The conquest of Greece by Rome

The conquest of Greece by Rome - the history of the subordination of Hellas to the Roman Republic in the III — II centuries BC. e.

The first political contacts of the Romans with Balkan Greece date back to 229 BC. e., when the Roman fleet began to pursue the Illyrian pirates: the Greeks then looked at the Romans as their saviors ( First Illyrian War ). Even then, the Romans established themselves on the island of Kerkyra and on the Illyrian coast. After 217 BC e. not a single conflict in Greece was resolved without the intervention or even mediation of the Romans.

For the Roman Senate, the reason for the closest intervention in the affairs of Greece was the union of Philip V with Hannibal in 215 BC. e. Even before the end of the Second Punic War, the Romans launched military operations against Philip V on the banks of Illyria (214 BC). In 211 BC e. the Romans made an alliance with the Etolans against the Macedonians. This union was joined by the Eleists, Messenians, Lacedaemonians, the king of Pergamum Attalus, the lords of Thrace and Illyria. Philip V was supported by the Achaean, Akarnan, and Epirus unions. In 205 BC e. the warring parties reconciled.

Even earlier, the Etolians made a separate peace with Philip V. The brilliant victory of the Achaeans with Philopemen led by the Spartans and their tyrant Nabis (207 BC) dates back to the same time. Only at the end of the war with Carthage (202 BC) did the Romans resume their offensive on the Greco-Macedonian East under the guise of a war with Philip V (200 BC), which ended in the complete defeat of the latter at the Kinoskefal in Thessaly (197 BC A.E.).

Polybius vividly described the enthusiasm with which the Greeks heard the statement of the Roman envoy Titus Quintius Flaminin at the Isthmian festivals in Corinth that, under the terms of the peace concluded with Philip V, all Greek states that were dependent on Macedonia (196 BC) were freed. .

The Aetolians were very dissatisfied with the conditions of the world. Pretty soon the other Greeks became convinced that they only exchanged one master for another. Things came to a new war between the Etolians and the Romans , and in alliance with the Etolans was King of Syria Antiochus III . In 191 BC e. under Thermopylae, Antiochus was defeated by the Romans, and two years later the Etolians were to submit to Rome. The Aetolian Union ceased to exist (189 BC). As the Aetolians had been annoyed by the Romans and excited the Greeks to war with them, now Rome and Philip and the Achaeans, who supported the Romans in their war with Antiochus and the Etolans, were unhappy. Around this time, the extension of the Achaean Union , led by Philopemenus, to the whole of the Peloponnese dates back to. Sparta , Elis, and Messenia were annexed to the union (191-190 BC). But both in Sparta and in Messenia, there were strong parties that stood for the separation of these areas from the union. Dissatisfied complained to Rome, which did not give up the role of mediator, judge and organizer of the Peloponnese: with his assistance, Messenia withdrew from the Achaean Union (183 BC).

The return of Messenia to the Achaean union cost the life of Philopemen , and with his death, internal unrest intensified, and the reasons for the intervention of the Romans in the affairs of the union multiplied. The political struggle was complicated by socio-economic. Two parties fought in the union: one, not declaring open war on Rome, tried to preserve the union’s possible measure of independence in actions; another insisted on the recognition of the supremacy of Rome over the union. The most prominent representatives of both parties were Aristen and Kallikrath.

In 171 BC e. The Third Macedonian War began , which was waged by King Perseus , son of Philip V. In 168 BC. e. the war ended with the extermination of the Macedonian army under Pidna by the legions of Lucius Emilius Paul . Macedonia was declared free and divided into 4 "republics", completely dependent on Rome. They were taxed at half the rate that they had previously paid to the Macedonian king.

The Romans severely punished the people of Molossians for participating in the Third Macedonian War , in which they fought on the side of the Macedonians. After the defeat of Macedonia, the vengeful Romans in 167 BC. e. they defeated and plundered 70 Molossian cities, selling 150 thousand epirots to slavery ^[1] . As a result, the Molossians tribe was destroyed, and their former region was turned into a Roman province ^[2] .

Sympathizing with Perseus and wishing him victory over a more dangerous enemy, the Greeks, and in particular the Achaean Union, nevertheless, out of fear of Roman power, did not participate in the war and observed the most strict neutrality. But even such submissive behavior no longer satisfied the Roman Senate. In 167 BC e. about 1,000 Achaeans suspected of anti-Roman sentiments were taken to Rome without suspicion on suspicion of treason. Among the captives was the historian Polybius . For 17 years, the Greeks languished in captivity, while the survivors of them were finally allowed to return to their homeland. However, the return of prisoners intensified contention in the alliance.

In 148 BC e. The Macedonians, led by the self-proclaimed king Andrisk , posing as the son of King Perseus, rebelled against the Romans , but were defeated, and Macedonia was converted to a Roman province.

Soon after, Sparta's outrage against the allied authorities led to a decisive intervention of Rome in allied relations. At the request of the Senate of Sparta, Corinth, Argos, Heracles, Orchomen were expelled from the union (147 BC). The alliance war against Sparta was accepted in Rome as a challenge, and the two defeats inflicted by the allied forces in Lokrid by Epiknemida Metellus and near Corinth, near the village of Levkopetra, Mummiyem, put an end to the independent existence of Greece, from which the province of Achaia was formed (146 BC. .). Corinth was destroyed, and its inhabitants sold into slavery.