Taken at the Flood : the Roman Conquest of Greece

312 Pages·2014·3.54 MB·English

by  Waterfield

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TAKEN AT THE FLOOD

TAKEN AT THE FLOOD
Th e Roman Conquest of Greece
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Robin Waterfi eld

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© Robin Waterfield 2014
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First Edition published in 2014
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013019020
ISBN 978–0–19–965646–2
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Th is is for two sets of friends, two wonderful families,
the Snowdons and the Stanfords
Th ere is a tide in the aff airs of men
Which, taken at the fl ood, leads on to Fortune.
William Shakespeare,
Julius Caesar , Act 4, scene 3
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Contents

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
List of Illustrations xvii
Maps xix
Prelude Clouds in the West 1
Chapter 1. Rome Turns East 4
Chapter 2. Th e Illyrian Wars 21
Chapter 3. Barbarians, Go Home! 41
Chapter 4. King Philip of Macedon 62
Chapter 5. Th e Freedom of the Greeks 80
Chapter 6. Th e Road to Th ermopylae 104
Chapter 7. Th e Periphery Expands 123
Chapter 8. Remote Control 148
Chapter 9. Perseus’ Choice 165
Chapter 10. Th e End of Macedon 181
Chapter 11. Imperium Romanum 198
Chapter 12. Th e Greek World aft er Pydna 214
Key Dates 2 37
Glossary 2 43
Notes 2 47
Bibliography 263
Index 279
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Preface

“Is there anyone on earth who is so narrow-minded or uninquisi-
tive that he could fail to want to know how and thanks to what kind
of political system almost the entire known world was conquered and
brought under a single empire, the empire of the Romans, in less than
fi ft y-three years—an unprecedented event?” So wrote the Greek histo-
rian Polybius of Megalopolis at the beginning of his monumental work. 1
Th e 53-year period he had in mind (counting inclusively) stretched from
the start of the Second Punic War in 219 b ce until 167, the year of the
overthrow of the Macedonian monarchy by Rome and the division of
Macedon into four independent republics.
Th e period I cover in this book includes Polybius’s fi ft y-three years,
though I start a little earlier and end a little later. I start with the First
Illyrian War of 229 and a fi nal chapter looks ahead past 167 to the destruc-
tion of Corinth in 146. Th e importance of the period lies fundamentally
in the clash of the superpowers—Rome, Macedon, and Syria. But I start
with the so-called Illyrian wars (they hardly deserve the name), not least
because I believe that their contribution to the eventual clash of the
superpowers has not been fully appreciated, or has at least been underes-
timated by recent historians.
Th is was a period of extraordinary activity and expansion by Rome,
but, as the subtitle of the book implies, my focus is limited to the Greek
east, and chiefl y the Greek mainland. Roman imperial expansion into
Hellenized lands further east than the Balkan peninsula took place
later, though the foundations were laid in my period. Roman expansion
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