Polybius was the son of Lycortus the Stratigos of the Achaean league in Greece. He was born around 198 B.C. He was very well educated for his time and intended to follow in his father’s footsteps as Stratigos for the League. By the time he was thirty he was appointed Hipparch (cavalry commander) of the […]
How did Rome’s Republican Government System Contribute to Rome’s Ability to Build and Empire, Conquer Their Enemies and Manage the Conquered Land?
October 23, 2024 By Leave a Comment
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 […]
How Did the Romans Perceive the Greeks
August 21, 2024 By Leave a Comment
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 […]
Quora Question: Why Did The Romans Not Destroy Greece the Way Destroyed Carthage?
June 9, 2021 By 2 Comments
The Romans had a lot more respect for the Greeks than they had for the Carthaginians. They had fought two long and bitter wars with Carthage and regarded them as enemies. There was no such animus in the Roman attitude toward the Greeks. The Greek language was prestigious and a Roman was not considered educated […]
Quora Question: What Year Was the Rise of Rome?
December 15, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Rome didn’t rise in a day, nor in a year. The rise of Rome was a very long process. The Greek historian Polybius explored the rise of Rome in his Histories. In the preface he wrote: “For who is so indolent and so worthless as to not wish to know by what means and under […]
How Did the Romans Overtake the Greeks
October 22, 2019 By 1 Comment
A good book to read on this subject is Taken at the Flood by Robin Waterfield. At the end of the third century B.C. most of the Greek cities were under the rule of two successor kingdoms to Alexander the Great; the Macedonian Empire, and the Seleucid Empire. Macedonia, under king Philip V, had sided […]
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Destroys Carthage.
September 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
When the Roman Senate made the decision to destroy Carthage in 149 B.C. the elected Consuls were Lucius Marcius Censorius and Marcus Manilius. They brought an army of 80,000 Roman legionaries. They demanded that the Carthaginians abandon their city and move at least ten miles from the coast. The Carthaginians, who had previously given in […]
How Does the Political System in Ancient Rome Differ from That of Modern Day America
September 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment
How was Roman democracy different from American democracy? Robin Levin, The Roman Republic was not a democracy. It was a plutocratic oligarchy. And the U.S. Republic is also not a true democracy, it is also a plutocratic oligarchy. The Greek historian Polybius, lived in the second century B.C. and spent seventeen years as a hostage […]
The Last Carthaginian is Now Available on Amazon and Kindle
March 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment
I have just published the third in my series of historical novels about the Second and Third Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage. The Death of Carthage told the story of the Second and Third Punic Wars from the point of view of the Romans. In the Wake of Hannibal told the story of the […]
Book Review: Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate Warfare, and the Rise of Rome by Arthur M. Eckstein
September 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment
This book is for serious students of ancient Rome and its place in antiquity, for those who desire a deeper understanding of the cultural, social, economic and political dynamics of the ancient Mediterranean world that Rome came to dominate, and an insight into how and why Rome came to rule over this entire region. The […]
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