Caesar
–
The extent of the Roman Republic in 40 BC after Caesar's conquests.
Roman Republic
Carthage
