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 Happened to the Carthaginian Empire after The Battle of Zama?
August 26, 2022 By 2 Comments
After Hannibal’s defeat at Zama, Carthage was forced into a treaty on Roman terms. Scipio Africanus imposed an indemnity of ten thousand talents to be paid off over a fifty-year period. They lost all of their overseas territory and were confined to what is now Tunisia and perhaps part of what is now Libya. They […]
Was The Third Punic War and the Destruction of Carthage Justified?
March 30, 2022 By Leave a Comment
I don’t feel that the genocide of Carthage was justified at the time. After the Battle of Zama at which Publius Cornelius Scipio defeated Hannibal, he imposed a treaty on Carthage which imposed a huge indemnity to be paid over a fifty-year period, and limited Carthage’s military activities to Africa and allowed them to make […]
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 […]
Book Review, Outlander of Rome by Ken Farmer
December 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I would hesitate to recommend this book to serious readers of historical fiction as some of the historical inaccuracies would make one grind one’s teeth, or perhaps explode into paroxysms of laughter. I think, however, that the author knows his history and that the inaccuracies are intentional. He’s putting the reader on, perhaps out of […]
Book Review: Total War. Destroy Carthage by David Gibbons
October 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I knew I was in trouble when I read the dramatis personae of this book and found that Scipio Aemilianus was married to a fictional person named Claudia Pulchra (or Pulchradina, as the author puts it.) It is well known that Scipio Aemilianus was married to Sempronia Graccha, the daughter of Cornelia the Mother of […]
Whatever Happened to Hannibal’s Elephants?
October 2, 2013 By 5 Comments
In ancient times there was widespread use of elephants in warfare. The first use of elephants in military campaigns probably occurred in India sometime during the first millennium B.C. The practice eventually spread eastward to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, and westward to Greece and North Africa. In 326 B.C. Alexander the Great invaded India, […]
My new book, Sempronia the Sister of the Gracchi is Now Available on Amazon
October 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
My second book, Sempronia, the Sister of the Gracchi, has just been published by Create Space. This is a short work which tells the story of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Roman reformers of the second century B.C., through the eyes of their sister Sempronia. Sempronia is described by ancient historians as “unlovely, unloving, and unloved.” […]
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