How did Rome’s Republican Government System Contribute to Rome’s Ability to Build and Empire, Conquer Their Enemies and Manage the Conquered Land?

The Greek historian Polybius believed that the key to Rome’s strength was its Republican form of government. In the ancient Greek city states, there were three forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. Each of these were unstable and eventually devolved into their negative forms: Tyranny, oligarchy and mob rule, respectively. The Roman Republic was […]

What Was the Role of Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator in Defeating Hannibal in the Second Punic War?

The Roman poet Ennius referred to Marcus Claudius Marcellus as Rome’s sword during the Second Punic War, and he referred to Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator as Rome’s shield. Fabius Maximus thought outside the box. The normal Roman response to foreign aggression was to confront the enemy on the battlefield. Fabius was astute enough to realize […]

What Did Hannibal Think of the Romans?

What did Hannibal think of the Romans? Hannibal was indoctrinated by his father, Hamilcar Barca, to hate the Romans. There is a story that, before taking Hannibal with him to Spain, Hamilcar took him to the Temple of Elissa at Carthage and made him swear an oath: “When I come to age, I shall pursue […]

Riding the Tiger You Dare Not Dismount

  History provides us with a number of examples of nations or individuals riding a tiger they dare not dismount. The ancient Spartans conquered and enslaved their neighbors, the Messenians, around 700 B.C. Fearing a bloody uprising, the Spartans redesigned their society to prevent such an event. Every Spartiate male was required to train as […]

Book Review: The Scipios in Spain by Kevin Hardy

  It is said that the historian tells you what happened, and the historical novelist tells you what it felt like. Kevin Hardy, in his book The Scipios in Spain seeks to do both! Several times he asks the reader to imagine what it was like to be a velite or a hastatus in the […]

How Did the Romans Perceive the Greeks

The Romans were much divided in their assessments of the Greeks. There were Graecophiles like Scipio Major, Scipio Minor, Aemilius Paullus, Titus Quinctius Flamininus. and much later, Hadrian. There were Graecophobes like Cato the Elder. Roman contact with the Greek world goes back much farther than the second century B.C. when Rome conquered Greece and […]

What Role Did the Berbers Have in the Punic Wars Between Rome and Carthage?

The Romans called the Berbers, the native peoples of North Africa Numidians, which meant nomads. They were distinct from the Carthaginians who were descended from Phoenician colonists. The Numidians provided the Carthaginians with mercenaries, and at the start of the Second Punic War in 218 B.C. both major tribes, the Masaesyli under King Syphax and […]