Rome by Grainger John D

Author:Grainger, John D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Ancient / General
ISBN: 9781473830134
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC
Published: 2013-10-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The Sack of Corinth

The reconquest of Macedonia by a Roman army under Q. Caecilius Metellus in 148 placed a potent Roman force in the Balkan Peninsula for the first time for twenty years. As in earlier armed interventions by Rome in the region, the army stayed on for a time after its victory. It was no doubt expected in Greece and Macedon that it would once more be withdrawn to Italy, though to do so would leave the whole region once more open to attack by the barbarian tribes to the north. The adventure of Andriskos had been distinctly unwelcome in Greece: the Thessalians had appealed for help against him, and the Achaian League had sent its forces north to oppose him, even if there had been a certain gloomy satisfaction at the early Roman discomfiture. All concerned had co-operated with Rome in suppressing Andriskos, yet this was done to protect themselves in Greece against the sudden revival of Macedonian armed power, not because the Greeks liked being subject to Rome, however light the burden. Indeed they may well have opposed Andriskos in the hope of obviating a new Roman presence.

The defining moment in relations between the Greek states and Rome had come in 167, when the last Romano-Macedonian War had ended. Having with great difficulty finally lined up the Greeks on their side by a mixture of threats and promises, Rome used its victory to turn on those Greek states which were deemed insufficiently supportive, which meant, in fact, almost every one. It was not even enough to point to a general attitude of friendship towards Rome to avoid punishment. Mere neutrality or lukewarmness was equated with enmity.

Roman actions were designed to cull and intimidate, and for a time it was successful in this. In Macedonia, the conqueror M. Aemilius Paullus (Scipio Aemilianus’ natural father) received delegations of congratulatory envoys from every Greek state. They also came with complaints about fellow citizens whose opinions were anything from enthusiastic about Rome to bitterly hostile. All this saved the Romans the effort of investigation. Paullus obligingly had some of these men killed, but many more were ordered into exile in Italy.1

Some territorial changes were made as well as the destruction, looting, and dismemberment of Macedonia. Aitolia had been an ally of Rome in the war, but was shorn of several areas; its leaders had already massacred over 500 of their internal opponents; these murderers were now acquitted of any blame by Paullus, who had in fact no legal authority to do so – he also executed another Aitolian, Andronikos, whom he found in Macedon.2 Boeotia had sided with Macedon and its league had already been broken up; now one political leader who was supposed to have induced the alliance with Macedonia, Neon of Thebes, was executed.3 A town in Lesbos, Antissa, which some Macedonian ships had used as a base, was destroyed.4 That is, Paullus was using his predominant military position to pay back those whose minor contributions to the war on the enemy side had, however briefly, impeded the Roman conquest.

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