Rome and the Western Greeks, 350 BC - AD 200: Conquest and Acculturation in Southern Italy

257 Pages·1993·5.85 MB·English

by  Kathryn Lomas

ROME AND THE WESTERN GREEKS 350
BC—AD 200
ROME AND THE
WESTERN GREEKS 350 BC
—AD 200
Conquest and acculturation in
southern Italy
Kathryn Lomas
London and New York
First published 1993
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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© 1993 Kathryn Lomas
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Lomas, Kathryn
Rome and the Western Greeks, 350 BC–AD 200: conquest and acculturation
in Southern Italy/Kathryn Lomas.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Magna Graecia (Italy)—History. 2. Rome—History—Republic, 510–30 BC 3.
Rome—History—Empire, 30 BC–284 AD 4.Rome—Relations—Italy—Magna
Graecia. 5. Magna Graecia (Italy)—Relations—Rome. 6. Acculturation—Italy—
History. I. Title.
DG55.M3L66 1993
937–dc20 92–40807
ISBN 0-203-97458-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-05022-7 (Print Edition)
Contents
List of illustrations vi
Preface viii
Abbreviations ix
INTRODUCTION 1
1 THE GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY SETTLEMENT OF 18
MAGNA GRAECIA
2 ROMAN CONQUEST: MAGNA GRAECIA 350–270 BC 36
3 THE PUNIC WARS 54
4 TREATIES AND DIPLOMACY: THE FORMALITIES 71
OF RELATIONS WITH ROME 270–89 BC
5 DECLINE AND RECOVERY: MAGNA GRAECIA 200 79
BC—AD 14
6 EAST/WEST RELATIONS: CONTACTS BETWEEN 92
MAGNA GRAECIA AND THE EASTERN
MEDITERRANEAN
7 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AND AGRARIAN 117
PROBLEMS 200 BC—AD 200
8 RITUAL AND SOCIETY: CULTS AND CULTURAL 126
TRANSITION
9 ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURES AND THE 142
TRANSFORMATION OF POLITICAL LIFE
10 URBAN SOCIETY IN MAGNA GRAECIA: 159
ACCULTURATION AND CIVIC IDENTITY
EPILOGUE: MAGNA GRAECIA IN AD 200 185
Appendix: Italiote Greeks in the East 187
v
Notes 192
Bibliography 223
Index 235
Illustrations
TABLES
1 Greek colonisation in Italy 23
2 Senators from Magna Graecia 157
3 Size of decimal classes in Magna Graecia 168
MAPS
1 Greek colonisation in southern Italy xii
2 Southern Italy c. AD 100 xiii
PLATES
Plates appear between pages 114 and 115.
1 Terracotta lion’s head antefix. Metapontine, sixth century BC
2 Paestum. Porta Sirena
3 Paestum. Temple of Athena, from south-east, c. 500 BC
4 Ekklesia. Metapontum, sixth century BC
5 Paestum. Amphitheatre, first century AD
6 Red Figure Bell Krater. Paestan, fourth century BC. Signed by
Python, (a) Front (b) Reverse
7 Terracotta Dionysiac figurine. Tarentine, second century BC
8 Marble stele, with inscription recording sacrifices to Apollo (IG 14.
617). Rhegium, first century AD
9 Silver Stater. Locri, c. 250 BC (Obv. Head of Zeus. Rev. Roma,
crowned by Pistis)
10 Gold Half Stater. Bruttian, c. 209 BC (Obv. Head of Poseidon. Rev.
Thetis and a hippocamp)
11 Silver Stater. Tarentum, c. 300 BC (Obv. Taras, riding dolphin. Rev.
Armed horseman and Nike)
12 Silver Stater. Tarentum, c. 300 BC (Obv. Taras, riding Dolphin. Rev.
Naked horseman)
vii
Preface
Studies of Magna Graecia and its constituent cities have multiplied
rapidly over the past twenty years. The vast amount of excavation in the
region has greatly increased the evidence at our disposal, and surveys
have added immeasurably to our understanding of the economy and
society of southern Italy. Despite this, it is a region which remains
relatively little known in the English-speaking world. In particular, the
later history of Magna Graecia—the Hellenistic and Roman periods—
have not received the attention they deserve, despite posing some
fascinating historical problems.
This book originated as a Ph.D. thesis for the University of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, which aimed to explore selected problems connected with
the Roman conquest of the South and the post-conquest processes of
assimilation. In the evolution from thesis into book, I have widened the
scope of the discussion in order to place some of the more specific issues
into a broader context, and to consider the conquest of the South as a
case study of Roman treatment of a particular region. Given the
enormous range of archaeological material now at our disposal, this
cannot hope to be a complete synthesis of all available data, but I hope
that it will contribute to the debate on the history of Magna Graecia.
I would like to thank the British School at Rome for its generous
support of the doctoral research project on which this book is based. I
would also like to thank the supervisor of the original thesis, Mr J.J.
Paterson, and also Dr T.J. Cornell, Prof. M.H. Crawford, Prof. J.G.F.
Powell, Prof. B.B. Sheftopn and Dr A.J.S. Spawforth for their help and
advice at various stages of preparation.
Plate 1 appears by permission of the Greek Museum, University of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Plates 6–12 by courtesy of the Trustees of the
British Museum. All other maps and photographs are the author’s own.
Abbreviations
The majority of abbreviations used in this volume follow the conventions
of the relevant volume of L’Année Philologique.
AE L’Année Épigraphique
AAAN Atti di Reale Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle
Arti di Napoli
ABSA Annual of the British School at Athens
AC Archeologia Classica
ACMG Atti di Convegno sulla Studi della Magna Grecia
AION Annali dell’Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli.
Dipartimento di Studi del Mondo Classico e del
Mediterraneo Antico. Sezione di Archeologia e storia
antica
AJP American Journal of Philology
Ant. Journ. Antiquaries Journal
ARAN See AAAN (alternative convention)
Arch. Anz. Archäologischer Anzeiger
ARID Analecta Romana Instituti Damici
ASCL Archivio Storico per la Calabria e la Lucania
ASMG Atti e Memorie della Società Magna Grecia
Atti Accad. Memorie dell’ Accademia Patavina, Classe di Scienze
Patav. Morali, Lettere e Arti
BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Héllenique
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CP Classical Philology
CQ Classical Quarterly
CS Critica Storica
DdA Dialoghi di Archeologia