Copyright

by
Sarah Helen Davies
2012

The Dissertation Committee for Sarah Helen Davies Certifies that this is the
approved version of the following dissertation:

Rome, International Power Relations, and 146 BCE

Committee:

Karl Galinsky, Supervisor

Adam T. Rabinowitz
Jennifer Gates-Foster
Steven J. Friesen
Arthur M. Eckstein
M. Gwyn Morgan

Rome, International Power Relations, and 146 BCE

by
Sarah Helen Davies, B.A., M.A.

Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin

August 2012

Rome, International Power Relations, and 146 BCE

Sarah Helen Davies, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Austin, 2012

Supervisor: Karl Galinsky

Within a single year 146 BCE Roman generals had entered the cities of
Carthage and Corinth and forever changed the course of Mediterranean history. Although
involved in separate conflicts with Rome, these cities and their tragedies became
uniquely linked, not only to each other, but also to a perceived trajectory of Rome as an
imperial power. Subsequent generations have looked to 146 BCE as an important turning
point, and in doing so have attached value-laden interpretations to it as a gauge on Roman
imperialism.
This dissertation looks at 146 BCE from a different angle, seeking to understand
its significance in terms of its contemporary international context, asking how it first
became viewed as a turning point. The analysis utilizes international relations theory of
normative systems, focusing on collective perceptions and evolving political conceptions
within an interstate cultural environment. Exploring contemporary texts and
archaeological clues, it sees the second-century BCE as a period in which the
Mediterranean was becoming increasingly globalized, drawn together by universalizing
ideals. A framework of Hellenistic markers communicated networks of legitimacy,
Rome being both participant and game-changer. At the same time, the international
iv

community was rife with disjunctions, which contributed to a disintegration of relations

in North Africa, followed by re-eruptions of nationalistic fervor on the Greek mainland.
When coupled with wider perceptions, that the oikoumen was becoming progressively
interconnected and was moving toward a new juncture in world-history, the stage was
set. The legal punishments to be inflicted by the Roman victor were to be viewed on a
whole new plane, as reflections of a groundbreaking world-order.
Romans were aware of these implications, made evident in the decisions of Scipio
at Carthage, followed by Mummius at Corinth. In a rare and stunning move, both cities
were decommissioned as political entities, and their tragedies linked to contemporary
visions of cyclical world-history: Carthage burned in reiteration of Troy, and Corinth
stripped of cultural Greek heritage. Polybius, uniquely positioned as a commentator on
these outcomes, not only captured their ideological ripple effects, but also assured their
direction over future generations, as a moment to color Rome as world hegemon.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1
146 BCE ..........................................................................................................1
Polybius & 146 BCE.......................................................................................8
From Modern IR to Ancient History: Overview of the Chapters .................11
Previous Scholarship: Summary of the Debates ...........................................15
Chapter 2: Rome, History, & International Relations Theory ...............................21
Introduction ...................................................................................................21
IR Theory as an Approach: Eckstein & Realism ..........................................25
Primitivism & Modernism ............................................................................31
Levels of Analysis: Internal & External .......................................................36
International Heterarchy ...............................................................................39
Defensive & Offensive Imperialism .............................................................43
Beyond Dichotomies.....................................................................................47
Normative IR Theory: A Review of the Approach .......................................54
Conclusion: The Roman Dilemma................................................................59
Chapter 3: Interstate Norms & the Early Second Century BCE ............................62
Introduction ...................................................................................................62
Thinking in Modern Terms: Hellenistic Globalization .................................64
Hellenistic: Ancient Chronography & Globalism ........................................65
Hellenistic Hellenism: Civilizing Ideals & Empire ......................................70
The West: Republican Rome, Carthage, & Hellenism .................................74
Roman Philhellenism: Politics of Prestige....................................................85
Roman Philhellenism: Flamininus ................................................................90
Negotiating Philhellenic Relations ...............................................................95
The East & Philo-romanism: Pan-Hellenism & Kinship Diplomacy ......101
Philo-Romanism: Ruler Cult Redefined .....................................................108
Roman Syngeneia: The Trojan Legend.......................................................116
vi

Syngeneia, The Trojan Legend, & World History ......................................122

World History & Rome in the Second Century BCE .................................130
Chapter 4: International Legal Constructs & The Treaty of Zama .....................136
Introduction .................................................................................................136
Polis & Empire: Shifting Perceptions .........................................................138
Polis & Res Publica: Disjunctive Concepts ...............................................142
Becoming the Polis of Empire ....................................................................147
Polybius & Romes Politeia .......................................................................154
Treaty of Zama: The Context ......................................................................172
Hellenistic Peace-Agreements & Vaguely Defined Territories ..................177
The Pre-Zama Theater of International Justice ...........................................184
The Zama (201) Treaty & Roman International Justice .............................195
Conclusion ..................................................................................................207
Chapter 5: From 201 to 149 BCE Diplomatic Crisis........................................209
Introduction .................................................................................................209
201 Treaty & Polybian Commentary ..........................................................215
201 Treaty: Terms & Significance..............................................................223
Carthage After 201 ......................................................................................231
North Africa After 201: The Sources..........................................................244
North Africa After 201: Clashes Between Political Cultures .....................253
Mid-Century Diplomatic Crisis ..................................................................265
Chapter 6: Tragedy, Triumph, & 146 BCE ..........................................................280
Introduction .................................................................................................280
From North Africa to the Greek World: Crisis Pandemic ..........................284
Achaian League Debacle ............................................................................294
Collocated Destructions ..............................................................................307
146 BCE & History: Cycles of World Empire ...........................................320
Aftermath ....................................................................................................340

vii

Appendix ..............................................................................................................348
Introduction .................................................................................................348
Realism & Idealism ....................................................................................348
Realism & Neorealism ................................................................................352
Liberalism (Idealism and Neoliberalism) ...................................................354
International Political Economy (IPE) ........................................................357
Towards an Eclectic Approach: International Society IR Theory ..............359
Post-Modernism & Constructivism ............................................................361
Normative IR Theory ..................................................................................364
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................374
Bibliography ........................................................................................................376

viii

Chapter 1: Introduction
History is the name we as human beings give to the horizon of consciousness within
which we live.
-- Harvey Cox
And the source of coming-to-be for existing things is that into which destruction, too,
happens, according to necessity; for they pay penalty and retribution to each other for
their injustice according to the assessment of Time.
-- Anaximander (ca. 550 BCE)

146 BCE
This study is ultimately about beginnings and endings, tragedy and triumph,
international power, and the construction of history. The story may seem to begin with
two parallel acts of annihilation the destruction of two great cities on opposite shores of
the Mediterranean but in all actuality, it involves many stories underlying the surface
currents of historical tradition. Such tradition has, since ancient times, attached special
significance to the date of 146 BCE that is, to the collocated destructions of Carthage
and Corinth by making it a point at which (whether directly or indirectly) to assess
Rome as an international, imperialist power. Over the millennia, 146 has thus evolved as
a meaning-laden horizon of consciousness, both taken for granted as a moment for
demarcating Roman imperialism, and at the same time serving as a mirror held up to the
viewers own perspectives on international politics, on the possibilities and pitfalls,
justices and injustices of world order.
Consult almost any modern textbook on the history of ancient Rome, and 146
BCE will be represented as the culmination of mid-Republican imperial expansion.
1

Modern scholarship surrounding the subject has thus tended to focus on either an analysis
of Roman strategic and political motivations for going to war with Carthage in 149 (and
to a much lesser extent, with Corinth in 147/6), or on post eventum rhetoric and Roman
propaganda of imperial justification.1 As an accepted turning point, then, 146 has often
functioned as a transition into discussions of Roman imperialism, the late Republic and
new, internal challenges experienced by the Roman state.2
In this light, modern tradition has continued in a direction first indicated by the
ancients themselves. Perhaps most famously among the generations of later ancient
authors, Sallust noted that the destructions of Carthage and Corinth, and the elimination
of all serious foreign enemies that this moment entailed, signaled the beginning of a
decline for the Roman Republic, for all seas and lands were open, then Fortune began to
grow cruel and bring confusion into all our affairs.3 In Sallusts estimation, the absence
of serious foreign challenges meant that fear of the enemy (metus hostilis) no longer held
together Romes citizenry in the practice of virtue.4 Instead, avarice and ambition spread
like a plague, splitting the fabric of Roman society into factions, as leisure and wealth
took a hold over a once rigorous and just people.5 Though this Sallusts Theorem may
be highly rhetorical, its standards for judgment are revealing, for it assumes that 146 BCE
was a crucial moment in which Rome finalized a world dominion over all seas and
1

See further discussion below pp. 15ff.

A selection of modern examples illustrating the broad-based assumption of 146 BCE as an historical
marker (though with different emphases): Scullard (1980); Badian et al. (1996); Bringmann (2007: 107ff.);
Flower (2009: 70-71); Morstein-Marx and Rosenstein (2010: 634); Spielvogel (2010: 93); Woolf (2012:
97-8).
3 Sall. Cat. 10. See discussions in Conley (1981); Wood (1995); and Kapust (2008).
4 Sall. Jug. 41.
5 Sall. Cat. 10-11.
2

lands. It also assumes that such achievement marked a moral juncture, a beginning of an
end for Rome.6 A generation later, such thinking would be put to work in the ideology of
a Republic reborn, crafted under the guidance of Augustus as a renewed and glorious
pan-Mediterranean empire one in which Carthage and Corinth were also to be granted
new life as Roman coloniae.7
However, there is much more going on here, more than the reflections and
justifications of post eventum rhetoricizing, later taken up by modern thinking. The
argument to be presented here is that such post eventum traditions, in perceiving 146 as
an historical turning point with implications for Romes status as world power, actually
have their roots in the second century BCE. The study thus looks at the contexts and
processes by which two otherwise disparate tragedies were, at the time that they
occurred, pulled together and shaped into a singular phenomenon a conceptual marker
still in existence today. For in all reality, the pairing between Carthage and Corinth is not
an immediately logical one. Carthage, on the one hand, resisted Roman forces to the very
end, standing up to a three-year siege; the city had fought two previous, long and
momentous wars with Rome; and in the end as we can tell from current archaeological
evidence suffered severe physical damage.8 Corinth, on the other hand, was not
besieged at all it was almost immediately captured with no resistance from within the
city itself; the city, and the Achaian League of which it was a part, had enjoyed a history
6

E.g. Lintott (1972); Levick (1982).

On the re-foundation of Carthage, see Humphrey (1978); Lancel et al. (1980); Wightman (1980); LeGlay
(1985); Rives (1990); on Corinth, see Engels (1990: 16ff.); Spawforth (1996); Romano (2003). On
Augustus and his ideology of Rome reborn in general, see Syme (1939/2002: 509ff.); Galinsky (1996;
2012); Zanker (1998); Everitt (2006).
8 For more on the archaeological evidence at Carthage, see below pp. 318ff.
7

of relatively amicable dealings with Rome until only the previous year, posing no real
serious military threat to Rome; and in 146 as we can tell from archaeological evidence
Corinth was left virtually untouched, its trauma inflicted in symbolic political and
cultural terms.9 Much more energy, then, must be taken in order to find parallels, and
these parallels are tenuous at best: both cities were maritime trading centers, and the two
together represented the eastern and western geographic halves of the Mediterranean. In
addition, both cities were converted in 146 into ager publicus (Roman public lands), and
both came to be associated and compared with the fall of Troy.10 But these last parallels
only bring a return to the original question: why, and how, were the captures of Carthage
and Corinth in particular (rather than the violent destructions of other cities) connected so
closely and granted such importance, as a Roman event of such world-historical, Trojanwar level meaning?
It may perhaps seem that the answer lies in mere historical accident, combined
with Roman self-aggrandizement: the fall of Corinth was appended to the tragic drama of
Carthage, Romes great enemy, simply because it occurred in the same campaign year.
But a closer look at the evidence suggests something more. The timing may (or may not)
have been out of human control but the conceptual framing and the lasting ideological
impressions were not. The present study looks to the second century itself as the source,
and argues that the destructions of Carthage and Corinth became something
extraordinary because they were part of wider changes political and ideational taking

For discussion of the archaeological evidence at Corinth, see below pp. 316ff.
See below p. 321 and pp. 336ff.

10

place at the time. For as we will see, intellectuals and statesmen of the second century
were increasingly thinking about their own political and cultural interactions in terms of a
progressively cohesive international community, an oikoumen. And in doing so, they
saw themselves as part of an historical advancement, moving toward the achievement of
a civilized, pan-Hellenic world system, linked via ties of myth-historic kinship and
personal/political friendship, and looking to Rome as a potential governor. Such ideas
and ideologies involved complex interactions, however, in what Richard White has
dubbed a middle ground that is, a negotiated zone of contact (conceptual and/or
spatial) formed out of the need and desire to communicate across different cultures and
political systems.11 In some ways, this space here, existing on an internationally
conceived level can serve to achieve mutual benefits and/or shared goals, but more
frequently, and with more creative fission, it results in misapprehension, conflicting
agendas, and manipulated translation.
Using literary and epigraphic evidence in particular, this study makes the case that
during the second century the context for 146 a Mediterranean-wide, Hellenistic, and
international-level middle ground was in rapid development, and intellectuals at the time
were well aware of the increasingly globalizing networks and interrelationships around
them. At the same time, power structures and political constructs were in flux, and the
interchange between concepts like polis and res publica, which were mismatched, yet
still taken as parallels, led to disjunctions and miscommunication, and eventually (by the

11

White (2010) esp. the preface, which summarizes subsequent uses and critiques of this term, and
Whites thoughts on its legacy.

end of the first century BCE), to a re-write of Rome as the polis of (world-)empire. Many
Greek-speaking intellectuals in the second century were thus striving to understand and
interpret Romes politeia, to categorize Rome as a foreign and yet civilized, pan-Hellenic
power, as a mixed city-state and yet monarchic (or possibly tyrannical) actor abroad.
And at the same time, Romans were also redefining political concepts in this
international middle ground, shifting the configurations of third-party diplomacy in
accordance with their own beliefs regarding Roman divine/ritual law. Over time, they
were also adding increasingly abstract and spatial meaning to the once specific terms of
imperium and provincia, which were gradually evolving from the connotations of
command and task/mission, toward empire and province. Evidence suggests
that the pieces were there in the second century in 146 BCE itself, Rome added the
territories of Carthage and Corinth to the public lands of the city (as ager publicus), and
thereby extended Romes direct possessions beyond Italy and Sicily. In the meantime, an
array of contemporary literature suggests that international circles were reacting to and
debating over notions that Rome was the latest world empire/Hellenistic kingdom, and
their assessments range from eager adulation to somber cynicism and hostile
apocalypticism.
The process of pulling these pieces of evidence together requires a theoretical
approach a thread and shape on which to hang them. It is here that the current study
turns to modern international relations (IR) theory. Such theory, however, has a multitude
of iterations the Appendix provides an overview of these. The form of IR theory that is
espoused here is essentially normative constructivist, with an interest in both norms
6

that is, patterns of expected and accepted behaviors and structuration that is, the
ideational aspects of envisioning, creating, and legitimizing power structures (on an
international level). Such an approach thus allows us to first assemble a general picture of
the international community of the second century the community in which, as will be
argued here, 146 was first construed as a significant juncture.
Having reconstructed this international context, we will then use the normative
constructivist approach to investigate second-century processes of constructing
international-level history. For ultimately, contemporaries of the destructions of Carthage
and Corinth took otherwise disparate events and interpreted them on a greater,
international and interconnected plane. And as we will see, they did so in accordance
with the historiographical and political trends of the time, perceiving world history
predominately a pan-Hellenic one, beginning with the fall of Troy as running in cycles
within a greater series of the rise-and-fall of great kingdoms. This pan-Hellenic history
was further shaped and demarcated by key moments of synchronicity (e.g. Himera and
the Battle of Salamis, at opposite corners of the Mediterranean). An entire science of
synchronography became popular during the Hellenistic period, and historians focused
on identifying and attributing meaning to temporal, political, and even symbolic parallels
in people and events parallels that gave shape to otherwise incomprehensible schemes
of Fate. Rome was already being considered the latest in the series of world empires, and
students of political philosophy (e.g. Carneades, Panaetius and Agartharcides) were
already debating the ethical status of Rome within this position as bringing a just order

for the benefit of the ruled (hegemonia) or bringing a hypocritical order for the benefit of
the ruler alone, to the detriment of the ruled (despoteia).
146 was fitted into all of these second-century norms, becoming not only a
juncture that could be used to assess Rome as a world power, but also one that could
mark a synchronism, a tragic marker to suggest the end of one cycle and beginning of the
next. And this is where Polybius comes in as the most influential (but not only)
architect of 146s place in historical tradition (especially for moderns).

POLYBIUS & 146 BCE

As an Achaian statesman, Polybius was witness to and participant in the post-146
restructuring of Greece, and he maintained close ties with leading Romans, including
Scipio Aemilianus, whom he accompanied during the siege and burning of Carthage.
Modern scholarship, while profiting greatly from Polybius eyewitness perspective, has
long recognized the problems of depending so heavily on one interpretative account,
inevitably colored by particular personal, political, and cultural biases.12 This study takes
a slightly different turn, at once using Polybius as key evidence of the process by which
146 was constructed as an historical turning point in the second century in this case, by
one individual in particular and at the same time, contextualizing his account within an
international, political and cultural environment. And as discussed above it does so

12

On source issues and Polybius, cf. Astin (1967: 3; 1989: 3-11); Baronowski (1995); Eckstein (1995: 1820); Walbank (2002, esp. Ch. 1). On Polybius standing between Greek and Roman perspectives, see Derow
(1979); Richardson (1979); Walbank (2002: Ch. 8).

via IR theory, a perspective on international systems and a longue dure of history that is
analogous to that of Polybius and his second century contemporaries.
It is important to note here that Polybius actually tells his reader his main aim in
writing the Histories, and elsewhere gives strong hints regarding subsidiary themes fitted
within the overall scheme. The goal is to present a pragmatik historia a history that is
utilitarian in the sense that it is intended to function as a guidebook and manual for
current and future statesmen.13 Polybius affirms his strong belief that the events he has
been fortunate enough to witness during his lifetime and to which he can even often
claim a primary source status provide the ultimate occasion for developing such a
manual.14 For during his lifetime, Polybius states that the world has experienced
something like never before the rise of a great arch, within the rapid span of only fiftythree years. This arch has gathered the oikoumen in a newly interconnected manner, in
a symplok weaving together like never before the politics of Africa and Asia, Italy,
Macedon and Greece.15 These groundbreaking developments, in Polybius estimation,
grant him the opportunity to explore exactly how great world powers come into being,
and to offer instructive examples of both good and bad behavior, to clarify how lesser
powers are to deal with such a rising star.
Throughout, the focus is thus on the ethics of leading statesmen, politicians and
diplomats of states both great and small who through unmanaged passions, self-serving
naivet, or moral weakness may catapult their states into decline or disaster, or via their
13

See Polyb. 9.2, and below pp. 127ff.

See Polyb. 1.1-2.
15 See idem, and below pp. 69, 124ff.
14

virtue, discipline, and honor may bring it to health, resilience, dignity in defeat, and glory
in victory.16 The weight carried upon the shoulders of these leaders, according to
Polybius, is thus a heavy one, for their actions have implications not only for their own
hometowns, but also and in his lifetime even more apparently so for the grander
schemes of world history. For while Polybius does not agree with his contemporaries
regarding the value of myth-historic tales and regional, dramaturgic traditions, he does
believe in an interconnected, synchronistic world/pan-Hellenic history, and he views this
history as cyclical, with the hand of Tyche/Fortuna at key moments turning the wheel.
He also utilizes Aristotelian concepts to explore the growth and decay
(anacyclosis) of politeiai, arguing that the best constitutions are those that are
mixed/balanced, like the politeia of Rome (perceived in an Hellenic frame).17 Yet no
politeia is wholly immune from the ravages of time, growth and decay, and these
lifespans of all states fit together in the overall cycles of international history. Romes
meteoric rise to power, then, is first explained as the product of her strong politeia,
combined with the severe lack of moral fortitude and virtue among Polybius fellow
Greeks (and leading statesmen in particular). For these reasons, 146 already in the eyes
of others a moment of dramatic synchronism and world-historical significance was for
Polybius, who was a direct participant and witness in its events something even greater.
When Carthage and Corinth were each captured, Polybius was in the midst of
writing the Histories, and he makes an immediate turn in his plan for its scope, extending

16
17

See Eckstein (1995).

See discussion below pp. 155ff.

10

its span from 167 BCE to 146 as a new endpoint. It is an extension that, as Polybius
states, was intended as an instructive assessment of the consequences of a meteoric rise to
world arch.18 The period following Romes defeat of Macedon in 167 a defeat that
heralded Romes succession in the lineage of great kingdoms was one loosely
characterized by Polybius as one of unrest and disturbance (tarach kai kinesis), in which
it is implied that not only the moral fibers of the ruled, but also those of the rulers, were
coming unraveled. The events of 146 thus mark a tragedy of all tragedies, and at the same
time leave open a number of possibilities for the future. Two cities are undone, and a
third stands at a new international juncture. Carthage, by virtue of internal decay and
naivet regarding how Romans approach international law (deditio in particular), has
fallen, like Troy, in flames, after heroic resistance. Corinth, by contrast, has suffered an
even greater (in Polybius eyes) ruin: having submitted shamefully to demagoguery, the
Greeks are left to look at the ruins of their own making. And for Rome, there is an open
question: has the international powerhouse become a hegemon or a despots? Is 146 the
beginning of a new beginning, or the beginning of an end? These questions never
directly stated outright, but implied via the subtext of second century political philosophy
were to haunt generations to come, Romans (and moderns!) included.

FROM MODERN IR TO ANCIENT HISTORY: OVERVIEW OF THE CHAPTERS

The current study therefore represents a reappraisal of 146 BCE, from a different
set of angles, not only from the testimony of Polybius but also from his normative

18

See below pp. 170ff.

11

international context, as recoverable via a constructivist IR approach. In order to

understand the actions and rhetoric of the second century BCE, and to distinguish
contemporary from later contexts, this study thus begins by tackling current modes of
thinking regarding foreign policy and international relations (chapter 2). Three axes in the
modern debates are analyzed in this light: (1) primitivism (ancient politics as utterly
unlike modern) versus modernism (ancient politics analogous to modern); (2) internalcultural explanations as opposed to external (that is international) and structural; and (3)
Roman imperialism as defensive as opposed to offensive in nature. The recent work by
Arthur Eckstein, who has re-opened the debate across these axes in light of modern IR
theory (specifically, structural Realism), is assessed, with the conclusion that a normative
constructivist approach will be preferred here.
From this conclusion, the notion of 146 BCE as a historical turning point can be
addressed by assessing the significance of events (and their presentation) at the time,
tracing how contemporary judgments and perceptions evolved alongside developments in
Roman imperium itself. Chapter 3 begins this process by exploring second-century BCE
Zeitgeist, arguing not only that an interstate community existed, but also that it was selfaware, with a developing rhetoric of pan- and phil-Hellenism and cosmopolitanism,
which in turn was building a globalized environment via networks of syngeneia and
myth-historic kinship, all tied to notions of a oikoumen-wide history. Chapter 4 then
looks more closely at the political and legal frameworks within this international system,
analyzing linguistic-semantic disjunctions and newly evolving meanings (e.g. polis vs.
res publica, provincia vs. eparcheia). It introduces Polybius as an individual standing in a
12

complex middle ground, and it discusses his particular agenda in writing a pragmatik
historia with Rome put forward as a unique new world power. Polybius analysis of
Romes politeia in this light thus raises a number of issues, among them his Grecocentric approach and Greek-speaking audience, which could only frame Rome in
Hellenic, polis terms, but which was confronting experiences with Roman peculiarities
in the definitions of sovereignty, just warfare, and territorial/treaty arrangements. The
disjunctions between Hellenic and Roman frames for these last subjects are analyzed in
further depth, for they have direct implications for the outlining of terms in the treaty of
Zama between Rome and Carthage in 201 BCE.
The 201 treaty and its terms are in turn of lasting significance, not only for the
concomitant parallels and disjunctions between Hellenic and Roman political thought that
they reveal, but also, and even more importantly, for the post-war conditions that they
establish in North Africa conditions which ultimately led to conflict between Rome and
Carthage in 149. Chapter 5 thus looks in depth at the terms of the 201 treaty, read within
their international normative context to determine what each signified, and in terms of
conditions in Carthage and North Africa, as reconstructed from archaeological evidence
and modern ethnographic comparanda. Taken together, these pieces help clarify the
series of territorial disputes that plagued the region in the decades following 201. These
disputes are analyzed in this study as emblematic of the cultural misapprehensions taking
place in the international arena of the second century for while Romans and Greekspeakers approached territorial disputes in both analogous and divergent ways, both of
these differed from local North African traditions. It was a recipe for disaster that ended
13

in a mid-century diplomatic crisis and outbreak of war between Rome and Carthage, a
crisis for which Polybius again is an important, though complex, source of evidence.
Chapter 6 uses Polybius and a key passage in which he discusses Greek
responses to the Third Punic War as a means for marking the interconnections between
events surrounding Carthage and the greater international, ideological sphere. The
chapter thus transitions from North Africa to the Greek world, discussing the revolt of
Pseudo-Philip in Macedon and the subsequent outbreak of war with the Achaian League,
again not only in terms of their contemporary diplomatic contexts, but also in terms of
Polybius interpretations and assessments thereof. This brings us to a comparison of the
destructions wrought upon Carthage and Corinth, and to the great differences that the
archaeological evidence reveals between them. This then leads to an analysis of how
exactly these two ostensibly disparate events became so closely paired: through a
historiographical tradition of pan-Hellenic calamities, of synchronography and the cycles
of world empires, and in light of contemporary debates regarding Rome as either
hegemon or despots. The enigmatic question raised by Polybius is presented in this
context, with the scene of Scipio watching Carthage burn calling forth visions of the fall
of Troy, and raising the possibility that Rome as a pan-Hellenic power stands at a new
threshold. It is a possibility taken up by subsequent ancient traditions, which are briefly
reviewed as the substance of todays status of 146 as an historical turning point.
And this brings us full-circle, to the need to briefly review previous scholarship
surrounding 146 BCE. In the following section, therefore, we summarize this scholarship

14

 in particular, the debates surrounding the outbreak of war between Rome and Carthage
as a means of contextualizing the problems and the starting point for the present study.

PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP: SUMMARY OF THE DEBATES

In seeking to reconstruct an account of what happened leading up to 146, modern
historians are hampered by the fragmentary nature of books 35-39 in Polybius Histories,
which recount events of the period in question. To fill in the substantial gaps, scholars
have looked to later writers, such as Livy though the original text of books 47-52
survives only faintly in later epitomes as well as Appian, Diodoros, Plutarch, and
Pausanias.19 Each of these authors, writing in different contexts and with different
agendas, recombined a certain degree of Polybian material with other available sources
within new interpretative frameworks. And each of these constituted yet another
evaluation of Rome as victor and as a hegemonic power.
This last issue of Rome and attendant notions of empire has perhaps remained
the knottiest for modern scholars. For modern conceptions of empire, sovereignty, and
diplomacy have themselves affected the reconstruction of source material, and in turn, the
way in which the rise of Rome and her conduct in war have been assessed. And in a
problematic circularity of analysis, the many centuries of Roman and Greek selfpresentation, when blurred into a monolithic model of imperializing behavior and its
response, have simply re-asserted many of the assumptions used to analyze them.20 146

19

Excellent summary of such a process, with references, in Astin (1967: Appendix III).
Cf. Marincola (1997); Inglis and Robertson (2006). For a parallel discussion regarding Roman rhetoric,
see Connolly (2007: Introduction).
20

15

BCE is thus approached with preconceived certainty of its place in the history of Rome as
an empire without deeper questioning as to how and why this moment came to contain
such moralizing, ethical, and political meaning for both ancients and moderns alike. The
problem also begs the question of defining the nature of power, especially imperial or
international, in one of its various forms that is, Rome in the second century BCE and
to understand this form within a trajectory of change.
Modern historians writing about 146 BCE have taken a number of different
routes, but each has been governed by underlying judgments regarding Rome as an
already established, imperialist power. The year is assumed as a decisive, even
culminating, point in an onward march of Roman domination, whether defensive or
acquisitive in its initial intent, ultimately aggressive and grasping in its expression. Even
in a recent and innovative re-structuring of Republican history, 146 BCE has been
interpreted as marking Romes strikingly harsh and imperialistic new foreign policy in
which Carthage and Corinth were completely razed to the ground, though neither
posed a credible threat.21 On this basis the so-called nova sapientia argument the
tradition of 146 BCE as a historical marker has been broadly espoused, if only because it
signals a recognizable crossover from Roman policing of the Mediterranean to forcible
imposition of authority. As a result, the vast majority of studies have ultimately focused
on the lead-up to war with Carthage, beginning in 149 BCE.
War with the Achaian League and the destruction of Corinth have become
secondary subjects, afterthoughts to the major crux that involved Romes decision to take
21

Flower (2009: 70-71)

16

up arms against Carthage. And when considered together, the two destructions have been
painted with broad strokes, in a manner similar to centuries of ancient authors. Though
post eventum rhetorical embellishments are to be expected and have been identified,
questions as to their origins and significance in the second century and their growth into a
historical tradition have largely been passed over.22 This gap is in part the result of
problems with the literary source material, but is more deeply the result of the frame of
reference employed, for scholars have certainly not shied away from assembling the
jigsaw pieces of Polybius, the epitomes of Livy, and passages from Appian and
Zonaras.23
The debates regarding 146 BCE have thus been founded upon three basic yet
interrelated assumptions: (1) that Rome was imperial; (2) that this statement itself does
not require further definition or exploration in this particular context; and (3) that Roman
motives can be deduced through the modern logic and rationale of foreign policy.
Scholars have thus looked to understand the causes of the Third Punic War as a means for
judging Rome as a ruling power, and in preference over the subject of the Achaian War,
deemed less significant because it was fought against a minor international state (at least
in modern formulation). The causes thus determined fall into four broad categories. The
first of these, with a scholarly tradition dating back to Mommsen, is essentially economic,
for it emphasizes Carthages rising position of prosperity and edge as an international

22

Purcell (1995) provides an excellent analysis of 146 BCE in Roman political rhetoric, but leaves open
the matter of its chronological development.
23 A good summary, still timely, of these reconstructions can be found in Astin (1967: 270ff.), with
references.

17

trading power, rather than as a military threat.24 In this formulation, Rome sought
proactively to eliminate a challenge to her trade interests, access to resources, and
prestige as a Mediterranean center of exchange.
The second category of causal analysis, in some ways growing out of the
economic tradition and inspired by the writings of Plutarch and Appian, focuses on
Roman fears of Carthage, either rationally or irrationally conceived.25 The hypothesis
combines economically-based fears with military and political considerations, to posit
Carthage as the eternal challenger to Rome and thorn in the side of Romes growing
empire. The third category goes another step further and conceives of Roman fears as
contextualized by the political situation in neighboring Numidia, with that kingdom on
the rise, engaged in continued hostility with Carthage, and governed by an extremely
aged king with three designated heirs.26
And the final, most recent category, which often offers some recombination of the
economic and fear hypotheses, emphasizes the beginning of the Third Punic War as part
of a now standard Roman foreign policy. Whether consciously or intuitively mapped out,
such policy is considered integral to an overall trend in Roman behavior, towards more
direct domination of the Mediterranean world. Scholars diverge over where they see this
24

Mommsen (1913: 239); Rostovtzeff (1926: 12, 21); and to some degree, Romanelli (1959: 31f., esp. p.
34); De Sanctis (IV.3.20-24); and Baronowski (1995: 28-29). More recently, and from an archaeological
standpoint: Rakob (1984: 10; 1985: 502f.).
25 With different emphases: Frank (1914: 233f.); Schur (1930: 2163); Gelzer (1931); Adcock (1948: 125);
Walsh (1965: 160); Astin (1967: 276; 1978: 284); Cary & Scullard (1975: 148); Albert (1980: 52); Rakob
(1984: 10; 1985: 502f.); Huss (1985: 439); Bellen (1985: 32f.); Vogel-Weideman (1989: 79f.); Welwei
(1989: 317); Morgan (1990: 41-42, 44); Baronowski (1995: 24-27); Rich (1995/2004: 61-62). For the
ancient sources that have inspired the fear of Carthage hypothesis, see Plut. Cato Mai. 26.2-3; App. Lib.
69.
26 Again, with different emphases: Kahrstedt (III.615f.); Scullard (1951: 304); Marti (1983: 224); Huss
(1985: 437); Gsell (III. 329f.); Vogel-Weideman (1989: 85).

18

trend developing. Some identify a decisive change occurring in the wake of the Third
Macedonian War and the victory at Pydna.27 Others observe no substantial change, and
consider Romes behavior at this juncture as quintessentially Roman, and quite typical of
her interactions with others, from the beginning of the Republic onward.28 No matter the
emphasis economic, fear, or domineering foreign policy scholars across the offensivedefensive divide in the Roman imperialism debate have thus converged on the subject of
146 BCE, almost imperceptibly agreeing that no matter what, at this moment, the
Romans truly showed themselves to have been heavy-handed, aggressive, and devious in
their international relations.
The end-result of this scholarly discussion is at once satisfying and unsatisfying.
It is satisfying in its passing of judgment on a long-past empire, and its conclusions that
Roman behavior in this instance remains a cruel lesson in empire-building. But the
conclusions are also unsatisfying, because they come no closer to understanding how (not
why) Romans came to this point, or to questioning the nature of international power in
the second century BCE, how it was defined, how it was changing and challenged, and
where Rome and Romes actions in 146 fitted within these schemes. Ultimately, the
process of chasing after causes (in fact inspired by Polybius),29 and for one war out of
two, has produced some illuminating discussions, but has hit a dead end. For it has

27

Cf. Heuss (1933: 116-123); Bilz (1935: 30-31); Adcock (1948: 128); Badian (1958: 96, 113-115); De
Sanctis (IV.3.20ff.); Hoffmann (1960: 330f.); Walsh (1965: 158-159); Walbank (1965: 2-3, 11); Kienast
(1979: 125f.); Marti (1983: 226f.).
28 E.g. Harris (1979: 234-246); Bellen (1985: 7f.); Welwei (1989: 320); Baronowski (1995: 30-31).
29 The tantalizing passage in Polybius is 36.9, where he itemizes the various responses to the Third Punic
War among the Greek-speaking communities of the Mediterranean. It remains a cornerstone in modern
scholarship of 146 BCE, and will be discussed below see pp. 286ff.

19

become all too clear that, as in all wars, a multitude of causal relationships can be
identified on both sides, and with no singular or primary explanation. A new frame of
reference is thus needed, one that will place the political events surrounding both
destructions in their wider, so-called systemic, contexts, and will explore the nature of
international power-relations, ideologies, and intellectual Zeitgeist at the time, in its
historiographical construction of 146 BCE. The next chapter will work to establish the
first part of this frame, within the grounds of modern IR theory.

20

Chapter 2: Rome, History, & International Relations Theory

INTRODUCTION
The present chapter represents a theoretical exploration of some of the wider
issues at hand in tackling a subject with as many layers as 146 BCE. It takes the
relationships between modern theoretical interpretation and ancient history as its subject
relationships which from the very beginning pose problems, simply by virtue of setting
up two separate and distinct worlds (Ancient versus Modern).30 And the ancientmodern divide is only the first in a series of conceptual dichotomies that have restricted
scholarship regarding 146, via assumptions regarding the nature of ancient political
interactions in general, and Roman imperialism in particular. As was reviewed in chapter
1, such modern scholarship surrounding 146 BCE has not only been dominated by
Romano-centric perspectives, but it has also tended to devolve into debates regarding
Roman imperial motivations in going to war and/or subsequently holding up 146 as a
rhetorical justification for empire.
This study will discover, however, that such correlations between 146 as a
singular moment to be connected with Romes position as world power, and
assessments thereof are in essence an inheritance from ancient intellectual traditions,
from the second century itself. To reach this point and to understand exactly how such
traditions developed, and in what contexts a theoretical path must be laid out. Here first,
30

This is a division that resulted in what Nietzsche called the untimeliness of classical studies: For I do
not know what meaning classical studies would have in our time if not that of working in their untimeliness that is to say, against our time and thereby on our time and, let us hope, for the benefit of a
time to come. Nietzsche, On the uses and disadvantages of history for life [1874], as translated and
discussed by Morley (2009: 1, and Ch. 1).

21

then, the relationship, and yet separation, between modern approach (to Rome and
empire) and ancient subject (Rome and second-century conceptions of empire) is of
fundamental importance. And it is of importance not only for mapping out the
assumptions and models of previous scholarship, but also for framing this studys
perspective on the study of second century international politics and political thought.
There are three key axes that are involved in modern theoretical debates
surrounding ancient politics and Roman imperialism, and they can be arranged (and will
be problematized in this chapter) according to the traditional dichotomies: (1) primitivism
versus modernism; (2) internal-cultural features versus external-structural ones; and (3)
defensivist versus offensivist readings of Rome as an imperial power. In the past few
years, Arthur Eckstein has re-opened the debates along these axes, by explicitly
reconnecting the disciplines of political science specifically, international relations (or
IR) theory and classical studies. In two recent publications, Eckstein has taken major
steps forward in this much-needed area of research.31 In the political-theory division
between levels of political interaction: individual (or first-level), state (or second-level),
and interstate (or third-level), Eckstein has switched the focus of ancient historians from
first- and second-level factors to the third, international level and its structures of physical
capability that is, its distributions of material, quantitative power.32

31

Cf. Eckstein (2006; 2008). Ecksteins work has since become a key reference point in general historical
surveys on Rome and the Hellenistic world, including Woolf (2012) and Rosenstein (2012).
32 For more on structural realism, see the Appendix. Structural realists use the term capability
distribution to talk about the balances and imbalances of power between states in the international arena.
In doing so, they focus primarily on power as physical capability that is, in a form that can be measured
quantitatively (e.g. access to resources, manpower, military technology, etc.). As such, they view

22

The current study represents an effort to build from this research, and to pose
additional challenges and questions in the investigation of international relations,
processes of cultural and political change, and the construction of histories. In order to do
so, this chapter in particular will prepare the way, by reviewing and assessing Ecksteins
methodology and central conclusions. As a reference-point for Ecksteins position within
the overall scope of current IR theory, an Appendix has been provided, which
summarizes the multitude of perspectives and emphases that are present in this field. And
indeed, the Appendix makes it only too clear that Ecksteins work represents only one of
any number of political-theory lines of thinking that can be used to explore the past. As
we will see, Ecksteins approach fits into the general category known as realism a statecentric analysis that finds a will to power as the strongest driving force in social
interactions, whether derived from human nature (biological realism) or from the
lawlessness existing in the international realm (structural realism). However, forms of
realism are not the only option: there is the traditional alter-ego to realism liberalism
(also state-centric, but with rationality and law as the forces to prevent utter descent into
chaos) followed by newer re-combinations of realist and liberal ideas, from
international political economy, to international society, and the more ideationally driven
constructivism.33
These last two forms are of special interest in the current study. For they view the
international level as a society comparable to those that exist on local, community,
qualitative factors (e.g. legitimacy, authority, ideology) as secondary in importance. See the overview in
Donnelly (2000: esp. 17-8, 60, 84, 99-100, and 123-4), with citations.
33 See the Appendix for further discussion.

23

regional, and state levels, possessing its own evolving political culture(s) and degrees of
law, governance, frameworks of communication (successful and otherwise), and even
ideologies. And as such, these IR theoretical approaches hold great potential for
understanding the complexities and ongoing transformations with which a constructed
moment of international significance like 146 BCE is concerned. For the story of 146
BCE includes Romans, Greeks, Carthaginians, and others in interaction; it comprises
political debates, decisions, and responses with respect to two separate conflicts in two
separate arenas, which crisscross the lines of domestic and international; and most
notably, it involves a wider attributed significance with which a series of events were
given value as a singular moment. This study, therefore, takes a fundamentally
constructivist approach, and in doing so, it is theoretically focused on norms as the
conceptual building blocks, and heterarchy (rather than anarchy) as governing the
multiple levels on which international power is constructed.34 In other words, the more
constructivist approach espoused here will allow us to explore multiple cultures (Roman,
Greek, etc.) coming into interaction on an interstate level, giving rise to a middle ground
of communication (and miscommunication), and in the process, shaping a new, and
internationally fielded political culture and set of ideologies the very substance and
backdrop of the events surrounding, and the reactions evaluating, 146 as a moment of
meaning.
In the following sections, therefore, we begin with an assessment of Ecksteins
recent contributions, and the ways in which his work challenges modern scholarship to
34

See the Appendix.

24

think about ancient history in terms of international politics as the primary subject. From
there, the subject of ancient international politics inevitably turns to the debates
surrounding Roman imperialism, configured as they are along the poles mentioned
above: from our ways of characterizing Rome and her empire (primitivist versus
modernist, and defensivist versus offensivist), to our ways of identifying its sources
(internal, Roman-specific culture features versus external, foreign factors). With an eye to
the current studys overall perspective, I tend toward the following theoretical
conclusions: (1) finding the primitivist-modernist divide restrictive, though preferring the
conscious use of modern analogies and modern concepts; (2) viewing defensive and
offensive as relative and subjective categories, but thinking the Romans offensively
defensive that is, aggressive and proactive in ways that they sincerely believed as
necessarily defensive (i.e. it was not just rhetoric); and (3) maintaining a strong focus on
the external/international zone of contacts between political cultures as the means for
better understanding the changing world of the second century BCE and 146s place
within it.
IR THEORY AS AN APPROACH: ECKSTEIN & REALISM
Turning to Arthur Eckstein, then: the key contribution here involves an
application of contemporary IR theory, in the form referred to as realism, to the study of
ancient history.35 Reviews of Ecksteins recent publications consistently remark on the

35

Specifically, Eckstein deals with fifth-century Greece and the Hellenistic Mediterranean of the fourth
and third centuries BCE.

25

significance and potential of his interdisciplinary approach,36 as well as on the new

perspectives it provides for exploring Romes rise to Mediterranean hegemony.
Ecksteins work represents an important step forward in reconnecting modern disciplines,
though it deploys only one specific emphasis within a great range of current political
theories. That emphasis falls into the category of so-called realism, a dominant school of
thought in the modern study of international relations... [and] a family of closely related
(and occasionally competing) theories.37 However, use of the term (political) realism
requires careful qualification, since it encompasses several different meanings and has
suffered from oversimplification among IR specialists and non-specialists alike.38
Ecksteins presentation follows a somewhat customary tendency to use the term
realism in order to assume a clear-cut and definitive methodology, in stark opposition to
others.39 In doing so, he reveals his theoretical approach subtly, and to those with prior
knowledge of realisms complex history, as actually only one of several forms of
realism.40 In fact, over the century and a half since the coining of the term Realpolitik,41
so many assumed notions, additions, and re-interpretations of realism have emerged that
36

Cf. Erskine (2008: 187); Scheidel (2008: 100, 101); Champion (2009: 253, 257); Trster (2009a: 42, 45).
Eckstein (2006: 6), where Kapstein and Mastanduno (1999: ix-x) are cited for asserting that realism is
the dominant research program in IR studies. See also Eckstein (2008: 7).
38 Note that the current study references the use of realism in the study of politics/political philosophy, and
not necessarily in art/literature, epistemology, jurisprudence, or metaphysics. Note also that the lower-case
spelling is preferred, to avoid the implication that Realism represents a fixed concept. For a good
introduction to the broad scope of assumed narratives and associations concerning political realism, see
Bell, ed. (2008: 1-6), and p. 13, where he rightly notes that political realism has largely been a victim of
disciplinary amnesia. See also Neufeld (2001: 135); Williams (2005: 10).
39 For more on these assumptions and opposition to realism, see the Appendix.
40 On the diversity in forms of self-acclaimed realism, see Cusack and Stoll (1990: Ch. 2); Garnett (1984:
110); Gilpin (1986: 304); Donnelly (2000); Haslam (2002: 249); Coady (2005: 122); and Elman (1996: 26),
who refers to realism as a big tent, with room for a number of different theories. See the summary in
the Appendix.
41 German writer, August Ludwig von Rochau, ca. 1853, first used the term. Cf. Ross (forthcoming).
37

26

many self-proclaimed realists may not only disagree, but also even contradict one
another.42 In addition, the multiplicity of claims to a perceived realist foundation itself
works in dialectic with a number of other, equally diverse theories (e.g. liberalism,
constructivism, international political economy [IPE]), with much recent interexchange.43 For this reason, some of Ecksteins readers may have been led to misinterpret
the value of his contribution, either by conflating the diversity of realism with only one of
its incarnations, or by expecting that this singular approach can be proven against
another singular antiquity (and vice versa).44 As a result, critics have found Ecksteins
use of realism to be programmatic, one-sided, or even risking danger of
circularity.45 Presented with a definitive account of realism as founded on three
fundamental concepts international anarchy, self-help regime, and power-balancing46
and then asked to consider the universal validity of the formula in light of Romes
emergence as hegemon, many classicists may simply return to the old conclusion that
modern political theory restricts the study of ancient history.47 From this perspective,

42

E.g., Bell (2008: 10), on possible contradictions between so-called classical and neo-realist views
concerning statehood. For descriptions of these forms of realism, see the Appendix.
43 Recent scholarship has begun to explore the ways in which these traditionally opposed theories are
actually interrelated, and can greatly inform each others approaches to IR. For this scholarship (as well as
an overview of the different IR theories), see the Appendix.
44 For various evidence and critique of such misinterpretation, see Erskine (2008: 187-188); Champion
(2009: 253); Hlkeskamp (2009: 211); Trster (2009a: 42, 45). Eckstein himself problematically maintains
that he can test the validity of Realist paradigms, not only against their criticisms but also in favor of
their claim to universalism (2006: 9).
45 The quotes belong to, in order: Hlkeskamp (2009: 211); Trster (2009a: 42); and Erskine (2008: 187).
See also Evans (2009: 29), and Levick (2009: 119): It is a question whether the theory illuminates the
material, or the material is made to fit the theory. The same applies, of course, to traditional historical
theses.
46 Cf. Eckstein (2006: 12). In Eckstein (2008: 8-9), the third principle is changed to prevalence of war.
47 See the commentary in Morley (2009: 3-6). For an overview of (lessening) disjunctions between ancient
historians (esp. of ancient Greece) and political theorists/scientists, see Ober (2008: 68).

27

imposition of pre-determining standards only makes realism successful at finding what it

looks for, and runs the added risk of confining history to a single mold. However, such
rejections miss the deeper potential for advancing further from Ecksteins
interdisciplinary outlook.
The form of IR theory deployed by Eckstein is known as structural realism, or
Waltzian, after its developer, Kenneth Waltz (1979), whom Eckstein often cites for
supporting evidence.48 This form of realism is especially useful for moving scholarship
beyond Romano-centric (or other culturally-specific) models of analysis. This is because
Waltzs original innovation in introducing structural realism was the establishment of a
sharp distinction between domestic (state-cultural specific) and international realms.49
Unlike previous, so-called biological realists, who perceived a universal standard i.e.,
human nature affecting both domestic and international spheres, Waltz argued that the
international environment was its own entity, characterized primarily by the lack of
formal government and enforceable law a situation he referred to as anarchic.50
Within the context of such anarchy, Waltz believed that the individual
characteristics of states were simply background noise to the larger picture. Instead, he
48

Note, however, that Eckstein claims to be an exponent of offensive realism (2006: 6, n. 9), though he
does not clearly explain that this was a later development within structural realism and a response to
Waltzs model. For detailed discussion, see Snyder (1991: 10-13); Lynn-Jones (1995); Brooks (1997: 445477); Labs (1997); Jervis (1999: 42-63); Walt (2002); Montgomery (2006: 151). Prominent offensive
realists include Mearsheimer (1994/1995: 9-14; 2001: Ch. 2); Labs (1997); Layne (2007). Prominent
defensive realists include Jervis (1978); Lynn-Jones (1995); Glaser (1997: 185-188); Glaser and Kaufmann
(1998); van Evera (1999).
49 For an introductory description of Waltzs model and discussion of its place in the history of realism as a
discipline, see Donnelly (2000: 16-19, 50-57, 60-63, Ch. 3, 107-121, 198).
50 Biological realism (also known as classical, to distinguish it from structural as new) tends to
emphasize the role of human nature in problematizing international relations. Cf. Donnelly (2000: 11);
Wunderlich (2008: 17). Examples include Niebuhr (1932: 6, 23; 1944: 19); Morgenthau (1946: 202-3;
1948: 4; 1985: 52); Carr (1939/1946: 231).

28

claimed, states were better viewed as individual units, which were functionally equal
and forced by their environment into complete self-sufficiency. As a result, the only
important divergence among states was by capability distribution that is, their relative
physical and economic strength.51 From these hypotheses, Waltz constructed a model that
concentrated on warfare occurring as a result of shifting balances and imbalances in
capability, from scenarios of one, two, or multiple great-powers, known as unipolar,
bipolar, and multipolar international systems.52
Eckstein has taken an approach parallel to that of Waltz, and has envisioned
Romes rise to hegemony as part of a power-transition crisis occurring within the old
multipolar balance of Alexandrian successor kingdoms. However, international structure
at least in the form of a distribution of military and economic capability53 only goes
part of the way in explaining the political behaviors and interactions of Romans and
contemporaries over time, and especially during this crucial juncture. Whether one
conceives of international anarchy or more complex arrangements (see below),
significance must also be granted to international-level social frameworks of power and
to an underlying political Zeitgeist (or to use Richardsons phrase, mental wallpaper).54
This is because the very conceptions of politics including definitions of statehood,

51

Cf. Waltz (1979: 98-99), who posits that states differ not so much in what they seek as in their relative
ability to obtain it.
52 Note that William Harris published his book on the militarism and aggressiveness of Rome in the same
year 1979 a book that took the phenomena Waltz saw as a product and characteristic of the international
sphere and saw them instead as specific to one state and culture in particular: Rome.
53 For more on this definition of international structure a fundamental part of structural realism in IR
theory, see the Appendix.
54 Cf. Richardson (2008: 6-7).

29

imperium, and sovereignty have shifted quite drastically over in time, with new
meanings and priorities fitted to various historical contexts.55
In addition, while Ecksteins international-level perspective is a much-needed
contribution to the study of ancient history, its exact context in todays political thought
has not been adequately mapped out. For example, the argument that power-transition
theory can fully explain Romes increased involvement in eastern Mediterranean politics
around 200 BCE implies that Rome possessed some pre-existing wide-range policy and
vested interest in maintaining balance and/or stability abroad. In many ways, such
thinking has driven the foreign policy interpretations of 146 BCE, in judging that Rome
made either a necessary or excessive assertion of the status quo, of pan-Mediterranean
hegemony. However, it has not analyzed the exact nature or context of this hegemony,
nor the manner in which such power processes affected the playing-out and
representation of events surrounding both destructions, and their evolving collocation in
history as an East-West pair. In other words, the question becomes: is it possible to study
ancient politics in terms of cultural features specific to the international sphere? This
brings us back to the issue of using modern theory to investigate the ancient world, and to
the so-called primitivist-modernist debate a debate that has been mentioned frequently
in discussions of Ecksteins work.

55

For more on sovereignty, see Jackson (1993: 50ff.); Spruyt (1994); Donnelly (2000: 141ff.); Gordon
(2002); Keating (2004); and discussions in Hay et al. (2006); Davis (2008). On sovereignty and ancient
Greece/ Rome, see Finley (1983); Ober (1998); Morgan (2003); Hansen (2006); Connolly (2007). On the
transition from medieval Christendom to supposed statehood, see Burckhardt (1878/ 1990); Viroli (1992);
Thomson (1994). On modern globalization and the sovereignty debate, see Garrett (1998); Hay (2000). On
evolving definitions of imperium, see the discussions below, in chapter 4.

30

PRIMITIVISM & MODERNISM

Scholars have rightly noted that Ecksteins approach serves as a useful antidote
to the model introduced by William Harris. In this model, Harris attributed Romes rise to
empire to key cultural-specific features, including an elite ethos of military glory and an
economic, coupled with ideological drive for expansion.56 While such an outlook marked
an important stage in post-colonial attitudes towards empire, and largely de-mystified the
excusatory tenor of so-called defensive imperialism, its Romano-centric emphasis
nevertheless established a restrictive precedent for the study of ancient international
relations. Ecksteins use of IR theory thus introduces an alternative to the so-called
internalist focus prevalent in subsequent classical studies. In other words, it reverses the
trend to look to Roman-specific or Greek-specific features as the sources for interstate
phenomena. Instead, it takes a wider focus, viewing Romes rise to hegemony within the
context of changing international power structures.
As an interdisciplinary and internationally based approach, Ecksteins latest work
thus represents a major step forward from the isolated and cultural-specific paths taken
by previous scholarship. In reversing Harris perspective, however, Eckstein has been
somewhat misconstrued as a direct opponent to the so-called primitivist school, which
had earlier obtained associations with the internalist/culturalist approach to Greco-Roman
studies.57 Primitivism, though, has its origins in the debate over ancient economy, and as

56

Cf. Hlkeskamp (2009: 213); Trster (2009a: 44); Champion (2009: 253-254, 257) for references to
Eckstein as an alternative to Harris perspective. For an overview of Harris arguments, see his own
introduction (1979: 2-3).
57 E.g. Lendon (2002: 376, 384).

31

such, brings a number of assumptions that should not be confused with either culturalism
or with Ecksteins IR theory, structural realism. Primitivism, from Finley onwards,
remains rooted in the principle that the Greco-Roman world (and its economy) was
neither modern in appearance nor the birthplace of modernity (and its capitalism).58 It is
cultural in the sense that it perceives a Greco-Roman Antiquity as culturally distinct from
another society that of (Eurocentric) Modernity. For this reason, most primitivists warn
against using modern concepts and language to explain ancient phenomena, since they
believe that such practice falsely imposes one cultures discourse upon another. As such,
primitivism is a response to the work of Rostovtzeff and later so-called modernists
who draw parallels between ancient, especially imperial Roman, and early modern
periods, use modern terminology to draw analogies, and view Greece and Rome as
precursors of modern development, with differences being only a matter of scale.59
Where modernism is essentially phenomenological in approach, then, primitivism has
fused with a side of culturalism, perceiving ancient economics as embedded within a
unique social context.60
However, by definition, primitivism focuses on the cultural division between
ancient and modern, not on cultural divisions within each category. By contrast,

58

See Finley (1973), with the following basic arguments regarding Greco-Roman economy: (1) founded
on agricultural subsistence; (2) un-capitalist motives for re-investment, with landownership the end-goal;
(3) cities as centers of consumption rather than production; and (4) merchants and tradesmen held in low
regard by society.
59 See Rostovtzeff (1926), esp. p. 10. Modernists thus characterize the Greco-Roman economy as a world
of growing trade, urbanization, agricultural innovation, legal progress, monetization, and material culture
made somewhat available to lower classes.
60 Polanyi (1957) pioneered this emphasis in the study of ancient economics. For a good summary of the
primitivist-modernist divide and its relation to the tradition of modernity, see Morley (2009), esp. p. 9.

32

culturalism ultimately requires research into various contexts, both within antiquity and
within modernity, and as a result, has undermined much of the primitivist-modernist
divide by means of comparative studies.61 Eckstein, in taking an international-level
approach to ancient foreign relations, thus critiques the Romano-centric emphasis of
previous culturalism,62 but stands on neither side of the overly simplistic and increasingly
restrictive dichotomy between primitivism and modernism. He counteracts the culturalist
stance that (ancient) foreign relations spring from individual cultures and their societal
views regarding the ends and means of power.63 He instead grants primacy to the
international environment as a structural phenomenon and to its role in constraining and
even shaping cultures toward consistent behavior, including militarism and aggression. In
doing so, he uses modern terminology to draw phenomenological parallels across time,
pointing to recurrent warfare, territorial expansion, and competitive military capability.64
At the same time, however, he makes frequent reference to the ways in which ancient
does not compare to modern, from absence of enforceable international law to primitive
diplomacy, communication, and intelligence-gathering rather than asking whether
different, analogous, and functioning forms of all these elements existed.65

61

Bang (2008) is a recent example, arguing that the Roman economy was neither modern nor primitive
in character, but comparable to a tributary empire model. For the decline of the primitivist-modernist
dichotomy, see Morris et al. (2008: 2).
62 Cf. Hlkeskamp (2009: 213).
63 Early examples of such a culturalist approach to Roman foreign relations include Badian (1958) and
Gag (1959); for a recent example, see Mattern (1999).
64 Cf. Eckstein (2006: 12-28; 2008: 10-11).
65 See Eckstein (2006: 53, 258; 2008: 11), and Erskines review (2008: 187). On international law:
Eckstein (2006: 75; 2008: 127). On diplomacy, communication, and intelligence: (2006: 58, 76; 2008:
12-13, 22, 184, 242). The possession of nuclear technology is also mentioned cf. (2008: 316 n.33). Note
that Trsters review (2009: 43) also jumps to a primitivist-tinged perspective, stating that ...ancient

33

Moving away from the increasingly unproductive debate between primitivism and
modernism, Ecksteins work thus provides new challenges for negotiating the
relationship between ancient and contemporary history. As mentioned earlier, any vision
of the past is inescapably affected by its contemporary context, and as a result, advances
in modern theory certainly have a place in the study of ancient history. By the same
token, however, this is not to say that the past should be judged against or made to
conform to unstated assumptions regarding Modernity.66 Use of a comparative approach
must be circumspect about where the lines of past and present intersect. For example, one
of Ecksteins conclusions that the international politics of the ancient Mediterranean
were more cruel in their anarchic conditions67 is more accurately a statement that
they lack parallel institutions of modern diplomacy and constitutional law. Therefore,
when assessed by current standards, the ancient international environment becomes a
rudimentary and brutish world, comfortably distant from and even reaffirming for present
norms. But to make such judgments is to over-simplify the equation, to posit both
Antiquity and Modernity as uniform conditions and to consider Modernity as a refined
endpoint in human progress.68 To do so would be to ignore a long and diverse history of
re-conceptualization, as not only ancient cultures but also modern ones have formulated
different visions of political behavior. For example, over hundreds of years, from Hobbes

interstate relations...are certainly marked by a comparatively low degree of institutionalisation and

interdependence.
66 See Erskine (2008: 187).
67 E.g. Eckstein (2008: 11): historically, some anarchic systems have been harsher and more cruel than
others. And it is equally clear that the state-systems that existed in Mediterranean antiquity were especially
cruel anarchic systems...
68 For more discussion on this subject, see Morley (2009).

34

to Hume, Marx, and Weber, modern (Eurocentric) political thought has woven a dense
web of contrary, compatible, or divergent perceptions of such supposedly stable notions
as statehood, sovereignty, the role of law, and warfare.69
A more nuanced approach to studying ancient IR, therefore, considers both
present and past as containing multiple answers to the issues of human group interaction.
Singular manifestations of politics their scope, content, and forms of power and
legitimacy can then be compared on the basis of their unique manifestations of human
social processes.70 Where they do not line up for example, in perceptions of statehood
the how and why reveal much more about the past. Ancient cultures derived several
different means for circumscribing concepts such as domestic and international spheres,
and through their interactions with each other, developed shifting international cultures of
conflict, diplomacy, and authority. To this extent, there were as there are today
multiple cultures operating, both within states whether defined as tribal groups, leagues,
cities, confederations, and/or empires and within the shifting interstate environment(s)
between them.
In studying 146 BCE and the role it came to play in world political history, such a
perspective is of key importance. In order to understand the events, their presentation,
and the perceptions thereof, we must first delineate how groups at that time, in the second
century, defined such notions as statehood/polity, sovereignty, imperium, and diplomacy.
Only then can we assess the immediate impact of the destructions, and move on to trace
69

Scheidel (2008: 102) critiques Ecksteins brief use of the term nation-state (partly in acceptance and
partly in criticism of Mommsen) as somewhat misleading, especially when applied to all of Italy in the
mid-Republic.
70 Cf. Prokhovnik (2008: 3-4).

35

how subsequent cultural and political shifts resulted in reinterpretations of these

moments.
LEVELS OF ANALYSIS: INTERNAL & EXTERNAL
As a result, despite moments of judging antiquity by modern standards, Eckstein
usefully moves the focus away from individual domestic features and towards an
international (or third) level and its systemic influences.71 This shift in focus is roughly
analogous to a pendulum-swing between nature and nurture, with explanations based on
Roman nature characterizing the Harris perspective, and explanations based on Romes
international environment (or nurture) characterizing Ecksteins approach. And as in the
nature-nurture dialectic, arguments based purely on one or the other obscure the
complexity with which the two approaches interrelate. Ecksteins particular use of Realist
IR theory, while useful in pioneering the third-level of analysis and widening the scope
for understanding Romes rise to hegemony, thus may swing the pendulum too far. By
granting causal primacy to the IR environment over so-called unit-attributes (or
characteristics, especially cultural, of individual states), he marginalizes the influences
and exchanges occurring in both directions across the bounds of domestic and
international.72

71 The

term third level was introduced by Waltz (1959), who identified three levels of political analysis:
(first level) focused on individuals; (second level) focused on domestic affairs; and (third level) focused on
systemic factors. See also Waltz (1979); Mearsheimer (1994/1995: 10); Donnelly (2000: 12).
72 Cf. Eckstein (2006: 93, 185-191; 2008: 15-16). Many reviewers have criticized Ecksteins minimization
of internal features: cf. Erskine (2008: 188); Levick (2008: 139); Hlkeskamp (2009: 213); Trster (2009a:
43). However, the issue is not so much with making the international level the important area of analysis, as
it is with subsequent de-emphasis on the subtle transfers between levels. Eckstein does, however,

36

Such a move could potentially create a scholarly divide where none need exist. It
could confine the culturalist approach to the domestic level, hindering attempts to
understand the international environment as another social/cultural sphere. And
problematically, it glosses over the processes of change by which state units at once
affect and are affected by their environment. In the study of Romes rise to
Mediterranean hegemony, this last is of supreme importance. For it strikes at that most
elusive set of paradoxes surrounding Roman identity and imperium its composite nature
despite xenophobia, its adaptability despite conservativeness, and its networking of
Hellenistic politics into a single web, seemingly one part accidental, one part
manipulated, and one part inevitable. Romans, their contemporaries, and every
subsequent generation have and continue to rework these paradoxes, as each reconsiders
its own stance regarding power and authority, and the nature of empire.
Eckstein too is concerned with the issues and origins of Roman power, but he
leaves the gap between internal and external somewhat unexplored in his quest to prove
the primacy of the international. By making one set of criteria override all others, the
problem of causation is solved only partially. The explanation for Romes hegemonic
success retains its hint of determinism, moving simply from internal character to external
environment. Rather than locate empire in exceptional Roman aggression and
acquisitiveness, Eckstein finds it in international structure. Context was thus foremost: it
not only shaped Romes character but also set the stage for pan-Mediterranean power.

acknowledge the interrelations between individual, unit, and international, but subsumes these relations
under the primacy of the international level see Eckstein (2006: 185-186).

37

From this perspective, Rome was drawn into her position, first by responding to external
challenges, pressures, and fears in Italy and the west, and then by hitting upon interests
and concerns in the east.73 These concerns, driven by conditions of violent self-help,
eventually led Rome to sole authority, as she stepped into the space opened by
structural conflict in the east.74
According to Eckstein, these states had once been balanced (albeit shakily) by
three great powers, a tripolar arrangement of Seleucid, Ptolemaic, and Antigonid
dynasties.75 Following deterioration of the Ptolemaic position due to internal disruption,
however, in the period from 207 and 188 BCE, the eastern Mediterranean suffered a
power-transition crisis, as the tripolar structure disintegrated.76 A new series of
conflicts, or hegemonic wars, erupted as various states (especially the remaining
Antigonid and Seleucid kingdoms) jostled for greater shares of power.77 Rome, Eckstein
argues, was pulled into the mire, in part by apprehension of unrest and possible singular
power in the east, in part by alliance obligations, and in part by pre-conditioned

73

See discussion in Eckstein (2006: 118-180) and (2008: 121-129, 269, 273-275). This approach in many
ways takes a system-level approach to add to the earlier work of Erich Gruen (1984).
74 Cf. Eckstein (2006: 316). Although Eckstein is not the first to reconstruct such a balance-of-power
scenario, he is the first to identify such thinking as related to modern IR theoretical analysis.
75 E.g. Eckstein (2006: 259-260; 2008: 124-126).
76 The term, power transition was first introduced to mainstream IR theory by Organski and Kugler (1980:
esp. 19), who also developed the notion of crossover that is, a state of heightened danger occurring when
declining and rising powers reach near-equal power capability. See also Geller and Singer (1998: 69ff.);
Gilpin (1984: esp. 94-95); and Ikenberry and Moon (2007: 42ff.). Copeland (1996: 72, Fig. 1-2) modeled a
test-cycle of rising and falling hegemons, though with conclusions contradictory to Waltz.
77 Eckstein develops this thesis as a major topic in his latest publication (2008); cf. p. 227 for references to
earlier work with similar conclusions (esp. Mommsen). Note that the degree of threat posed by the socalled pact between kings, in relation to the military abilities of Antiochus III and supposed weakness of
Egypt, remains debated cf. Evans (2009: 29).

38

tendencies toward preclusive expansion.78 Romes triumphs over the great powers at the
beginning of the second century BCE thus marked a new stage in ancient Mediterranean
history: one in which the states of both east and west were overshadowed by a single (that
is, unipolar) power.
INTERNATIONAL HETERARCHY
The sort of model just described, in which changing structures of physical power
drive interstate politics, is certainly one angle from which to map Romes rise to
hegemony. However, a few problems remain. First is a lingering element of determinism,
and second is a reductive perspective on the nature of power and rulership, based utterly
on material capability (and to a lesser extent, its image).79 Such prowess provides
control over the environment,80 and as such, is the goal for all states, since in power
lays safety.81 Eckstein cites the Hobbesian restless desire of Power after Power [sic],
which he sees as an inescapable result of the great pressure to become and remain
stronger than [ones] likely enemies.82 From these narrow standards, Romes success is

78

See also Gruen (1984).

Image is again prescribed in limited terms, referencing the Realist maxim that states can never know
each others capabilities. According to Eckstein, such opacity is especially problematic for ancient states,
since their communication and intelligence gathering were primitive (cf. 2006: 17, 59, 97). For further
discussion of the realist conceptions of uncertainty principle, worst-case scenario, see Jervis (1976);
Waltz (1979: 171-172); Keohane (1986: 165); Eckstein (2006: 17, and n. 23) [on uncertainty]; and Brooks
(1997: 446); van Evera (1998: 12) [on worst-case scenario].
80 Cf. Eckstein (2006: 224, 234-235).
81 Eckstein (2006: 19).
82 Eckstein (2006: 19). The first quote is from Hobbes Leviathan (1651/1986: 161). For more on Hobbes
and his place in the Realist tradition, see Yurdusev (2006: 306); Donnelly (2000).
79

39

ultimately attributed to her greater accumulation of resources and military mobilization.83

To explain how Rome came to possess such physical superiority, Eckstein uses a
comparative approach, placing Roman behavior in the context of other Hellenistic-era
states. He concludes that previous scholarships fixation on Roman aggression is
misguided, since Rome was no more belligerent than any of her contemporaries (if not
less so at times).84 All Hellenistic states were equally conditioned to violence by the
pressures of a self-help environment, aggravated by primitive diplomacy and what he
considers toothless international law.85
In thus countering the internalist model with an international answer, however,
Eckstein indirectly raises an issue that has long plagued structural Realism. That is, how
can we understand the processes of structural change as in the rise of Rome without
resorting to comparative analysis between internal features of the states (not to mention
individuals) in the international field? According to Waltz, all states are functionally
similar units in the international arena.86 But if we are to characterize Rome (or
Romans) as either more or less aggressive than contemporary states, we are compelled to
83

Cf. Eckstein (2006: 129, 138, 146, 257, 289; 2008: 8-9, 40). Note that at times this argument is
supported by biased accounts provided by later Romans (e.g. Livy) cf. Eckstein (2006: 305).
84 Eckstein again builds upon the work of Gruen (1984). He adds a system-level emphasis, pointing to
instances in which Rome displays reluctance for war, self-restraint, and/or serious anxiety in the face of
challenges to security cf. Eckstein (2006: Ch. 6, esp. p. 224, 227-8, 238). See also Hlkeskamp (2009:
212). On Realism and the so-called security dilemma, see Herz (1950: 157); Jervis (1978); Snyder
(1984); Posen (1993); Glaser (1997); Booth and Wheeler (2008).
85 For the different perspective taken here, as based on so-called normative IR theory, that a form of
international law did exist and function in its contemporary context, see the discussions in chapters 3 and 4.
86 Functional similarity is a term derived from Waltz (1979), which emphasizes the need for each state to
be completely self-reliant in order to survive conditions of anarchy. The result of such conditions,
according to Waltz, is that states ultimately come to develop almost the same functions as each other (e.g.
military, economic, legal). Cf. Waltz (1979: 91, 96, 104, 107, 111, 118); Buzan et al. (1993: Ch. 3); Wendt
(1999: 306, 322-323); Donnelly (2000: 82); Eckstein (2006: 14f.). This approach vastly simplifies internal
characteristic features, and shared and/or networked functions across states.

40

ask questions regarding qualitative (not just quantitative) distinctions between political
entities: how do states evolve different forms and levels of aggression, with what forms
of expression, and with what responses (intended and unintended)? Such questions are
critical in the process of exploring how Rome in particular, out of so many aggressive
states, came to accumulate greater physical capability.87
At this juncture, then, Eckstein must shift to (internal) unit attribute theory.
Echoing Mommsen, he focuses on a key attribute (other than excessive belligerence) that
explains Roman greatness that is, the extraordinary ability of Rome to assimilate
and/or integrate non-Romans into a large and relatively unitary state.88 Eckstein rightly
notes that Rome evolve[d] a talent for political compromise, in part through interaction
with other relatively open Latin polities, and in part through internal settlements
between patricians and plebeians.89 But he goes no further in exploring this evident
interplay of internal and external forces, leaving Roman exceptionalism a static feature
by the end of the third century BCE.90 Eckstein thus acknowledges some interrelation of
internal and external, but chooses a less connective approach. Instead, he favors stressing

87

Cf. Scheidel (2008: 102).

Eckstein (2006: 35); cf. Mommsen (1864-1880).
89 The first quote is from Eckstein (2006: 250). For the openness of Latin states, see ibid. p. 246, 249; for
Conflict of the Orders, see p. 250.
90 See the transition made in Eckstein (2006: 256-7), where he assesses Mommsens view of a Roman
consolidation in Italy by the end of the third century. Trster (2009: 44), for example, finds it regrettable
that Eckstein does not further investigate Romes capacity for assimilation and the processes of statebuilding in Italy (to use Trsters words). It is important to note that such discussion does not address the
degree of non-consolidation of regionalism, continued local tradition, and forms of interstate diplomatic
relations with Rome to be found across Italy during this period. On this subject, see Jehne et al. (2006);
Jehne (2009).
88

41

the previously unacknowledged role of system-level factors, both in the causation of

warfare in the ancient Mediterranean and in the rise of Rome to world power.91
The current study hopes to re-adjust what may result in a scholarly divide, by
considering international politics as a set of interactions, communications, and
miscommunications occurring between unique (though at times converging) cultures and
different ways of thinking about statehood, diplomacy, and warfare. From this
perspective, the dynamic effects of external environment on internal features and of
internal features on external environment together run the patterns of history, with the
interest here on Romes second- to first century BCE development. Roman supremacy
was more than the result of international anarchy plus unique citizen inclusivity. Instead,
it was a complex organism, which developed in an international environment better
characterized as heterarchic consisting of multiple, intersecting webs of subordination
and obligation (neither an absolute rule of law, nor a condition of complete lawlessness
and self-sufficiency).92 As a result, perceived balance among Hellenistic states, whether
one, two, or more, was about more than just physical strength it was also about
legitimacy and cultural authority, defined by evolving norms, or socially derived

91

Eckstein (2006: 35).

For more on why heterarchy is preferable to anarchy in describing IR, see Donnelly (2000, 2009). See
examples along the same vein in Risse (2000); Rosenau (2004: 31-32); Bache and Flinders (2004); Tokoro
and Mogi (2007: 135); Leeson (2009). For more on the subject of heterarchy, see McCulloch (1945);
Hedlund (1986); Spickard (2004); Ville et al. (2006). On its application to archaeology, see Crumley
(1987); Ehrenreich et al. (1995). For more on hegemony as a form of international order, see Doyle (1986:
12. 40. 55-60); Watson (1992: 15-16, 27-28, 122-128); Motyl (2001: 20); Donnelly (2006: 156).
92

42

standards, of international behavior.93 Locked in a feedback loop, physical strength

required normative relevance, and the evolution of norms reacted to physical strength.
Rome was indeed able to accumulate military capability through unique
adaptability, but the process was a subtle one, without a long-term fixed agenda, and it
negotiated variable norms across often-blurred domestic and foreign lines. These
dynamics of heterarchic power-relations have important implications for the study of 146
BCE, which has hitherto been interpreted on the basis of particular assumptions of
Roman imperialism, both ancient and modern. The modern approaches to Roman
imperialism, traditionally framed along the lines of defensivist as opposed to offensivist
positions, will be explored next. Doing so will not only clarify a key intersection between
modern political theory (specifically, IR theory) and the study of ancient history, but will
also delineate the current studys relationship with this intersection and its position
regarding the tricky subject of Roman imperialism.94
DEFENSIVE & OFFENSIVE IMPERIALISM
Establishing where distinct cultural practices diverge and intersect across the
international sphere not only helps clarify IR behaviors in the past but also separates them
from current norms. This is important because scholarship has long sought to rationalize
Roman policy according to assumed modern patterns of sovereignty and their

93

The term norms is used here (and throughout) to refer to socially derived standards of behavior, not as
absolute ideals. For more on norms, see the Appendix and below, pp. 54ff. On heterarchy and the concept
of power transition, cf. DiCicco and Levy (1999: 685).
94 For ancient views regarding Roman imperialism as it related to 146 BCE, see below pp. 322ff. For
modern scholarship on 146 BCE, see the summary in chapter 1.

43

territorial/legal definitions of statehood, and has conceived of Roman imperialism along

so-called defensivist, as opposed to offensivist, lines (again, in a simplified dichotomy).
Following Mommsen, the dominant view was of defensive imperialism i.e. that Roman
motivations for going to war (and/or annexing territory) were based upon rationalized
fear (whether well-founded or misconstrued) of neighboring polities.95 By the late 1970s,
however, scholars found it increasingly paradoxical to consider Roman militarism and
frequent warfare as purely and simply defensive in nature. A more offensivist approach
was taken, with particular impact by Harris, who saw war, desire for glory and spoils, and
expansionism all built into Roman culture.96 Scholars have since been greatly influenced
by this tradition, not only for its focus on internal social features, but also its general
outlook on Rome as exceptionally acquisitive and domineering. Until recently, critiques
of offensive imperialism have only found fault with specific elements, without
questioning the deeper assumptions of statehood and international politics. For this
reason, debates have only picked at two linked dichotomies, looking for primacy between
conscious decision-making and internalized social structure on the one hand, and between
annexation and non-annexation as policy on the other.97

95

Mommsen (1864-1880). Exponents of defensive imperialism include Frank (1914), Holleaux (1921),
Badian (1958, 1968), Walbank (1963), Errington (1971), and in various forms, Gruen (1984; 2004),
Sherwin-White (1984), and Dyson (1985).
96 Other exponents of offensive imperialism include Finley (1978) and Hopkins (1978: 25-37). More
recently, though with greater focus on the imperial period, Susan Mattern (1999) has argued that Roman
conceptions of national honor and revenge (plus aristocratic competition) were the principal driving forces
behind Roman foreign relations. On the glory of imperial expansion and first century BCE attitudes, cf.
Brunt (2004) and below, pp. 346ff.
97 For an overview of these debates, see Harris (1979: 105-107, and Ch.4, esp. 131-133); Rich (1995: 3950); and Richardson (1986, 2005).

44

However, in the context of a post-9/11, globalized world, with its revealed

networks of interdependency and fissures of incongruity shot across both domestic and
international planes, new interpretations have begun to move away from former
internalist and mono-causal approaches. Ecksteins work is an important step in this new
direction, departing from the tendency to attribute aggression as an absolute within
Roman culture (as in offensive imperialism) or as deflected onto other cultures
Samnite, Greek, Punic, Celtic, etc. (as in defensive imperialism). In an introduction to a
recent collection on Roman imperialism, co-authored with Craige Champion, Eckstein
has explained that the new approach
shifts away from either the conqueror or the subject, or both, attempting to
understand imperialism in a more comprehensive, holistic way by viewing a
broader canvas encompassing both the conquering imperialist and the conquered
subordinate within a wide and complex interstate system.98
Eckstein uses structural IR theory to understand elements of both defense and offense
within the actions taken by Rome, thereby opening the door to a much more nuanced
discussion of Roman expansion.99 In doing so, however, he also shifts the source of
aggression from internal culture to external environment. Re-using Veynes phrase,
imperialism of routine, he delineates warlike behavior as a system-wide feature of the
ancient Mediterranean, common to all Hellenistic-era polities, and only aggravated by the

98

Champion and Eckstein (2004: 4).

Cf. Eckstein (2006: 19): ...stages of expansion, and the motives at each stage, combine elements both of
defense and of offense. Elsewhere, Eckstein references an offense-defense balance (2006: 69-70), but he
distorts its use within the debate between structural realists. For definitions and discussions of these
concepts, see Jervis (1978); Lynn-Jones (1995); Glaser (1997: 185-188); Labs (1997: 7-17); Glaser and
Kaufmann (1998); van Evera (1999); Montgomery (2006: 154).
99

45

failure of tripolar balance in the east.100 Rome as imperialist aggressor was thus no
different from any of her neighbors.101
From this angle, Eckstein is successful in rightfully eschewing the offensivedefensive debate as no longer productive.102 Ironically, however, the set of assumptions
he brings to the table have left his conclusions inescapably defensivist in tone.103 In
presenting Roman militarism and expansionism as a symptom of international
environment, he has made the end-result Romes empire an accumulation of
protective responses to external challenges.104 Like defensive imperialism, then, his thesis
locates the source of aggression outside of Rome. At the same time, the thesis is more
abstract and has a wider scope, situating threat and the origins of violence within general
surroundings rather than individual enemies.105 By prioritizing the interstate system over
all other potential sources of aggressive behavior, Eckstein has still only deflected the
imperialism debate, without tackling some of its more complex and problematic issues.
100

Cf. Eckstein (2008: 237). For the phrase imperialism of routine, see Veyne, who first applied it in an
internalist fashion: ...limprialisme y [ Rome] est devenu la routine dune oligarchie, qui, comme font
toutes les institutions, finit par le pratiquer machinalement, sans mme se demander pourquoi. (1975:
794). This statement is very reminiscent of Polybius own comment (6.13.7-9), that for many Greek
observers, Romes politeia appeared entirely oligarchic. See below, pp. 155ff.
101 See Eckstein (2006: 183-184, and 200): Roman attitudes were indeed bellicose, and Roman methods of
war were certainly violent. But were Roman attitudes here, and Roman methods of war, unusually
violent?; and (2008: 247): It is also certainly the case that by the third century the Roman State had
adopted a habit of command towards the entire outside world... But while we should admit the negative
impact...[it] does not differentiate the Roman Republic from any other Classical or Hellenistic state.
Eckstein here cites Derow (1979) as well as Veyne (1975), the former for the phrase habit of command.
102 Cf. Erskine (2008: 188).
103 Cf. Scheidel (2008: 101); Champion (2009: 254); Trster (2009: 44).
104 Compare Gruen (1984).
105 In fact, Eckstein never delineates or questions the assumptions of the term imperialism. Instead, he
takes imperialism, meant in the most negative sense, (2006:5) and Harris view of Rome, the sole
imperialist aggressor (2006: 143), grinding out in Schumpeteresque fashion the public victories that the
aristocracy needed in order to preserve its prestige and authority (2006: 208)... and moved them to the
international level.

46

Therefore, for the subject of 146 BCE, the problems remain. For as long as
scholarship investigates the destructions of Carthage and Corinth in terms of first
assuming the two to mark a significant collocation, and then connecting this collocation
with Roman imperialism as either defensive or offensive, the results are predetermined.
To figure out how and why the collocation originally developed and in what context(s),
the approach needs to be changed. For previous scholarship has only converged upon its
assessment of Romes actions as simply aggressive and imperialist (whether caused by
internal and cultural or external and structural factors), but has not explored the
international level as a potential cultural space in its own right. The dichotomies between
defensivist and offensivist perspectives thus deal with purely relative and subjective
definitions, and should be discarded. In their place, imperialism is to be explored in terms
of the ways in which it was defined, deployed, and responded to at the time here, in the
second century. And these definitions, forms of behavior, etc. were specifically those that
took place within the interstate arena as a conceptual form of middle ground. This middle
ground the zone in which different cultures and political conceptions came into contact,
conflict, and negotiation was one with its own developing modes of interaction and
communication, affected by and affecting the groups involved (Romans, Greeks,
Carthaginians, etc.).
BEYOND DICHOTOMIES
And so, the old divide between defensive and offensive imperialism at least in
their modern forms fades away (along with primitivism versus modernism, internal47

cultural versus external-structural). And indeed, as Eckstein himself has acknowledged,

the historiography of empire should reflect the nature of the interstate world, which
is:
characterized not by linearity but rather by simultaneity. It is made up of a
multiplicity of interacting units, each interacting complexly with others, each
pursuing different goals, and all interacting simultaneously and synergistically
together.106
Ecksteins IR-inspired work, however, has focused primarily on third level structural
analysis, in order to counteract or even supplant previous internal-culturalism. This
approach though necessary to some extent to move the debate forward does run the
risk of continuing an artificial dualism, heightening a very simplified conception of
interior as opposed to exterior limits of statehood. Escaping such dualism and allowing
for political-cultural spaces to exist on a supranational level is crucial for exploring the
relationship between ancient and modern forms of politics, for delineating the cultural
context of ancient IR, and for understanding the variable histories of and perspectives on
empire.
It is important to note that the interstate system does not exist in a vacuum. It
cannot be a space that affects its participants in their aggression toward each other
without also being affected by its participants, via the modes in which they express or
find outlets for their aggression. In this sense, then, the origins of international-level
violence are to be tracked along multiple, linked sources human, societal, and
106

Eckstein (2006: 189). Elsewhere, Eckstein even explores internal characteristics, such as Roman
religious tradition and moralizing discourse (2006: 193, 216-222, 229). However, he does so only to prove
Roman anxiety and/or acclimatization to a particular (anarchic) external environment. In the process, he
supports an essentially defensivist view of Roman expansion as preclusive and of unexceptional
aggression.

48

environmental with individuals and states simultaneously influenced by and influencing

the web of international relations. In much the same way, the decisions made by
individuals and groups (e.g. the Roman Senate) involved a great deal of sub-conscious,
emotional, and cultural (both internally and externally derived) influences.107 The third
level is thus a particular reactive and shifting space between large-scale groups. In some
ways, it limits or directs second- and first-level behaviors, and influences the cultures
within the groups defined as states. At the same time, the very actions taken by
individuals and states modify the third level environment, bringing about change to the
IR cultural map that may be revolutionary (e.g. Alexanders conquests), relatively static
(e.g. classical-era Greek poleis), or gradual yet drastic (e.g. Rome from 250 to 50
BCE).108 Romes success was by no means linear or inevitable, and characterizing the
evolving order established by her imperium has been and will continue to be a complex
and ideologically loaded subject.
Post eventum, the cumulative effect of international actions taken by Romans and
by the Roman res publica indeed resulted in one of the largest and most longstanding
empires in history, and has in turns inspired, appalled, and/or justified particular outlooks
on world order and notions of imperialism. The position taken here is that in retrospect,
the end-result of empire necessitates some inclusion of offensiveness that is, outwardly

107

The concept of norms incorporates this rational-irrational duality well see the Appendix, and below,
pp. 54ff. Note that both Erskine (2008: 188) and Trster (2009: 44-45) allude to a weakness in Ecksteins
(structural) realism, in that it makes domestic features a function of only external-based system and power
capability. See also Ashley (1986); Donnelly (2000).
108 James (2006: 141) views such changes in general terms as a continual oscillation between
internationalization and pacification on the one hand, and between violence and the breakdown of
international and domestic order on the other hand.

49

aggressive, acquisitive, and domineering behavior as exceptional to Roman culture.

Empires do not occur by accident, nor are they foisted upon an unwilling imperialist by
external circumstance, no matter what the excusatory arguments to the contrary. The
culture of the state that becomes an empire ultimately contains characteristics that
converge to accumulate, support, and validate control over others.109 This is not to
exclude aggressiveness as an international, systemic phenomenon or as a feature of other
ancient Mediterranean states quite the contrary. Nor does this rule out the unusual
inclusivity with which the Roman res publica granted citizenship. What it does
accomplish is a more levelheaded acknowledgment of both offensive and defensive
elements in the growth of large-scale physical and ideological power. With this comes a
challenge to highlight those shifting gray areas between internal and external group
cultures. For it is ultimately along the fluctuating bounds of political conception that
states are remade into empires.
The process has long been noted to be complex e.g.:
Roman expansion was not a continuous process, maintained at a constant rate.
Whether at the level of conscious decision-making or of underlying structures, the
determining factors were many and complex and did not all pull in the same
direction.110
Nevertheless, historians of the ancient world have never actually looked to the
international-domestic interface, to the international sphere as a potential politicalcultural middle ground, nor to changing conceptions of statehood and sovereignty as
109

On a basic definition of imperialism as an unequal power relationship between two states in which the
dominant state exercises various forms of control, often forcibly, over the weaker state, see Champion and
Eckstein (2004: 3). For more on the Roman conception of imperium, see below, pp. 139ff.
110 Rich (1995: 50).

50

areas of study. Instead, debates have centered on the assumed criterion, based on modern
sovereignty, of territorial annexation as indicative of imperialism (or lack thereof).111
However, in doing so, they have obscured the more relevant, long-term and shifting
nature with which Rome was defined as a state, with regards to other states, their
conceptions of sovereignty, and to surrounding international convention(s). These
definitions moved hand in hand with changing views and forms of empire and
imperialism (and have continued to do so, across ancient and modern lines). Notions such
as provincia and provincial administration were thus part of a long-evolving (and not
always linear) process, which redefined Roman preferences, Roman statehood, and
intervention in negotiation with others, across multiple adjusted levels of interaction
from socii and client-kings, to freed/inviolable, treatied, or fully hostile poleis and
tribes.112
The success of Rome, then, lay not only in physical prowess, since such prowess
was colored and made possible by an evolved capacity to convince Romans and nonRomans alike, to adaptively recreate other traditions in their own ways, and redefine
themselves (to a certain extent) in the process. Beyond mere coercion, the Roman res
publica was able to offer something truly compelling: a monarchic republic, deploying
visions of awe-inspiring ferocity, of tireless if not subjective righteousness, and versions
of a new world order (whether for good or for ill). Over time, the Republic thus
developed innovative forms of control, and a new alternative to statehood, within which a
111

E.g. Badian (1968).

Cf. Evans (2009: 29), who suggests these points in a critique of Eckstein (2008). For more on the notion
of provincia and sovereignty, see below, pp. 149ff.
112

51

variety of polities could be linked and integrated (and only eventually annexed or
centralized). By simultaneously crushing defiance, recognizing pre-existing norms, and
grafting on new ones, Rome suppressed opposition to the ever-evolving amalgam, and
even more so, created converts to its innovative order.
It was thus with particular qualitative features that structural change really took
place. Rome existed as an integral part of an international environment, itself a culture
with various norms shared and/or contested of sovereignty, authority, militarization,
and justice.113 In responding to that environment, Rome achieved a unique balance
between internal and external settings, and redefined the nature of statehood itself.114 It
was only in this way that physical prowess could be accumulated, maintained, and
legitimized, and any political theory investigating the process of Romes rise to
hegemony must consider it fundamental. Understanding this ongoing relationship
between physical and conceptual or ideological aspects of power is also crucial for
interpreting the surviving sources, both literary and archaeological. And in an added level
of complexity, the story of the second century BCE has become wrapped in the political
and social thought of later generations, each with its own set of eliminations, reappropriations, and re-interpretations of previous events and trends.115
A meaningful and nuanced approach to the rise of Rome must therefore recognize
multiple layers of historical construction, with physical and conceptual aspects of power.
These layers crisscross the ancient/modern divide, as modern interpretations have
113

For more on norms and IR theory in this light, see the Appendix, and below, pp. 54ff.
For an explanation of Romes re-definition of statehood, see the discussion below pp. 139ff.
115 See the overview of these later viewpoints below pp. 345ff.
114

52

connected with elements of previous political thought. The very establishment of a

defensivist thesis (and by extension, an offensivist response) has been influenced and
moderated by Roman imperial rhetoric, especially that of the first century BCE/CE
(which first highlighted a split between earlier and late periods in the Republic).116 At
the same time, imperialist theses have been guided by even later interpretations of a
Roman tradition, by men such as Machiavelli and Hobbes, who perceived distinct lessons
regarding fear, virtue, and the role of power in politics.117 These influences, when paired
with nineteenth- and twentieth-century colonial and post-colonial experience, have in turn
produced specific readings of Polybius, Cicero, Sallust, and Livy, as precursors, foils,
and/or lessons to modern thought and practice.
In many ways, then, both ancient and modern narratives return to similar
concepts,

with

various

sets

of

emphasis

and

multiple

conceptions

of

statehood/sovereignty, political fear and aggression, morality and ethics, and cultural
superiority, in constructing histories and their relevant temporal, politicized markers
moments such as 146 BCE.118 This conclusion brings us to so-called constructivist IR
theory, and in particular, the focus on norms as a fundamental unit of contact between
individuals and groups attempting to communicate, convince, and overawe on an
international level.
116

For more, see below, pp. 345ff. In Sallusts formulation, for example, 146 BCE itself marked the
definitive line in periodizing the Republics history, becoming the point from which Roman mores
declined.
117 On Machiavelli, see Fischer (1996, 1997). On Hobbes, see Ryan (1996); Ahrensdorf (2000); Yurdusev
(2006).
118 Prokhovnik (2008) develops a useful distinction between a concept e.g. sovereignty and its many
historical conceptions, consisting of varying clusters of semiotic elements. The norms particular to the
second century BCE will be discussed in detail in chapters 3 and 4.

53

NORMATIVE IR THEORY: A REVIEW OF THE APPROACH

The Appendix describes a wide variety of IR theoretical approaches available for
the study of ancient history. The approach taken here, however, begins with elements of
realism, as a state (or unit)-based analysis of power processes and the human tendency
toward violence. It then incorporates elements from the constructivist critique, in
stressing the inter-subjectivity of all human (and hence international) interaction.119 As
such, it re-emphasizes the nature of Power (and its structure) as a social process,
comprised of both material (i.e. military/economic capability) and even more
interestingly, ideational (i.e. ideological and legitimizing) features. Such an emphasis
involves a closer investigation of how shared, intersecting, and conflicting identities,
interests, and thought (Zeitgeist) are created, transformed, and eliminated over time and
space. As such, this form of constructivist realism dovetails with so-called normative
theory, which examines the frameworks of conceivable and/or acceptable action, and
provides a useful tool for assessing events such as the outbreak of war and the practice of
violence in this case, 146 BCE.120 Within this picture, norms comprise the grammar
of human societies, inherently defining the interactions within and between groups
(including states).121
Normative frameworks are not static, however, and again allow us the flexibility
to trace how the behaviors of Rome and other groups instituted and challenged change in
119

For more (including citations) on the material summarized here, see the Appendix.
In the Appendix, normative theory is characterized as a theme, not a separate approach, because its
content and purpose are so closely related to both international society and constructivism, that to draw the
lines between them too deeply would only damage their theoretical potential.
121 On the concept of norms as a grammar of society, see Bicchieri (2006).
120

54

their international environment, both in the second century BCE and at later points in the
interpretation of 146. For at different times and in different contexts, norms develop and
transform as collective understandings of the proper behavior of actors.122 Norms may
achieve prominence via the isolation and/or heightened visibility of a certain population,
as well as through active promotion. In the first instance, particularly powerful,
prestigious, and/or rising groups/states/individuals have an edge in determining which
norms will become conspicuous. The norm must also have coherence with other
prevailing norms, a subject that in turn intersects with debates regarding legitimacy, both
as a means for setting out criteria for the right to rule, and for understanding the beliefs
of those subject to rule.123 As a cluster of coherent norms that establish membership
and/or consensus within a society (international or otherwise), legitimacy at once reflects
the physical capability and evaluative acceptance of authority.124
It is important to note, however, that normative theory cannot (and should not)
stand alone as an approach to understanding IR. Features once considered part of
contentiously defined realism, including elements that are both biological/classical and
structural, must remain part of the perspective. For example, the position and role of
norms and of social interaction are linked, by feedback loop, to the factors of relative
physical capability, uncertainty, and deception in politics, especially in the process of

122 Legro (1997: 2).

123

See the Appendix.

See Wight (1977: 153). On legitimacy as a social consensus, with no element of coercion, see Hurd
(1999). For a constructivist realist approach combining consensus and coercion (soft and hard forms of
power, respectively), see (among others) Tarrow (1994); McAdam (1996); Linklater (1998); Payne (2001).
124

55

normative change (i.e. their rise-and-fall).125 Some scholars have also begun to draw a
distinction between how much/how far an international society extends, as opposed to an
international system, across which rules and institutions are not closely shared.126 As
Raymond has noted:
Whereas members of a state system observe certain conventions regarding the
treatment of envoys, the sanctity of trade agreements, and similar exchanges
anchored in reciprocity, those belonging to an international society possess a
more elaborate code of conduct.127
This approach helps break down the barriers between IR as either wholly anarchic
or fully integrated and socialized (i.e. with strongly related norms). A normative
approach instead allows for a back-and-forth in heterarchic forms, including levels of
domestic/ international order, their margins, failures, and collapses, and the presence or
persistence of interstate warfare during and/or between them. At the system-society
interface, types and frequency of interactions (i.e. economic, intellectual, and/or military)
can be traced. Such thinking allows us to see how interactions can lead to mutual
recognition and to collective acceptance of a particular normative framework. By the
same token, it can reveal the reverse, including processes by which states can become
excluded or by which an international society itself may collapse back into a more
disparate system.

125

These factors are often raised as part of a realist critique of constructivism/normative theory cf.
Mearsheimer (1994/1995: 367, 369), Jervis (1998: 976), and Copeland (2000a: 200, 202). However, rather
than consider realism and constructivism as potentially oppositional, the aim here is to bring the two
together i.e. constructivist realism. Cf. Dunne (2008: 274-279), on the need to integrate fundamental
realist elements into the debate regarding international society.
126 The society-system dialectic was first introduced by Bull (1977: 12), but has since been renewed in the
constructivist realist discussion cf. Wight et al. (1991) and James (2006).
127 Raymond (1997: 207).

56

The entire process is therefore one occurring across power-relations, on

individual, domestic, and international levels, and it provides the new angle of research
needed for exploring how war with Carthage and the Achaian League and the destruction
of their two urban centers were fitted into a contemporary context, for Romans and nonRomans alike. An analysis informed by an understanding of the normative-realist
approach to power also opens new doors for discussion of Romes evolution as an
imperial power, both in terms of its legitimization and its level of acceptance. In this
instance, the focus is on 146 BCE as an evolving turning point, but in general, the
opportunities for the study of any development in ancient history are promising.
To return to the issue of legitimacy: in the trajectory of a contested norm, the need
for coherence leads to the final factor in determining its success, its environment.
Whereas coherence refers to the norms harmony with adjacent prevailing norms,
environment refers to the structural setting within which the norm is applied to physical
capability (economic and/or military), to the challenges faced by the particular
community or set of communities, and to the technological, natural, and/or human
resources available. These factors link the environment back to both norm prominence
and coherence. For the physical and situational surroundings will have a hand in
determining which norms will become especially visible and what individuals will have
what voice in promoting certain norms over others. At the same time, pre-existing norms
will not only determine which prominent norms will succeed (either to the benefit or
detriment of so-called entrepreneurs), but will also serve to define group interest, identify
and characterize its challenges, and assign value to particular resources and/or
57

technologies.128 This model thus applies well to current developments in the debate over
Roman imperialism, which stands somewhere between Harris Romano-centric thesis of
aggressive acquisitiveness, Ecksteins structural thesis of adjustment to systemic warfare,
and the Greco-centric, Gruen-inspired thesis of inheriting and adhering to the Hellenistic
world. Therefore, in the following chapters, an alternative, normative-inspired approach
will be introduced, as a means for re-assessing the events, perceptions, and presentation
of 146 BCE in the light of the Rome-as-empire debate.
In their continuing processes of transformation, norms both affect and are affected
by the politics of individuals and transnational actors (first-level), the politics within
states (second-level), and between states (third-level).129 The current study will take a
multilateral approach, considering the ways in which domestic, international, and
transnational factors dynamically affect each other but it will do so with an eye to
investigating the evolution of international-level norms in the developing middle ground
between political cultures of the second century. From this perspective, there existed an
ongoing and ultimately inescapable tension in the construction of a new international
community one that was eventually to become the Roman empire during the first
centuries BCE/CE. Within this tension, the outlooks of individuals and of various
political groups influenced, intersected, and conflicted with each other, and their actions
helped shape the norms of international life. These in turn served to define, socialize, and
influence the individuals and groups involved. In terms of interstate conflict, norms also
128 In

addition, there are often significant lags in time between behavioral and structural changes, meaning
that old norms may linger for long periods despite active condemnation and attempts to coerce newer
norms.
129 See the Appendix.

58

played a number of roles: in defining the key issues between cultures and national
identities, in the convergence and contestation of norms as they come into contact with
each other, and in defining the ethics of conflict resolution, appropriate forms of
diplomacy, arbitration, and even resorts to violence. It is thus with this focus and
international-society middle ground in mind that the present study will investigate, in the
course of the following chapters, the development of 146 BCE as a moment of historical
significance, and as one with continuing connections to the assessment (positive or
negative) of Rome as an imperial power.
CONCLUSION: THE ROMAN DILEMMA
In the course of this chapter, then, we have explored the tangled web of modern
theoretical approaches to ancient international politics in general, and to the Roman state
as an imperial in particular. Such traditional approaches have steered the assumptions and
very focus of previous studies regarding Romes war with Carthage and war with the
Achaian League, followed by Romes destructions of Carthage and Corinth in 146.
Recently, however, the old dichotomies between primitivist and modernist, internalculturalist and external-structuralist, and defensivist and offensivist stances have begun to
break down. And it is at this juncture that Ecksteins contribution, of re-connecting the
distant cousins of political (IR) theory and the study of ancient history, has presented an
exciting opportunity. Re-entering the debate, the current study builds upon Ecksteins
work, using modern terminology and concepts to explore what is essentially a foreign set
of cultures. Yet it does so with an eye to the international level as an arena of social
59

interaction, between individuals and groups with various cultural backgrounds seeking to
communicate, accommodate, cajole, or otherwise engage with each other. By virtue of
such interactions, the political cultures of Roman, Greek, etc. were to forge a new,
international political culture, which in turn affected changes on its members. And as
we will see this happened in ways that were not always unproblematic and which
involved a number of concomitant interpretations that could work at cross-purposes.
Furthermore, and uniquely in the second century BCE, there was evolving an additional
self-awareness of what today we would call an international community, or globalized
world. It was all of these factors that in combination were to give what became the
constructed moment of 146 BCE its broader, even world-historical meaning.
On one level, this constructivist approach ultimately makes it unnecessary to
engage in that eternal imperialism debate: defensive versus offensive. But here and as
we shall see the associations between 146 BCE, Roman hegemony, and issues of
international governance run deeper, all the way back to the second century itself. In
recent parlance, the essence of the international governance debate that is, whether
empire can ever truly serve a good purpose has actually been termed the Roman
dilemma by Harold James. It has been given this name for the European colonialimperialist rhetoric that looked to Rome as an exemplar, either to emulate or to improve
upon but interestingly, and unbeknownst to James, there was a Roman dilemma in
the ancient world as well.
In James formulation, there are essentially two processes of power in tension
with each other and which find their way into different sides in the debate. On the
60

one hand is the desire for and creation of a stable, prosperous, and integrated
international society, through inclusivity and peaceful commerce (today often referred to
as globalization).130 And on the other hand is the rivalry, conflict, and dissent created
by/within such order, resulting in acts of force, and memories of such force, even within
voluntarily negotiated rules.131 Broad-based authority, then, encompasses elements of
both hard and soft power, comprising dual trends, between supposedly benign
globalization and high-handed, suppressive imperialism, the roots of its own
fragmentation.132
And although James does not acknowledge this fact himself, an analogous debate
regarding imperial power was indeed taking place within second century BCE intellectual
circles. Like today, it explored the problematic nature of empire, as either benign and
paternal or tyrannical and oppressive and as we will see, it played a major role in the
contemporary construction of 146 BCE as a momentous juncture.133 The idea that Rome
existed somewhere between a justice-loving, defensively minded polity, and a
voraciously bellicose and insatiably grasping one thus comes closer to the nuances of
Roman imperialism and in particular, as it was discussed at the time.134 We turn now to
those times, and to the normative international context upon which 146 was to become a
significant marker of Rome as an imperial hegemonic or autocratic? state.

130

James (2006: 1).

James (2006: 1).
132 James (2006: 1). Joseph Nye (1990) first popularized the terms hard and soft power, in order to denote
the forceful and ideological dimensions of authority. For an excellent discussion, see Berenskoetter and
Williams, eds. (2007).
133 See discussion below pp. 331ff.
134 The quotes are from Champion (2009: 254).
131

61

Chapter 3: Interstate Norms & the Early Second Century BCE

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this and the next chapter is to reconstruct a picture of Mediterranean
interstate conditions during the first half of the second century BCE. This objective is
crucial for re-contextualizing the events surrounding 146 BCE, and the assessment of
these events as a particular moment of change. By developing a view of second-century
norms of interstate politics, the current status of 146 as an historical turning point can be
returned to its original setting, and re-assessed within broader processes of change
occurring at Rome, in the Greek and non-Greek speaking worlds, and at the juncture
points between them.
Here in particular, then, the focus is on second-century Zeitgeist as an
international phenomenon that is, as a conceptual level upon which intellectuals,
statesmen, and diplomats from various states and cultures were thinking about their own
interstate politics and its changes.135 It will be argued that such second-century thinking
did indeed conceive of an interstate community and constructed, contested, and even redefined its parameters via certain modes of diplomatic interaction in particular, via a
rhetoric of pan- and phil-Hellenism and cosmopolitanism, and via networks of syngeneia
and myth-historic kinship all tied to notions of a world history. These trends provided
the wider context for the events of 146 BCE, and the manner in which they attained
broader, internationally based significance. To better understand them, we will review the
points at which Romans, Greeks, and others (all complex entities in and of themselves)
135

Richardson (2008: 6) has used the phrase mental wallpaper to refer to such background thinking.

62

appear to have experienced direct matches in each others behaviors, as well as when
communications misfired, whether due to cultural misunderstanding, unawareness, or
egoism (intended or unintended). Later, in the next chapter, we will look further at
political and legal frameworks that were being used by this conceptual community, with
their own trends toward negotiation, assimilation, manipulation, and misapprehension.
For now, however, the focus is on the theoretical construction and development of a
middle ground across political cultures.
In order to embark on this investigation, we must first be clear regarding the use
of modern terminology vis vis ancient patterns of thinking, both in the periodization of
ancient history e.g. using the modern term Hellenistic and in conceiving of world
politics e.g. modern globalization. As mentioned earlier, the conclusion here is that the
ancient evidence points to both trends toward the periodizing of history and in an
international, global sense were actually in place during the second century itself.
Intellectuals at the time were engaged in the process of building chronologies while
thinking about politics in pan-Hellenic, internationally- and ethically-fielded terms. Old
modes of ethnos and polis and even individual interactions were transforming and forging
new interstate networks, which were in turn being mapped onto universalizing, civilizing
ideals. And Romans in particular were being positioned, and were positioning
themselves, as the key figures for evaluation as new, re-defined pan-Hellenic
hegemons.

63

THINKING IN MODERN TERMS: HELLENISTIC GLOBALIZATION

In recent years, scholarship has highlighted the complexities of the period
traditionally known as the Hellenistic a period framed by late seventeenth-century
historians and in particular by Droysen (in the late nineteenth century) as a temporal
entity (extending between Classical and Roman, from Alexander to Actium, etc.) and as a
cultural (Hellenizing) phenomenon.136 And it is with the more recently conceived
complexities that the term Hellenistic is to be understood here: as a broader label for the
multidirectional and increasingly networked exchanges that actually transformed the very
meaning of Greek-ness, across a multitude of regions (with various manifestations) in the
era after Alexanders conquests. Such multi-directionality and networks of exchange
bring another modern term to the fore globalization. This concept remains a subject of
lively ongoing debate, and some scholars are wary of applying it to the study of the
ancient world, yet when reduced to its most simple essence, it is of particular interest to
the study of international politics in the age after Alexander.137 For at its most basic, the
term globalization refers to the extension and amplification of relations across preexisting boundaries processes that always take place on some level or another, but at
key times in history intensify to cross large geographical areas in relatively short periods
of time.
136

Seventeenth-century origins: cf. Bossuet (1691, I.8). For more on the interrelation of nineteenth-century
concepts, see Hingley (2005: Ch. 2); Cartledge (1997); Ogden (2002: ix-x); Erskine (2007: 2-3).
137 See Vandkilde (2007: 12-13), with references. Vandkildes summary is largely followed here, as it best
deploys the concept of globalization for use in current work in anthropology and archaeology (and by
extension, ancient history). For a view of globalization in a positive light, see Legrain (2002); in a negative
one - see Petras and Veltmeyer (2001). For recent critiques and re-workings of the term Hellenistic, see
Davies (1984: 263); Smith (1988: 2); Green (1990: xv; 1993: 8); Cartledge (1997: 2-5); Ogden (2002: x);
Erskine (2007: 3).

64

This is the globalization we will employ here, to refer to the Hellenistic world as
an evolving international system. Not without elements recognizable today as
imperializing (for good and/or for ill),138 the Hellenistic world was one in transit. People,
material goods, ideas, and discourses were rapidly intersecting, from different directions
and with different momentums, but were ultimately becoming more and more closely
linked. Bringing two modern terms together Hellenistic and globalization thus allows
to think about individuals and groups as becoming Hellenistic, forging a middle ground
in which to adopt, modify, and reject behaviors and redefine the parameters of
internationally-based Hellenism.

HELLENISTIC: ANCIENT CHRONOGRAPHY & GLOBALISM

In conceiving of the Hellenistic as an historical period, politically based
boundaries of chronology remain of lasting value ancients at the time and in later
generations deployed them, and created an approach and framework still used by modern
scholars. And rightly so: for a consensus developed early on, among ancient
contemporaries, that Alexanders conquests had forever transformed the (Greek) world
and ushered in a new era. Alexander himself had propounded such thinking, and in the
Diadochic period, writers such as Hieronymus of Cardia, Nymphis of Heraclea, Arrian of
Nicomedia, and Dexippus of Athens all compiled works under titles such as the things

138

See, for example, recent scholarship on the Roman empire and the subject of Romanization, using
globalization as a model: Sturgeon (2000); Witcher (2000); Hingley (2005); Hitchner (2008).

65

after Alexander.139 The late-fourth/ early-third century BCE orator, Demetrius of

Phaleron, reportedly spoke of Alexanders world empire as lent by Tyche, who had taken
her blessings from Persia and would eventually transfer them from the Macedonians.140
Polybius took this potential scheme for periodizing world history and put forward Rome
as the current heir of Tyches blessings and of Alexanders legacy.
And, as we shall see, Polybius was ultimately to posit 146 BCE as the very end of
a Greek-Hellenistic and beginning of the Roman era.141 Romans at the time may or may
not have thought differently, but by the Augustan age, their writers were certainly
proponents of Rome as current heir in a sequence of grand empires.142 Within such
constructions of universal history, Alexander and Augustus as today were major
figures marking new eras. And like Alexander, Augustus encouraged this literary and
ideological trend, placing Roman imperium (in the abstract sense) at the culminating
point in the cycles of world history. The advent of Augustus was celebrated as the
beginning of a new and even greater global age, and the victory over Cleopatra, last of
the major Hellenistic dynasts (rather than Antony), was commemorated as the decisive
political moment heralding it.143 As part of this scheme and building upon traditions first
established by Polybius (and undoubtedly in the minds of other contemporaries), 146
139

Hieronymus of Cardia, FGrH 154: ta epi Alexandroi prachthenta; Nymphis of Heraclea, FGrH 432:
peri Alexandrou kai ton diadochon kai epigonon; Arrian of Nicomedia, FGrH 156: ta meta
Alexandron; Dexippus of Athens, FGrH 100: ta meta Alexandron.
140 Demetrius of Phaleron F81 Wehrli, quoted by Polybius, 29.21.
141 Specifically, he indicates a handing over of arch from Macedon to Rome, followed by a new era
culminating in Romes defeat of Carthage and Corinth/the Achaian League in 146. For more, see the
discussion below in chapter 6.
142 See below, pp. 322ff.
143 On Actium and the later death of Cleopatra (conflated) as representing this turning point, see Ogden
(2002: xi-xii); Hlscher (1984, 1985); and Quesnay (2009), on Hor. Odes 4.5 and the Ludi Quinquinnales
on the fifteenth anniversary of Actium. See also Aug. RG 25.2; Verg. Aen. 8.678-700; Lucian Salt. 37.

66

BCE was resurrected and brought full circle, in the Augustan re-foundations of Carthage
and Corinth as Roman colonies (see below).
In the meantime, the intellectual milieu of the second century, among Hellenistic
rhetoricians, philosophers, and historians, was evolving a distinctly globalized theoretical
outlook..144 Hellenistic intellectuals conceived of such notions as being a world-citizen
(kosmopolites),145 and of an inhabited world (oikoumen, orbis terrarum) whose history
was becoming an organic whole (smatoeid), and whose events were becoming woven
together (symplekesthai). These last ideas are given shape in the words of Polybius, near
the opening og the Histories:
Previously, the doings of the world had been, so to say, dispersed but ever since
this date [the 140th Olympiad, 220-216 BCE], history has been an organic whole
(smatoeid), and the affairs of Italy and Libya have been interlinked with
(symplekesthai) those of Greece and Asia, all leading up to one end146
At the same time, such patterns of thought among Hellenistic intellectuals were directly
in line with what was happening in the political and international arena, of which many of
the same men were an active and integral part. Their interactions contributed to an overall
blurring of older boundaries of individual and group identity. On all levels, from
horizontal (i.e. between members of equivalent power and status) to vertical (i.e. between
members of differing power and status), the interdependencies of local, regional, and
144

See Inglis and Robertson (2004), on globalizing Hellenistic historiography/Polybius; Robertson and
Inglis (2004: 40-42), on the above, plus Hellenistic philosophy; and Pernot (2005), on Hellenistic
globalization in rhetorical styling.
145 For the Cynic Diogenes characterizing himself as kosmopolites, see Goulet-Caz (2000: 329); see also
Konstan (2009); Richter (2011). On the Stoic Zenos similar thoughts, cf. Plut. De fort. Alex. 329a-b: The
much admired Republic of Zenois aimed at this one main point, that we should regard all men as our
fellow-citizens and local residents (politas), and there should be one way of life and one kosmos See
also the section on second=century BCE political philosophies, below pp. 331ff.
146 Polyb. 1.3.3-5.

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supra-regional lites, associations, polis-coalitions, and royal courts were becoming more
tightly bound. It is no accident, then, that a contemporary mind such as Polybius used the
term symplok (interweaving) to describe what today is very recognizable as
international, globalized networking.147
These intersecting political mechanisms in turn fit into concomitant processes of
cultural exchange, with an evolution of a broad range of claims to Hellenism across the
Mediterranean world. That such a concept as Hellenism existed, though with varied
manifestations, is evident from a few contemporary testimonies. Forms of the Greek
verb, hellnizein (to Greek-ize) can be found for example in the books of Maccabees
(e.g. 2 Mac. 4.13) and in the Acts of the Apostles (6.1 and 9.29), in reference to Jews
who have learned the Greek language, have acquired elements of a Greek lifestyle and
culture, and are in favor of making diplomatic overtures alliances, etc. to Hellenistic
hegemons.148 In the Zenon archive of papyri from third century BCE Egypt, a cameldriver complains of not receiving regular payment, presumably because, as he states, I
am a barbarian, and, I do not know how to Greek-ize / behave like a Greek
(hellnizein).149 In each of these instances, individuals of non-Greek descent or religion
nevertheless recognized the possibility of becoming more Greek-like, or closer to Greek
identity, by learning a language and adopting a chosen set of customs (e.g. dress,
behavior, style of house, etc.). The same patterns can be seen among leading Romans as
well (see below), as they become increasingly involved in Mediterranean interstate
147

Cf. Davies (2002); and with broader perspectives, Horden and Purcell (2000); Harris (2005); Malkin
(2005); Malkin et al. (2009).
148 Cf. Ogden (2002); Zacharia (2008a).
149 P. Col. Zen. 66, l. 19, 21; cf. Walbank (1993: 115).

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politics during the third and second centuries BCE. The end result was that Hellenism
itself was expanding as an international assemblage of political culture, from which
individuals and/or groups of various backgrounds could selectively adapt and were doing
so with greater frequency.
Such a Hellenic assemblage was not a de novo creation of Alexanders age;
rather, it had evolved from, and was now expanding, a system of earlier (archaic and
classical) definitions of Greek identity.150 On a fundamental level, these definitions
evolved out of what Herodotus had described as comprising to Hellnikon: shared
bloodline, language, religion, and customs.151 Within this spectrum of Greekness were
subgroups, such as ethn (e.g. Aetolians) and speakers of various dialects (e.g. Dorians
and Ionians), which existed on a level above the poleis and their manifestations of
Hellenism.152 Poleis in turn established webs of interrelationships based on ethnic and
linguistic ties, but they also forged cultural and religious links between each other. These
links were cemented via mythological-genealogical kinship, or syngeneia, an institution
that brought together the bloodlines, cults, and customs of metropolis and apoikia, or of
polis and polis.153 Syngeneia was secured via approved and documented points of shared
parentage, whether real that is, by colonization and generations of intermarriage or

150

Note that these iterations of Hellenic identity were as diverse and in as much flux as those of Romanitas
see, among others, Malkin et al. (2001); Hall (2002); Zacharia (2008a-b); Burstein (2008).
151 Hdt. 8.144.1-3. Cf. Zacharia (2008b); Burstein (2008). Interestingly enough, as Burstein points out,
Herodotus categories are quite similar to those used by modern sociologists to define ethnicity i.e.
descent, commensality, and cult cf. Nash (1996: 25).
152 Cf. Zacharia (2008b: 28-29).
153 In recent decades, much attention has been paid to this subject, known as kinship diplomacy cf.
Curty (1995, 2005); Will (1995); Jones (1999); Lcke (2000); and in relation to Rome, Elwyn (1993);
Erskine (2001); Battistoni (2009).

69

determined, after much genealogical digging. The difference between the two,
recognizable today, was of no significance to ancient Greeks or their contemporaries.
Kinship bonds could also involve mythic-heroic ties of xenia, which could establish
alignment between cities (oikeiotes) or could strengthen other claims to shared parentage.
Claims of all types, once recognized by all parties, were taken seriously and had a
genuine political impact, far beyond empty rhetoric, and with greater frequency and
impact than was true in earlier periods.154 The Hellenistic era thus witnessed a growth in
the number and international political significance of these ties, which were now creating
entirely new definitions of Hellenicity (to use Jonathan Halls phrase). From the level of
the individual hellnists (as documented in the Zenon papyri or Acts of the Apostles), to
that of the poleis, Hellenism was now a process rapidly on the move, connecting groups
in a figurative debate over what defined legitimate membership in international society.
And as we will see, Romans in the third and especially the second century BCE were
very much a part and played a transformative role in this system-wide, Hellenistic
debate.

HELLENISTIC HELLENISM: CIVILIZING IDEALS & EMPIRE

A common thread in these international processes existed in the growing equation
of Greekness with being civilized that is, moving beyond Greek ethnicity and mere
mastery of koin Greek, and extending into notions of urbanity, high culture, and refined
morality and ethics. As Isocrates stated in his Panegyricus (50), the term Hellenes

154

See the next section on kinship diplomacy in the second century BCE, with examples.

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would best suggest not a race but an intelligence, to be applied to those sharing culture
rather than immediate blood. Later on, Eratosthenes argued that it would perhaps be
better to divide mankind into good and bad, rather than use the old and overwrought
Greek-barbarian dichotomy.155 Their words clearly imply that ethnic Greekness was
gaining fluidity, not only as part of the momentum behind Macedonian ascendancy and
the civilizing mission often associated with Alexanders political rhetoric,156 but also
with gaining speed in the wake of Alexanders conquests, which opened international
networks and juxtaposed very different and distant cultures across a new and Greek
imperial plane. Within such a context, non-Greeks with the will and the means to obtain
Greek paideia and assume key Greek customs could gain recognition for their Hellenism
among intellectual and diplomatic circles. Terms such as philhellene gained broader
application for their ability to describe and link together ethnically Greek and non-Greek
in behavior that was cultured, moderate, and beneficent to fellow Greeks, ones fellow
civilized world-citizens.157
For this reason, then, the practice of kinship diplomacy became increasingly
popular during the Hellenistic period, for its ability to locate blood relations in addition to
bonds of language and culture. By figuring out ties of syngeneia, the conceptual sphere of
Hellenism could be expanded to include barbaric hinterlands, regions once beyond the

155

Eratosthenes F II C in Hugo Berger, 1880.

Cf. Isoc. 5.16.111-116; also Aeschin. 3.132; Plut. Phoc. 17.7. See Poddighe (2009); Heckel and Tritle
(2011: 101, 255).
157 Again, philhellene has its roots in the classical period cf. Plato Rep. 5.470c, e. Xenophon (Ages. 7.1)
has a revealing description of the concept: if it is honorable in one who is a Hellene to be a friend to the
Hellenes, what other general has the world seen unwilling to take a city when he thought that it would be
sacked, or who looked on victory in a war against Hellenes as a disaster?
156

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realm of close political and social interaction, but now entering into the networks of civic,
civilized relations.158 Strabo provides an anecdote that epitomizes the process well: he
describes two Thessalians (themselves once of non-Greek lineage), in Alexanders
(Macedonian) army, setting out to prove that the peoples of Armenia and Media are in
fact related to the Thessalians.159 Through mythic-heroic reconstruction, newly
encountered groups could literally be re-entered into the oikoumene.
The extension and evolution of religious cults also played an important role in
these processes, via new pan-Hellenic sanctuaries with internationally recognized
festivals and statuses of inviolability (asylia).160 The language commemorating the newly
minted festival of Soteria at Delphi (279 BCE) summarizes well that the celebration
would continuously serve as a
memorial of the deliverance of the Greeks and of the victory which was achieved
over the barbarians [Gauls], who marched against the sanctuary of Apollo, which
is common to the Greeks, and who marched against the Greeks161
Such markers, of mythic-heroic kinship and shared, even syncretized cult, represented an
important evolution of the older, Herodotean tradition of to Hellnikon, making it an even
more wide-ranging and in some ways elastic concept.
Greekness in the Hellenistic period was thus a contested label, with quite a lot at
stake. Groups once seen as non-Greek, and perhaps still by some contemporaries

158

See the discussion in Hornblower (2008), with examples of this process occurring in earlier periods as
well.
159 Strabo 11.14.12. Again, this is an updated version of an earlier Greek tradition, of linking newly
encountered peoples to Greek civilization via mythological figures cf. Bickerman (1952).
160 E.g., the sanctuary of Artemis Leucophyrene at Magnesia on the Maeander cf. Syll.3 557. For
documented grants of asylia, see Rigsby (1996).
161 I. Delphi 3.3.215, l. 5-8.

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deemed non-Greek, including ethn such as the Aetolians or Macedonians, could be

said to act Greek and would themselves go to lengths to demonstrate their Greekness.162
Macedonian leadership, for example, could claim Hellenism on the basis of their
language,163 admission to pan-Hellenic cult, and even to mythic-heroic kinship.164
However, these same Macedonians could be deemed common enemies of the Greeks
(e.g. Philip II, Perseus),165 and alternate genealogies could be used to distance them from
mainland and Aegean Greeks, at a time when Macedonian kingship came into conflict
with these Greek poleis as well as with Rome (a state which only encouraged emphasis
on Macedons non-Greekness).166
There was thus a sliding scale of Greekness, which reflected ones socio-political
standing on a local and regional as well as an international level, and which had direct
political uses and effects. The scale can be understood as moving in the following
direction: on the upper end, from an ethnic Greek acting Greek (i.e. in a civilized
fashion), to a non-Greek acting Greek (and even at times achieving admission to Greek
identity), and to a barbarian with Greek-like qualities (i.e. potential for becoming more
162

Cf. Hornblower (2008: 58), with references. On the complex subject of ancient Macedonian and Greek
ethnicity (both consisting of numerous subgroups) and their interrelations, see Engels (2010).
163 The discovery of a 4th century BCE curse tablet at Pella has verified that Macedonian was a form of
north-west Greek cf. Masson (1996); tablet first published in Bull. p. 1994, no. 413. See also
Hatzopoulos (1998); Masson (1998).
164 Dating as far back as the archaic period: Ps. Hesiod, Cat. of Women F7 (Merkelbach & West), on
eponymous Makedon as son of Zeus and Thyia, daughter of Deucalion; Hellanikos, FGrH 4F74, on
Makedon as son of Aeolus, brother of Doros and Xythos; Hdt. 9.45, on Alexander Is claims to Greek
descent; Hdt. 5.22, on his admission to the Olympic Games upon proving himself to be of Argive descent;
and Isoc. Phil. 5.105-7, on Philip IIs lineage from Herakles, and the founder of the Macedonian kingdom,
Perdiccas, as coming from Argos.
165 For Philip II, see Dem. 14.3. For Perseus, see below p. 95.
166 On Rome in this context, see below pp. 78ff. Alternate mythic genealogies, including versions that
held eponymous Makedon son of Lycaon, king of Emathia and a Pelasgian, survived into the second
century CE cf. Aelian N.A. 10.48; Ps. Apollodoros, Bibl. 3.81.

73

Greek). On the lower end, the spectrum moved from an ethnic Greek, or a non-Greek
with claims to Greekness, acting barbaric, to a barbarian being just that, a barbarian,
which, as the Greeks saw it, meant acting in a brutal or crude manner. Such a conceptual
framework was to have great impact on later conditions in Romes eastern empire, where,
as the second-century CE Hellenized Syrian, Lucian, noted, a man without Greek
education could only be a worker with his hands and a commoner, while one that was
educated was honored and praised and considered worthy of public office and
precedence.167

THE WEST: REPUBLICAN ROME, CARTHAGE, & HELLENISM

In hindsight, we know that Rome would come to inherit much of the Hellenistic
system developed in the east, transforming the international language of globalized
Hellenism into one of imperium orbis terrae.168 However, there is much more to the
equation than mere inheritance and the view often brandished about by Romans
themselves, and encapsulated by Horaces sardonic wit: Graecia capta ferum victorem
cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio.169 Rome had long been in contact with and affected by
multifaceted elements of Greek culture, and during the third and especially the second
and first centuries BCE, played an increasingly interactive role in determining the course
that international Hellenism would take, both culturally and politically. The manner of
Roman rhetoric that developed out of these interactions testifies to this. For the fact that

167

Lucian, The Dream 9.11.

On this transformation, see, among others, Nicolet (1991); Swain (1996); Clarke (1999).
169 Hor. Ep. 2.1.156-157.
168

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later Roman authors equated the legacy of the Greeks with philosophy and the arts, while
associating their own states contribution with political and military deeds,170 is telling.
For it reflects the trouble faced by earlier, Hellenistic-era generations of Roman
intellectuals and statesmen in defining the Roman res publica as an internationally
civilized and recognized power, culturally adapted (i.e. Hellenized), and yet also
adamantly retaining and/or forging a strong place for Romanitas.
Romans indeed possessed a longstanding and a complex history of cultural and
political interaction with Hellenism, tracing back as far as Bronze Age Mycenaean trade,
and extending into the era of the earliest archaic poleis developed in the colonies of
Magna Graecia and Sicily. Other Italic peoples, who would eventually be brought into
the Roman sphere, also conquered and commingled with these Greek communities, prior
to and even following Roman domination. Neapolis, for example, on becoming a Roman
municipium in the first century BCE nevertheless retained its Greek institutions,171 and
Pompeii, an Oscan-Greek city with centuries of Campanian Samnite control, maintained
its distinct local flavor after Roman influence reached the town during the First Punic
War.172 Such examples reveal the intricate and numerous points of intersection between
groups positioned around Rome, their political affiliations, and their cultural identities.
By the fourth century, Heracleides Ponticus could actually think of Rome as a Greek
polis, and his audiences equated Rome with a civilized, political unit operating (to use the
170

E.g. Quint. Inst. Orat. 12.2.30: quantum enim Graeci praeceptis valent, tantum Romani, quod est
maius, exemplis See also the famed words of Anchises, describing the cosmic mission of the Roman
(as opposed to other peoples): Verg. Aen. 6.847-853.
171 Cf. de Martino (1952: 335); and Sherk (1970: 29-32) for inscriptional evidence.
172 See the overview in Richardson (1988: 3-9).

75

modern terminology) on the level of international system.173 That this equation also
reflected a lengthy history of interconnectivity with a larger Mediterranean, Greek
world, that Romans had and were in the process of developing their own brand of
Hellenism, was taken for granted.174 By the second century, Polybius represented Rome
using the language of international political philosophy, and analyzed her politeia in
comparison to and in contrast with contemporary Hellenic constitutions, thereby bringing
her into the intellectual tradition of evaluating different Greek political systems.175 That
he did so with success, though with a degree of misunderstanding,176 as he did for states
like Sparta, Carthage, or Crete, points to an ongoing process, whereby uniquely Roman
conventions were becoming melded onto and transformed by, and yet by the same token
were redefining previous traditions of the Hellenistic polis-system, across local, regional,
and supra-regional networks.177
Eratosthenes thus argued that Romans, as well as Carthaginians, both with unique
developments on the polis model, were wrongly labeled barbarian, because of their
admirable systems of government.178 Centuries later, Strabo voiced the direct opposite of
this perspective, lamenting what he called the barbarization (i.e. Romanization, or de-

173

Plut. Camillus 22, quoting Heracleides.

See, for example, the articles in Zanker, ed. (1976).
175 Polyb. 6; Champion (2004: 99); see also below, pp. 155ff.
176 On this subject, see the discussions below in chapter 4.
177 See discussion in North (1990); note in Mellor (2008: 100). For Polybius misunderstandings regarding
Sparta, cf. Walbank (1990: 145); for the explanation that these misconceptions were the product of
Polybius overarching views regarding the subject and purpose of his Histories, see id. (1990: 153ff.).
178 Strabo 1.4.9, quoting Eratosthenes. Aristotle had earlier discussed the mixed politeia of Carthage,
with some admiration cf. Pol. 1272b24-1273b25.
174

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Hellenization) of Magna Graecia.179 Both statements testify to a lasting belief that the
Romans, despite elements of Hellenism, remained fundamentally non-Greek. The same
underlying approach was also applied to the Carthaginians. As early as the fifth century,
Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general who fought at the Battle of Himera, was said to have
had a Syracusan mother and ties of xenia with the tyrant of Himera.180 By the end of the
century, a fragmentary decree from Athens records diplomatic exchange between that
city and Carthage.181 And over the following centuries, evidence for Carthaginian-Greek
relations of philia and xenia continued to abound.182 A Syracusan king was said to have
consulted the Delphic oracle via a Carthaginian envoy;183 while in Boeotia, a
Carthaginian, Nobas(?), son of Axioubas, was awarded proxeny;184 and on Delos and as
far away as Istrus on the Black Sea, Carthaginian traders made dedications to Greek
sanctuaries and were honored in Greek public inscriptions.185 The Syracusan-born orator,
Lysias, could even make parallels between Artaxerxes II, king of Persia, and Dionysus I,
tyrant of Syracuse, as enemies to those involved in the pan-Hellenic struggle against
barbarians. In this configuration, the Carthaginians, as the opponents to Dionysius, were
the ones being presented perhaps with added rhetorical flourish as the champions for
179

Strabo 6.1.3
Hdt. 7.165-166.
181 Meiggs and Lewis (1988: no. 92).
182 E.g. Polyb. 7.2.4 (on Syracusans Epicydes and Hippocrates, who had served under Hannibal and
adopted Carthage as their country, since their family had lived there after their grandfathers exile); Plut.
Dion 25.12-14 (on Synalus, the Carthaginian commander, having ties with Dion); and IG 14.279 (for a lateHellenistic ivory tessera hospitalis found at Lilybaeum, recording xenia between Imulch Inibalos Chloron,
son of Himilcho, and Lyson, son of Diognetes).
183 Diod. 19.2.3.
184 Rhodes and Osborne (2003: no. 43).
185 Delian archives: Carthaginian name(s) include Iomilkas; Istrus: early second century BCE polis decree
inscription cited by Rostovtzeff (1964/1998: 1462, n. 20), who references S. Lambrino, Dacia iii-iv (192732: pp. 400ff.).
180

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pan-Hellenism.186 In the widening and progressively interconnected spectrum and

negotiation of Mediterranean Hellenism, the city of Carthage and its citizens were
integral players.187
However, and at the same time, the picture of pre-Roman Carthage that survived
into later generations of the ancient world was not always positive, especially when
authors emphasized or dwelt upon stereotypes of the Carthaginian people as grasping,
brutal, or treacherous.188 These stereotypes not without their complexities or
ambiguities were in part related to earlier and contemporary views of Phoenicians, a
group that at times could be characterized as deceitful or greedy, using the regionalethnic (as well as personal name/idionym) Phoinix an ethnic that was extended to
include Carthaginians.189 Polybius, in his discussion of Romes politeia, thus refers to
Phoenicians meaning Carthaginians and Africans as naturally inferior to Italians in
both bodily strength and personal courage, and in subsequent passages, he reflects
stereotypes of Phoenicians as innately covetous and tyrannical, as well as

186

Lys. 33.5; cf. Diod. 14.109.

See also below, pp. 234ff., for discussion of the second-century BCE urban development of Carthage,
which was recognizably Hellenistic in its design.
188 For a discussion and a range of viewpoints on these subjects, as well as an itemization of later (esp.
Roman) stereotypes of Poeni see Dubuisson (1983); Thiel (1994/1954); Barcel (1994); Franko (1994);
Bunnens (1995); Devallet (1996); Krings (1998); Poinssote (2002); Prag (2006); Camous (2007); Syed
(2007: 366ff.); and Brizzi (2011).
189 Greek-speakers used this ascription as early as Homer. The Latin terms, Poenus, and by the end of the
second century BCE, Phoenice(s), evolved from the Greek, to be used as genus-descriptors, alternately
ethnic and/or political in nature. Poeni could stand in for Carthaginian (Carthaginienses), but not vice
versa, since the latter was used as a polis designation only. Over time, the term Poeni was used more and
more in its wider sense, to refer to peoples especially in the western Mediterranean (Phoenices usually
reserved for the east, thus giving rise to modern usage and ambiguity concerning Phoenician, Punic,
and Carthaginian) from areas once settled by Phoenicians and/or once under Carthaginian hegemony.
Used as an adverb, the word could reference the language being spoken.
187

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treacherous.190 By extension, negative stereotyping in Latin sources was usually

associated with use of the term Poeni.191 Examples alluding to Romans practicing
negative typecasting for this period include references to Carthaginian child sacrifice,192
to cruelty to the wounded or prisoners of war,193 and to treachery and bad faith.194
Such negative stereotypes were largely the product of two trends: first, the very
interconnectedness of Carthage with Greek interstate politics and its normative rhetoric,
especially in the west (Sicily and southern Italy); and second, the zeal with which
Romans, also part of this international society, came to adopt and encourage such
rhetoric, in its anti-Punic manifestations. The roots of this hostile tradition can be found
in very standard Greek discourse, anti-barbarian and pan-Hellenic in flavor, which from
time to time was deployed by tyrants of Sicilian poleis against Carthage. For example,
Dionysus I was himself present at Lysias speech against him (mentioned above), for he
was there on a campaign of self-promotion and anti-Carthaginian sloganeering at the
Olympic games.195 His, and later Timoleons, presentation, of a mission against Carthage

190

See Polyb. 6.52.10 (Phoenicians and Africans as inferior to Italians); 9.11.2 (covetousness and love of
dominion); and 15.4.3 (treachery). Note, however, that Polybius could at other junctures consider
Carthaginians civilized in their politeia see below, pp. 161-2.
191 Note, however, that Poenus could also carry neutral or positive connotations. Perhaps the best example
of the complex Roman attitudes toward Carthaginians can be seen in Plautus, especially in his treatment of
a Carthaginian comedic senex, Hanno, in Poenulus. References in the Poenulus (a title playing off the
diminutive ethnic?) to negative stereotypes include 104-113 (crafty, deceitful Poenus plane est), 975-81,
1008, 1121 (mocking Punic dress, implying its effeminacy and lax morality), 1103 (Punic licentiousness),
1022 (associating Punic merchants with assumed thievery). Elsewhere, however, Hanno is not without his
redeeming qualities see the discussion in Franko 1996.
192 Ennius frag. 221 V3.
193 Ennius frag. 286 V3; Cato, ORF4 fr. 197, 191, 193, 195b (describing Carthaginians as a people always
capable of every atrocity); and C. Sempronius Tuditanus, annalist and cos. 129 BCE, fr. 5 P2 = FRH 8, fr.
5), referencing tortures inflicted upon Atilius Regulus.
194 Ennius frag. 274-5 V3; Cato, ORF4 fr. 195b., cf. Orig. fr. 84 P2.
195 See Isoc. Ep. 2 (ad Dion.), esp. 7-8, in support of Dionysus cause. Cf. Prag (2010: 60-63).

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as divine alastr (or avenging spirit) for all of Sicily,196 continued the pan-Hellenic
tradition first established by Hieron and Gelon of Syracuse in the fifth century. It was
then that Greeks on both ends of the Mediterranean began to celebrate and crosslegitimize their military and political victories, creating parallels between Syracusan
successes against Carthage with those of the mainland Greeks against Persia, and viewing
both as rescuing Hellas, even all the Greeks, from oppressive slavery.197 At the
same time, accounts circulated that encouraged associations of Carthage with brutal
wartime atrocities.198
There is thus evidence from the classical period onward for the stereotyping of
Carthage as a barbaric other. At least by the fourth century BCE, these conceptions
showed signs of having developed more intense moralizing rhetoric. Theophrastus, late in
the century, was the first (among the surviving accounts) to refer to the purported practice
of Carthaginian human (child) sacrifice, in a passage relating to prohibitions placed by
Gelon.199 Evidence going back to the fifth century reveals a tendency in Greek tradition
to bring such accusations of human sacrifice at least on levels deemed barbaric

196

Cf. Aesch. 2.10; Schol. ad Aesch. 2.10 (= FGrH 566 F29); Val. Max. 1.7 ext. 6. For Timoleon, see
Rhodes and Osborne (2003: no. 74) inscription from Corinth, according to Plutarch, honoring him for
bringing back barbarian spoils, having set the Greeks dwelling in Sicily free from the Carthaginians;
Plut. Tim. 29.6, see also 39.5; Diod. 16.90.1. There is a possibility that Hannibal was viewed (and perhaps
encouraged being viewed) in this mold, as an avenging spirit among the communities of Italy, fulfilling the
curse of Elissa-Dido (a subject identified in the fragments of Ennius) cf. Brizzi (2011).
197 Pind. Pyth. 1.71-80 and Ephor. ap. Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 1.146b = FGrH 70 F186. Cf. Hdt. 7.158.1-3,
7.166.1; Arist. Poet. 1459a24-27, with a comment on the synchronism, concluding that although it existed,
it was of no deeper significance; Polyb. 12.26b on Timaeus = FGrH 566 F94; Diod. 11.23-24. Discussion
in Prag (2010: 55-59).
198 Cf. Diod. 13.57-58, 13.59-62, 13.85-86, 13.89-91, 14.46.2; Plut. Mor. 799d; Polyb. 3.100.4; Livy
21.57.13-14
199 Cf. Theophr. ap. Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 2.2.

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against foreign peoples and political enemies.200 Carthaginians were known to incinerate
the bodies of infants whether as immolated offerings of the living or as special funerary
rites for the dead remains somewhat debated201 but the stinging judgment of barbarism
on these grounds continued to be brought against Carthage on into the Roman period.202
In general, then, a theme of liberation from tyranny and barbarism was readily
available and was employed by all sides in what became a western-Hellenism tradition,
never fully separated from the east. For Carthage, the side that won out is evident in what
survives in the literary sources in particular, versions that Rome approved and/or
encouraged once the two states became wartime enemies and Rome gained an interest in
the allegiance of Greeks across southern Italy and Sicily (Syracuse in particular). The
Romans, although they could be and were at times subject themselves to accusations of
tyranny and barbarism,203 thus deployed an international rhetoric of liberation for

200

See Rives (1995); Bremmer (2007: 81, n. 2-3).

debate over whether the urn burials at Carthages tophet represent child sacrifices or natural
perinatal mortality and subsequent cremation rites continues, though the latter theory appears to have
gained support from recent study: cf. Schwartz et al. (2010), with evidence of small animal bones in some
cases included with those of one or more infants, fitting the range of perinatal mortality; compare Brown
(1991), contra Stager and Wolff (1984).
202 Later accounts regarding Carthage include Cleitarchus (third century BCE), Schol. ad Plat. Rep. 337a;
Diodoros (first century BCE), 20.14.4-7; Plutarch (first to second century CE) De superstit. 171; and
Tertullian (second century CE) Apol. 9.2-3. Note the hints of human sacrifice in Roman practice e.g. the
burying alive of two male-female pairs, one Gaul and one Greek, in the Forum Boarium post-Cannae: Livy
22.57; Plut. Quaes. 83. See discussions of Greco-Roman elements of human sacrifice in Rives (1995);
Futrell (1997, esp. 199ff.); and Bremmer (2007).
203 Cf. Champion (2000), esp. for discussion of Polybian speeches (and a critique of Timaeus) tinged by
references to Romans as barbaroi. Elements of apocalyptic-style literature also appear to have developed in
the second century (as well as later, during the Mithridatic wars) in the eastern Mediterranean. Possible
examples include P.Hamb. 129 the Hannibal papyrus which postured as a letter from Hannibal to
Athens, and alluded to the possibility of breaking the weak lance of Roman power; and the prophetic
warnings of Romes demise, attributed to Antisthenes the Peripatetic (dated by some scholars to the
Antiochene war) quoted by Phlegon of Tralles, Mirabilia III cf. Gauger (1980); Gruen (1984: 327-8);
Ferrary (1988: 238ff.).
201The

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Greeks (i.e. civilized communities), decades or more prior to their direct involvements
in the east.204
One of the most long-standing elements in this rhetoric of freedom was its
association with evicting Carthage, originally from Sicily, dating as far back as the
classical period. The same sort of language had more recently been deployed in the
discourse surrounding Pyrrhus intervention, which had revived an emphasis on east-west
parallels of Hellenisms mission against barbarism. Pyrrhus, like all Hellenistic monarchs
of any ambition, styled himself as a new Alexander (and by extension, a new Achilles),205
and likewise assumed the appropriate pan-Hellenic rhetoric, in the process renewing an
interest in the east-west parallels of Greek history, and inspiring a new generation of
Sicilian kingship (especially in the person of Hieron II).206 Note, however, the hints of
flexibility and broad applicability with which the political discourse of Hellenism became
applicable: Hieron II could just as well ally with Carthage, to fight against barbaric
Mamertines, as the Mamertines could be said (in Greek accounts) to seek out allies from
fellow barbarians, sending envoys of kinship diplomacy to both Rome and Carthage!207
Likewise, Sicilian tyrants in general could continue to be assigned barbaric reputations,
with an historical tradition of wartime atrocity as long as, if not bloodier than that of

204

Cf. Prag (2010: 67ff.), contra Gruen (1984: 133ff.).

See the discussion in Perret (1942), where the connection is also made to the relevance of the Trojan
legend in this pan-Hellenic mythic genealogy. See also below pp. 123ff.
206 See Prag (2010: 65-66), with references.
207 Cf. Polyb. 1. 9-10 (where the Romans are described as homophyloi of the Mamertines); Diod. 14.6,
22.13. On the Mamertines and kinship diplomacy, see Elwyn (1993); Battistoni (2010: 113-117).
205

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Carthage.208 And Romans could later reverse the allegiance of Greeks for Pyrrhus using
the same tactics, putting him in the role of tyrant rather than liberator.209
On a sliding scale of Greekness i.e. perceived civilization and depending on
the context and point-of-view, Romans, Carthaginians, Campanians, and/or inhabitants of
Sicily could be either included or excluded, and by the same token, include or exclude
others from Hellenism and the international Hellenistic community. That Romans
continued to be deemed barbaroi is evident from time to time in our sources: Plautus
jokes about it, and the topic is still mentioned into the first century BCE-CE.210 As we
will see, our main second century BCE witness, Polybius, presents Romans and
Carthaginians alike in this light.211 Polybius sees both, although non-Greek, even
barbarian by blood or origin, as having achieved a level of civilization and logismos that
was, in his opinion, in the process of, if not already, disintegrating into tarach kai
kinesis in the Greek world.212 In perhaps one of Polybius most memorable speeches, the
Aetolian ambassador Agelaos addresses the peace conference of Naupactus (217 BCE),
presaging a tragic beginning-of-the-end for old Greek pan-Hellenism, to be replaced by a
new version from the west:
It would be best of all if the Greeks never made war on each other, but regarded it
as the highest favor in the gift of the gods could they always speak with one heart
and voice, and marching arm in arm like men fording a river, repel barbarian

208

E.g. Dionysus I: Diod. 14.111.1-4. Agathocles: Diod. 19.6-8, 19.102, 19.107, 20.54-55; Polyb. 9.23.2.
Livy 31.29.7, 25.28.7, 31.32.8.
210 Plaut. Asin. 11, Capt. 492, 884, Miles 211, Most. 828. In Trin. 19, Plautus tells his audience that he has
translated Philemos Greek play into Latin, a.k.a. barbarian Philemo scripsit; Plautus vortit barbare.
For later references, see Champion (2000).
211 See below pp. 161-2.
212 On this subject, see below pp. 252ff.
209

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invaders and unite in preserving themselves and their cities213 For if once you
wait for these clouds that loom in the west to settle on Greece, I very much fear
lest we may all of us find these truces and wars and games at which we now play,
so rudely interrupted that we shall be fain to pray to the gods to give us still the
power of deciding our differences for ourselves.214
As a whole, the international discourse of the period thus reveals a shared pattern
of thinking, common to Romans, Greeks, Carthaginians, etc., that the term barbaros
indicated immorality and uncouth behavior first of all, and ethnicity or citizenship in
second place. Roman Hellenism (as with Roman barbarism) was thus possible, as
elsewhere in the Hellenistic world, on the basis of acquiring a level of civilization:
language, cultural styling, and/or shared cult. But to extend this Roman Hellenism all the
way, and to find an example of a Roman individual willingly considering or allowing
himself to be called hellenistes, seems to have been out of the question. What survive in
Latin are the terms Graeculus and semi-graecus, which are not used as labels of honor.215
And in both Greek and Latin, various phrases were preferred for associating Romans with
Greek acculturation rather than complete Hellenic identity - for example: Hellniks
paideias kai lognerasts;216 phnn te kai dialektn Hellni;217 and Graecis litteris
studuit / eruditus.218 These phrases, combined with other accounts of Hellenized Romans,

213

Note the strong allusion to the pan-Hellenic ideal of homonoia, first expanded as a political philosophy
and rhetoric by Alexander cf. Tarn (1948/2002).
214 Polyb. 5.104.1-2, 10-11.
215 Graeculus: e.g. Cic. Sest. 110, De Orat. 1.47, 1.102, 1.221, Pis. 70, Phil. 13.33, Red. Sen. 14; Juv. Sat.
3.78. Semi-graecus: Suet. De Gramm. 1 (used in reference to Livius Andronicus and Ennius).
216 Said of M. Cl. Marcellus, conqueror of Syracuse: Plut. Marc. 1.2.
217 Plut. Flam. 5.5.
218 The first said of C. Sulpicius Gallus: Cic. Brut. 78; the second, of the younger Tiberius Gracchus: Cic.
Brut. 104.

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have been gathered together by modern scholarship under the ancient term, philhelln.219
As a whole, the subject warrants review, in that it reveals the variety and uniqueness with
which Romans of the Hellenistic age (and the second century in particular) adaptively
responded to their international cultural milieu, and in the process, played a
transformative role in the IR politics of their time.

ROMAN PHILHELLENISM: POLITICS OF PRESTIGE

Roman interactions with Hellenism, political and cultural, reached a significant
level during the third and second centuries BCE, especially among leading aristocrats,
whose position at home became increasingly linked to events on a wider international
stage.220 Modern scholarship, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries, resurrected
an ancient Greek term, philhelln, to craft an overarching concept for understanding and
questioning these interactions namely, philhellenism. In doing so, the concept was
also imbued with modern nationalistic and imperializing sentiments.221 For the purposes
of the current study, however, none of these associations are intended. Instead,
philhellenism is retained as a subject simply as a term for broadly categorizing the
intersections, conflicting and concordant, of individual acculturation(s) and multiple
political agendas and/or debates occurring in Rome and across the Hellenistic world. It
encapsulates what Zagdoun and Michels have both recognized as a phenomenon
particular to the age, of an international politics of prestige (Prestigepolitik) that is,

219

Cf. Hdt. 2.178.1; Plat. Rep. 5.470e; App. Mac. 11. Romans as philhellnes: Cic. Att. 1.15.
On the latter, see Petrocheilos (1974); and Gruen (1984: Ch. 7).
221 See, for example, Marchand (2003); Miliori (2009).
220

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an implied discourse on the subject of international Hellenism.222 Such a normative

framework in turn became an essential means of IR communication and diplomacy, and
leading Romans were as well informed and engaged as any other, adjusting themselves
and even the framework itself in their choices of action.
An anecdote from the early third century BCE helps characterize the process and
its multiple layers. In 282-1, L. Postumius Megellus supposedly attempted to address a
Tarentine assembly using Greek, in order to convey the Roman Senates demands for
reparations from that state. According to surviving accounts, his faulty and stumbling
Greek led to a great amount of jeering and rudeness among the crowd, and even to
alleged physical insults some accounts have one individual in particular actually
relieving himself on Megellus. In the end, the incident reputedly brought Rome and
Tarentum closer to a state of war, which broke out within another year.223 What from the
outside may at first seem like an amusing tale, recounting the somewhat absurd
breakdown of relations and dramatic posturing of two states already at odds with each
other, beyond the surface reveals an intricate set of interactions full of consequential
meaning. Megellus, a three-times former consul (305, 294, and 291 BCE),224 had been
sent to Tarentum in the following context:225 the Tarentines, purportedly at the instigation
of a demagogue of obscene lifestyle, Philocharis, had decried Romes growing
presence and invited aid for cities in the Gulf of Tarentum. They had pointed to an old
222

Cf. Zagdoun (1992); Michels (2008).

Cf. Polyb. 1.6.5; Dion. Hal. 19.4.2-5.5; App. Samn. 7.3-6; Livy Per. 12a; Val. Max. 2.2.5. See Barnes
(2005).
224 Cf. MRR p. 189.
225 Fullest surviving account, referenced here, is App. Samn. 7.2ff.
223

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treaty agreement, in which the Romans had allegedly agreed to not sail beyond the
Lacinium promontory. In their indignation, the Tarentines had supposedly sunk four
Roman consular ships and seized another with its entire crew. In the meantime, they had
condemned the nearby city of Thurii of anti-Greek behavior, since the Thurians had
accepted a Roman garrison by treaty-agreement. The Tarentines then had taken Thurii by
force, ousted the Roman garrison, and sacked the city.
Note the mix of elements in this first part of the dispute, equal parts cultural
rhetoric and political action. The Romans (or at least the pro-Roman flavorings in the
account) painted the Tarentines in a less-than-civilized light. The Tarentines were said to
have been led astray by an immoral mob-leader, and to have taken forceful, even
unwarranted action, in confronting a treaty agreement between Thurii and Rome.
Tarentine actions had thus been de-legitimized, on multiple levels. The Tarentines, on the
other hand, showed themselves to feel threatened, even wronged by the new treaty
alignment, which they condemned as non-Greek and in violation of a pre-existing
agreement they possessed with Rome. In their turn, they asserted the legality and moral
justice for their actions, and responded with their own de-legitimization of the position of
Rome and Thurii.
Then came the envoy from Rome. Megellus, a senator of prominent standing,
brought a decree from the Senate in Roman diplomatic terms, he initiated the process of
res repetere.226 The demands included the following: if the Tarentines wished to remain
friends of the Romans, they must surrender the Roman captives, return Thurian exiles to
226

See also below, pp. 268, 278ff.

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their homes, restore or pay the value of property seized or destroyed at Thurii, and hand
over those Tarentines responsible for the recent criminal behavior (paranomia). The
Tarentines were thus placed in an international legal bind they had been formally
condemned, and any circumvention of Romes demands would bring iusta causa for war
(as far as Romans were concerned).227
That Megellus, however, deployed this standard Roman practice (though similar
enough to Hellenistic modes, of airing international grievances to establish legal recourse
for war), but in Greek, is interesting. Other examples show that Roman standard practice
was to read senatus consulta in Latin and then have them translated, so as to maintain the
auctoritas of the Senate. Whether or not this practice evolved out of Megellus
embarrassment cannot be determined. But Megellus use of Greek not only reveals at
least a rudimentary education in the language, but more importantly, Megellus opted to
use Greek in order to deflate Tarentine accusations against Rome, and to redirect
Tarentine discourse aimed at all prospective allies for Rome in the area. These Tarentine
accusations and rhetoric created two nodes for alignment: (1) with Tarentum as panHellenic champion; or (2) with Rome as a non-Greek, tyrant enemy. For the cities of the
Gulf, the rhetoric represented a clear threat align with Rome and become susceptible to
the same treatment as Thurii. Megellus attempts were thus aimed at directly reversing
this rhetoric, in order to present the Tarentines as the barbarous, tyrannical, and
essentially non-Greek party.

227

For more on this subject, see below pp. 272ff.

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The Tarentines, however, were even more insulted by Megellus move, for not
only was the prominent Roman attempting to claim a pan-Hellenic agenda in the region
of their predominance, but he had also listed the unilateral decisions that condemned
Tarentum and gave justified grounds for war. The acceptance of such terms was
tantamount to admitting the wrongfulness of Tarentums earlier deeds, founded as they
had been on pan-Hellenic rhetoric, and to submitting to Rome as the just party. The
Tarentines seethed at the thought, and thus rejected Megellus and his message in a
manner that ridiculed and shamed what they saw as hubristic, even unseemly diplomacy.
For Megellus Greek not only conveyed a strong message, but it very well may have
contained errors, for we know that leading Romans continued to possess varying levels of
bilingualism throughout Roman history, and even on occasion would purposefully
introduce awkward idioms into their Greek as a cultural affectation.228 The end-result was
a disaster, both intended and not, as the subsequent war between Rome and Tarentum
was as much a crisis created and manipulated by Hellenistic-style communication as it
was of interest on both interstate cultural and geopolitical levels.
Therefore, it only makes sense that leading Romans evolved their own voices in
Hellenistic international discourse,229 and developed experience in the modes and
manipulations of contemporary diplomacy. For these skills were the very necessary
precondition for any individual, and/or the state he represented, to garner any sort of
success in an increasingly globalized environment. Only through such means could an
228

I.e. in order to highlight their Roman identity and use of Greek as a non-native language. On the range
of Roman proficiency in Greek, see Boyanc (1956); and Adams (2003), with examples.
229 Early compositions, in Greek, of annals of Roman history e.g. Fabius Pictor, L. Cincius Alimentus,
and a generation or so later, C. Acilius and A. Postumius Albinus can be seen in this vein.

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individual and/or state gather and maintain alliances and supportive networks, and
establish broader-based legitimacies abroad, both in times of peace and of war. It is for
this reason that the list of Roman philhellenes grows over the third and into the second
century BCE (and beyond). Men such as Aemilius Paullus, his son Scipio Aemilianus,
and Tiberius Gracchus the elder no longer made the gaffes (real or simulated) in their use
of Greek that had brought insult upon Megellus, and they most certainly knew how to
continue and build upon Megellus early interaction with Hellenistic international
norms.230

ROMAN PHILHELLENISM: FLAMININUS

A key example, often called forward as one of quintessential philhellenism, is T.
Quinctius Flamininus (cos. 198 BCE), in his documented fluency in Greek,231 especially
when it comes to his diplomatic correspondence with Chyretiai and his famed Isthmian
proclamation. In the former instance, an inscription records the letter written by

230

Aemilius Paullus: Livy 45.8.1-7; cf. Val. Max. 5.1.8 (for his fluency in Greek, in addressing Perseus);
Livy 45.32.8-11 (on organizing Greek games better than any Greek! at Amphipolis); see also Plut. Aem.
Paull. 6.4-5; Cic. Rep. 1.36 (on procuring an early education in Greek language and culture for his
sons). Scipio Aemilianus: Polyb. 31.23.3-31.25.1, also noting, at 31.24.6ff., that teachers of Greek learning
flocked to Rome in the era after Pydna; also on Scipio cf. Vell. Pat. 1.13.3. Tiberius Gracchus: Cic.
Brutus 79 (for his refined speech to the Rhodians in the 160s). Other examples include P. Crassus
Mucianus (cos. 131 BCE), familiar with five dialects of Greek, and able to address people in Asia Minor in
all five Quint. Inst. Orat. 11.2.50; Val. Max. 8.7.6; Q. Catulus Cic. De Orat. 2.28; L. Crassus Cic. De
Orat. 2.2; M. Aemilius Lepidus Porcina, in whose speeches Cicero (Brut. 95ff.) apparently found
characteristics of Greek rhetoric; and A. Postumius (cos. 151 BCE), enthusiastic student of Greek language
and culture perhaps exceedingly and grandiloquently so, to judge by Cato the Elders and Polybius
mocking of him (cf. Polyb. 39.1)!
231 Cf. Plut. Flam. 5.5, that Flamininus was a veritable Greek in sound and dialect.; also Polyb. 18.1,
18.4-9, 18.36-37; Plut. Flam. 6.1-3.

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Flamininus and published by the community of Chyretiai.232 In it, Flamininus choice of

words and sentence structure reveal a deft command of contemporary koin idiom,
arranged carefully in balanced phrases, and even containing the occasional regal stylistic
flourishes.233 Flamininus begins with an abbreviated form of a typical diplomatic opener,
referencing and establishing a solid record of interstate goodwill, and adjusting the royal
we to denote himself and the Roman people:
Just as in all other matters we have made clear the favorable policy (proairesin)
both I and the Roman demos have toward you in general (l. 2-4)
Now compare the words of Antiochus III, in approving pan-Hellenic games at Magnesia
on the Maeander (ca. 205 BCE):
Since we [=I] have had from the beginning the kindliest feeling for your people,
because of the goodwill that you have shown on all occasions to us and to our
dealings, and since we are anxious to make clear our favorable policy
(proairesin)234
And in appointing a chief-priest at Daphne (189 BCE):
since hehas zealously given many great demonstrations of his policy (aireses)
toward us and our state, and he has spared neither his life nor his property in our
interest235
Also Eumenes II, in accepting personal honors from the Ionian League (167-6 BCE):
determining to be zealous and ambitious in what concerned the League,
consistent with my fathers favorable policy (proairesei), I had made clear on
many occasions my attitude236

232

Letter to Chyretiai (197-4 BCE): Sherk (1984: no. 4)= Syll.3 593= RDGE 33= B-D2 36; cf. Livy 31.41.5,
34.48.2.
233 See Armstrong and Walsh (1986), who argue that Flamininus played a key role in the composition of
the letter and the subsequent Isthmian Proclamation.
234 RC 31.16-21.
235 RC 44.1-5.

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Flamininus, in this valuable primary document, thus reveals a genuine awareness

and subtlety with not only the Greek language, but also with current Hellenistic
diplomatic rhetoric. That he possessed such abilities should not be a surprise, or even be
viewed as fundamentally groundbreaking.237 As we have discussed above, Romans had
long been exposed to and had partaken in the international language of Hellenism, and
the political power to be achieved in claiming pan-Hellenic missions of freedom from
barbarism and tyranny.238 As a result, we see Flamininus engaging with Hellenistic-style
diplomatic maneuverings. He carefully selected a less technical term, enkrisen (l. 17),
to refer to his personally recorded judgments regarding Chyretiaean property holdings.
By not calling such documents formal rulings or decrees in the Greek terminology,
Flamininus astutely avoided embarrassing the tagoi he had just seen appointed, and left
the community to its local autonomy. At the same time, he aimed to prevent future
undermining of his settlement by local officials, by making it widely known that written
documents were available for reference. It was a masterful move, and one showing
familiarity with the contemporary IR system. In rhetorical conception, it parallels what
we know of the Isthmian proclamation from historical accounts.239 Both diplomatic texts
opened by asserting Romes strong record of honorable action and ended with flourished
236

RC 52.14-17. See also RC 36.25-27 (Antiochus III, 204 BCE) and 32.15-20 (Antiochus, son of
Antiochus III). Compare with similar language in RC 14.11-14 (Ptolemy II, ca. 262-1 BCE), 22.14-17
(Seleucus II, ca. 246 BCE), 45.4-7 (Seleucus IV, 186 BCE).
237 Compare Walsh (1996), attributing to Flamininus discovery of the use (and usefulness) of a discourse
of Greek eleutheria.
238 E.g. earlier Roman claims of Greek liberation from Illyrian piracy, at the Isthmian games of 228 BCE
Polyb. 2.12.4-8.
239 Isthmian proclamation (196 BCE): Polyb. 18.46.1-15; Liv. 33.32.1-33.8; Val.Max. 4.8.5; Plut. Phil.
15.2, Flam. 10.3-12.1, Mor. 197B; App. Mac. 9.4.

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gestures of goodwill, returning possessions gained by Rome as the fruits of war.240 At the
same time, both directed a diplomatic slap at the Aetolians: e.g., not even in such
matters as this can persons find any opportunity to slander us who are themselves not
accustomed to act by the highest standards of behavior241
This last was in direct response to and concern over overcoming diplomatic
rhetoric circulating in Greek world and most prominently espoused by the Aetolians, who
at the time claimed that Romans had merely replaced Macedonians as tyrants of
Greece.242 Such rhetoric and the responses to it had significant political impact, and were
directly aligned with the international language of Hellenism that is, the designation of
allies as fellow Greeks, sharing favorable policies and goodwill toward other Greek
states, and enemies as non-Greeks, barbaric and oppressive in their behavior. For this
reason, Polybius Aetolian, Agelaos, was the one to voice the ominous warnings of
240

Debate regarding the Isthmian proclamation, and Roman interactions with the contemporary Greek
conceptions of eleutheria and autonomia, has a long history and it continues apace see most recently
Dmitriev (2011). Dmitriev contributes a thought-provoking analysis of the longer-term chronological
developments in these conceptions, from their application to specific cases in the classical era to more
general guarantees in the Diadochic period, before their re-application, in broad, pan-Hellenic fashion, by
great powers seeking to win over/dominate poleis/Leagues. In this sense, Flamininus represents an example
par excellance of Romans engaging with contemporary forms of international political legitimacy.
However and this is not directly addressed in this manner by Dmitriev the Romans possessed their own
definitions of libertas, ones that centered upon access to political participation, defined by specific legal
and ethical mores. Freedom for Romans was not some universal, natural right it was rather something
granted as an honor or reward, or was earned and maintained through proper behavior see Wallace
(2009). It is for this reason that Berlin (1958) distinguished between positive and negative iterations of
Roman announcements of Greek freedom: either granting rights to self-rulership or simply removing an
enemy threat to such rulership both involving alternately a Roman exit strategy or a mode for Roman
control.
241 Letter to Chyretiai, l. 6-8. Compare Livy 34.49.3-7, the Latin text actually naming the Aetolians and
stating, ut omnes scirent utrum Romanis an Aetolis mentiri mos esset, qui male commissam libertatem
populo Romano sermonibus distulerint et mutatos pro Macedonibus Romanos dominos. Sed illis nec quid
dicerent nec quid facerent umquam pensi fuisse.
242 See also accusations alleged for the same time, that Romans were tyrants over Sicily and southern Italy:
Livy 31.29 (in the words of a Macedonian speaker); Polyb. 24.13.4 (in the words of Achaian statesman,
Philopoemen). Cf. Champion (2000: 434-5, n. 34).

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barbarian invasion, enacted by either Carthage or Rome (the eventual victor).243 Seven
years later, an Acarnanian statesman, speaking on behalf of the Macedonians, was said to
have denounced the Aetolians, turning the same rhetoric against them, condemning them
and scolding the Spartans for their anti-Greek behavior, in either making or even
considering an alliance with the Roman barbarian.244 Not long after (in 207 BCE),
another Greek embassy, with representatives from Egypt, Chios, Mytilene, and possibly
also Rhodes, accompanied by King Amynander of Athamania, was described as having
made further attempts to dissuade the Aetolians from their alliance with Rome. Polybius
had an ambassador (possibly belonging to this embassy) speak in the following terms.
The prevailing assumptions in his rhetoric underlie the political weight of the Hellenistic
discourse of the day:
You [Aetolians] are fighting for the enslavement and ruin of Greece you have
made a treaty by which you have given up to the barbarians [the Romans] the rest
of the Greeks to be exposed to atrocious outrage and violence.245
The Romans were well aware of the power in making such statements and
gathering alignments and coalitions around them. They themselves deployed and/or
encouraged the deployment of statements that responded in kind, supporting the case first
for Macedonian, followed by Aetolian, identity as non-Greek, tyrannical, and even
barbarian.246 Flamininus in his letter and proclamation thus utilized this combination of

243

Cf. Polyb. 5.104.

Polyb. 9.37-39, esp. 37.5-6.
245 Polyb. 11.5.1-2, 6-8. Cf. Walbank (1967: 274-275); Eckstein (2002a); Champion (2004); and Polyb.
11.4.1-6.10. Compare a Macedonian speech, ca. 199 BCE, in the text of Livy (31.29.12-16).
246 Cf. Polyb. 18.5.7-9, with Philips response to requests that he evacuate Greece he asserts that Aetolia
is not part of Greece! See also a speech attributed to an anti-Philip Athenian ambassador, actually
responding to accusations that the Romans were barbaroi: Livy 31.30.4. Compare Roman rhetoric against
244

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political and cultural dialogue, bringing together the advances to be had in collecting
allies and friends abroad, achieving conditions favorable for Rome, and furthering his
own career, with real ambitions of achieving a level of sophistication and recognition
appropriate for a man of international, Hellenistic standing.

NEGOTIATING PHILHELLENIC RELATIONS

However, despite the deep awareness and informed contact with which Romans
and Greeks interacted, the two sides did not necessarily achieve (or at all times desire)
perfect communication or always see eye-to-eye. As in the example of Megellus and the
Tarentines, as often as leading Romans engaged fully with contemporary international
language, there also existed elements of misinterpretation, either intended or simply
accidental. In the case of Flamininus, his announcement of freedom for the Greeks was
eagerly celebrated all across the mainland with the full range of typical Hellenistic
honors, which lauded him as savior and benefactor, and commemorated his excellence
and beneficence with statues and even games.247 These honors, however, stayed abroad
such tributes, which could be applied to the divine, not to mention kings, would not
have found a favorable welcome back in Rome. In other ways, the philhellenism of

Perseus, preserved in an epigraphic letter to the Delphic Amphictyony, Sherk (1984: no. 19) =Syll.3 643
=I.Delphes 4.75 =RDGE 40B =B-D2 44: it was clearly not right at all for him to participate either in the
pan-Hellenic sacrifices or games or festal assemblies, since he invited in the barbarians from across the
Danube, who for no worthy reason for the enslavement of all Greece had even formerly been aroused In
addition, he came to such a height of madness that, considering it of great importance, contrary to the
oaths, to do away with the freedom given to you through our commandershe continued to do nothing
except what is base
247 Cf. Plut. Flam. 16-17; and the selection of inscriptions in Sherk (1984: no. 6): examples from Chalcis
(IG XII 9.931), Corinth (SEG XXII 214), Gytheion (Syll.3 592), Eretria (IG XII 9.233), Delphi (Syll.3 616),
Scotussa in Thessaly (SEG XXIII 412), and Argos (SEG XXII 266 l.13-14). See also Gruen (1984: 167).

95

leading Romans was a product of its times, and perhaps not quite as conflicted as modern
scholarship has sometimes found it.248 Romans were in the process of positioning their
state as a legitimate Hellenistic power, using pan-Hellenic concepts to put common
enemies on par with barbarians, to punish unjust action with swift, even brutal response,
to arbitrate disputes, rewrite constitutions, and replace monumental statues with their own
image (e.g. Paullus at Delphi).249 Roman generals should not be expected to be any more
pro-Greek (in the modern sense), or soft on Greeks than Philip V or the Seleucids.
Instead, Hellenism was part and parcel of a growing international normative framework,
in which Romans sought after and negotiated key indicators of civilized cultural
refinement and political legitimacy, to the best advantage for their allies and opponents at
home and abroad.250
But over the subsequent decades, leading Romans and the Roman state in general
did not in all ways act like a typical Hellenistic hegemon. For example, the Roman
Senate repeatedly deferred or delayed judgment when asked to weigh in on interstate
disputes, and showed no interest in developing deep commitments to micromanaging the
regions that were brought under the shadow of its arch.251 Declarations of freedom and
autonomy inferred a new form of hegemony, one that was in Roman eyes at least less
hands-on for day-to-day business but still keeping the area aligned with Rome and her
248

See discussion and conclusions in Gruen (1984: 263ff.).

Cf. Polyb. 30.10.2; Livy 45.27.7; Plut. Aem. Paull. 28.2.
250 Such negotiations explain the well-known examples of hellenophobia (e.g. Cato) as maneuvers within
Romes internal politics, intended to counter the growing power of those with international connections and
success abroad.
251 Cf. Gruen (1984, esp. pp. 129ff., 490ff.); Eckstein (2008: Ch. 9); and discussions below in chapters 5
and 6 (North Africa and the Achaian League in particular as different diplomatic examples of this same
general tendency).
249

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broader geopolitics. This meant that Rome stepped back from governing or administering
what were considered the minutiae and even quagmires of non-Roman politics. But
whereas some Greek states may have misinterpreted, on the basis of prior Hellenistic
experience, such disinterest as nonchalance, weakness, or even incompetence, Rome
could suddenly awaken and take quite decisive action, as she did in 149-146 BCE. And
such resolute reactions took place whenever, in Roman eyes, problems in one region
interconnected with those of another, or posed a threat, even a minor one, in the context
of an ongoing or looming conflict elsewhere.
Therefore, in the give-and-take between international groups during the third and
second centuries, certain norms fell out of place, while others were accepted, and still
others modified as powers and cultures adjusted and re-adjusted to each other and their
changing international environment. Such multiple patterns of interaction can be seen, for
example, in the ways in which Greeks and Romans negotiated the practice of granting
Hellenistic-style honors, as perhaps most prominently begun with Flamininus in the 190s.
On this, the individual level, Roman generals and magistrates continued to receive grants
of proxenia, dedications of thanks, statues and other privileges, and in return made their
own dedications and offerings at Greek, especially pan-Hellenic, sanctuaries.252 Such

252

Examples abound, on both sides the following is a cross-section of well-known examples from the
period of interest: Honors for Romans: cf. IG IX 12 17, l. 51 (an early example, ca. 260 BCE Aetolian
proxeny list including the name of L. L. f. Olcaius); IG XI. 4,712 (crown offered by Delos to Scipio
Africanus); Syll.3 617, IC II 3, 5, IC ii 23, 13 (proxeny decrees for Scipios); Syll.3 607-608 (equestrian
statue and privileges from Delphians to M. Acilius Glabrio, ca. 191 BCE); ArchEph (1917) 1-7 = ISE, no.
95 (honors from Chyretiae, in thanks for services during the Aetolian War, to Sex. Orfidienus); ArchEph
(1910) 344-349 (honors from Larisa, for a Quintus son of Titus); Gonnoi, II. no. 42 (decree of Gonnoi for
C. Flavius Apollonius and C. Flavius Bucco); Syll.3 649 (statue dedicated by the Achaian League at
Olympia for Q. Marcius Philippus, ca. 169 BCE); IG II2 907, l. 3-10 (Athenian proxeny for the same
Philippus). See also honors for Flamininus, above. Dedications by Romans: cf. Livy 28.45.12 (P. Scipio

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exchanged honors were largely reflective of the widely prevalent behaviors practiced by
and seen in response to the Hellenistic kings.253 However, the Roman individuals
themselves were not monarchs and they would have had no desire to make such direct
associations (especially back home). As such, these dedications and offerings functioned
as extensions of an increasingly visible phenomenon of self-aggrandizement among
Hellenistic elites (magistrates, priests, diplomats, etc.) and their families.254 Leading
Romans were thus in the process of pulling together a number of international practices,
acting as internationally prominent figures, both high-ranking aristocrats and yet also
representatives of a hegemonic state power.
It is for these reasons that, beyond honoring individual Romans, Greeks in the
east had a number of misfires in their attempts to find the best way(s) of honoring the
Roman state. Whereas a king could be honored both as an individual and as the
embodiment of the state, other models had to be found and/or adopted for Rome, the
Roman Senate, and its multitude of leading aristocrats. We see this in the well-known

Africanus sending Carthaginian spoils from Spain to Delphi, ca. 206/5 BCE); SEG I 144, I.Dlos 427. l. 1213, 428. L.13-14, 439A. l. 81, 442B. l. 85-86, l. 90-91, and l. 102, 1429A. col. I. l. 23, l. 26-28, 1429A. col.
II. l. 16, 1441A. l. 106, 1443 l. 94, 1450A l. 67-68, l. 90, 1458. l. 14-15 (dedications by Scipio brothers at
Delphi and Delos); I.Dlos 442B, l. 86, 1429A, col. I, l. 20, 1450A, l. 66 (A. Atilius Serranus, at Delos);
439A, l. 78 and 80, 1429A, col. I, l. 20 and 30 (C. Livius Salinator, at Delos); 442B, l. 104 (L. Aemilius
Regillus, at Delos); 442B, l. 100, 1429A, col. I, l. 24-25, 1441A, l. 107, 1450A, l. 67 (Cn. Manlius Vulso,
at Delos); 442B, l. 103, 1429A col. I, l. 19, 1441A, l. 104, 1443, l. 92, 1450A, l. 66, 1458, l. 11 (Q. Fabius
Labeo, at Delos); 1429A, l. 31-32, 1450A, l. 69 (Q. Marcius Philippus, at Delos); cf. IC II 3,5, in which
Regillus may have received proxeny honors alongside Scipio, if the restoration of the text is correct. For
Romans named in honorific decrees at Delphi during this period, see the list in Daux, Delphes, 587-589.
253 This is a well-known phenomenon see, for example, Murray (1971); Bringmann (1993); Gruen
(1996); Bilde, ed. (1996); Ma (1999; 2005); Strootman (2011).
254 See Quass (1993); Savalli-Lestrade (1996; 2003), with extensive citations. Cf. also Dmitriev (2005);
Rowlandson (2007)

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example of King Prusias II of Bithynia. As Polybius tells it,255 when Roman legates had
visited the king in his court, Prusias had entered with his hair shorn and dressed in the
garb of a Roman freedman, even referring to himself as a libertus. Later, upon personally
addressing the Roman Senate, he had prostrated himself on the floor, calling upon the
patres as savior gods (theoi stres). Polybius expressed disgust at Prusias behavior,
which Polybius characterized as disgraceful, unmanly, and servile. There is a small
chance that Polybius attitude could reflect a Greco-centric cultural attitude against a king
of Bithynia i.e., employ rhetoric denouncing Prusias as less-than-Greek. However, upon
further inspection, Polybius reveals on other occasions a strong disapproval for similar
behavior, among his mainland Greek contemporaries, including his own father, Lycortas,
and the idol of his youth, Philopoemen.256 As Polybius actually explains, he felt extreme
distaste for what he perceived to be a worrying trend of his time namely, an excessive
and shameful obsequiousness on the part of Hellenistic leadership towards the
Romans.257 In Polybius opinion, such behavior by the weaker party would only
encourage tyrannical behavior in the stronger (i.e. Rome), whereas dignity would
encourage restraint. Polybius seems to have been responding to what other evidence
confirms: that there was a great outpouring and wide variety of overtures to Rome,
especially in the wake of each of Romes decisive victories against Hellenistic powers in
the east (be it against Macedon or the Seleucids).

255

Polyb. 30.18.
Polyb. 24.8.3-5 (Lycortas); 24.13.3-4 (Philopoemen).
257 Polyb. 24.10.11-13.
256

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Whether or not the Romans felt as Polybius did about such flattery is only hinted
at by some of the cultural generalizations Roman authors continued to make against a
Greek stereotype over the years (see below). At the same time, however, a number of the
subservient gestures did achieve their aim, gaining positive judgment and marginal, if not
full concessions from Rome. Romans may have jeered as the servile behavior, but
accepted it nonetheless, albeit with particular forms preferred. Prusias, for example, got
the leniency he wanted. His wishes may have aligned with Romes wider goals, but his
behavior could have backfired completely. Polybius thought the success was due to
Roman pity, and this may have been the hegemonic standard line of clement rulership.
Nevertheless, the Romans did subsequently put a moratorium on senatorial visits from
foreign kings. They did not want to be put in the bind, or at least the appearance of one,
of having to approve on the basis of servile and flattering behavior alone.
What was also at stake, on a deeper level, and the problem faced by King Prusias,
was how a king, or any other party, was supposed to make and nuance the diplomatic
gestures of compliance, goodwill, and/or petition. In the case of Prusias, a king responded
to what he had heard of Roman rhetoric abroad i.e. proclamations of and thankofferings for freedom for all the Greeks. He had then combined this with what he had
learned about Roman cultural practice i.e. the manumission process for Roman slaves.
He had ended by bringing the two together and adding his own take on current
Hellenistic diplomatic language, which employed the heavily politicized practices of
ruler cult and euergetism hence theoi stres. It is important that, although Prusias was
diplomatically successful and got what he wanted from Rome, neither the phrase, theoi
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stres, nor the play-acting as libertus quite caught on. Roman senators would have
balked at being called gods, and it was quite socially improper across the Mediterranean
for a king to make himself out to be an ex-slave.

THE EAST & PHILO-ROMANISM: PAN-HELLENISM & KINSHIP DIPLOMACY

Other, more discreet versions of Hellenistic international norms did, however,
take root. These comprised two major forms: kinship diplomacy, which involved ties
based on mythographic syngeneia and oikeiots, and secondly, various manifestations of
ruler-cult. Beginning with kinship diplomacy, the Trojan legend in particular evolved as a
central, and centralizing, form deployed on all sides of the Mediterranean. In the east, the
cities of Asia Minor and the Troad were especially eager to document their use of this
internationally fielded mechanism on stone. Their prominent publication of envoys
making petitions to Rome on the basis of, or simply seeking after combinations of philia,
syngeneia, and/or oikeiots testify to the broad-based value and status that even a
unilateral declaration of alignment could bring, economically, territorially, socially,
and/or militarily. These pronouncements tended to become more frequent in the years
surrounding Romes victories over Macedon and Antiochus, and reflect the use of
kinship diplomacy to engage with the power of Rome, to communicate intentions and
pave a way for future relationships, in defection to or congratulation of the victor.
Even if certain claims to kinship went ignored we have no definitive evidence in
some cases that Rome gave immediate reply, either in the positive or the negative the
fact that cities chose to document these diplomatic missions is itself telling. Not only
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does such behavior fit with pre-existing patterns of the third century BCE, thereby fitting
Rome into regional politics via international norms, but it also reflects the significance of
publicly announced interstate connections. Be they relations of friendship or ancient
genealogical ties, whether between shared legendary bloodlines (syngeneia) or more
distant relations by marriage or xenia (oikeiots), these all created foundations of implied
obligation, bonded to the religious/sacred.258 In the case of philia, the relationship, at
least initially, involved a mutual agreement to amicable alignment, accompanied in
important instances by written clauses and the understanding that each party would
provide aid to the other when requested, as possible.259 Friendship could fade that is, go
un-renewed (and this could be dangerous for the lesser power) but the blatant default on
this or any other diplomatic alignment was the grounds for vengeful retribution, wrought
by newly collected earthly enemies, as well as by gods who would guarantee their
victory.
For these reasons, a document published on stone in a city sanctuary or public
place, testifying to the evidence for friendly links with another state especially one of
rising power would accomplish a number of goals. It could intimidate local rivals,
enhance prestige and rally surrounding communities, stand as possible leverage against
powers interested in moving into the region, and influence a new power to be more
258

On the distinctions between philia, syngeneia, and oikeiots, see discussions in Lvy (1995); Will
(1995); Curty (1995: 215ff.; 2005: passim); Battistoni (2010: Ch. 3).
259 Gruen (1984: 54ff.) sees these agreements as mainly informal however, inscriptional evidence
testifies to more hierarchically organized and formalized aspects of interstate philia. On such obligations in
relation to/comparison with symmachic agreements see Lvy (1995). See also the discussion in Battistoni
(2009: 91ff.), who cites the example of an inscription from Alabanda (= BCH 10 (1886) p. 299-306), which
documented three embassies, two to Rome and one to a king, the first seeking a symmachia with Rome, but
only assured philian kai oikeiotta (ll. 11-13, 15).

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lenient in their punishments and/or adjudications. Any new power in turn would have
been concerned to utilize such diplomatic means to gain greater regional and international
acceptance. Such kinship, friendship, and ultimately pan-Hellenic based norms of
interstate interaction shaped Roman decision-making and played a role in the long-term
success of Roman actions. And at the same time, the cities of Asia Minor and the Troad
were not alone in participating in the international discourse. In many ways, they simply
strengthened an already burgeoning set of myths that had earlier found success in Sicily,
the west, and with Rome, and which remained valid in the political ideologies of the
eastern kingdoms (e.g. Pergamon see below).260
Three relevant examples from the eastern Mediterranean are especially well
documented. The first is a decree from Delos, a city that most likely based its kinship
with Rome on the foundation myths of Odysseus and/or the Achaians. The decree dates
to the early decades of the second century BCE, and records an embassy sent to Rome to
renew oikeiots kai philia between the two states, probably as a means for maintaining
Delos asylia status, as a free commercial port and a pan-Hellenic sanctuary.261 The
second is an interesting reference made by Polybius, who stands out for his somewhat

260

Examples from Sicily and the west, in relation to Rome, include the Mamertines in 264 BCE, the
Segestans from the mid-third century onward, (possibly) Saguntum in 220 BCE, the Capuans in 211 BCE,
Centuripe in Sicily, via syngeneia with Lanuvium, at some point during the second century see
discussions and citations in Elwyn (1993); Battistoni (2010). There is also some evidence that these myths
came to apply on the personal/individual level as well as the international e.g. the pinax of Fabius Pictor,
cf. Battistoni (2010: 161-164). Two other inscriptions (though of unclear date) illustrate this practice: (1) an
epitaph from Rome, of a wine merchant invoking his Trojan birthplace as matching that of Rome = Zarker
(1958: no. 59); and (2) a votive to Zeus Litaios in Asia Minor (Iznik-Nicaea) by a banker with the
interesting name of Gaius Hostilius Ascanius = BCH 24 (1900), p. 389. Cf. Battistoni (2010: 109-111).
261 IG xi. 4.756; on the date and significance of the inscription, see Elwyn (1993: 274), with citations; also
Erskine (1997a); Battistoni (2010: 94-96). On the myths of Odysseus as Roman founder, see Phillips
(1953).

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dismissive attitude toward contemporary emphases on mythological genealogies in

interstate politics and historical treatises (see below).262 At 22.5.3, for the year 188 BCE,
Polybius recounted an apparent confusion in international relations between Rhodes,
Lycia, and Rome, with the Rhodians and the Lycian koinon each sending envoys to the
Roman decemviri assigned with the task of organizing the region in the wake of
Antiochus defeat. The Rhodian envoy requested that Lycia be ceded to their control, on
the basis of Lycias alignment with Antiochus during the recent war. The Lycians,
however, protested, and pleaded for forgiveness from Rome on the basis of oikeiotta.
They apparently feared stringent Roman reprisals, and in their apprehension, had chosen
to send two Ilian ambassadors as representatives, no doubt for the strong case these men
could make, as themselves syngenoi with both parties, for the affinity of Lycia with
Rome.263
As Polybius framed the account, the Roman decemviri apparently gave positive
answers to both parties, since the Ilians returned to inform the Lycians that they had
found success, while it was announced at Rhodes that Lycia (and Caria) had been granted
to their city en dreai. And although Polybius portrayed the episode in a rather jaundiced
light, it reveals a number of interesting features about contemporary kinship diplomacy.
To begin with, they show the relevance, even centrality, with which such claims were
used to accomplish interstate goals. Secondly, they point to familiarity on all sides
Roman, Lycian, Ilian, and Rhodian to the particular modes that involved establishing
262

See below, pp. 130ff.

See Jones (1999: 70-71); Erskine (2001: 176-8); and Battistoni (2009: 87-89; 2010: 165-186), for
discussion of the episode, along with later inscriptional evidence of recognized syngeneia between Rome
and Lycia.
263

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kinship (through the Trojan legend) and/or a history of alignment, and using these as
diplomatic tools. And perhaps most importantly, they reveal the Roman fluency in
utilizing these tools, keeping promises and goodwill on all sides. The decemviri must
have agreed to syngeneia, via Ilium, and thereby succeeded in enhancing Ilian status (for
future use), while refraining from inflicting much harsher penalties on Lycia. At the same
time, the Romans were also able to reward Rhodes for her recent service (as a symmachos
and philos), while keeping Rhodes in their debt-friendship (hence Lycia and Caria as a
gift). Kinship/friendship diplomacy had many wrinkles, and this flexibility offered
many choices and as many pitfalls for international players. That the Romans in this
instance lightly maneuvered around the requests of Rhodes and Lycia, testifies to their
awareness of and immersion in the international norms of the day.
A third and final example is especially significant, as it provides a window into
the processes of Hellenistic interstate diplomacy, and their blended combinations of
personal and interstate, cultural-kinship and political-military elements, as they connected
with Rome. It is a decree from Lampsakos, a city that was member of a religious
federation centered on the temple of Athena Ilias at Ilion.264 The decree honored a
Lampsakene ambassador, Hegesias, for his service to the city. Its account reveals the
great lengths to which a polis of diminutive military capability but of more significant
religious standing would go to gain at least the added clout and modicum of security from
formal recognition by another state, in particular a power to stand up to a Seleucid king.
Formal recognition came, as it did across the Hellenistic interstate world, in the form of
264

B-D2 no. 35 = Sherk (1984: no. 5); Syll.3 591; I. Lampsakos 4.

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philia, further cemented and assured by approved bonds of syngeneia. In order to obtain
these valuable interstate associations, Hegesias had first traveled, with a number of other
ambassadors, to the Isthmus of Corinth, and had met with Flamininus, around the time of
the latters Isthmian Proclamation. Flamininus had verified Lampsakos relationship and
kinship with the Romans (l. 30-31), presumably on the basis of the Trojan legend, but
also on what was referred to as Lampsakos adelphia with Massilia, a long-standing
friend and ally of Rome. Lampsakos could apparently strengthen her ties of friendship
with Rome via Massilia, with whom Lampsakos shared a metropolis, as fellow colonies
of Phokis.265 In addition to acknowledging these links, Flamininus had pledged his own
personal friendship, by which he promised to always do what he could to be of benefit to
Lampsakos (ll. 31-36).
Hegesias had then met with Flamininus brother, and commander of the Roman
fleet, Lucius, who had granted similar avowals of goodwill (ll. 36-40). From there,
Hegesias had sailed all the way to Massilia, perhaps on the advice of one or both of the
Flamininus brothers, who may have suggested that what was requested by the
Lampsakenes namely, formal recognition as syngenoi and philoi of Rome (and
ultimately, adscripti in the pending peace treaty with Macedon) would require
senatorial approval. In order to gain an audience before the Senate, the Massiliotes, as
international kindred and well-received friends of Rome, would make the best
intermediaries for introducing the Lampsakene envoys to leading senators and getting

265

Cf. Thucy. 1.13.6.

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their requests on the agenda set by the urban praetor.266 According to the Hegesias
inscription, the Massiliotes agreed to this role. They first sent a letter, written on behalf of
the Lampsakenes to neighboring Gauls (l. 49), who were of the same tribe as in Asia
Minor perhaps a further consolidation of oikeiotta between Lampsakenes, Massiliotes,
Gauls, and Rome.267 The Massiliotes next selected a number of their own ambassadors to
accompany Hegesias and help him gain an audience before the Roman Senate. Though
we do not know how long it took, the senators apparently complied with Hegesias
requests, recognizing Romes kinship-friendship with Lampsakos, and, according to the
inscription, granting permission for Lampsakos to be included as an adscriptus in the
treaty with Philip (ll. 64-66). The final step was for Hegesias (not a Roman official!) to
return to Flamininus with the senatorial letter. Flamininus was then said to have sent
letters to the kings (possibly Eumenes of Pergamon and Prusias I of Bithynia),
informing them of Romes relationship with Lampsakos (ll. 75-77).
What is interesting here is that quite typical Hellenistic diplomatic behaviors
show signs of adjustment, in negotiation with Romes own versions of Hellenistic IR. In
particular, certain norms usually deployed between monarchs, as literally relatives, or
between middling and lesser states in hierarchies within and/or below the monarchies, are
here applied to a new hegemonic power that was neither monarchic nor in any way yet
related to the higher levels of dynastic intermarriage. Hegesias and his fellow envoys

266

On this as the standard procedure for receiving envoys from Italian communities as well as from
abroad, see including the earliest Greek epigraphic references to the Roman institution of morning
salutations, with transliterated terms such as atrion, etc. - cf. Eilers (2002, text = C 101, pp. 238-9).
267 On Gallic tribes specifically the Aedui at least by the end of the second century being considered
fratres of Rome, see Battistoni (2010: 137-147).

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must therefore gain a full range of relationships in order to achieve success for their city:
from individual statements of friendship from leading Romans (the Flamininus brothers),
to pledges of kinship from the magistrates/ assembly at Massilia, to additional
international correspondence and support from shared neighbors, the Tolostoagioi, and
finally from a letter from the Roman Senate, sent back to the commander, Flamininus.
The new though not completely alien or unrecognizable modes of international
diplomacy afforded by Romes arrival thus provided additional channels for Hellenistic
states, east and west, to map out more, and ultimately more centralizing, networks of
interdependence and political leverage.

PHILO-ROMANISM: RULER CULT REDEFINED

For states that were not like Lampsakos, and could not rely on mythographickinship with Rome or on ties with another city close to Rome, there was an extensive
range of additional diplomatic options. Dedications and honors in the mold of Hellenistic
ruler-cult were also available, and they became quite prevalent, ranging from statues and
cult-places (iera), to sacrifices, games, and festivals, which were granted to individual
Romans,268 or to the Demos (i.e. Genius Populi / Populus) of the Romans.269 Even more

268

Dedications involving individual Romans: e.g. Flamininus see above, pp. 95ff. The Flaminia festival
at Gytheion even continuing into the reign of Tiberius cf. SEG IX.923, ll. 11-12. See also the example of
M. Annius, quaestor, honored by Lete in Macedonia with a festival, for saving that city from Gauls (119
BCE) Syll.3 700.
269 Dedications involving the Demos of the Romans: 50ft statue erected by Rhodes, 160s BCE Polyb.
31.4; regular sacrifices to the Demos and to Roma at Miletos Milet I.7 203 = Sherk 1984: no. 41; crowns
to the Demos and Senate, at Delos, ca. 170 BCE I. Dlos 465; marble altar to Roma in private sanctuary
of Egyptian gods on Delos, acknowledging the goodwill of the Senate and Demos of the Romans I. Dlos
2484; Athenian sacrifices to the Demos Romain, early second century cf. Hesperia 40 (1971) 308, no. 9;
and two dedications from the Capitoline in Rome, possibly dating to the second century ILLRP 177-178

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prevalent, especially during the second century, were various types of cult-honors for the
divine personification of the Roman state Rhm.270 A figure derived from trends
paralleling the development of interstate, mythographic kinship, Rhm first evolved as a
legendary figure, known as early as the fifth century BCE for her links to the arrival of
Aeneas and/or Odysseus in Italy.271 Over the next two centuries, a number of myths, even
conflicting versions, developed, as Romans and other groups sought to define this
eponymous foundress and her kinship with other founding figures for Rome, in tandem
with the varied communities being encountered by Rome as a growing state (e.g. Latins,
Etruscans, Greeks, etc.). She was made a male companion of Aeneas (Rhomus), or she
was married to Latinus, or to Ascanius, even Aeneas.272 She was described as a Trojan
captive from Argos, with Aeneas role downplayed, or she was made daughter of
Ascanius, of Telemachos, Evander, Italus, or Telephos.273 By the late third century BCE,

the first from Laodicea on the Lycus R., and the second from Hierapolis. See also Fears (1978). Evidence
for regular cult activity involving the Roman Senate can only be traced to the imperial period. This is most
likely due to norms prevalent during the second and first centuries BCE, which, although recognizing
power in the Roman Senate, equated that body with a synkletos (or, in less formal contexts, a synedrion,
gerousia, or boul), rather than a divinized personification of the state. See the discussion on this subject in
Erskine (1997b).
270 Cf. Mellor (1975).
271 Rhm is first attested in Hellanicus Chronicles of the Priestesses of Argos, and according to
Dionysius citation (Dion. Hal. AR 1.72), she was among the Aeneadae who followed Odysseus to Italy,
and was responsible for instigating the women to burn the Trojan ships upon landing at the Tiber.
272 Rhomus: Festus 266, citing Cephelon Gergithius, Apollodoros, and Alcimos; marriage to Latinus: Dion.
Hal., AR 1.72.10 (citing Callias); Plut. Rom. 1-2 (later citing Caltinus and Galitas = Callias?); marriage
to Ascanius: Plut. Rom. 1-2; marriage to Aeneas: Servius, ad Aen. 1.273.48. See Galinsky (1969; 1992);
Gabba (1987); Wiseman (1995).
273 Trojan captive from Argos: Dion. Hal. AR 1.72, citing Aristotle; see also Heracleides Lembos (FGrH
III C 840 F13b; 40d); Festus 269; Solinus 1. Daughter of Ascanius: Plut. Rom. 1-2 (citing Agathocles);
Solinus, Coll. rer. mem. 1.3 (citing Heracleides); Telemachos: Plut. Rom. 1-2; Evander: Servius, ad Aen.
1.273.51-2; Italus: Plut. Rom. 1-2; Telephos: Dion. Hal. AR 1.28.8-9; Plut. Rom. 1-2.. This last version
probably derived from the era of the war against Antiochus, when Pergamon was making strong overtures
of kinship diplomacy to Rome see below, discussion surrounding Lycophrons Alexandra, pp. 124ff. See
modern scholarship referenced in the footnote above.

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her place as a mythic, eponymous foundress had begun to transform into something more
wide-ranging and less specifically related to kinship mythography. She came to stand in
for the entire state of Rome itself, a goddess to whom any individual or group could give
honors and earn a relationship, whether related by syngeneia and/or oikeiots or not.
In her earliest surviving images, Rhm sits on a throne, armed, and is crowned
by another personification, Pistis (Roman Fides), both individuals labeled on third
century coins from Locri Epizephyrii.274 Such images are probably related to traditions
added to Rhms legends, that she was the first to establish a temple of Fides at Rome,
on the Palatine.275 Both phenomena in turn coincided with Romes approach to IR during
this period, in which Rome was engaging with pan-Hellenist policies in the west, across
Magna Graecia and Sicily, against Pyrrhus as well as against Carthage (see above).
Parallel, yet ultimately convergent, trends were also taking place with respect to the
development of honors granted to the Demos, or Genius Populi / Populus of the Romans.
Unlike Rhm, the figure of the Demos did not originate in kinship mythography or the
founding legends of Rome. However, like Rhm, he did develop from the fifth into the
third centuries BCE, eventually becoming a personified type, who could receive
international honors in representation of at least part of Rome as a state, especially
abroad.
Such developments were in turn reflective of trends happening across the
Hellenistic world, in an evolving international language that sought to define and

274
275

Cf. CIL X. 16; and Fayer (1975: 275).

Account preserved by Agathocles of Cyzicus = FGrH IIIB 472 F5.

110

embody the shifting normative concepts of statehood, from sheer domination by large
monarchic powers, to more regional, networked, and polis-negotiated forms of IR
process. Towards the latter half of the third century, and with increasing prominence
during the second, other non-monarchic, mid-level powers sought to establish and expand
their own international networks, mimicking the modes of Hellenistic kings but adapting
these to abstractions of the city as recipients of honors, statues, festivals, and avowals of
goodwill. Examples include the Demos of the Athenians, the numerous manifestations of
a Tych Poles, and the Demos of the Rhodians, the latter also accompanied by the
personified goddess of the city, Rhodos.276
During the second century, then, pre-existing international practices of both
Romans and communities in the east their ideas long crisscrossed and shared found
easy intersection on this subject of divine honors for the state personified. And like
Rhodes, with her cult of Rhodos (and Rhodian Demos), the Romans found the equivalent
cult of Rhm to be of special value, for the religio-political networks it could establish
among foreign individuals and states, as a centralizing means of interstate alignment.277
Rhm began to appear in the sacred binding clauses in treaties, as a deity to whom oaths
were sworn, whose statue protected the published inscription of the agreement, and/or to
whom penalties would be due.278 With increasing momentum during the second century,

276

See Mellor (1975: 19-20, 23-4), with Fears (1978: 280-281).

Note that Rhodians did not practice the cult of Rhodos, and Romans did not practice the original cult of
Rhm.
278 E.g. OGIS 762 = Sherk (1984) no. 25, ll. 14-15 (copy of the treaty between Rome and Cibyra to be
inscribed on the base of the gold statue of Rhm in Cibyra, early second century); MDAI(A) 72 (1957)
242-250, no. 65 (fines to be paid to the goddess Rhm, for breaking terms of a treaty of isopoliteia and
syngeneia between Samos and Antiochia on Maeander, early second century); and Syll.3 692 (oaths sworn
277

111

Rhm filled the place of earlier Hellenistic ruler-cults, complete with designated sacred
buildings,279 altars,280 crowns,281 statues,282 festivals (both athletic and dramatic),283
priesthoods,284 assimilations/conjoined celebrations with local deities,285 and even kingly
epithets, like Euergetis, Soter, Epiphanes, and Thea.286 There was no need for Romans to
instigate or clash with such practices abroad; these were already the standard of
international behavior, already in the process of modification, Mediterranean-wide,
molding to fit hegemonic powers led by oligarchs rather than monarchs (cf. Rhodes).
to Rhm, Zeus, and Homonoia in treaty between Aphrodisias, Plarasa, Cibyra, and Tabae, second
century). Note: these and the following footnotes have been collected here in order to separate the second
century / mid-Republican evidence from later, imperial-period evidence for the cult of Roma (as presented
together in Mellor, 1975).
279 E.g. Milet. I. 7, no. 203 (Romaion planned at Miletus, ca. 130 BCE); templum mentioned by Livy
43.6.5, in relation to the establishment of a Romaia at Alabanda, ca. 170 BCE.
280 E.g. I. Dlos 2484 (marble altar to Rhm in private sanctuary of Egyptian gods on Delos); I. Dlos
1779 (altar excavated from room with surviving statue of Rhm, dedicated by the Poseidoniasts of
Berytus at Delos, late second century).
281 E.g. Polyb. 30.5.4 (gold crown dedicated by Rhodes to Rhm, ca. 167 BCE); IG XII 3, 1097 (gold
crown dedicated to Rhm by Melos, around mid-second century); I. Dlos 1450A 119 (silver crown to
Rhm in the Temple of Apollo on Delos, ca. 140 BCE).
282 E.g. Surviving statue from the collegium of the Poseidoniasts of Berytus at Delos cf. Mellor (1975:
66, with citations); OGIS 762 = Sherk (1984) no. 25, ll. 14-15 (treaty between Rome and Cibyra to be
inscribed on the base of the gold statue of Rhm in Cibyra, early second century); IG XII 3, 1097 (bronze
statue of Rhm dedicated by Melos, mid-second century); Olympia no. 317 (statue of Rhm dedicated at
Olympia by Elis)
283 E.g. Syll. 611 = RDGE 38 (correspondence announcing a Romaia including sacrifices and games at
Delphi, ca. 189 BCE); IGRR IV.247 (musical competition dedicated to Rhm established at Stratonicea by
mid-second century); Milet. I. 7, no. 203 (regular Romaia established at Miletus, ca. 130 BCE); I. Magn. 88
= Syll. 1079 (Romaia festival including athletic and dramatic contests established at Magnesia on Maeander
by the late second century); reference in Livy 43.6.5, to a regular Romaia established ca. 170 BCE at
Alabanda; I. Dlos 1950, 2596 (Romaia festival established on Delos, ca. 167/6 BCE, with reference to a
Romaia of Hekatombaion); SEG XVI 486 (tentatively dated to the second century: dedication to Rhm
with a celebration of the founding of the city at Chios).
284 E.g. I Dlos 2596 (priests associated with the cult of Rhm on Delos, from ca. 167 BCE); Milet. I. 7,
no. 203 (priest of Rhm at Miletus, ca. 130 BCE).
285 E.g. LSAM no. 26 (early second century cult regulations from Erythrae for the Ionian koinon mention
sacrifices to Rhm, an Attalid king (Eumenes?), and Antiochus); OGIS 441 ll.132-134 (Hecate and
Rhm at Stratonicea, sometime during the second century); SNG-DEN 25 no. 50 (coin from Antiochia
showing a Rhm of Nikephoros type, with the legend Rhm Antiochen). Conjoined festivals include a
Pytheia-Romaia at Megara, a Poseidaia-Romaia at Antigonia, and an Aiakeia-Dionysia-Romaia at Aegina,
among others cf. Mellor (1975: 105ff., with citations).
286 For a detailed discussion of the various epithets for Rhm, see Mellor (1975: 111-119).

112

Two concepts, however, did evolve along unique paths during this period of
transition. The first involved the development of a new phrase, by which Romans were
referred to as common benefactors, koinoi euergetai. This was essentially a
universalization of the older, and quite prominent, Hellenistic title of euergets/
euergetai.287 The all-encompassing nature of this change to koinoi euergetai was at its
heart a new recognition, and even a celebration of the full realization of pan-Hellenic
ideals and rhetoric, brought by Rome to a broader, trans-regional scale. To highlight this
shift, the phrases, pantn or pantn tn Hellenn were sometimes added to the formula.
And unlike previous practice with euergets/euergetai alone, this expanded formula was
not used to directly address or petition Rome. Instead, it was used in mentioning the
Romans that is, the Roman state in the context of interactions with other states.288
This tendency reveals an unusual, yet normatively coherent, development, in
which Hellenistic states across the Mediterranean began to make abstract a notion of
international power during the second century. Such a development moved in tandem
with the mapping of new religio-political networks, which not only divinized the abstract
international power in multiple forms (e.g. Demos, Rhm, Rhmaioi hoi koinoi
euergetai289), but also sought to negotiate individual, independent diplomatic ties to it.
These trends in turn were an integral and sustaining part of Romes evolution and advent
as a new version of pan-Hellenic hegemon, the central node in a hierarchic array of
relations of philia, symmachia, syngeneia, and oikeiots across the Mediterranean.
287

A comprehensive list of examples and excellent discussion is available in Erskine (1994).

Cf. Erskine (1994: 76ff.).
289 Romans as common benefactors did receive cult honors see the citations in Erskine (1994: 79ff.).
288

113

The second conceptual development related to second-century philo-Romanism

was a new emphasis that associated the Roman state however personified to the
notion of a broad arc of world-history. And although adulatory and meant to please, the
nature of this emphasis is telling. For it framed Roman power as a new moment, ending
one era and beginning another, supported by divine forces (Moira, Tych, etc.) in
achieving dominion, as never before, over both land and sea. These are the thoughts
voiced by contemporaries, and their choice of grounds on which to praise Rome reflect
prevalent normative conceptions of their times. Such mental wallpaper can be found in
what survives, in addition to the work of Polybius, of the literature of the day290 in the
words of the hymn sung at Chalcis in honor of Flamininus:
,
:
,


, .
And the faith of the Romans we revere,
which we have solemnly vowed to cherish;
sing, then, ye maidens
to great Zeus, to Roma, to Titus, and to the Roman faith:
hail, Paean Apollo! Hail, Titus, our savior!291
or in Melinnos hymn to Rome:
, ,
,

.

290
291

See the section below pp. 124ff., on Polybius and Lycophrons Alexandra in this light.
Quoted by Plutarch, Flam. 16.4. See Bowra (1957: 23-24).

114

 , ,
,

.



.



.



.
I welcome you, Roma, daughter of Ares,
war-loving queen crowned in gold,
you who live in holy and eternally strong Olympus
on earth.
To you alone, most reverend, Moira (Fate) has given
royal glory of invulnerable rule,
so that holding sovereign power
you may lead.
Beneath your yoke of powerful straps
the chests of the earth and the white sea
are bound tight; and you safely steer
the cities of your peoples.
While the greatest eternity defeats all
and reshapes life, sometimes in this way, sometimes in that,
for you alone a fair wind of rule
does not change.
In truth, you alone of all bear the most powerful
great spear-carrying men,
making them spring up like Demeters plentiful fruits
115

from the land.292

or in an elegy by Alpheius of Mytilene:

- o .
For not only has the sea already submitted to Romas spear
But also has the earth only the path reaching to heaven is untrodden.293
As a whole, these conceptual developments created a heady mix by the middle of
the second century, in which international politics were becoming more strongly
globalized and networked, and the power of Rome was made its central axis. This was
the context that framed the events surrounding 146 BCE, and by which they would have
been triggered, legitimated, and interpreted.

ROMAN SYNGENEIA: THE TROJAN LEGEND

One last piece of the normative map needs to be explored further, and it involves
the forms in which Hellenistic kinship diplomacy shaped Romes advent to international
power in particular. Overtures of syngeneia that involved Romes Trojan past in
particular became a focus during the early part of the century, as the cities of the Troad
began to document their relations with Rome on stone. At the time, these cities were
playing a greater role in, and were showing greater concerns about contributing to
Romes interactions with (and eventually counter to) Antiochus. Poleis such as
Lampsakos, Smyrna, and Alexandria Troas turned to kinship diplomacy as a useful
292

Text from Plant (2004: 99-100). The hymn (datable ca. 200-150 BCE though debated) has been
preserved in a quotation by Stobaeus (fifth century CE), in his collection of passages, peri andreias
(Eclogues 3.7.12). See Bowra (1957); Erskine (1997c).
293 See Greek Anthology: Garland of Philip I.ll.3528-3531, and Anth. Pal. 9.526.3-4.

116

means for forging diplomatic alignments with Rome against the shadow of the Seleucid
king. Such diplomacy was already common to both ends of this very Hellenisticglobalizing equation: the cities of Asia Minor and the Romans alike had long histories of
connecting with other states via syncretizing and mythographic processes, identifying and
strengthening links to international Hellenism. Again, the mythic-heroic origins of a city
did more than construct symbolic demonstrations of cultural identity they represented
and were part of the process of solidifying the religious/sacred foundations for political
networks, alliances, and alignments across distances and interstate boundaries.
For Rome, the mythic versions with which the cities of Asia Minor found links
during the second century BCE belonged to a set of traditions that had been in
development with the communities of Italy and Sicily since at least the late fourth to
early third centuries, if not earlier.294 These legends connected Rome with wider Greek
worlds for both positive and negative political effect via Aeneas and the Aeneadae,
who were then grafted onto other traditions (e.g. Romulus and Remus, Rhea Silvia,

294

For an overview, see Galinsky (1969; 1992); Gabba (1987); Wiseman (1995); Battistoni (2010: 15-35).
In the fifth century, Hellanicus may have attributed the founding of Rome to Aeneas AND Odysseus, if he
was indeed Dionysius source (at Dion. Ant. Rom. 1.72.2 =FGrH 1.41). Fifth-century statuettes from Veii,
and a mid-fifth century Etruscan scarab (de Luynes collection no. 276, Paris) repeat the scene of a young
man carrying an old one, possibly indicating Etruscan origins and/or knowledge of some form of the
Aeneas legend. In addition, fifth-century vases, also from Veii, show scenes that could be identified as
showing the duel between Aeneas and Turnus. For all of these, see Gabba (1987: catalogue on p. 18).. In
the fourth century, Alcimus was said to have attributed Romes foundation to the great-grandson of Aeneas
(Festus 362.35ff. L), while Aristotle apparently believed Achaians returning from Troy established the city
(Dion. Ant. Rom. 1.72.3-4). In the third century, Xenagoras purportedly wrote of Odysseus sons, Antias,
Ardeas, and Rhomaios as the possible founders of Antium, Ardea, and Rome, thereby cutting out Aeneas
(Dion. Ant. Rom. 1.72.5). Nevertheless, Timaeus, at least from the criticisms he received from Polybius,
considered Romes Trojan origins as a given, even if he was in some way wrong to connect them with the
October Horse festival (FGrH 3.566 T36). See discussion and additional sources mentioned in Erskine
(2001: 23ff.), who notes that our surviving literary sources are heavily affected/influenced by the Augustan
age, though with deep Hellenistic origins.

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etc.).295And they gained force as Rome expanded into Campania and first interacted with
Alexander the Molossian Greeks and Romans alike adapting the long-held colonial
tradition of finding links in myth to newly encountered regions.296 As they did, various
groups on both sides accepted some versions, rejected others, and devised new ones of
their own, with a particular focus on the ancient heroes of the Trojan-war era, Greek and
Trojan figures alike intertwined.297 Romes Trojan and/or Achaian roots were thus in
direct reflection of her citizens increasingly eclectic involvements with the wider
Hellenistic world.
During the era of the first two Punic wars, as Rome had come into closer contact
with and gained hegemony over the communities of Sicily, the links to a Trojan past in
particular had gained momentum, on both sides.298 Evidence for Carthages role in these
processes of international, diplomatic mythography has unfortunately been lost, with only
the barest (and decidedly most Romano-centric) traces remaining. At some point prior to
the first century BCE, and quite possibly during the third century, the myth of Aeneas as
Trojan ancestor, of Rome and of numerous Sicilian and South Italian communities, was
connected with the Carthaginian founding legend associated with the goddess/heroine

295

Cf. Forte (1972); Galinsky (1969; 1992: 99); Gruen (1992); Erskine (2001); Casali (2010).
As well established by Bickerman (1952).
297 See Erskine (2001: all, but esp. 7ff.), who astutely deconstructs and nuances the previous modern
tendency to oversimplify and assume (based on classical Athenian associations of Trojans with Persians
cf. p. 83ff.), that Trojan identity was directly equated with being non-Greek or barbarian.
298 Cf. Zambon (2008: 251ff., esp. 260), who rightly sees both Sicilian (especially Segestan) initiative and
Roman in this process. It is important to note that evidence points to the existence of some version of a
Trojan origin-myth, in BOTH Latium and Sicily, dating as far back as the fifth century. For more
discussion, see Erskine (2001: esp. 135-136); and Battistoni (2010: 113-127, 147-165). Battistoni (2010:
117-127) also summarizes the evidence for cultic-mythic developments occurring between Rome and
Segesta from the mid-third century BCE onward, centered upon Trojan foundation legends.
296

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Dido-Elissa.299 In the late third century, Naevius was said to have included Dido and her
sister Anna in his Bellum Punicum, an epic poem that is known from its surviving
fragments to have incorporated the travels of Aeneas.300 In the context of a duel between
Rome and Carthage over the cities of Sicily, the act of connecting the two myths, and
placing Aeneas at the site of Carthage prior to reaching Italy, could have served a number
of purposes. On the one hand, it could have undermined Carthaginian legitimacy,
emphasizing the un-Hellenic nature of Carthages mythic founder and claiming primacy
of kinship among the Aeneadae and their ancestors i.e. the Romans and Sicilians.
Conversely, the Carthaginians if they even accepted the connection could have used it
to simultaneously reach out to Sicilian communities, advertising a Trojan-connection via
xenia, while also discrediting the Roman descendants of Aeneas as usurpers and violators
of this same guest-friendship.
What is better known, however, is Romes attention paid during this period,
especially within moments of crisis and hardship, to consulting the Sibylline Books and
importing foreign deities. Two goddesses in particular stand out among this group, both
for their ties to the Trojan origin-myths and for their deeper religio-political significance.

299

The oldest surviving reference to Dido-Elissa in connection with Carthage (and the citys founding)
actually dates to the early third-century, with Timaeus (FGrH i.197). Timaeus also claimed that the name
Elissa derived from the Semitic word meaning, revered one. Later, after the turn of the century, Ennius
alluded to Dido as Carthaginian founder (Annales 290). Cato the Elder also apparently agreed (at least
according to third-century CE Solinus, Coll. Rer. Mem. 27.10). By the first century BCE, Varro reputedly
connected the Aeneas and Dido myths, though with sister Anna killing herself for love of Aeneas (cited by
Servius at Aen. 4.682). The fullest surviving non-Vergilian tale of Didos foundation of Carthage also
comes from the first century BCE, with Pompeius Trogus (Philippic History epitomized by Justin, 18.3-5).
In this version, Didos suicide had nothing to do with Aeneas, who goes unmentioned, and was an act to
avoid marriage with Libyan King Iarbas.
300 Servius, in his commentary on the Aeneid (4.9), cites Naevius as having included Anna as the sister of
Dido.

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The first is Venus Erycina, the Greek Aphrodite and Punic Astarte of Mt. Eryx in
Sicily.301 The vowing (by Q. Fabius Maximus) of a temple to her cult in Rome in the
wake of the disaster at Trasimene (217 BCE) served a number of intersecting purposes.302
It created a rallying point for Romans, recalling the place and its protective deity
where Roman forces had struggled and yet succeeded against the Carthaginians towards
the end of the previous, First Punic War.303 The religious gesture also extended a hand to
a key strategic region in Sicily, where only a few years after Trasimene the Romans were
again campaigning with a fleet against Carthage. Such overtures were founded upon and
strengthened by the bonds of mythological kinship, with both the locals (inhabiting a
region once occupied by Elymians) and the Romans together looking to claims of Trojan
ancestry, and aligning on a religious and political basis against Carthage.304 It was most
likely during this period that the people of Centuripe first established relations with Rome
via the Latin colony (and mythologically significant locale) of Lanuvium as an
intermediary. An inscription from later in the century (or possibly early in the first
century) testifies to the renewal of this tripartite relationship, which involved guest-

301

See Erskine (2001: 198ff.), with sources. For Pyrrhus earlier use of syngeneia rhetoric against the
Carthaginians at Mt. Eryx (in this case as a descendent of Heracles, who had defeated eponymous Eryx at
this spot), see Zambon (2008: 149-150).
302 See Livy, 22.9.10, 10.10; 23.30.13-14; Schilling (1954: 242-252); Zucca (1989); Coarelli (1999); and
Orlin (2002: 4) the latter noting that the Romans did not necessarily import the cult of Venus Erycina
wholesale, with all its foreign elements included. If so, the Romans in this case introduced a foreign
goddess, making her entirely Roman. As Ovid later remarked regarding Venus Erycina, she preferred to
be worshipped in the city of her own offspring. (Fast. 4.876).
303 For the fighting around Mt. Eryx during the First Punic War, see Polyb. 1.55-59.
304 Cf. Battistoni (2010: 117-129). For more on the interactions between indigenous Elymian, Punic, and
Greek elements during the early years of Roman hegemony, see Perkins (2007).

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friendship (xenia) and the legendary genealogies of affinity (L. adfinitas oikeiosyn in
the inscription).305
About a decade later, during the same war, a second foreign goddess was
imported or more fittingly, reintroduced to Rome: that is, the Idaean Magna Mater.306
As the goddess of Mt. Ida near Troy, a mountain in part associated with Anchises liaison
with Aphrodite, Magna Mater again highlighted Romes Trojan origins while bolstering
ties with Pergamon and the Pergamene kingdom, an important ally at a crucial juncture
for Rome. The Mother Goddess was not only a key deity in the cults of western Asia
Minor, but also, in her Idaean aspect, was an element in the mythographic politics of
King Attalos I (and his successors). For the legitimacies of the Attalids were
substantiated, throughout the surrounding region as well as across the Mediterranean
world, via pan-Hellenic rhetoric and a pair of founding heroes: the Trojan princeling,
Pergamos, and the Arcadian-Heraclid king of Mysia, Telephos.307 As with Venus
Erycina, then, the importation of Magna Mater accomplished a variety of goals. Taking
place in 205 BCE, it rallied the hopes and endeavored to allay the fears of the Roman
people, as the city prepared to invade North Africa despite Hannibals continued presence
in Italy. At the same time, it celebrated the conclusion to the First Macedonian War,
305

See text, discussion, and citations in Battistoni (2010: 147-165). The phrase, xenian kai oikeiosynan
occurs at l. 12 in Battistonis text. See also Battistonis discussion (pp. 161-164) of a related text, possibly
also from the second century: the pinax of Fabius Pictor from Taormina (= SEG 26, 1123), which
references Aeneas, Romulus, and Remus, possibly as a documentation of individual, or ambassadorial
syngeneia.
306 Discussion and sources in Erskine (2001: 205ff.). See also Burton (1996); Battistoni (2010: 87-88).
307 Mother Goddess cults, with various epithets, in Asia Minor: Roller (1999); Erskine (2001: 215-6). On
Attalid culture politics, which used the myths of Pergamos and Telephos to overcome the stigmas of a
new dynasty somewhat shadily established by a eunuch, Philetairos, as well as to forge networks (in typical
Hellenistic globalizing fashion) to communities within Asia Minor and abroad, see Gruen (2000);
Kosmetatou (2007).

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fought with Attalos against Carthages ally, Philip V. The choice of Idaean Magna Mater
thus served both Roman and Attalid ends, and guaranteed a measure of continued
goodwill and diplomatic alignment between the two states after the Peace of Phoenike
was signed. With Attalos (and Ilion!) included as adscripti to the treaty, Rome had
established and publicized an alignment. This was the sort of friendship on which
Romans could later make claims, and thereby count on Pergamenes to keep an eye out for
potential threats coming from the East, for both Roman convenience, and to a certain
extent, Pergamene leverage. For at the same time, Attalos achieved Roman recognition of
friendship for his kingdom and in reinforcement of his international legitimacy, and he
could reference such acknowledgments as bargaining chips with other states against
Philip, who remained an adversary in the Aegean. Once again, the very foundations of
the bond between Rome and Pergamon, and the religious obligations that gave substance
to their international set of diplomatic agreements, were inseparably bound to
mythological kinship and shared cult.308

SYNGENEIA, THE TROJAN LEGEND, & WORLD HISTORY

Kinship-diplomacy, specifically in the form attached to Trojan origins, could thus
extend networks and alliances far across the Mediterranean, in and between both western
and eastern ends. Roman power abroad was inherently linked to her ability to participate
in the IR field, to communicate diplomatically and ideologically and maintain systems of
alliances and alignments on a large geographic scale. The far-reaching implications of
308

A similar process is thought to have taken place with the identification of the Samothracian Great Gods
with the Roman Penates, possibly in the wake of Perseus defeat cf. Battistoni (2009: 91-92).

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these ever-interconnecting relations, and Romes position within them, did not go
unnoticed by contemporaries Polybius observantly described the resulting international
situation with the fitting term symplok (inter-connectedness). But Polybius was not the
only spectator to witness the globalizing process and put his perspective on paper.
Another, perhaps more intricate reflection of the times and its outlook on the international
landscape is the poem Alexandra of Lycophron (or Pseudo-Lycophron).309 A strangely
enigmatic and even trance-like interweaving of myths, it references a vast array of
eponymous heroes, divine ancestries, and deities of natural formations all across
geographic and temporal space. The manner in which it bounces around place and time
creates an overall impression of an exponentially complex and globalized, essentially
pan-Mediterranean world, in which the realms of Europe and Asia, as well as their
conflicts, have become inextricably bound.
Arranged as a messengers speech in a tragic performance, the poem conveys the
riddling prophecy of Cassandra/Alexandra. At its most basic level, this prophecy foretells
the fall of Troy. Yet in the course of its divinely inspired stream-of-consciousness, the
Trojan catastrophe is entangled in a vast array of other tales, telling of woe and conflict
across mythic and even historical space. Four key historical allusions are made. First is an
otherwise minor event the assassination of Alexanders illegitimate son with Barsine,

309

The name of the attributed author is given as either Lycophron or Pseudo-Lycophron, in accordance
with ones position on the poems date and its manner of composition. The debate has continued since the
Byzantine period about whether the known third-century BCE Alexandrine scholar, Lycophron of Chalcis,
or some later, second-century BCE author, either using the name Lycophron or adding to a pre-existing
text, composed the poem or its addenda. The position favored here aligns with that of Kosmetatou (2000):
that the poem as it stands belongs to the second-century, written under the pen name Lycophron, quite
possibly for the Attalid court. On the Alexandra, see also West (1984), and Fraser (2000).

123

Heracles, a youth who was briefly king of Pergamon (v. 801-804). Later, in the course of
a list of conflicts between Europe and Asia, comes reference to Xerxes and his invasion
of Greece (v. 1412-1433). Subsequent to this is a description befitting Alexander the
Great (v. 1435-1445), followed by allusion to a wartime alliance and a celebrated peace,
the final episode in the prophecy (v. 1446-1450). This pact is said to be between an
Alexander, six generations later, and a Trojan descendant, a unique wrestler and
conqueror honored by his friends.
Such an intriguing selection of historical episodes and its placement within the
elaborate context of the poems mythic accounts together provide an added glimpse into
the ideological thinking of the times. They reveal characteristically Hellenistic
developments, in the perception of a world history and its workings as a temporal,
spatial, and even cultural phenomenon. The Trojan War lies at the very heart of the
paradigm, not only connecting friends and foes across traveled space and through the
generations, but also continuing numerous age-old rivalries and dichotomies, between
East and West, Asia and Europe, Greek and barbarian, hero and villain/monster, mortal
and immortal. Mythic and historical conflicts are directly linked, in an interconnected and
cyclical progression what Polybius diagnosed in his contemporary world as the
combined processes of symplok and anacyclosis.
Polybius, however, went to some lengths to establish himself as an innovator,
even informing his readers that he sought to write a new type of history.310 The form he
chose was one that consciously moved away from the myth-historic world of the
310

In the preface to the 142nd Olympiad, Polyb. 9. 1-2.

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Alexandra and of the locally or regionally based histories that combined legends, often
ancient, with oratorical flourish in their accounts of events. These latter forms of history
once proliferated across the Mediterranean. Surviving references to such works include
the Atthis of Athenian Philochoros, a detailed, year-by-year chronicle of Athenian history
from mythical foundations to the third century, a history of Heraclea Pontica written by
Nymphis, and a history of western Greek cities by Timaeus of Tauromenium.311 Roman
authors were also engaged in the same practice works such as Fabius Pictors Roman
history, from Aeneas and city founding using family histories, and Catos Origines testify
to this. Such histories were works that, like the poetic example provided by the
Alexandra, were interested in the full range of inter-relations between local place and the
wider world, of shrines and settlements, heroic missions, eponymous founders, family
genealogies, and ancient blood feuds. Polybius by contrast explicitly states that his work
is for only one class of reader, and not for every branch of history, as with the
genealogical side, (which) appeals to those who are fond of a story, and the account of
colonies, the foundation of cities, and their ties of kindred.312 These topics were for him
already well covered by countless authors, and he thus sought a more refreshing approach
to history, one that would be better suited to the here-and-now of his own experience and
what he perceived as a changed, and changing, world.
As he characterizes it, Polybius goal was to write a pragmatik historia, an
account of the actions, the doings of nations, cities, and kings for the student of

311
312

Philochoros: FGrH 328 T1; Nymphis: Memnon, FGrH 434 F6.3; Timaeus: FGrH 566 T4.
Polyb. 9. 1.

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politics.313 It is essentially a contemporary history, one that does not look to the distant or
mythological past but to the immediate, ongoing present and the cause-and-effect
relationship with what directly preceded. In Polybius words, he intends to focus on
actual events because there is always some novelty to them that demands new
treatment, and he does so with a practical purpose, of providing students of politics
with a method for dealing with any contingency that may arise. In other words, and as
he states in other passages, Polybius was writing an apodeiktik historia, a
demonstrative history, intended as a utilitarian guide (chrsimon), not just for the sake
of knowledge, but as a manual for current and even future statesmen.314
Why Polybius chose to make such an emphasis, and why he so heartily advocated
the need for such a new form of history, in turn reflect his deep conviction that his
generation was witness to something unique. Words from the very opening of the
Histories are worth repeating:
For what gives my work its peculiar quality, and what is most remarkable in the
present age, is this. Fortune has guided almost all the affairs of the world in one
direction and has forced them to incline towards one and the same end; a
historian should likewise bring before his readers under one synoptic view the
operations by which she has accomplished her general purpose He indeed who
believes that by studying isolated histories he can acquire a fairly just view of
history as a whole, is, as it seems to me, much in the case of one, who, after
having looked at the dissevered limbs of an animal once alive and beautiful,
fancies he has been as good as an eyewitness of the creature itself in all its action
and grace.315

313

Polyb. 9.2, for this and the following quotations in the same paragraph.
Apodeiktik historia: Polyb. 2.37.3; cf. Walbank (1972: 55-58). For Polybius repeated emphasis on
utility, see 1.4.11; 7.7.8; 9.2.6; 11.19a.1-3; 15.36.3; 31.30.1. Polybius uses the phrase, oudeauts heneka
ts epistms, to describe his history at 3.4.8. On writing a manual for statesmen, see 3.7.5; 6.53.6-54.3-4;
9.9.9-10; 10.21.3-22.4; 11.10.1; 16.28.9; 38.2.
315 Polyb. 1.4. See Walbank (1974/1985).
314

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Polybius history thus sought to be a world-history, an organic whole smatoeids.316

Following the contemporary theory of historical cycles, he perceived his own times to be
at a culminating point, a moment in which global power had moved from the decline of
one supremacy to the rise of another.317 For Polybius, this marked a special moment for
study, in which intellectual advances also allowed the historian to make scientific records
and analysis of the steps taken by men and the elements of chance that had come together
to bring about such momentous change. It is a conscious diagnosis of his times, and an
attempt to make changes to current practice among historians and politicians, in
preparation for what might come next in the world-historical cycle. There is praise for the
previous author, Ephorus, for his attempts at a similarly comprehensive, global view,
though dismissal of his inclusion of mythological material, city foundations and ancient
genealogies.318 Polybius seems to view such mythic-histories as relics of a former age,
obfuscating contemporary changes, and possibly even detrimental to what he perceives as
a new world-order and the skills necessary for a politician in it. In the place of these
forms of popular pseudo-science (as Polybius would have them), Polybius propounds a
form of history that is pragmatik one that teaches and inspires statesmen via
instructive, and even cautionary examples.
At a number of junctures, then, Polybius introduces commentary on the
contemporary use of syngeneia in interstate relations, dismissing its value and setting it

316

Polyb. 1.3.4; cf. 14.12.5.

Polyb. 1.2.
318 Praise for Ephorus: Polyb. 5.33.2; Ephorus use of mythology/genealogy: 34.1.3-4 = Strabo 10.465. For
similar remarks regarding Timaeus, cf. Polyb. 12.26d.2.
317

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up as a mask for what he sees as real, often personal and/or selfish motivations.319 He
considers mythographic intricacies to be somewhat pedantic,320 and possibly even
associates the quibbling between varied genealogies as contributing to fragmentation
between cities and states within the new world unipolarity.321 From this standpoint, it was
the divisions and petty hatreds between, and within, the Greek poleis that had caused
their demise and could only spell future disaster, as Polybius so passionately (and yet
ironically) laments about the fate of his Achaian homeland.322 And as one of the strongest
voices surviving from the period, Polybius has caused modern approaches to think along
the same lines, disregarding the inter-related importance of kinship, mythography, and
pan-Hellenism (in the manner discussed earlier), in the conduct of international relations
and the conception of a world history. In the meantime, modern viewpoints are somewhat
blinded to the realities of how the mechanisms and language of international politics
actually functioned in the third and second centuries. This includes what might seem to
later generations as extra baggage, but which was an essential part, both positive and
negative, in helping and hindering relations between states and their efforts at avoiding or
even initiating conflict. As an example in his account of the Mamertines and events
leading up to the First Punic War, Polybius considers kinship between Rome and the

319

Cf. Battistoni (2010: 75-76), with references regarding syngeneia. For discussion of Polybius analysis
of political motives (both good and bad), see Eckstein (1995).
320 Cf. Polyb. 9.1.4.
321 Cf. Eckstein (2008).
322 E.g. Polyb. 27.2.10 (on the dissolution of the Boeotian League, because they rashly and irrationally
chose to back Perseus); 38.1.5 (on disasters for the Greeks caused by their own gross mistakes); 38.1-4
and 16.7 (for an uncharacteristically emotional account of the ruin of Achaea in 146 BCE). Polybius uses
the phrase tarach kai kinsis to characterize the troubled and disturbed fragmentation and new networks
occurring in the wake of Romes advent to unipolarity cf. 3.4.12; 3.5.1ff., and below pp. 252ff.

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Mamertines as secondary to other factors in Romes decision to support this group

against Carthage.323 Modern scholarship has tended to do the same.324 But Polybius
discussion reveals an element of debate behind this decision, in which Rome hesitated to
support a group that had twenty years earlier broken fides (culturally important, not only
to the Romans but to other states abroad). That the Romans followed through nonetheless
was not only motivated by aims to leverage against the growing power of Carthage, but
was also enacted and legitimated through the mechanism of kinship diplomacy.
In contrast to Polybius, the Alexandra, and most certainly the works that Polybius
critiques as mythological-genealogical (Ephorus, Timaeus, etc.) construe anacyclosis and
syngeneia as together part of an integrated process. They meld historical and mythical
elements in the rise-and-fall history of conflict between East and West, Asia and Europe,
going back millennia (as played out in the Alexandra at v.1283-1450). As we have seen,
and epigraphic evidence continues to show, relations of syngeneia and oikeiotes were a
vital mechanism in Hellenistic IR. And though this was a concept that dated at least as far
back as the fifth century BCE, to such authors as Herodotus, it was in the age after
Alexander that the world-historical implications of the Trojan legend achieved wider and
more universalizing implications.325

323

Polyb. 1.10.
For a sampling of modern perspectives, see Harris (1979: 182-189); Hoyos (1998: 23ff.); Eckstein
(2006: 165); Gargola (2009: 147-148, a summary of events in which kinship goes unmentioned). For
growing scholarly attention to kinship diplomacy in relation to these events, see Elwyn (1993: 267ff.);
Jones (1999: 124, with an interesting reference to later Roman interpretation of fabulosa origo in this case
leading to troublesome war); and Battistoni (2009: 75, 87, 96).
325 See Hdt. 1.1-1.5. On Alexander, the Trojan legend, and an East-West dichotomy, see Flower (2000);
Thomas and Conant (2005: 74ff.); Pagden (2008: 38ff.). This subject is currently the focus of an ongoing
324

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WORLD HISTORY & ROME IN THE SECOND CENTURY BCE

Ultimately, the seed of an idea that the Phoenician abduction of Io and
retaliatory abduction of Europa had escalated into a series of reprisals ending in world
war at Troy had become a pivotal connecting point. It evolved as a linchpin in third
and second century international networks of political alignment and conflict among
states and individuals making claims to Hellenic identity, swearing oaths guaranteed by
shared religious cult, and accusing their enemies of illegitimacy. After Alexander, greater
authority and prestige was to be gained, not only in claiming lineage from the great
conqueror himself, but also from a similar combination of Greek and Trojan ancestry. For
Alexander had claimed to be a world king, greater than any Persian King of Kings, a
Greek Heraclid with links to Trojan blood via Neoptolemus, father of Andromaches
children. His pedigree, which combined the mythic aspects of East and West, Europe and
Asia, transformed the old fifth century BCE doctrines into an evolving globalizing
discourse. It became a theme reflected in the kinship diplomacy of the Hellenistic age, the
developing international rhetoric of Rome as a pan-Hellenic power, and in the
contemporary literature, from Polybius cross-Mediterranean history to the court poetry
embodied by the Alexandra. In the latter, Alexander the Great was referred to as
descendant of Aeacus (son of Zeus and Europa, and also ancestor of Achilles) and of
Dardanus (also ancestor of Priam). Combining the bloodlines of conqueror and

research project entitled, The Origins of the East-West Antithesis: Before and After Alexander the Great,
and organized by the Zentrum fr Altertumswissenschaften, University of Heidelberg.

130

conquered at Troy, he was pre-figured as a beginning to an end in the conflicts between

West and East (v. 1435-1445).
Yet at the same time, the Alexandra, in truly globalizing fashion, interconnected
the worldwide scale of the Trojan legend and Alexanders conquering mission with both
major- and minor-level relations, involving the links between greater and lesser states and
individuals, mythic and historical, past and present. For indeed, the Pergamene kingdom,
a middling power, underwrote its very legitimacy abroad upon an Alexandrine
bloodline and a dual Trojan-Greek heritage. And the same East-West ancestry was then
attached, in the poem as well as in interstate political relations, to that of Rome, a city
with compatible globalizing mythography, origin-legends tracing back to Greek and
Trojan bloodlines, and an established history of kinship diplomacy deployed and
negotiated with states in the west. Pyrrhus had participated in the same globalizing game,
highlighting his own dual Trojan-Greek heritage in pan-Hellenic rhetoric. However,
unlike the Attalids of Pergamon, he had used it in opposition to Rome, aiming for support
among the cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily.326
Kinship diplomacy was thus a complex, adaptable, and increasingly relevant tool
in the conduct of international relations and political maneuverings during the second
century. The unusual example of the Alexandra neither a public inscription327 nor an

326

Cf. Perret (1942); and Erskine (2001: 159-161), summarizing Pyrrhus international image as a
descendant of Achilles and hero of Trojan lineage (even naming his sons Helenos and Alexander). On the
pride of the Epirote royals (including Alexanders mother) in their legendary ancestry: Erskine (2001: 123).
327 Cf. Curty (1995); Jones (1999). Examples with a political/diplomatic bent include SEG 38.1476 (ca.
205 BCE, Kytinion appeals to Xanthus for financial aid, on the basis of shared Dorian kinship); OGIS 746
(197 BCE, Xanthus commemorates visit of Antiochus and sanctification of the city to Apollo, Leto, and
Artemis, on account of their kinship); Curty no. 9 = BCH 14 (1890) no. 11 = IG vii.4130 (after 171 BCE,

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ancient historians formal analysis reveals the manner in which the Trojan legend in
particular gained ground for its globalizing potential. The Pergamene kingdom (the most
likely court setting for the poems performance) could celebrate a strengthened position
abroad, not only for its Alexandrine legacy and political legitimacy to be found therein,
but also for the alliances, formal and otherwise, that such a legacy and position facilitated
with Rome.328 In the Alexandra, this last is perhaps the point most clearly driven home:
that six generations after Alexander, the perennial East-West conflict would return to
peace and glory, in the wake of the victories of a Trojan descendant allied with panHellenic friends (v. 1446-1450). The Trojan descendant is evidently Roman, as
highlighted by the position of the associated founding legends of Aeneas, Odysseus as
co-founder, and Romulus and Remus (v. 1226-1280), which immediately precede the list
of Europe-Asia conflicts ending in the pact at verse 1446. Most scholars agree that the
Roman in question can be identified as Flamininus, and his pact as the Roman alliance
with the Attalids, ca. 197-4 BCE.329
Therefore, evidence from various quarters, from public diplomatic documents, to
the poetic production of the Alexandra, to the works of contemporary historians, even the
objections aired by Polybius against genealogical histories, come together to portray the

Larissa in Thessaly arbitrates a Boeotian dispute, sending three judges to Acraiphia on the basis of
syngeneia); Curty no. 5 = Robert, Documents pp. 78-90 (second century BCE, from Aigeai in Cilicia,
renewing goodwill and syngeneia, as outlined with Argos and researched by citizen Pb. Anteius
Antiochus); Syll.3 683 = Ager no. 159 = Curty no. 6 (ca. 140/138 BCE, from Olympia recording arbitration
of a land dispute, between Messene and the Lacedaimonians, deferred by the Roman Senate to Miletus and
decided in favor of Messene, whose case was supported by syngeneia).
328 Note that certain portions of Romes origin-myth receive unusual emphasis, especially the conflicts
between the Aeneadae and the peoples of ancient Macedonia, the heroes Tarchon and Tyrsenos identified
as sons of Telephos! Cf. Kosmetatou (2000: 47-48).
329 Cf. Fraser (2000); Kosmetatou (2000), with citations.

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same overall picture of second century BCE Zeitgeist. In these modes of thinking, a
number of patterns were shared in what was evolving as a more interconnected
international language and interstate society. There existed a sense of a world-history, in
its inevitably cyclical nature, arriving at a culminating point in their uniquely
interdependent and globalizing times. And though terms like interdependence and
globalization did not exist per se, analogous intellectual trends were evident, as in the
Polybian expressions, symplok and smatoeids, and in the deployment of syngeneia,
oikeiots, and other kinship diplomacy terms, in order to forge, strengthen, even compete
with various interstate relationships and alignments.
Within these networks, the Trojan War cycle of heroes and legendary travelers,
which had been of relevance since the archaic age of colonization, gained special
prominence, as states looked to Rome and Rome to others in pan-Hellenistic politics.
Ultimately, the ongoing processes of evolution in these international norms coincided
with Romes development as a pan-Mediterranean power, with Rome driving,
encouraging, and manipulating these norms towards centralization. At the same time,
however, Rome was also affected by these processes, as they in some cases became
possible sources of miscommunication and conflict, and in others became internalized
and determined the form and legitimization of international relations.330
This was the wider context for events surrounding the devastating defeats of
Carthage and Corinth/the Achaian League in 146 BCE. The ways in which these events
were legitimated by Rome and perceived by others in the international sphere were
330

For more on this subject, see the next chapter.

133

governed by this context, and later perceptions of 146 BCE as a defining moment in
Romes history as a hegemonic power were first rooted in second century discourse. The
contemporary language of international relations was inextricably linked to the
widespread belief that there existed a cyclical world history, one that in the present age
connected groups even more closely via kinship and via other claims to Hellenic identity
across vast distances. In such a world, political and military actions were legitimated and
communicated via shared modes of invoking a sort of developing international justice.
This normative framework was based upon the ideals of pan-Hellenism, upon recounted
histories, traced back to the realm of heroic legend and divine support, of the enmities
and close ties between states, and the alignments and fractures that resulted.
Rome was as much a part and a product of this framework as any other state in
the system. What enabled Rome to succeed as an international power was in large part a
result of her unique participation in this system. At once well versed in international
norms and yet also a new player in trans-Mediterranean networks, Romans possessed a
unique combination of cultural and legal characteristics that allowed them to engage with
contemporary international politics and diplomatic developments, while at the same time
transforming these into Roman versions of pan-Hellenism. That contemporaries grasped
the momentous nature of Romes rise, on multiple levels, can be glimpsed in the very
different examples of the Alexandra and Polybius Histories. With divergent
perspectives, both saw the growing importance and presence of Rome as a turning point
in the cycles of world history. The first framed it as an endpoint to the primordial battles
between Europe and Asia, East-West the accomplishment of the dream of Alexander.
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The second saw it as an exciting opportunity for the student of history and practitioner of
politics to analyze the precise events and actions that brought about a new global power
in the forever cycling series of empires. For both, and no doubt for others of the time,
including Romans, 146 BCE would have had ground-shaking implications, as a dual
victory, accomplished by a single power in dramatic fashion, and set as divine retribution,
exactingly inflicted for the tragic sins of the wayward from the dream of pan-Hellenism.
It was for these reasons, as well as his conviction that he had witnessed a change in the
axis of global empires that Polybius chose to extend his work to include 146 BCE, as a
means for judging Rome as a new world power. And in doing so, he raises the troubling
possibility that as a state at the pinnacle of her success, there is no place for Rome to go
but down, to become yet another Troy and the swing of another cycle.

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Chapter 4: International Legal Constructs & The Treaty of Zama

INTRODUCTION
The much admired Republic of Zeno is aimed at this one main point: that our
household arrangements should not be based on cities or parishes, each one marked out
by its own legal system, but we should regard all men as our fellow-citizens and local
residents, and there should be one way of life and order, like that of a herd grazing
together and nurtured by a common law
--Plutarch, De Alex. 329A-B331
The present chapter investigates the political-legal frameworks that existed within
the international system of the second-century oikoumen a system that was at once
moving toward unity (in modern IR terms, unipolarity), and yet at the same time was
characterized by a multiplicity of disparate political cultures. As we will see, such
political-cultural differences are evident in linguistic-semantic disjunctions that is, in
the deployment of different terms (Greek as opposed to Latin in particular) to refer to
seemingly parallel and universalizing terms (e.g. polis vs. res publica, imperium vs.
arch, provincia vs. eparcheia). In the resulting international middle ground, new
fields of meaning thus evolved and in turn crafted a new model for world empire a
culmination, perhaps (though not all would agree at the time)332 of Zenos third-century
dream. This model for a pan-Hellenic, oikoumen-wide arch, was however as Zeno
would not have expected set to re-combine Hellenic and Roman norms into a new
Hellenistic system.

331

= SVF 1.262. Greek text:

,
, , ,

332 For more on the debate regarding Rome as a hegemonia vs. a despoteia, see below pp. 331ff.

136

The argument presented here is that such convergent, and yet also at times
incompatible, conceptual frameworks provide the context with which to understand
diplomatic events surrounding 146. At the same time, they underline the processes by
which international intellectuals first construed 146 as having the wider significance that
it came to have, as both a marker and a point for assessing Rome in the history of world
arch. Polybius account stands as a special example of such construction in progress,
while also serving as our primary narrative of events and practices. As such, Polybius
provides us with evidence that is colored by individual and cultural biases, which not
only reflect contemporary trends (to which he may unwittingly provide evidence) but
which may also testify to key cultural misunderstandings. In other words, Polybius is
careful to note mistakes made by his fellow Hellenistic statesmen in their interactions
with Rome. Polybius uses such junctures as important teaching moments, for, by virtue of
his unique position of personal access to and experience with Roman political culture, he
finds himself in a position to instruct. In this light, we can mine Polybius text for clues to
the differences between Hellenic and Roman political cultures. At the same time,
however, we must realize that Polybius himself is also liable to his own personal and
culturally biased mistakes regarding his reading of Roman behavior. In order to bring
these to light, we must return Polybius to his international context and see where his
interpretations line up with contemporary norms as evident in epigraphic documents
and in other contemporary authors.
And in the end, what is most important in the complex task of navigating
Polybius text is what he himself puts forward as his agenda in writing: the creation of a
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pragmatik historia, an instructive set of exempla intended to guide current and future
statesmen in their approach to dealing with or even achieving and maintaining a great
world power. Polybius attempts to understand and present a comprehensive view of
Rome thus manifest a deep-seated belief that such knowledge can provide a crucial
means for surviving within, as well as gauging, Romes international hegemony a
power that in the eyes of Polybius and his contemporaries could either promise a great
world-kingship, the dangerous pitfalls of a world-tyranny, or the turbulent chaos of a
hegemon on the decline. All of these possibilities are left to be determined upon the
conclusion of the Histories at 146.

POLIS & EMPIRE: SHIFTING PERCEPTIONS

Within the growing level of globalizing discourse and inter-connectivity in
second-century international relations, there was an additional, important set of ideational
structures. These structures involved an array of cultural thinking that reflected and even
shifted the very definition of international political power. And within this array, there
seems to have been a gap separating Rome from the Greek-speaking koin of the
Hellenistic system. This disjuncture was ultimately based upon a distinctly Roman
semantic field of reference, whose Latin terms in turn reflected some different
underlining notions of what defined statehood and a states relationships with other
groups. Such differences, as with all cultural/normative phenomena, are often difficult to
detect with precision. And such difficulty is especially apparent when there exists a
frequent interaction between groups to blur their edges within a newly evolving middle
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ground something that was occurring at increasing rates during the second century.
Indeed, in many ways, the language and practice of statehood and international politics
among Greeks and Romans (broadly defined) matched or were corollary to each other.
As was discussed in the last chapter, both deployed a language of friendship
(philia/amicitia), of mythic-historic kinship (syngeneia/consanguinitas), and
philhellenism. And as we will see throughout the present chapter, both groups embraced
comparable notions of just warfare (polemos dikaios/bellum iustum), predicated upon an
airing of grievances and the legal ramifications (in terms of human and divine law) of
initiating conflict with due provocation.
As the Hellenistic world entered the second century, such analogies in language
and practice helped to accelerate the globalizing process, by which international-level
interactions became ever more linked. Yet as they did so, these broad similarities also
masked some underlying differences that meant that the various parties in an international
interaction could often be thinking, assuming, and intending to communicate quite
divergent ideas.333 Such gaps through which communication could get lost in
translation between Greek and Latin (not to mention other linguistic) frames of reference
were in the process of important change during the second century. For as international
contacts became ever more linked, various groups tangled with miscommunication,
derived new frames of reference or redefined current terms, and learned more about
maneuvering their interactions with each other. The end result was an overall shift in the

333

This phenomenon falls clearly into Whites sociological concept of a middle ground cf. White
(2010).

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normative and essentially semantic field with which political interactions were perceived
on an international level. And this shift was moving with increasing speed during the
second century. At its heart was the very concept of statehood, which, as the Roman state
evolved and expanded, stretched the old polis-based models of the Hellenistic world and
redefined not only Romes traditional system but also the very fabric of international
arch.
Among the various Greek-speaking groups around the Hellenistic Mediterranean,
the understanding of statehood was ultimately based upon the unit of the polis. To follow
Aristotles characterization, this unit could be conceptualized as a koinnia politn
politeias a collective of citizens involved in the procedures of a communitys
constitution, a.k.a. its functions toward balanced self-sufficiency (autarkeia).334 In
expanding beyond their original bounds, poleis of the classical period in turn pioneered a
new collective, in which they banded together to form leagues (koina), often with some
basis in myth-historical ethn.335 Above the level of polis and koinon, therefore, there
continued to exist though with increasing prominence and interconnectivity (to use
Polybius term) a select number of elite international figures, engaged in ambassadorial
missions, military campaigns, and civic (euergetistic) service.

334

Cf. Aristotle, Pol. 1274b.39-1275a.1, 1276b.1-2; and Cartledge (1998: definition on p. 40); Dmitriev
(2005: 289); Vlassopoulos (2007: 71ff.). See also Sakellariou (1989), on the interactions among modern
and ancient definitions of polis; and Hansen (2000: 173; 2006), with a greater focus on archaic and
classical periods, and on relationships between urban and rural spaces. A good summary of scholarship on
the issues of defining the concept of polis can be found in Villet (2011).
335 On the networking of cities and formation of leagues, see Ma (2003); Mackil (2003); Walbank (2010:
20ff.). On the rise of polis elites to the level of international standing, see Savalli-Lestrade (2003);
Strootman (2011).

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Above this level were superimposed even more powerful international individuals
kings. Projected beyond the rank of regular citizenship within individual poleis and/or
leagues, kings were in some ways pan-Hellenic citizens, operating outside mainstream
politeiai.336 As such, they could direct from above the workings of various koinniai that
looked to them as hegemons. Kings exercised control via royal overseers, generals, and
other officials (who were often among the kings Philoi),337 as well as via the occasional
hand in polis-level elections and the activities of city officials, making replacements and
direct armed intervention only when trouble and outright insurrection arose.338 All the
same, their power, at its most stable and wide-ranging, relied heavily upon the favor of
and positive image among the Greek poleis and their leading citizens, both within their
regions of hegemony and within those of their rivals.339 And closely linked to this
interdependency was a growth in the intensity of pan-Hellenic discourse, complete with
its accompanying concepts of philia and syngeneia.340
Within this international structuration of political thought, Rome was first and
foremost perceived, from the outside and according to Greek semantics, as a polis.
Roman citizens themselves (in all their variety) would not have been unaware of the
336

Kings would occasionally reference their city of origin in terms reminiscent of the standard poliscitizenship model e.g. Welles, RC 45, ll. 4-5; RC 67 (= OGIS 331 IV), ll. 5-6; RC 71 (= OGIS 257), ll.
15-16. However, their public rhetoric more often revolved around pan-Hellenic statements and sentiment,
since these provided greater diplomatic opportunities. Note also that Roman terminology tended to insist
that monarchs be addressed as King of ___(x)___ region/tribe/people, whereas Greek terminology did not
see Ando (1999: 16), with citations.
337 Cf. Bringmann (1993); Savalli-Lestrade (1996, 1998).
338 Cf. Dmitriev (2005: 291-296), with citations.
339 See the precedent-setting example made by Antigonus in 311 BCE below, pp. 178ff.
340 On the relationships and interdependencies between poleis and Hellenistic kings, see Ma (1999, 2005);
ONeil (2000); Strootman (2011). On philia, syngeneia, and pan-Hellenic discourse, see the discussions
above in chapter 3.

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categorization. And over the course of third- and second-century BCE interstate
interactions between Rome and the Hellenistic Greek-speaking world, the Roman
Republic was mostly treated as a polis, distinct and separate from the regions of its arch,
the areas over which it had hegemony.341 Polybius uses a number of terms to capture this
international power arrangement: e.g. referring to Romes dunasteia, and the Romans as
egkrateis or kratountes. The terms found ready, though at times illusory, analogies in the
Roman concepts of potestas and maiestas, and in certain aspects of Romes approach to
her Italian allies.342 Yet conceptual change was in the air. For during the second century,
there was a building awareness that Rome represented a unique development in the
system of international power (as we began to see in the previous chapter). Prior
assumptions and the disjunctions between Latin and Greek semantics were being broken
wide open by experience. A new Hellenistic order was emerging.

POLIS & RES PUBLICA: DISJUNCTIVE CONCEPTS

Greek-speaking intellectuals and leading politicians thus faced a number of
adjustments during the second century, for they ultimately had to understand the Roman
other in Greek terms, and as possessing Greek-like features, in order to negotiate
where they stood by comparison. As such, Romes position in the Hellenistic world was
being framed within prevalent paradigms of interstate power-over. At the same time,
however, the Roman system represented something new, a combination of the directions

341

E.g. Heraclides Ponticus, characterizing Rome as a Greek city (quoted in Plut. Cam. 22.2). See
discussions in Gruen (1984: 316ff.); Ando (1999); Woolf (2001: 313ff.); Millar (2002: Ch. 1).
342 Cf. Ando (1999; 2011).

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in which Hellenistic international politics were already trending namely, towards a mix
of different politeiai (kings, poleis, leagues, etc.) brought into an organic whole
(somatoeides). The end result was not only a frequent misreading of the apparent outward
analogies between Greek and Roman cultures analogies that were only compounded by
long histories of varied contact and influence. It was also a head-on collision between,
and a re-definition and assimilation of the concepts being forcibly translated e.g. polis
<-> urbs; politeia <-> res publica; or arch/dunasteia <-> imperium.
As an expression of statehood, res publica was an entity that diverged from
former polis-arch models.343 At the heart of the matter stood the differences in perceived
bounds of citizenship, made manifest in the linguistic divergence between populus
Romanus and its Greek equivalent, dmos Romain. The latter (in part via use of the
genitive) expressed a particular portion of a group of individuals a group (i.e.,
Romans) that by tradition was conceived as an ethnos and/or koinon, in turn connected
to a central polis.344 However, the Latin concept articulated a collective that went beyond
the Greek lines of polis, koinon, or ethnos. The populus Romanus was instead a political
cooperative that transcended geographic or ethnic space, in a manner that was analogous
to contemporary pan-Hellenism, but was distinguished by its maiestas an invested,
sovereign power for which Hellenistic Greeks of the second century had no clear

343

Note that even by the Augustan period, Greeks had trouble translating res publica: the Greek text of the
Res Gestae uses four different phrases (1.1: ta koina pragmata; 1.4: ta dmosia pragmata; 2: patris;
and 34.1: panta ta pragmata) to cover the concept! Cf. Judge (1974: 280-285). Ta dmosia pragmata
is also used in the Augustan Cyrene Edicts, II.45.
344 On these intersecting Greek concepts, see Sakellariou (1989, esp. pp. 163ff.); Beck (1997: 188ff.). On
the disjunction between populus Romanus and demos Romain, see Ando (1999: 14-15).

143

equivalent.345 As a result, the res publica, by virtue of its semantic core, had quite
permeable bounds. Built upon collective subscription and constructed out of mutual
consent, its political mass could be uniquely expanded by, rather than channeled along,
lines of ethn and poleis. This was because its membership involved not just citizenship
(the Hellenistic world was already discovering the porosities here),346 but was determined
by levels of participation in Roman ius. Cicero, a century later, best summarizes the
uniquely Roman cooperative that resulted:
Est igitur res publica res populi, populus autem non omnis hominum coetus
quoquo modo congregatus, sed coetus multitudinis iuris consensu et utilitatis
communione sociatus.
therefore, the res publica is the res populi, but a populus is not every crowd of
men, gathered for any reason, but a crowd bound by consensual commitment to a
particular normative order (ius) and by common interest.347
Therefore, although Greeks could very well comprehend the basic shared notions
of citizenship and polis, they were not doing so on the same level. And this disjunction
had broader implications. Since the Roman populus had maiestas, it was ultimately the
political body that conferred power upon magistrates, who were chosen to bear certain

345

This paralleled the manner in which civitas in Latin conferred the idea of a body-politic Only by
the Augustan period do we find evidence for maiestas being translated into Greek (see Ando [1999: 15ff.])
and although these translations may have existed earlier (second century?), they are far from semantic
equivalents: theiots (divine-nature/divinity) and asebeia (profaneness/sacrosanctity). Also, both of
these terms become uniquely and directly associated with the figure of the emperor (Augustus as
Sebastos), and thus correlate with the evolution of Hellenistic ruler-cult toward imperial cult. The earliest
evidence of theiots as a translation of maiestas comes from Aphrodisias (imperial cult center?) cf.
Reynolds (1980: 73-74); and of asebeia (in the context of an imperial maiestas trial) in Philo, Flaccus 128.
346 Namely, in terms of the increasingly overlapped, multiple citizenships via isopolity, sympolity, and
proxeny cf. Reger (2004); Billows (2007b); Burstein (2008)
347 Rep. 1.39.1. Interestingly enough, Cicero has this definition put into the mouth of Scipio Est igitur,
inquit Africanus See also Cic. Mur. 51; Gell. 10.20.5. For the subject of an underlying ideology of
consensus operating within Latin texts, see Ruggiero, Diz. Epigr., s.v. consensus (p. 605); Instinky
(1940); Nicolet (1979: 332-339); Ando (1999: 14).

144

allocated authorities (imperium, potestas, officium).348 On an international level, the

significance of this relationship, with powers granted from maiestas populi to
magistratus, was that Roman magistrates acting abroad held imperia, sacrosanct rights
of command or missions to take military and/or diplomatic action, that extended
beyond geographic or political lines of sovereignty from the standpoint of other states.349
It was for this reason in part that the edges of Romes sphere of hegemonic activity had
such seemingly blurred boundaries, and that Roman actions overseas could seemingly
alternate between completely hands-off and full-on interventionist. The sort of (nearparanoid) reaction this could cause among Hellenistic Greeks in the mid-century is
illustrated in a letter written by Attalus II of Pergamon to Attis, priest in Pessinus (ca. 159
BCE):
to come to a hasty decision without them [the Romans] seemed to hold great
danger. For to us, if successful, it would accrue envy, a taking-away (of success)
and hateful suspicion, such as they conceived about my brother (Eumenes), and if
unsuccessful, ruin in plain sight: for (in the latter case) they would not turn back
toward us, but it would give them pleasure to see (our disaster), because we had
set such things in motion without them. But as things are at present, if may it
never happen we were unsuccessful in anything, after having, with their
approval, done each and every thing, we would receive their help and might
retrieve a defeat, with the goodwill of the gods. Therefore, I decided in each
instance to send to Rome men who would immediately report (to the Romans)
those things about which we are in doubt, and, for ourselves, to make
preparations350
348

This thinking behind this formulation, by which the powers of a magistrate were conceptually
subordinated to the maiestas of the populus, continued as late as Ulpian: cf. Dig. 1.4.1.pr. (The wishes of
the princeps have the force of law because the populus transfers to him and into him its power of command
[imperium] and its powers of jurisdiction [potestas] by that lex regia which is passed concerning the
imperium of the princeps.). See also Cic. Leg. 3.2-5.
349 The disjunction here i.e. with regards to respective sovereignties largely contributed to Hellenistic
states often misunderstanding the full import of Roman deditio, with quite disastrous consequences see
below p. 279.
350 Translated text from Sherk, no. 29, ll.12-23 (= OGIS 315C VI; RC 61)

145

The imperia invested in Roman magistrates and the lack of direct parallels in
the Greek world also resulted in the misinterpretation that Romes Senate was a council
(Boul) of kings.351 And with good reason: into the second century and beyond,
individual Roman generals in the East continued to play into this confusion (though they
might not have recognized it as confusion). For example, they fulfilled roles analogous to
those of Hellenistic kings.352 Evidence suggests that at the far extreme, it became
increasingly necessary for Romans themselves to put some limits upon holders of
imperium. During the second century, various measures, such as the appointment of
recuperatores, institution and modification of a quaestio de repetundis, and later, a
delineation of limits on the exercise of magistrate imperia all reveal both the occurrence
and recognition of such abuses.353 Hellenistic Greeks, in turn, began to navigate the

351

Cf. Plut. Pyrrh. 19.5-7 (where Pyrrhus envoy to the Senate purportedly made this characterization);
and Polyb. 6.12.9 (where Polybius acknowledges that contemporaries may very well mistake individual
Roman magistrates, when viewed in isolation, as kings).
352 The examples are well known. Among them: Flamininus presiding at the Nemean Games, just like
Philip V only a few years earlier (cf. Plut. Flam. 12; Polyb. 10.26.1); Paullus placing his own statue on a
base intended for use by Perseus at Delphi (cf. Plut. Aem. 28.2), and using the Macedonian royal library
and hunting grounds (cf. Plut. Aem. 28.6; Polyb. 31.29.3-6); the acceptance by Flamininus and other
Roman magistrates of divine-like honors (see above, pp. 95ff.); and their use of regal diplomatic language
e.g. philia, eunoia, etc. (see, among others, Ma [2003]).
353 Examples include the following: (1) recuperatores: 171 BCE by senatorial decision, panels of five
such judges were allocated by the new praetor for each Spanish plaintiff alleging to have had property
stolen by previous commanders the Spanish plaintiffs were also allowed to chose Roman patroni to plead
their cases (these apparently included figures as illustrious as Cato the Elder and Aemilius Paullus) cf.
Livy 43.2; (2) quaestio de repetundis: first instituted in 149 BCE by the lex Calpurnia, revised by Gaius
Gracchus in 123/2 BCE, and preserved in part on the Tabula Bembina bronze tablet (ca. 111 BCE) see
Lintott (1981, 1992); RS 1, 45-51. In essence, this quaestio allowed for former holders of imperium to be
brought to trial, but only by those claiming to have been wronged seeking recompense. As Jones (1972: 5051) has noted, this example is an interesting development in Romes interaction with non-citizens, within
those areas that fell within an imperium-holders provincia, because, the court of repetundae in this early
stage of its development has a curious blend of public and private legal procedure; (3) limits on exercising
imperia: in a statute dated ca. 100 BCE, preserved in two fragmentary translations into Greek (one from
Delphi, the other from Knidos) = RS 12 reference is made to a recent lex Porcia, banning a holder of

146

difficulties of dealing with multiple kingly figures, as juxtaposed with a maiestas populi
Romani, by adopting such conventions as the title, Romans, common benefactors,
alongside personifications of the Roman state as Demos Romain or Thea Rhom.354 At
the same time, Greeks grappled with the concept of Roman citizenship, which they were
gradually coming to realize was something that went beyond their traditional norms of
politeia.355 Some of these realizations are reflected in a letter written by Philip V, in
which he bitterly ascribed Roman success to the granting of citizenship to even their
slaves when they free them, giving them a share in the offices356 a statement that was
at least in part motivated by a desire to propagandize against Rome, yet was also a
statement that could only be compelling by referencing current stereotypes.357

BECOMING THE POLIS OF EMPIRE

By the late Republic, however, these difficulties with conceptualizing Roman
statehood and the Greek worlds position therein show signs of converging upon a new
conceptual conclusion that Rome was the polis of empire that is a worldwide

imperium from marshaling an army, marching, or otherwise traveling beyond the assignments of his
provincia, unless granted senatorial permission. Later reference to this lex Porcia (from Termessus Maior
in Pisidia = RS 19, col. II, ll. 13-17) also mentions restrictions on holders of imperium making military
requisitions from an allied state. See Richardson (2008: 37ff.) for discussion of these examples.
354 Romans as common benefactors see Erskine (1994). See also above p. 113.
355 We see this in a lingering tendency among Greek-speakers to conflate the many different Italian groups
with Roman see Appians account (probably gained from an earlier source), on the first-century BCE
Mithridatic massacre of Romans, as targeting anyone wearing Roman-style dress Mith. 22.83, 23.91.
356 Burstein no. 65, ll.32-33 (= IG IX 2.577; Syll.3 543).
357 See also Diodorus thoughts on Roman citizenship (as opposed to Greek practices), Ant.Rom. 2.16-17;
and ibid. 7.53.5 (in a speech given to Ap. Claudius, though heightening the degree of allegiance usually
associated by Greeks between colonies and their metropoleis): For all the Latins, to whom we [Romans]
recently gave equal rights of citizenship, will stand by us, fighting for this polis as if their patria, and the
many good cities colonized from here will protect Rome, regarding it as imperative that their metropolis be
saved

147

kingdom with Greeks (and others) across the oikoumen living in a sort of supra-polis
(in Latin terms, a communis patria358). Such thinking, which achieved further
solidification in the Augustan age, was an organic, though by no means inevitable,
evolution out of Hellenistic developments in interaction with Rome. The eventual
conceptualization of empire thus brought together as parts of a new amalgam the
following key ingredients: monarchic arch (as embodied by [Thea] Rhm359 and later,
the figure of Augustus Sebastos) with Roman civic maiestas and potestas; the
jurisdictional collectivities and shared citizenships of koina with those of Roman civitas
and Latinum ius; the modes of kinship and friendship rooted in metropolis-apoikia
relationships mixed with those rooted in Roman patronage; and a trend toward defining
Hellenicity in terms of an international ethos, mixed with an increasing tendency among
Romans to adaptively implement such Hellenic modes to their own, Roman-specific
uses.360
The second century was the crucible out of which such a new model for empire
first began to coalesce. The progression is made evident in part by the Romans own use
of the terms provinciae and imperium.361 These two terms together underwent a series of
subtle yet ultimately ground-shifting changes from the second to the first centuries BCE.
Evidence shows that, at least from the third century, provincia was originally used to
designate the mission or task for a magistrate granted imperium, or individual military
358

Sentiments voiced by Cic. Leg. 2.5: We consider as our patria both the place where we were born,
and that place by which we are adopted. But that [communis] patria must be preeminent in our affections,
in which the name of the res publica signifies the common citizenship of us all
359 See above pp. 110ff.
360 For Hellenicity as increasingly an ethos not ethnos, see Eckstein (2002b: 848).
361 The following discussion and selection of passages rely on research done by Richardson (2005, 2008).

148

command, by the populus Romanus.362 Only by extension, and over time with increasing
frequency, did imperium also gain the sense of nostrum imperium, i.e. the command of
the Roman people, as then wielded by an individual magistrate.363 And by the early
decades of the first century, imperium had also acquired a more universal meaning, one
that transferred the general sense of Roman command onto a broader plane that of
world empire, signifying Romes command over the oikoumen.364
The connotations of imperium were thus to develop significantly from the third to
the first centuries BCE, from mere indications of the command of an individual, to a
more generalizing, Roman command, to an abstract and universalizing imperium, one
that showed signs of claiming control over the whole oikoumen: a Roman empire, in
a sense that was only strengthened and given more formal definition in the Augustan
period.365 And as the concept of imperium transformed, so did that of provincia. In a
similar trajectory, it evolved from signifying the designated task for a holder of

362

See Richardson (2008: Ch. 2); and above pp. 139ff.

The phrase, nostro imperio, is first attested in a speech of Cato the Elder, dated to 167 BCE = ORF no.
8.164. A similar use of imperium can also be found in Q. Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus funeral oration for
Scipio Aemilianus (129 BCE), as quoted by Cicero (Mur. 75) = ORF no. 49.3.
364 This can be seen specifically in the text of Rhet. ad Her., early 80s BCE (- once thought to have been
written by Cicero see Caplan [1970]). Here, imperium continued to retain its general meaning, as
imperium populi Romani e.g. Rhet. ad Her. 4.13. See also the use of imperium to describe a series of
dominant Greek poleis (each having command), at Rhet. ad Her. 4.34. At the same time, however, it
accrued general meaning: sociis, qui pro nobis pugnare et imperium nostrum nobiscum simul virtute et
industria conservare soliti sunt. (Rhet. ad Her. 4.13); followed by a sense of Roman command over the
oikoumen: nedum illi imperium orbis terrae, cui imperio omnes gentes, reges, nationes partim vi, partim
voluntate consenserunt, cum aut armis aut liberalitate a populo Romano superati essent, ad se transferre
tantulis viribus conarentur (again in Rhet. ad Her. 4.13); and Quodsi concordiam retinebimus in civitate,
imperii magnitudinem solis ortu atque occasu metiemur (Rhet. ad Her. 4.44).
365 On the development of a defined Roman imperium in the Augustan period, see esp. Richardson (2008:
Ch. 4)
363

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imperium, only sometimes associated with general geographic regions,366 to, by the
Augustan era, referencing specifically defined geographic, and more importantly,
administrative units. The process took place as more specific limits (both spatial and in
terms of executive powers) were placed upon Roman magistrates acting abroad, as the
Roman state gained experience in an accumulating number of ad hoc cases. For example,
an imperium-holders provincia could gain a defined geographical boundary when that
magistrates mission happened to focus on an area close to a kingdom whose
boundaries were, or had been, expressly recognized in a treaty with Rome. Alternatively,
limitations could be placed upon a commander when certain areas were not considered a
direct part of his allotted task, or when two commanders held neighboring missions and a
line was needed between them.367
In turn, by the end of the second century, Greek-speakers had responded to these
Roman behaviors, and had rehashed their own, relatively recent, and technical military
term in order to translate provincia: eparcheia. Earliest attestations of eparcheia date to
the late third and early second centuries, when Philo, in his manual on siege warfare, used
it to indicate a body of troops,368 and when Eumachus of Naples (cited by Phlegon of
Tralles) used it to reference an area a sector of command around the city of
Carthage.369 Polybius also adopted the term, and often in a similar light, to refer to sectors

366

Cf. Richardson (1994: 564-571; 2008: 16ff.); Lintott (1993: 22-23), contra the old debate regarding
Roman annexation in the second century cf. Harris (1979: 131-162).
367 See Richardson (2008: 27ff.), for detailed discussion of these examples. For his discussion of using
Livy to reconstruct such examples, see ibid. p. 13ff.
368 Philo Byz. Parasc. 4.6.
369 FGrH 178, F 2 = Phlegon, Mir. 18.

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controlled by Carthage or Syracuse in Sicily,370 or to a sector in the immediate vicinity of

Rome.371
Over time, however, and most likely as it began to be used as the Greek
equivalent for provincia,372 eparcheia gained increasingly geographical and bounded
connotations and may even have played a role in enhancing the evolution of provincia
itself in this direction. Such developments can be detected subtly in the occasional
passage in Polybius, when he chooses eparcheia to reference territories designated to
Rome and Carthage in the treaties signed at the end of the First Punic War.373 Provincia
and eparcheia thus seem to have converged upon a central conception, which entailed a
more definitively geographical, yet also predominantly military-based area of control
(especially in the wake of recent conflict).
And they continued to do so, as the Roman Senate began to continuously allot key
provinciae, and as the state inherited entire Hellenistic kingdoms by bequest (e.g.
Pergamon in 133 BCE; Cyrene in 96 BCE).374 The converging shift in meaning between
provincia and eparcheia can also be detected in the Greek text of a letter written to the
guild of Dionysian artists by a Roman magistrate (whom most believe was Mummius as

370

Polyb. 1.15.10; 1.17.6; 1.38.7; 7.4.2.

Polyb. 2.19.2.
372 E.g., eparcheia occurs in the Greek text of a Roman statute, ca. 100 BCE, preserved in fragments from
Delphi and Knidos = RS 12. Other parallel uses of eparcheia, during the early first century BCE, include:
RDGE no. 18, ll. 76-7, 114-5 (81 BCE); RDGE no. 20, l. G10 (80 BCE); RDGE no. 22, l. 29 (78 BCE); and
Epig. Anat. 14 (1989), ll. 32-5, 39-40, 43-4 (citing a law of 75 BCE).
373 Polyb. 3.27.4; 3.29.10.
374 On these processes, see Crawford (1990); Richardson (1986; 2008).
371

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commander in 146 BCE).375 Although the first lines of what survives at the conclusion of
this letter are damaged, the phrase eparcheia Romain is used to preface the granting
of certain immunities to the guild, among them being the billeting of troops
(anepistathmeutous) and tribute/tax payments (ateleis kai aneisphorous pass eisphoras).
Presumably, then, eparcheia was here being used to refer to an area of (Roman) control
within which such benefits were to be valid, and/or to the powers vested in Mummius
that allowed him make such grants. Only a few years later, such combined territorialmilitary connotations are again evident this time in an inscription settling a land dispute
between the Lacedaimonians and Messenians (and arbitrated by Milesians). The text cites
an earlier land-decision made by the consul Mummius when he was in that
eparcheia376 i.e. when he was present as military commander within, and, at least for
his designated term, over that particular region.
When viewed as a whole, therefore, the evolution of both imperium and provincia
marked a significant change in the perception of Roman power from the third into the
first centuries BCE, with Rome morphing into a commanding (though somewhat foreign)
hegemon on the international stage. And added to this view was another assessment: that
Rome was transforming even further, into the very embodiment of a worldwide polis. By
the close of the second century, an author of a geographic Periegesis (known only by his
modern name, Pseudo-Skymnos) could thus compare Rome, the polis by virtue of her

375

= RDGE no. 44 (l. 2) = Sherk no. 37; IG VII 2413. See Bertrand (1982) and Kallet-Marx (1995: 43-4,
349-52).
376 = Syll.3 683, ll. 63-5 = Ager no. 159.

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power and name to a star seen and shared by the entire world.377 And by the end of the
first century, Diodorus could present Roman power to the Greek world in an even more
unified vision. For he showcased Rome as truly unique in the historical progression of
world empires, precisely because her power was not an empire or arch in the old
sense, but was instead a greater koinonia into which all other poleis and communities
were fitted.378 For Diodorus, Roman imperium thus represented a natural culmination of
the fundamental Aristotelian tenet: that mankind innately tended to organize into political
collectivities. From this intellectual perspective, then, Rome represented the ultimate
achievement of at least some version of pan-Hellenic unity, something dreamed of but
never fully realized in the earlier Hellenistic age. Polybius voiced these ideals, noting that
the ideal koinon was in the form of a single polis,379 and in the writing of the Histories,
setting the express purpose to study the processes of his time, which he believed were
bringing all of world history into an organic whole (somatoeides) and its events toward a
single telos.
Out of the interchanges of the second century, then, something new had
developed. The Roman (inter-)state system that had evolved by the third century, for the
most part in Italy, had in turn become modulated by interaction with Hellenistic norms.
And what had eventually developed was a unique amalgam, in which once separate and
analogous, yet at times also divergent perspectives had converged. In the war of ideas as
377

Ps.-Symnus, ll. 231-234, in Mller, Geogr. Graec. Min. I: 205: /

, / For more on
Pseudo-Scymnus, see Bravo (2009).
378 E.g. Diod. 1.1.3, where he refers to his work within the framework of a common history of the world,
as though of a single polis. This approach is discussed in Ando (1999: 24-25) see also Sacks (1990).
379 Words spoken in discussion of his native Achaian League at Polyb. 2.37.9-11.

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much as in the wars of men, Rome was in the process of re-defining empire, becoming
the polis of the oikoumen, her imperium a virtual constellation always visible across its
sky, and her inhabitants made to negotiate local, regional traditions and communities
within a global koinonia.380

POLYBIUS & ROMES POLITEIA

But about the Roman politeia, it is neither at all easy to explain the present situation
(owing to its complicated character), nor to foretell the future (owing to our ignorance of
the peculiar features of public and private life at Rome in the past)...
---Polybius 6.3.3
Despite, and perhaps even further driven by, the difficulties of translating Latin
concepts into Greek thought, Polybius pressed on, motivated by a desire to mend the gaps
in understanding, to fully grasp and explain Rome as a Hellenized other. As is well
known, the focus of an entire book (Book 6), at the fulcrum-point of his Histories
(following the Battle of Cannae), was a discussion of politeiai, with an emphasis on
characterizing the politeia of Rome. It is here that we see Polybius both grappling with
the difficulties and responding to contemporary patterns of thought in considering Roman
power as a phenomenon that was at once familiar and analogous, alien and innovative
with respect to the Hellenistic Greek-speaking world.
For while Rome could be said to be a polis with power over others, such as
other poleis or ethn, at the same time, the structures had changed. At the root of these
changes was the fact that the Roman state was something other than a typical Greek polis

380

On this last, see (among others), the contributions in van Dommelen and Terrenato, eds. (2007).

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(in itspoliteia? Greeks had no better word!). In addition, the Roman state encompassed
an arch that was on a new conceptual level, extending over and above kings, and
reaching across eastern and western portions of the Mediterranean, seemingly pulling
them together into a singular organism (somatoeids). Polybius placed his observations of
this phenomenon, as well as its potentially awe-inspiring implications, at the very outset
of his work, as a main driving force for its whole purpose:



, ... ;
For who is so worthless or indolent as not to wish to know by what means and
under what system of polity the Romans, in less than fifty-three years, have
succeeded in subjecting nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole
government a thing unique in history ?381
Note how Polybius use of Greek limits his ability to convey some uniquely
Roman features. The best way he can attempt to explain Rome, to interpret and find
causes for Roman success, both from his native cultural experience and with a Greekspeaking audience, is on a level of politeia. He must essentially use a Greek-specific
concept in his text, a concept for which Latin held no clear or accurate equivalent, in
order to explain the uniqueness of the Roman res publica and its growth into a world
power.382

381

Polyb. 1.1.5.
As acknowledged by Cicero writing a century later, and evidenced in his use of a great deal of
circumlocution to explain the concept of politeia in Latin cf. Att. 7.8.4; Rep. 1.41; Leg. 1.15 and
discussion in Ando (1999).
382

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In many ways, this problematic process exemplified difficulties being faced by

Polybius contemporaries. Yet at the same time, it is of key importance to Polybius as an
individual, in his perspectives in writing the Histories as a guidebook to statesmen. For in
Polybius estimation, this was the heart of the matter that Romes politeia was a key
factor, not only in her recovery from the disaster at Cannae, but also in her oikoumenwide success. It was thus within Book 6 that Polybius presented his views on the theories
of anacyclosis that is, of a cycle of government-types in the lifespan and final death
and/or decay of all poleis.383
To summarize Polybius version of the theory: from out of chaos, order first
evolves in the form of monarchy, which formalizes into kingship (basileia) and degrades
into its worst configuration, tyranny. From there, the ousting of a tyrant brings about an
aristocracy, which degrades to oligarchy. Oligarchs are then overthrown and replaced by
a democracy, which for Polybius disintegrates into the most disastrous type of politeia,
mob-rule (ochlocracy), only a few ominous steps away from a return to utter chaos and a
re-hashing of the entire cycle.384 In the end, Polybius came to the now archetypal (though
perhaps misleadingly translated) mixed constitution conclusion, that the optimum
system of polis was one in which there is united, all the good and distinctive features of

383

On the intersecting subjects of Polybius, types of politeiai, and theories of anacyclosis, see Walbank
(1943); Brink and Walbank (1954); Cole (1964 esp. for the development of Polybius own approach to
anacyclosis); and Podes (1991).
384 Polyb. 6.5.4-6.9.10

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the best politeiai, so that none of the principles should grow unduly and be perverted into
its allied evil.385
This Polybian theory matters on a number of different levels. Its prominent, even
clichd position that is, for a modern audience inherently trained in, even distantly
influenced by his sort of cultural analysis on the rise of Rome gets at three main
interrelated subjects that are directly relevant to the present study: (1) that Polybius (like
his contemporaries) conceived of politics in an international frame; (2) that his account
testifies to contemporary views of Rome as a state and as an international power; and (3)
that his account served a key role in positioning 146 as a significant historical juncture.
To clarify:
1.

Polybius explores though he does not use such terminology internal-external

dynamics. That is, he first examines cultural-specific (e.g. Roman) features (in modern
IR-theory terms, first and second level features), and how they play out and affect
change on an international (third) level. Then, with a less emphasized and more
intrinsic focus, he investigates how international-level relations and power structures
affect internal (first and second level) features. Such analyses continue to be deployed
and raise debate over internal vs. external factors in the field of IR studies (see above and
Appendix). This field in turn has own long history of interaction with Polybius, who is

385

Polyb. 6.10.6. Polybius is largely building upon Aristotelian analysis of politeiai see Bates (2003);
Biondi (2007) Such ideas are today associated with the phrase, mixed constitution, a term that actually
coalesced within medieval political thought (with a different connotation from classical or Hellenistic
terminologies). It is believed by some to have originated with Sir Thomas Aquinas for more on this
subject, see Blythe (1992); Bates (2003: 102).

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often claimed as an important forefather, even as a sort of proto-Realist.386 Reading

Polybius from any of the many available modern IR theoretical approaches is thus, at its
very core, in the spirit of Polybius own work as it was written and intended in the second
century.387 In other words, viewing international relations from the perspective of a third
level was essentially what Polybius was doing. However and this is important
modern scholarship does not follow the precepts and viewpoint of Polybius alone in this
regard. For Polybius was in step with contemporary, second-century thought on this
subject, which perceived the existence of a Hellenistic oikoumen and a cyclical world
history.388 The present study thus aims to pull out some of the third-level evidence
available in Polybius text, to see how the entity Polybius calls the Roman politeia its
first and second levels interacted, displayed itself, was received, was changed, and in
turn brought about change in the international system with an eye to the presentation
and reception of 146. This then leads to the next two subjects:

386

For the relationship between Polybius and modern IR- theory Realism in particular see Walbank
(1990: 87); Podes (1991); Hardt and Negri (2000: Ch. 3.5); Eckstein (2006: 48-9); Little (2006: 66);
Champion (2009: 253). Much of this relationship goes back to Machiavelli (often considered the first
modern Realist), who was deeply influenced by Polybius see Fritz (1954: vi, and Ch. 3, esp. p. 51); de
Grazia (1989: 94); Donnelly (2000: 173-4); Whelan (2004: 59-62, 92-97); and the discussion from the
standpoint of (the history of) Polybius scholarship in Eckstein (1995: 16ff.). See the discussion above in
chapter 2, as well as in the Appendix.
387 See, for example, Polybius statements (1.2.7-8): In the course of this work, it will become more
clearly intelligible by what steps this power [of Rome, immeasurably greater than any which preceded it]
was acquired, and it will also be seen how many and how great advantages accrue to the student from the
systematic treatment of history. -and (1.4.9-11): we can get some idea of a whole from a part, but
never knowledge or exact opinion. Special histories therefore contribute very little to the knowledge of the
whole and conviction of its truth. It is only indeed by study of the interconnection of all the particulars,
their resemblances and differences, that we are enabled at least to make a general survey, and thus derive
both benefit and pleasure from history.
388 See discussion below pp. 322ff.

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2.

Polybius views not only those presented in his analysis of Romes politeia in
Book 6, but also those throughout his work provide valuable, at times
circumstantial clues to the prevailing norms and ideologies of his day. In doing
so, they offer a means for reconstructing the ways in which Rome as a state,
Romans as international figures, and Roman power were perceived on an
international, systemic (and through the eyes of Polybius, predominately
Hellenic) level. From here we can then build a context within which to read the
events surrounding 146 both in terms of normative behaviors and normative
change as well as Roman self-presentation and international-level response. This
points to the third, and final subject:

3.

It is the view taken here that Polybius played an active role in constructing 146 as
a turning-point in the perception of later generations, Roman and Hellenic alike.
His decision to modify the original purpose of his Histories and extend it to
include 146 as a new endpoint speaks volumes to his reaction to events in that
year. This decision and its influence on subsequent generations will be
discussed in more detail later on, but for now, it is important to note that the
decision was directly related to Polybius thinking in positing the analysis of
Romes politeia in Book 6. In other words, the political-philosophical views
espoused by Polybius, as brought to the fore in Book 6, help inform his reaction
to and interpretation of 146 as a significant juncture, a point at which to assess,
even critique Romes position as world hegemon. And at the same time, Polybius
views (as stated in point #2 above) also serve to reflect the international culture of
159

his time, and thus by extension, to gauge the types of reactions to 146 that could
have been felt, at the time, on an international level.
In order to get at these issues, it is thus necessary to review the pertinent
highlights of what is otherwise a well-known subject: Polybius analysis of Romes
politeia in Book 6.389 In this analysis, Polybius points to Romes uniquely balanced
politeia unlike any of its contemporaries as the fundamental secret to Romes
unparalleled success. As Polybius explains, within the Roman politeia, the powers of the
singular leading-figure, the best men/nobles, and the demos had come to share control of
the polis, to an unusual extent. Important in this process, in Polybius estimation, was that
the balance had resulted out of a competitive response and recovery by the Roman state
and its various constituents to each stage of development, with each moment of crisis and
degradation leading to only further growth and improvement.390 Such a trajectory was
contrasted with those of states with comparable polis-systems, which had also succeeded
for some time in combining the best elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy
and forestalling internal decay namely, Sparta and Carthage.391 For Polybius, an
essential determining factor marking these two states in a level above the less successful
but still apart from the truly unique success of Rome was the balanced interplay between
internal politeia, cultural ethics, and external mastery or rule (hegemonia/ epikrateia/

389

For the range of other studies, see (among others): Walbank (1943); Brink and Walbank (1954); Cole
(1964); Derow (1979); Lintott (1999: 16ff.); Millar (2002: 23ff.); Champion (2004).
390 Cf. Polyb. 6.10.13; 6.18.
391 Polybius outlines his quite biased reasoning for choosing Sparta and Carthage as comparative examples,
rather than Thebes (too short-lived, in his opinion), Athens (too heavily weighted toward its demos, which
always more or less resembles a ship without a commander), Crete (its koinon taken as a whole as too
morally corrupt and plagued by civil war), or Platos ideal Politeia (too unrealistic) at 6.43-47.

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despoteia) over others.392 Therefore, although Sparta possessed an optimal politeia and
cultural morals attuned to the maintenance of its Lycurgan system, when it came to
expansion and international relations, the system was not adequately equipped and
ultimately devolved into tyranny under Cleomenes and Nabis.393 The balance of the
Carthaginian politeia, on the other hand, was brought down by poorly framed cultural
morals and external policy, both of which put no stopgap on individual personal gains
and relied too heavily upon a mercenary rather than a citizen military force. In the end,
then, the Carthaginian politeia at the time of Cannae had, in Polybius view, already
tipped too heavily toward the will of the demos, putting it dangerously close to the perils
of ochlocracy.394
Polybius thus assembled an explanatory model for Romes rapid rise to
hegemony, viewing this rise as the result of a uniquely evolved politeia. In his view, the
Roman politeia had over time and through hardship become adapted to, rather than being
brought down by, a policy of conquest. This evolution had taken place because specific
social and legislative institutions had been developed that encouraged the pursuit of
individual personal honor (e.g. funeral orations) and punished instances of greed (e.g.
legislation against bribery).395 Such a system, according to Polybius, had reached its
acme around the time of Cannae, a pivotal moment from which Rome was able to recover
with redoubled energy and from which the beginning of an end for Carthage was
392

On the latter, see for example Polyb. 6.50 (esp. 6.50.3).

Polyb. 6.48-50. For Polybius opinion re: Spartas decline into tyranny, see 2.47.3 (on Cleomenes) and
4.81.12 (on both Cleomenes and Nabis).
394 See Polyb. 6.51-52 and 6.56.1-5.
395 Polyb. 6.48-56. Note how this explanatory model parallels certain modern scholarly perspectives on
Roman imperialism cf. above, pp. 15ff.
393

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sealed.396 The ability to integrate a policy of international conquest while maintaining or

even strengthening the balance of powers and morals within the polis was therefore a
cornerstone in Polybius political philosophy. But what about international governance,
or rule over others after initial conquest where did these subjects enter into Polybius
model?
To a certain extent, it was a standard assumption, prevalent throughout the
Hellenistic world and its intellectual circles, that the exercise of power by one politeia
over another was quintessentially an implementation of kingship, in a reflection of the
kosmos natural order. These notions were reflected by, and even found legitimization
within contemporary philosophical doctrines, which asserted that everywhere god has
appointed the superior to rule over inferior,397 and that only the wise man is [a real]
king.398 As a result, international, imperial actions, from conquest to diplomacy, were
modeled upon and supported by the norms of great and noble kingship, mapped out in
texts of continuing popularity, such as the Cyropaedia, and in numerous newer treatises
entitled (or subtitled) Peri Basileias, as well as in visual iconography tinged with notes of
the divine, in celebrations of grandiose military exploits, and in a discourse of panHellenism and euergetism that all together echoed the legends of Alexander.399

396

Cf. Polyb. 6.58; 5.7 (on which see below pp. 173ff.).
Cf. Dio 3.61, 73, etc.
398 Attributed to Zeno and Chrysippus cf. Diogenes Laertius, 7.122.
399 On the overall ideals and assumptions regarding Hellenistic kingship (which despite regional
differences shared certain international norms), see Goodenough (1928); Walbank (1985); Bringmann
(1993); Sherwin-White and Kuhrt (1993: 114ff.); Smith (1993); Bilde (1996); Gruen (1996); Ma (2005);
Eckstein (2009); Strootman (2011). In general, for the Cyropaedia, see Due (1989); Nadon (2001). As for
Hellenistic treatises on kingship, the majority are known only by their titles, but from these titles and from
the fragmentary citations to their texts, we can tell that they catered to prevailing interests in outlining (and
397

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International power was thus legitimized and de-legitimized in the language of kingly
ideals, no matter the form that power took be it Seleucid king or Rhodian nauarchos,
Achaian strategos, Carthaginian suffete, or Roman consul. Rule by those who
distinguished themselves as strong, fair, wise, and imposing, all in light of such kingly
ideals, thus gained international recognition. It was within this ideological framework
that power-over (arch) could be validated, within spear-won lands gained in the
course of justified wars (see below),400 and across a network of friendships, both with
other leading men and in levels of obligation to other states. It was therefore no
coincidence that the tradition developed that Scipio Aemilianus quoted from and always
had on hand a copy of the Cyropaedia.401 Despite all Roman distaste for the institution

broadcasting claims to) great and noble kingship cf. Murray (1971, 2007); Schofield (1999: 743ff.).
Examples include (in roughly chronological order, authors in bold): Aristotle, on kingship, in one book
probably the same work as symbouleutikos to Alexander, and perhaps stemming from Aristotles wellknown and groundbreaking discussion of kingship in Pol. 3 (cf. Cic. Att. 12.40.2, 13.28.2); Xenocrates,
Elements of Kingship, to Alexander in Four Books (Diogenes Laertius (=DL), 4.5, 13, 14); Anaxarchus,
On Kingship (ancient citations gathered by Dorandi, no. 65A-E and 66); Theophrastus, On Kingship,
followed by On the Education of a King (cf. P. Oxy 1611, ll.42-46; DL, 5.42, 49), and On Kingship,
Addressed to Cassander (the latter identified in antiquity as a forgery written by Sosibius, chief minister of
Egypt under Ptolemies III, IV, and V cf. Athenaeus, iv, p. 144e; also Murray, 2007: 18); Straton of
Lampsakos, On Kingship, in three volumes, and On the Philosopher King (DL, 5.58-64); Epicurus, On
Kingship an apparently satirical attack on the standard trope of companionship between king and
philosopher (DL, 10.28; Plut. Mor. 1095c); Cleanthes, On Kingship (DL, 7.175); Sphaerus, On Kingship
(DL, 7.178); Euphantus of Olynthus, On Kingship, For Antigonus Gonatas (DL, 2.110); Persaeus of
Kition (courtier of Antigonus and his military governor on Acrocorinth), On Kingship (DL 7.36). See also
Aristeas Letter to Philocrates, a letter to the authors brother during the reign of King Ptolemy
Philadelphus, preserved in a number of manuscripts, which encapsulate (among other agendas) many of the
Hellenistic ideals of noble kingship in the second century BCE cf. Murray (1967). Less securely datable
to the Hellenistic period are authors grouped together as the so-called Basileias Group: Pseudo-Ecphantus,
Diotogenes, and Sthenidas. All are cited as having written a Peri Basileias and quotes are provided by
the early fifth-century CE compiler, Stobaeus, in his Florilegium. Modern scholars date the Basileias Group
anywhere between the third and first centuries BCE or between the second and third centuries CE (notably
enough, a period of Hellenistic revival) cf. Blumenfeld (2004: 189ff.).
400 Below pp. 180ff.
401 Cic. Tusc. 2.62: Itaque semper Africanus Socraticum Xenophontem in manibus habebat, cuius in
primis laudabat illud, quod diceret eosdem labores non aeque gravis esse imperatori et militi, quod ipse

163

of monarchy, Romes culture of elite authority had nevertheless assimilated the

normative ideals for noble leadership in the Hellenistic world.
And in some ways, this Hellenistic system was already trending toward what
could be deemed as mixed-politeia interstate structures with kings, poleis (whether
primarily democratic, aristocratic, or monarchic), and leagues of poleis all forging
networks of alignment toward gaining greater exercise of international monarchy (i.e.
imperial power). Polybius had thought upon and made certain conclusions regarding this
context in his Histories. The attention he pays to Romes unique politeia in Book 6, when
taken with statements regarding Rome elsewhere, provide clues as to these
conclusions.402 On the one hand, Polybius expresses excitement at the potential benefits
of Rome becoming a new world power. With its uniquely vibrant politeia, Polybius sets
up a possible scenario that Rome could offer a new opportunity for unifying the
Hellenistic oikoumen, which over the past generations had been fraught with Greek-onGreek strife. Such views emerge in Polybius apparent awe at the whirlwind speed with

honos laborem leviorem faceret imperatorium. ref. to Xen. Cyropaed. 1.6.25; cf. Cic. Ad Q.Frat.
1.1.23.
402 Scholarship on Polybius views on Rome is quite extensive, in large part because of the central position
Polybius himself gives to the rise of Rome theme in his work, from the preface onwards, but also because
Polybius (at least in what remains of the Histories) is at times cryptic in his assessments some scholars
have detected a whole range of Polybian approaches, from slavish adulation to a possible change of heart,
to a self-contradictory perspective on Rome. For a selection of this scholarship, see Derow (1979);
Richardson (1979); Shimron (1979); Walbank (1963; 1974; 1990: 157ff.; 2002); Gruen (1984: 343ff.);
Dubuisson (1990); Eckstein (1995: 194ff.); Champion (2000a; 2000b; 2004: 47ff.); McGing (2010: 157ff.).
The view taken here is that Polybius held a naturally complex view of contemporary Rome. As a nativeGreek-speaking foreigner who had lived amongst and befriended Romans while in mandated political exile,
he at once admired aspects of Roman culture and the great potentials thereof, and felt a measure of
foreboding at what could transpire in the future, in the wake of Romes initial success for Romans and the
Hellenistic oikoumen alike.

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which Rome achieved world dominion,403 in his praises for Romes politeia404 and/or his
close friend Scipio,405 and in his accumulating hints at a tragic decline within the Greekspeaking world be it an ignobility of leadership,406 descent into ochlocracy for a
number of poleis,407 or in the sentiments expressed in speeches or in authorial approval
for Greek leaders and their policies, placed at important decision-making junctures in the
text.408 Polybius frustration at the sheer folly of his fellow Greeks (and Romes
contrasting talent for taking the reins at these moments) is perhaps best expressed in the
following passage:
many decisions of the Romans are now of this kind: availing themselves of the
mistakes of others, they effectively increase and build up their own power, at the
same time doing a favor and appearing to confer a benefit on the offenders.409
403

Polyb. 1.1.5, 6.2.2-3.

Cf. Polyb. 6.18, 6.42, 5.56.
405 See the extended digression in praise of Scipios virtues at Polyb. 31.25.2-31.30.
406 Cf. Polyb. 3.16.4 and 3.19.9 (on Demetrius of Pharus); 5.34.10 and 5.87.3 (on Ptolemy IV); 13.3-5,
15.20-24, 16.1.2, and 25.3.9 (on Philip V); 15.25 and 34 (on Agathocles of Alexandria); 18.55.7-9 (on the
Ptolemaic official, Polycrates, and Ptolemy of Megalopolis); 20.8 (on Antiochus III); 21.1 (on the
demagogue Molpagoras); 26.14-16 (on Alexander of Isus); 29.8-9 and 29.17-18 (on Eumenes and Perseus);
30.8-9 (on Rhodian statesmen, Deinon and Polyaratus); 33.5 (on Archias, Ptolemaic governor of Cyprus);
36.15 (on Prusias II of Bithynia); 39.7.7 (on Ptolemy VI). For comprehensive statements of disgust with
Greeks taken as a whole, see Polyb. 6.56.13-15, 36.17.7, 18.34.7. See also McGing (2010: 149ff.). For an
overall view of the period post-Pydna as one of tumult and commotion (tarach kai kinsis), see Polyb.
3.4.12 and below pp. 252ff.
407 E.g. Polyb. 4.17ff. (fall of Cynaetha, 220s BCE);7.10ff. (Messene, 215 BCE); 13.6.2 and 16.13.1-2
(Spartan tyrant Nabis rising to power by winning favor with the plthos); 15.21 (revolution and fall of Cius,
203-2 BCE); 15.25ff. (mob at Alexandria upon the overthrow of Agathocles, 200 BCE); 18.43.8 and 20.6-7
(Boeotians, 190s BCE); 38.11-12 (Achaians at Corinth, 147-6 BCE).
408 These sentiments are complex, and reveal the mixed reactions that various Greeks surely had toward
Roman power. Despite his depictions of this natural complexity, Polybius seems to have reserved special
praise for those Greek leaders who (at least in his opinion) strove for maintaining the nobility of Greek
autonomy (e.g. Hiero in 263 BCE cf. Polyb. 1.16, 1.83.3; Aratus in 225/4 BCE cf. 2.47-53; Aristaenus
in 198 BCE 18.13.8-10, and speech/policy at 24.11-13; Philopoemen in 198 BCE ibid. and 4.31.4;
Epirote statesmen Cephalus, 172 BCE 27.15.10-12) and for unity rather than discord among Greeks (e.g.
the famous words given to Agelaus of Naupactus, 217/6 BCE 5.104: It would be best of all if the Greeks
never made war on each other, but regarded it as the highest favor in the gift of the gods could they speak
ever with one heart and voice, and marching arm in arm like men fording a river, repel barbarian invaders
and unite in preserving themselves and their cities.). See the discussion in Eckstein (1995: 194ff.).
409 Polyb. 31.10.7.
404

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Taken as a whole, these clues imply that, for Polybius, Rome was quickly
becoming a new great-king for the world, and one unlike any other in history. This
phenomenon was made possible by Romes unique cultural position in the oikoumen, its
distinctive politeia, and its lack of any individual king to become corrupted (as in
Aristotles most devastating critique of monarchy and elsewhere in Polybius text).410 As
a sort of kingly-polis, Rome could thus bring about a natural-order unity to the
Mediterranean world as Polybius implies by the use of such terms for Roman dominion
as somatoeides and symplok.411 It was perhaps a utopic vision and an alluring dream
(and one that a number of later Romans would jostle to achieve with their own
Mediterranean-wide individual leadership Augustus being the ultimate winner). But the
ideals were real, and they were compelling fodder for much of the political ideologies of
the day. That such ideals continued to legitimate and muster feverish support into the
next century (even beyond) speaks to their potency.412 They were grand ideas, molded to
the principles of pan-Hellenism and syngeneia, to visions of the oikoumen coming into
its own as a complete empire, and to the optimum leadership of a balanced politeia
overseeing the whole world, governed by nobility and encapsulating all the widely-varied
and interlocking structures of what Alexander had only started.

410

Cf. Aristotle, Pol. 3.16-17.

For other scholarship on the relationships between Romans and Hellenistic kingship, see (among
others) Price (1984); Erskine (1991; 1994); Fishwick (2004); Hekster and Fowler, eds. (2005); Eckstein
(2009).
412 See, for example, the movements stirred by Andriscus and later Mithridates below pp. 290ff.
411

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Yet such ideas cut in more than one direction as much as they could herald
Rome as a new pan-Hellenic savior, they could also warn of Rome as a dark cloud of
trouble looming in the west.413 For in following the belief that Rome could fulfill
(perhaps too thoroughly) the celebrated, freedom for the Greeks, mantra, it stood to
reason that Rome could then eliminate all kings in the oikoumen. And this was
something that not all Hellenistic Greeks would have applauded or found reassuring. At
least two second-century enemies of Rome (albeit kings themselves) voice such thoughts
in Polybius Histories as a means of rallying popular support.414 Monarchs and the
peoples reliant upon their monarchic system alike felt foreboding at the newly increasing
and different form of international kingship wielded by Rome. For some, the
elimination of independent eastern kings threatened a new, and perhaps more tyrannical
overlord. For others, it spelled disruption in the balance of the international system (i.e.
the established royal houses and the lines of intermarriage and diplomacy between them).
And on the far extreme, some foresaw an immense power vacuum opening, in the
instance that Rome as sole international hegemon happened to fail as some

413

For the latter characterization of Rome see the speech of Lysciscus, Acarnanian envoy, in 217 BCE,
as written by Polybius at 9.37.10: they [the Aetolians] have, without knowing it, invoked such a cloud
from the west as may, perhaps, at first only cast its shadow on Macedonia, but in time will be the cause of
great evil to all Greece.
414 (1) Polyb. 21.11.2-11 (Prusias, possibly at the instigation of Antiochus III, fearing that the Romans
intended to eliminate all kings in Asia requiring the Scipios to launch a letter-writing PR campaign); and
(2) Polyb. 29.4.9-10 (Perseus using the same fears to court Antiochus IV as a potential ally). See also 1
Macc. 8:11-13 (associating Romes removal of kings with fear of the citys very name); and Orac. Sib.
3.175-179 (late second century BCE, pronouncing that the power from the west would rule over much of
the earth, bring down many, and instill fear in all kings thereafter). Similar sentiments among Romes
opponents reappear later, in Pompeius Trogus (Justin, 38.6.7 placed in a speech of Mithridates) and in
Sallust (Jug. 81.11, in the words of Jugurtha).

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contemporary doomsday oracles had it, and as some promised a new pan-Hellenic
savior.415
These last responses to Romes developing international power were ones that
must have truly affected Polybius. For he strongly believed (and developed as a model in
Book 6) that all systems no matter how well crafted and evolved eventually degrade
from within, as with each type of politeia individually.416 Polybius even stated outright
that Rome was not immune from decay, and that despite the possibility that disaster could
be forestalled, the final descent would ultimately come, and could in fact be predicted.417
At certain junctures of the Histories, Polybius provides ominous clues of internal
weakness at Rome and possible points for failure in the Roman system, especially when
it comes to the moral fiber of the nobility and its younger generations.418 The fact that
Romes old-guard preference for honor over wealth was showing signs of reversal
matches similar such descents experienced by other states in Polybius analysis. All of

415

For examples/citations, see below pp. 293ff.

Polyb. 6.9.12-14.
417 Ibid., and 6.57.
418 Cf. Polyb. 8.27 (on the debauchery of M. Livius, commander at Tarentum); 9.10 (criticizing an
improper taking of spoils at Syracuse); lengthy discussion at 31.25.2-7 (distinguishing young Scipio
Aemilianus from the rest of his generation); 35.3-4 (on the treachery and cowardice of M. Cl. Marcellus);
36.14 (on the ridiculously incompetent magistrates sent to Bithynia). Polybius also notes that C.
Flamininus land-distribution proposal of 232 BCE was a first step in the moral degradation of the Roman
demos (2.21.8). Compare these observations with the ominous warnings Polybius puts in the words of the
Roman hero Paullus (29.20.1ff.): "It is chieflyat those moments when we ourselves or our country are
most successful that we should reflect on the opposite extremity of Fortune; for only thus, and then with
difficulty, shall we prove moderate in the season of prosperity. The differencebetween foolish and wise
men lies in this, that the former are schooled by their own misfortunes and the latter by those of others."
These sentiments were later echoed in Scipio Aemilianus reaction to the fall of Carthage 38.21.1-3; cf.
App. Lib. 132 (= Polyb. 38.22) see below, pp. 335ff.
416

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them, Carthage and Corinth included, were the ultimate victims of ochlocracy, itself
being the fatal consequence of moral decay among leading politicians.419
Polybius thus framed the international situation of the second century with an
ongoing and burning question, asking:
whether

those now living should shun Roman domination or do the reverse, and
whether those in the future should consider the Romans government worthy of
praise and emulation, or of blame420
It remained a recurring debate throughout the Histories, and one that never has (or was
intended to have) a fully clear-cut answer. At its heart was a double-edged trend: on the
one hand, Roman superiority and growth continued to represent an ever-encountered
phenomenon in the Greek world. On the other, there hovered the very distinct possibility
that Rome could be on the decline, having reached its acme and having lost its capacity to
counteract the forces of internal decay that accompany success. As Polybius constructs it
and as many of his contemporaries would have seen it as well the Hellenistic
oikoumen hung in the balance, awaiting that tipping-point at which Rome would have
become the greatest power in all of history. At what stage this great success would also
become a tripping-point for Rome was something that could only truly be told in
hindsight (as Polybius acknowledges in his reference to those in the future).
For these reasons, then, Polybius poses the all-too-important question at the exact
point in the Histories where his original plan for the work was extended, to include

419

On Carthage: cf. Polyb. 36.7.3-5; on Corinth: cf. 38.11.9-11; 38.12.4-5. See discussions below in
chapters 5 and 6.
420 Polyb. 3.4.7 a comment made in response to the Senates adroit handling of a dispute within the
Ptolemaic royal line, 163 BCE.

169

events from 168, when Rome had achieved (within fifty-three years) a dominant status
in the Mediterranean symplok, and bring them down to 146 BCE.421 And as he states,
this extension is intended as an opportunity for readers to consider the fact that
judgments regarding either the conquerors or the conquered are by no means
final what is thought to be the greatest success having brought the greatest
calamities on many, if they do not make proper use of it, and the most dreadful
catastrophes often turning out to the advantage of those who support them
bravely 422
And in his characterization of this latest period the time following the fifty-three year
rise of Rome, Polybius describes the world as suffering from tarach kai kinsis a
period of revolt, change, and political commotion and one that provided a unique
opportunity for Polybius as observer and author to assess the transformations of both
conqueror and conquered in the wake of a newly burgeoning system of international
power.423 That Polybius chose 146 BCE as a new endpoint is telling (and was to have
lasting impact see below). It speaks not only to Polybius own personal experience, as a
companion to Scipio and witness to the fall of Carthage and as an Achaian statesman
involved in post-146 BCE restructuring. It goes further and speaks to the vast ripple
effect that the events of 146 BCE had across the Hellenistic Mediterranean system as
connected to the entire Zeitgeist of the second century, and as demonstrated by Polybius
extended account of the variety (and associated emotions) of international-level Greek
responses to the fall of Carthage.424 Each of these were in turn part and parcel of the

421

Initial plan of the Histories: Polyb. 1.1.5, 1.3, and 3.3. Extension to 146 BCE: 3.4.
Polyb. 3.4.1ff. and more detailed discussions below.
423 See Polyb. 3.4, esp. 3.4.5 (for mention of 168-146 BCE as a time of kinsis).
424 The well-known passage is Polyb. 36.9-10. See also below pp. 287ff.
422

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Histories central intent and purpose, written as a guidebook of exempla (both positive
and negative) for contemporary and future statesmen a guidebook documenting what
was viewed with excitement as the crucial and groundbreaking period changing the
historical map of world power.425
And as such a guidebook for statesmen, the focus of an entire book of the
Histories (Book 6) on analyzing Romes politeia makes a lot of sense. For in the second
century, Romes politeia was the one set to dominate, if not govern, the entire oikoumen.
An understanding of that politeias inner workings, its quirks, strengths, and possible
weaknesses was of crucial importance to any Greek statesman just as an understanding
of a Seleucid king and the functioning of his court would have been in earlier days.
Polybius thus presents his analysis of Romes politeia for a Greek-speaking audience,
and in relation to its (as well as his own) views of polis and arch. As such, it becomes
another means for surviving within, as well as gauging, Romes international hegemony
a power that for Polybius and his contemporaries could potentially (and depending upon
perspective) hold all the glorious promises of a great world-kingship, the dangerous
pitfalls of a world-tyranny, or the turbulent chaos of a hegemon on the decline
phenomena that Polybius was to connect closely with 146 as a perceived and constructed
historic juncture.426

425

Cf. (among other passages) Polyb. 1.1-2; 3.4.8; 3.7.4-5; 6.2.3; 12.28 (on the Odyssean man as the
man for writing history at once a man of action and experience as well as one of observant intelligence);
23.14.12.
426 Polybius does present exempla of exceptional Greek leaders (not just those reduced to folly) in their
negotiation of policy with respect to Rome. Throughout, he reserves the most praise for those who
continued to strive for personal and political honor, whether that be in aligning with or aligning against
Romes international powerhouse. See the discussion in Eckstein (1995, esp. Ch. 7).

171

TREATY OF ZAMA: THE CONTEXT

I learnt by actual experience how fickle Fortune is, and how by a slight turn of the scale
either way she brings about changes of the greatest moment, as if she were sporting with
little children
--Hannibal, in Polyb. 15.6.8

And so we return to the crucial international arena of the second-century, to a

period already recognized by Polybius and others living within it as experiencing
significant change. This brings us back to the question of how circumstances and
individual responses built, one upon the other, toward the events of 146, events that were
then construed (by contemporaries as well as subsequent generations) as a major turning
point in world history. In order to answer this set of questions, we have already built a
contextual picture of international political norms and normative change, as well as of an
increasing international-level awareness of shifting power paradigms. Now we need to
look at the details not only those that point to the justifications, viewpoints, and
positions taken by Romans, but also those by Greek-speakers, and to a more
problematic extent Carthaginians. The view from the Carthaginian perspective,
unfortunately, remains more obscure. For although we can reconstruct an international
context for Carthaginian diplomacy, our evaluation of Carthaginian-specific cultural and
political approaches arrives through a more distant lens, often dominated by Greek and
later Latin sources.427

427

Note: the vast majority of attempts to reconstruct the deeper character of Carthaginian international
politics for this period relegate the study to one of two fields: military history (e.g. accounts of battles, army
composition, naval ships) or imperial administration. The latter relies heavily upon making
extrapolations from later, Neo-Punic (as well as Greek and Latin) texts from the first and second centuries
CE. This is a valiant effort, but a practice fraught with problems a suffete mentioned in a first-century

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Therefore, in analyzing the relations between Rome and Carthage in the second
century, there are a number of added complexities. Not only were Latin concepts and
semantic fields of reference interacting back-and-forth with the Greek (see above), but
also Punic fields of reference were in the mix, coming in contact with and between both
sides. On this level, Carthages international cultural and political relations were even
more multifaceted, involving not only a degree of Hellenization428 a set of exchanges
analogous to that experienced by Rome but also one of interaction with Rome. All the
same, from the evidence that currently exists and as we will see played out in events
from 201-146 BCE it appears that Carthage, despite a unique blend of Greek,
Phoenician, and North African cultural elements, was quite closely integrated into the
Hellenistic system,429 perhaps even ahead of Rome in the depth of her assimilation with
the Hellenistic East.
At the same time, Carthage may have also been ahead of the eastern Greeks when
it came to the years of contact, in diplomacy and war, with Rome. However, they still
appear to have experienced levels of disjunction comparable to those experienced by
Hellenistic Greeks when they interacted with Romans. The Carthaginian approach to
hegemony also seems to have developed features more closely analogous to the
Hellenistic world than to the Roman system (e.g. in Carthaginian practices of dividing
conquered territories into administrative-tributary zones, relying predominately on the

inscription (e.g. the texts from Dougga) was in an office already accommodated to an official Roman
system to what extent is difficult to tell.
428 For more on Carthages Hellenization, see most recently Tsirkin (2000); Melliti (2006).
429 See also above, pp. 75ff.

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use of mercenary forces, and defining citizenship along tighter, hereditary and honoraryproxeny lines).430 Indeed, such divergences between Carthage and Rome may in part be
highlighted due to the nature of the surviving record, relayed as it is through Greek and
Latin filters. Yet the degree to which these divergences were symptomatic of Carthages
specifically Punic as opposed to Hellenistic, or Hellenizing features (or more likely,
some combination of the two) remains a possibility (though it cannot be accurately
determined). All the same, disjunctions must have existed, and what remains important is
that they were viewed on an international stage with its own evolving set of norms a
level upon which we can at least gauge various frames of reference.
Interactions between Rome and Carthage in the second century are therefore to be
understood on a number of levels: with both states being considered part of the same
international normative framework, and yet at the same time, uniquely positioned as
Hellenized others, possessing their own long and distinctive history of interaction. And
they are primarily to be understood as occurring in the wake of Zama both the
diplomatic situation surrounding Hannibals final military defeat and its effects upon the
terms of the 201 BCE treaty. For it was this treaty that spelled a new position for Rome in
the west and a new relationship for Carthage and Rome, a relationship that was not
always defined in the same manner on both sides. Ultimately, it was a combination of
these factors the terms of the 201 treaty, cultural disjunctions, miscommunications, and
prejudices, and what was perceived of the evolving international position of Rome that
underlined the outbreak of the Third Punic War and its attributed significance.
430

See Manfredi (2003).

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According to Polybius, on the eve of the battle at Zama, Scipio Africanus the
Elder was able to arrange a personal meeting with Hannibal an encounter between great
men of great nations-in-conflict that has captured the imaginations of countless
generations since.431 And although this meeting if indeed it ever took place has
continued to serve highly dramatic purposes, the political essence of its exchange
whether it actually occurred in the pre-battle personal meeting first staged by Polybius or
not also touched upon a real and key controversy, as well as a taste for internationalhistorical drama at the time. The controversy that lay at the heart of this episode was to
have a direct impact on the final treaty of 201 BCE, and by extension, on the return to
conflict in 149.
In Polybius account of the pre-Zama meeting perhaps passed on in part by his
friend Scipio Africanus the Youngers retelling of family legend Hannibal first noted
the extreme vicissitudes of Fortune (excerpted above). This philosophical remark echoes
a key motif of tragic reversal and anacyclosis that Polybius weaves throughout the
Histories. And as we have seen, it was a motif that was not only prevalent in
contemporary Hellenistic thinking, but was of central importance to Polybius, and his
mission to instruct current and future statesmen. Yet this particular use of the motif went
beyond mere literary flourish whether on the part of Polybius alone or through the
additional influence of pro-Scipionic accounts. For this musing on the vagaries of Tyche
431

Among ancient authors: see Polyb. 15.5.8-9.1; Nepos 23.6.2; Liv. 30.29.4-32.3; Plut. Flam. 21.2; Flor.
1.22.58-59; App. Pun. 39a-c; Eutrop. 3.22.2; Oros. 4.19.2; Zonar. 9.14b-e. As inspiration for later
generations: see Machiavelli, The Prince 17, Discourses III.17; Thomas Nabbes play, Hannibal & Scipio
(1635); print, Meeting Between Scipio and Hannibal, by Rubens (early seventeenth cent.); paired busts of
Scipio and Hannibal in Napoleons study at St-Cloud cf. Emil Ludwig, Napolon. Payot. (1926: 189);
parallels with the battle of Tobruk (1941), Rommel vs. Patton.

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was also set as the preface for the main substance of Hannibals diplomatic message:
namely, a request for terms of peace. Whether or not this exact exchange took place
cannot be independently verified, but what matters about the account given by Polybius is
not only the manner in which it was framed but also its normative, international-level
ramifications. For the purported request made by Hannibal on the eve of Zama whether
actually made or the product of Roman political rhetoric referenced a key bone of
contention and legal issue which appears to have become a justifying basis for the
unusual, even novel terms introduced into the treaty of 201. We will begin with the
request itself and the normative framework behind its terms, before looking more closely
at this issue and the 201 treaty.
In the meeting with Scipio, Hannibal suggested that Carthage agree to recognize
Romes hegemony over the once-disputed regions of Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, and all
islands between Italy and Africa, and be restricted from ever again waging war against
Rome on account of these areas. On the surface, these were not inordinate or atypical
proposals. In fact, the nature of their terms fit with the standards of international
diplomacy at the time. As such, Hannibals proposition represented an attempt, a testing
of the waters, towards obtaining at least a temporary truce, and, in the hands of Roman
propaganda, could be used to indicate Carthaginian desperation, even predetermined
doom. Yet the framing of the terms was conventional, and as with other contemporary
agreements, it predicated a cessation of hostilities upon territorial, hegemonic boundaries

176

and upon restrictions for one or more parties.432 Such patterns, and their nuances are
discussed in the following few sections. Reviewing their examples helps establish the
normative context that informed not only Scipio and Hannibals possible meeting and its
issues, but also its repercussions for the 201 treaty and that treatys role in the diplomatic
crisis of 151/0 BCE. The following discussion is thus focused on illustrating the
normative backdrop behind the framing of territorial/hegemonic terms in agreements of
peace (i.e. formal cessation of hostilities):433

HELLENISTIC PEACE-AGREEMENTS & VAGUELY DEFINED TERRITORIES

The starting point goes back to the earliest years of the Hellenistic period, to a
pair of epigraphic documents that provide invaluable evidence for the development of
international peace agreements between Hellenistic monarchs. These documents also
shed light on the early formulation of interrelationships between these kings and the
poleis within their domains, and the conceptions of hegemony itself. The texts come from
Skepsis, and record: (1) King Antigonus proclamation of the 311 BCE peace-agreement
between himself, Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, and (2) a decree of the dmos of
Skepsis regarding this proclamation.434 The first document elegantly laid out what was in
essence a brief stalemate between four of the diadochoi, and what was assuredly a
432

See discussion below.

Note that the treaties here have been chosen for their predominantly contemporaneous source material
that also outlines specific terms to some extent. Other facets related to peace agreements such as the
appeal to or rejection of treaty-terms during disputes, the renewal or disavowal of old treaties, or the
relationship between treaties and such concepts as symmachia and philia will be discussed as necessary
in later sections.
434 = B-D2 6, containing English translations of both documents. The Greek texts are available at RC 1 (or
OGIS 5 cf. Staatsvertrge 428) for Antigonus proclamation, and at OGIS 6 for the decree of the Skepsis
dmos.
433

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shrewd maneuver by Antigonus.435 In calling at least a brief end to hostilities with

Cassander, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy, Antigonus could direct his attention more fully
toward Seleucus in Syria. In doing so, he was forced to acknowledge a level of
legitimacy for the three other diadochoi in their various territorial claims. However,
Antigonus choice of political rhetoric not only served to leverage himself against
Cassander in the mainland-Greek sphere and strengthen his own position with respect to
the Greek cities of Asia Minor (like Skepsis), but also laid the groundwork for a future
re-opening of hostilities, and potentially, in the long run, for negating his rivals various
claims. In the long term, then, such agreements came to act like stalemate truces, but
without the specified time frames.
As for the 311 BCE treaty provisions, Diodorus (9.105.1) fills out the picture
provided by the Skepsis inscriptions. He relates that the four diadochoi agreed to a
cessation of hostilities based first on the recognition of Cassander as strategos of Europe,
until the time when Alexanders young son by Roxanne should come of age. Lysimachus
is next acknowledged as holding mastery over (kyrieuein) Thrace; Ptolemy over Egypt
and the adjacent cities in Libya and Arabia; and lastly, Antigonus is confirmed as having
command over (aphgesthai) all of Asia. Note the vaguely defined limits of territory,
with each hegemon set to a general region, the details of which are left assumed, or as a
separate matter to be fleshed out later. And although this imprecision could simply be the

435

For discussion of the 311 peace and the political/military conditions surrounding it, see Welles (1934:
6ff.); Simpson (1954); Ryder (1965: 113-114); Green (1993: 27-28); Bosworth (2005: 241-242); Errington
(2008: 33-34).

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product of Diodorus summarizing, it is nevertheless a phenomenon evident in other

Hellenistic treaty agreements.436
There are a number of factors that come together to explain this trend. The first
factor lies in the need to agree on basic terms as a preliminary step, and as the most
efficient means for coming to a truce or peace-agreement (as perhaps with Hannibals
offer to Scipio above). Presumably, this process involved some shared understanding that
the details of territorial lines were to depend upon existing limits of polis/league chorai
coming under a hegemons regional control. Disputes over such lands and the geography
of their borders were then to be considered subsequent and subsidiary matters. Such an
approach hinged upon the all-encompassing concept of just-warfare and its various
iterations, which continued to hold immense weight in the conduct of Hellenistic
international diplomacy. At the core of this concept were notions that territories had,
normatively speaking, rightful owners and hegemons. Such ownership came by
acquisition in a justly waged war i.e. dorikttos choros, spear-won land, gained only
during provoked and/or demonstrably justified military action or by gift or inheritance,
but only from a rightful owner.437

436

See examples listed in the footnotes below.

See the discussions in Chaniotis (2004, 2005). The main source outlining such a definition of kyrieia
over land comes from a Magnesian arbitration of a land-dispute between Cretan Hierapytna and Itanos, ca.
140-111 BCE (= Ager no. 158): Men have proprietary rights over land either because they have received
the land themselves from their ancestors, or because they have bought it for money, or because they have
won it by the spear, or because they have received it from someone of the mightier. (l. 133ff.). This
definition is corroborated by other cases (discussed by Chaniotis), including the following key examples:
(1) Demosthenes 12.21ff. (quoting a letter from Philip II, who claimed Amphipolis on the basis of
inheritance, since his ancestor Alexander had occupied the city, and of his own conquests, confirmed by
some earlier agreement with Athens); (2) Polyb. 18.51 (196 BCE, Antiochus contesting Romes request
that he evacuate cities once under Philip V, on the basis that a Seleucid victory a century earlier had
established his rightful claim to lands that Philip had subsequently robbed spheterisasthai); and (3)
437

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Over time, then, peace agreements came to be accompanied by more specific

terms dealing with territorial limits, which included criteria for determining boundaries in
the wake of the treaty or procedures for handling future territorial disputes.438
Agreements that did not include such clauses were less likely to last in the long term,
acting in a manner similar to stalemate truces. They granted respite to combatants who
might have other areas of concern to deal with, or might otherwise need to regroup and
re-strengthen their positions. At the same time, they provided fewer constraints, should
either combatant wish to resume conflict. This is because clauses in such agreements
tended to amount to a war-nullification, returning the combatants to circumstances
existing prior to the conflict, or simply hitting the pause-button on making further
acquisitions.439 At the furthest end of the spectrum, both parties would agree to rightful
possession of only those territories and properties held prior to the outbreak of war, in
Ager no. 146 (ca. 150-133 BCE, Pergamene arbitration of a land-dispute between Mytilene and Pitane, with
the final decision resting upon Pitanes original purchase of land being a lawful one, transacted with the
legal owner in this case, it was confirmed that the legal owner had been the son of Seleucus, who had in
turn gained the spear-won land by treaty after his victory at Kouropedion).
438 Examples of such specificity: (1) treaty (of alliance) between the Aitolian and Akarnanian leagues near
the end of the Chremonidean War, ca. 263-2 BCE, designating the River Achelos as a boundary (Ager no.
33); (2) treaty between Magnesia-on-the-Maeander and Miletus, ca. 196 BCE (Burstein 37), which includes
a set of clauses for determining and marking the boundary between them, along the Hybandos River; (3)
clauses under negotiation between the Scipio brothers and Antiochus in 190 BCE (Polyb. 21.13.1ff.); (4)
arbitration and subsequent treaty-agreement, including clauses mandating arbitration in future disputes,
between Temnos and Klazomenai, first half of the second century (Ager no. 71).
439 Examples include: (1) the shrewd maneuver of Agathocles in coming to terms with Carthage, 306 BCE
(= Staatsvertrge no. 437; Diod. 20.79.5; Val. Max. 7.4e1; Just. 22.8.15; Trog. Prol. 22 cf. CAH 7.1.404;
Green pp. 222-3) terms included stipulation that Carthage regain all cities formerly subject, and in return
to pay in gold the value of 300talents-silver, plus 200,000measures of grain; (2) in some ways, the
(abortive) attempt by Pyrrhus to negotiate terms with Rome in 280 BCE (Plut. Pyrrh. 18.6-19.5; cf. Enn.
Ann. 194-6; Cicero, Brut. 55, 61 et al.) Pyrrhus offered to aid in subjugating Italy (=symmachia?) and to
restore all captives without ransom the Romans responded that he leave Italy first, then seek friendship
and alliance; (3) the swiftly negotiated settlement between Philip V and his allies and the Aetolians and
theirs, calling quits to the Social War in 217 BCE (as events in Italy drew Philips attention - extended
account, with speeches, at Polyb. 5.101.5-105.10) - see esp. Polyb. 5.103.7: [Philip asked that the envoys]
propose to the Aetolians to make peace on the condition of both parties retaining what they then
possessed; cf. Just. 29.2.8-3.8.

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addition to the more generic, pausing truce-terms, of payment(s) in exchange for

territories/properties occupied during the war, and/or an exchange of POWs/deserters. In
doing so, these peace agreements were inherently transitory, by virtue of the fact that they
did not imply guilt on the part of any combatant that is, of unjust, unprovoked initiation
of conflict and they provided no framework of imposed penalties or guidelines for
future arbitration.
And indeed, over time, this generalized format of peace agreement appears to
have served an implicitly temporary purpose,440 or to have been used as a first-step in the
process of at least moving toward negotiating a final peace convention and treaty
framework.441 Vagueness in the terms thus provided a range of diplomatic opportunities
as in diplomacy across the ages but here there is a discernible set of patterns and a
recognizable language in development. When deployed in a finalized treaty, the
absence, decreased prominence, or even ambiguity of territorial claims could mark a
lower level of commitment among one or more parties and signal as such to the other
side. The noncommittal parties could be looking for a momentary pause in the current
combat or a chance to regroup and/or look to other concerns, or they could be finding
themselves locked in a military/political stalemate from which they perhaps hoped to
disentangle themselves at a later date. In the latter case, some of the vagaries of a more
440

E.g., the one-year truce between Antiochus and Ptolemy at the end of the Fourth Syrian War, 217 BCE
(Polyb. 5.87.1-8, 14.12.3), or the granting of a ten-day armistice to the Aitolians by Glabrio in 191 BCE
(Polyb. 20.9.1.ff.).
441 Examples include: (1) Queen Teutas embassy to Rome, making a first-offer for peace, 228 BCE
(Polyb. 2.12.3); (2) Philip Vs initiation of peace-negotiations to end the Social War, 217 BCE (Polyb.
5.101.5ff.); (3) Nicaea negotiations between Philip, Flamininus, and their respective allies (Polyb. 18.1.110.7); (4) abortive negotiation attempts by the Aetolians, with Roman magistrates Glabrio and Flaccus, 191
BCE (Polyb. 20.9.1ff.).

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provisional peace agreement could actually be used as the legal grounds for reinitiating
conflict.
As our evidence currently stands, such treaty behavior seems to have been more
the modus operandi for kings rather than poleis. As the level on which kings and leagues
as international agents defined their own regional holdings, poleis thus held the main
responsibility and concern over the details of territorial boundaries, be they geographical
markers (especially rivers) or outlying sanctuaries.442 This is not to say that such issues
were beyond the concern of kings. Quite the contrary: kings,443 and with even more
frequency, league councils,444 showed great interest in intervening in border disputes and

442

See the discussion in Ager (1996: 13-17), with examples.

Examples of kingly interventions include: (1) Alexander, in 333 BCE, calling for a boundary settlement
between (and against) Aspendos, a city that had defied him, and one of its neighbors (Side?) (= Ager no. 6);
(2) Lysimachos, ca. 288-281 BCE, awarding lands to an outlying sanctuary of Samothrace, apparently
encroached upon by Thracian neighbors (= Ager no. 24); (3) a king, usually identified as Lysimachos, ca.
287/6 BCE, granting a people called the Pedieis the rights of paroikoi, allowing them to use lands claimed
by Priene most likely in the wake of a peace with Demetrios Poliorketes (= Ager no. 25); (4) Lysimachos,
283/2 BCE, arbitrating in a centuries-long dispute between Priene and Samos, awarding lands to Samos in
what has been interpreted as a magnanimous move calculated toward improving public image in Asia
Minor (= Ager no. 26; interpretation in Shipley (1987: 181-182)); (5) Philip V, late third century, settling a
land dispute between two cities within his Macedonian sphere Gonnoi and Herakleion (= Ager no. 54);
and (6) Ptolemy VI, between 163 and 146 BCE, sending agents to resolve issues of land use and occupation
between Troizen and Arsino, the latter being the site of a Ptolemaic base. Note, however, that added
approval of Athens was required to finalize the arbitration (= Ager no. 138).
444 Examples of league councils intervening in such territorial disputes include: (1) the Boiotian League,
fourth-third centuries, settling boundaries between league members Koroneia and Lebadeia (= Ager no.
16); (2) the Boiotian League, third century, in like fashion settling boundaries between league communities
Akraipheia and Kopai (= Ager no. 17); (3) the Aitolian and Akarnanian Leagues, in an alliance agreement,
ca. 263/2 BCE, setting out territorial limits as a prerequisite to finalizing that agreement (= Ager no. 33);
(4) the Achaian League, early third century, establishing territorial limits between two unknown states (=
Ager no. 36); (5) the Achaian League, 242/1 BCE and 238/7 BCE, requesting on two occasions that league
member Megara arbitrate over disputed boundaries between two other members, Corinth and (newly
entering member) Epidauros (= Ager no. 38); (6) the Achaian League, post-228 BCE, designating a number
of league members to arbitrate in a border dispute between other members, Arsino and Epidauros (= Ager
no. 46); (7) the Aitolian League, 214/3 BCE, choosing a panel of league judges to settle a boundary dispute
between member communities Melitaia and Xynai (= Ager no. 55); (8) the Aitolian League, 213/2 BCE,
designating a panel of three Kalydonian judges to decide upon disputed boundaries, as part of a sympoliteia
agreement between league members Melitaia and Pereia (= Ager no. 56); (9) the Achaian League, post-182
443

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legalizing new or re-defined boundaries, especially when disputes could threaten internal
strife, or the territories touched upon areas belonging to or courted by rivals. Yet
throughout the Hellenistic period, poleis remained the essential unit of measure for
defining territorial limits, which could then be combined to form regional spheres of
hegemonic arch. Such approaches to territorial holdings were reflected in the various
forms of peace agreements, which among kings, tended toward a lesser degree of
specificity and left the details of boundary-lines for later occasions be they future
conflicts or occasions for arbitration.
Hannibals pre-Zama offer to Scipio was thus a multifaceted one. Given the
international normative context outlined above, there are a number of mixed messages
that we can suggest were being implied in the surviving account. On the one hand, by
making a vague gesture toward territorial possessions, Hannibal, acting in a manner
functionally comparable to a Hellenistic king, was proposing a war-nullification, hinting
at either a temporary truce or a possible first-step in moving peace negotiations forward
(especially since the other usual issues of prisoner/hostage exchange and indemnity
payment were not yet raised). And quite possibly Hannibal could have felt some real
concerns regarding recent losses in Italy, the loss of Numidian allies, and the continued
internal divisions within the domestic politics of his city.
On the other hand, however, Hannibal was also extending an offer to restrict
future Carthaginian military action with the clause that Carthage would pledge, never to
BCE, involved in the settlement of a land dispute between Megalopolis and Messene, accompanied by the
Messenian town of Thouria (= Ager no. 116); and (10) the Lycian League, mentioned in relation to an
arbitration between member city Araxa and a neighboring community, over land in an area named Soasa (=
Ager no. 130).

183

wage war on account of those territories [given up].445 This last proposal, in promising
not to take future revenge, also implied a certain admission of guilt i.e., that Carthage
had wrongfully entered into conflict with Rome, had suffered setbacks as a result, and
would therefore give up claims to occupied territories (according to the conventions of
dorikttos choros). All the same, such an admission did not quite line up with another
part of the offer namely, that both parties return to their pre-war holdings. Was
Hannibal then insinuating that the Romans were as much to blame in the outbreak of
hostilities, or perhaps simply the latest outbreak? Or does the surviving Polybian account
simply reflect a pro-Scipionic perspective, according to which the Carthaginian general is
shown to be insincere (Punica fides) in his offers for peace or peace negotiations? Or
does such a portrayal connect with Polybius general assessment of declining leadership
sealing the ultimate fate of a city? The diplomatic context is the key to answering these
questions.

THE PRE-ZAMA THEATER OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

As with many second century events, the dramatic staging of a pre-Zama meeting
between Scipio and Hannibal is today filtered through the lens of Polybius, an author
with his own complex views on Rome, and despite his unique experiences, not always
fully versed in Roman/Latin (not to mention Punic) semantics, writing to and interpreting
for a Greek-speaking audience. His subjects here were men from different cultural
backgrounds, both from each other, and to a certain extent, from the Greek frame of

445

Polyb. 15.5.8.

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reference being used to tell their story.446 Nevertheless, both generals, like Polybius (and
his intended audience), moved within the same upper echelon of international-level
aristocrats, as reconstructed in the previous chapter. As such and with Polybius as their
Hellenic historian the participants had a degree of experience in the broad spectrum of
international diplomatic language and rhetoric.447 This discourse of Hellenistic
international behavior was their middle ground, providing a shared lingua franca (which
Polybius has consolidated for us in his own version, but which other intellectuals at the
time would have been aware). As a middle ground, however, the international language
of Hellenistic diplomacy was also one rife with miscommunication and disputed claims.
In Polybius account, Scipio therefore responds to Hannibals offer for peace with
the following refusal:

,

446

And, if we are to believe Livy (30.30.1), Scipio and Hannibal used interpreters to translate (presumably
between Latin and Punic) at their meeting. Whether or not Hannibal spoke any Latin cannot be determined.
Dio fr. 54 mentions Hannibals proficiency in Punic and other languages, but does not further specify.
Most likely these other languages would have included some Greek see note below. Livy also provides
a brief anecdote (22.13.5-6), in which Hannibals attempt to communicate with one of his Italian guides
results in a misunderstanding of the place-name Casinum for Casilinum, due to Hannibals
pronunciation/accent (Punicum os).
447 See the discussion above in chapter 3. On Scipio, see Astin (1967: esp. App. VI). On Hannibal and
Hellenism, we have only vague, anecdotal, and mostly later evidence. Upon his exile, Hannibal traveled
and was accepted widely amongst the leading circles of the Hellenistic East (Rhodes, Syria, Bithynia).
Nepos, apparently using second-century sources (Silenus and/or Sosylus), tells us that Hannibal was taught
Greek by Sosylus the Spartan, wrote a number of books in Greek, including one addressed to the Rhodians
on the deeds of Manlius Volso in Asia Minor, and that he at some point traveled with the rhetorician
Silenus (Hann. 23.13 cf. Diod. 26.4 for mention of Sosylus History of Hannibal). Livy (28.46.16)
mentions a bilingual Punic-Greek inscription set up by Hannibal on Cape Licinium see Jaeger (2006) for
a discussion of this passage and its possible relationship with a note in Polybius (at 3.33.17-18). Lastly,
Cicero (De Orat. 2.18) claims that Hannibal spoke Greek, but not well (non optime Graece), in the context
of Hannibals interactions with a Hellenistic court and a lecture on generalship given by the philosopher
Phormio (of which Cicero notes Hannibals disapproval). Keep in mind, however, that Carthage had a long
history of interaction with the Greek-speaking world (esp. in Sicily) cf. Melliti (2006).

185

 ,
. ,
. ;
.

if before the Romans had crossed to Africa you had retired from Italy and
then proposed them, I think your expectations would not have been
disappointed [Then,] when your countrymen were beaten and begged for peace
we framed a treaty in writing The [Roman] senate agreed and the [Roman]
people also gave their consent. The Carthaginians, after their request had been
granted, most treacherously violated the peace. What remains to be done? ...
Either put yourselves and your country at our mercy or fight and conquer us.448
For Scipio as Polybius has it the crux of the matter rested upon a recent peace
agreement between Rome and Carthage, one that had presumably been proffered by
Carthage and approved by the Roman Senate and people in the previous year. Scipio
accused the Carthaginians of perfidia, of breaking the agreement and causing a
resumption of hostilities. If this is true, then he was also placing the Carthaginians in the
position of the unjust party in the norms of Hellenistic international warfare, the party
waging an unjust, unprovoked war. Any gains made by Carthage from that point on (not
to mention territories gained since Saguntum) would thus be contested by Rome (in the
near or far future) as not dorikttos choros, but rather as territories and properties
unlawfully robbed from their rightful owners, be they Romans or local citizens or
tribes.449 In Polybius account, Scipio was thus claiming the diplomatic upper hand,
reserving, in accordance with Roman practice, full legal (and thus divinely sanctioned)
permission to continue his pursuit of the current war, up to the point that the unjust party
Carthage could be forced to full submission rather than negotiated truce. Such
448
449

Polyb. 15.8.4, 7, 9-10, 14.

On this subject, see Chaniotis (2004; 2005).

186

thinking would only be further vindicated by Scipios subsequent victory at Zama, and its
precepts would play a major role in determining the nature of Romes 201 treaty with
Carthage.
But how had Scipio and Hannibal gotten to this diplomatic point one at which
Polybius has Scipio making such strong claims against Carthage, and at which he has
Hannibal only subtly acknowledging Carthaginian guilt, though with an added jab at
Roman error? The situation began in the wake of Scipios siege of Utica in the previous
year (203 BCE). The strategic significance of his stranglehold upon this city had sent
shockwaves through Carthage, and Polybius describes a number of Carthaginian factions
being at odds over what to do next, in a clear Polybian assessment of internal strife
bringing trouble upon the city. Ultimately, as Polybius records, the various factions come
to a very confused decision, to adopt all measures: attempt to save Utica, send for
Hannibal, prepare for a siege of Carthage itself, and send Elders to Rome to negotiate
peace.450 Note, however, that the Carthaginians did not send messengers to Scipio
regarding peace negotiations, and so for all intents and purposes continued in a state of
war, with no truce in place. In the meantime, then, Scipio moved closer to Carthage,
occupying Tunis (Tyneta), while the Carthaginian ships made their way to Utica, forcing
Scipio to return and set up a naval blockade there.451

450

Polyb. 14.9.7-10.1.
Polyb. 14.10.2-9. Note that Livys account of events lines up to this point, with Carthaginians sending
ships against a blockade set up by Scipio at Utica, while at the same time sending delegates to Italy 30.9.
451

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Polybius text breaks at this juncture, at the end of Book XIV. The account picks
back up in Book XV, where mention is made of the Carthaginians having seized Roman
transports and supplies, leaving Scipio
aggrieved still more that the Carthaginians had violated the oaths and
solemn pact and that the war had thus been rekindled from a fresh source.452
However, we do not have direct evidence of this solemn agreement or when it was
made. Livy provides us with some clues. In his account, fighting continued, but once the
Romans succeeded in taking Syphaxs Numidian capital of Cirta and Syphax himself
an important Carthaginian ally captive, the Carthaginians made a more serious suit for
peace.453 Thirty Elders met with Scipio at Tyneta, prostrating themselves before him, and
professed themselves ready to execute any commands which he chose to give, while
blaming the war on Hannibal and his supporters (thereby hoping for some degree of
mercy). Scipio responded with the following terms:
surrender of all prisoners, deserters and refugees; the withdrawal of the
armies from Italy and Gaul; the abandonment of all action in Spain; the
evacuation of all the islands lying between Italy and Africa and the surrender of
[the] entire navy with the exception of twenty vessels. also to provide 500,000
pecks of wheat and 300,000 of barley, [and an] indemnity... [with] three days to
consider, arrange an armistice, and send envoys to the Senate in Rome.454
The terms were presumably approved, at least on a preliminary basis, for the
Carthaginians are next described sending delegates to finalize a truce with Scipio, to last

452

Polyb. 15.1.1-2:

, .

.
453 Livy 30.8-16.
454 Livy 30.16.

188

for the interim in which the messengers were traveling to and from Rome. In the
meantime, another Carthaginian embassy was already making its way to Rome,
accompanied by a number of prisoners and deserters.
This, then, was the solemn pact mentioned by Polybius (15.1.2) a truce
arranged between Scipio and the Carthaginians for the duration it took to send the terms
of a full peace to Rome and await final approval, amendment, or rejection. This pact was
made prior to the incident involving Roman transports and supplies, about which Livy
also provides some more detail.455 Two hundred transports, escorted by a guard of thirty
warships, were apparently on their way from Sicily to North Africa when they
encountered a storm, which caused a number of them to run aground in close proximity
to the city of Carthage. After some debate, the Carthaginians decided to bring in the
transports and their supplies, since their Roman crews had presumably abandoned them.
At this point, however, the accounts provided by Polybius and Livy diverge.
According to Livy, Scipio next sent messengers to Carthage to protest the seizure of his
transports though no account of their speeches or the Carthaginian responses are given.
While making their return, Scipios envoys are said to have lost their honorary escort and
have been ambushed by Carthaginian warships. In the Livian account, this incident is
simply the final icing on the cake, for in the meantime, the envoys from Rome have
returned with the message that the Senate and people have already dismissed the earlier
offer of terms for peace.456 The timing of events then allows Livy to insert an anecdote

455
456

See Livy 30.24.

Livy 30.25 see also 30.23 for the Senates rejection.

189

that clearly contrasts the nobility and fides of Scipio with the dishonesty and fickleness of
his enemy, as Scipio graciously allows the Carthaginian members of the envoy from
Rome safe passage home.457
According to Polybius, however, the envoy sent by Scipio to Carthage in order to
protest the seizure of transport ships traveled with news brought back from Rome,
confirming a Roman vote for peace. Polybius also provides a sense of the message this
combined envoy took with them:
He [Scipio], therefore, at once appointedlegatesand dispatched them to
confer with the Carthaginians about what had occurred [to the transports] and at
the same time to inform them that the Roman people had ratified the treaty: for
dispatches had just arrived for Scipio informing him of this fact [The legates]
reminded the [Carthaginian] assembly that when the Carthaginian envoys had
come to Tunis to the Romans and presented themselves before the council, they
not only saluted the gods and did obeisance to Earth, as is the custom with other
men, but that they debased themselves by falling prostrate on the ground and
kissing the feet of the members of the council; and that afterwards when they got
up again they accused themselves of having been alone guilty of breaking the
original treaty between the Romans and the Carthaginians. Therefore, they said,
they were well justified in any punishment they inflicted on them, but in the name
of the common fortune of mankind they had entreated them not to proceed to
extremities, but rather let their folly afford a proof of the generosity of the
Romans. The general himself, they said, and those what had been present then at
the council, when they called this to mind, were amazed and asked themselves
whence the Carthaginians had the assurance now to ignore what they said on
that occasion and to venture on breaking this last solemn treaty458
Note the differences here: in Polybius version, the Romans had not only approved of the
offers and terms for peace, but they also claimed to have shown enlightened magnanimity
in their treatment of the Carthaginians (not just Hannibal and his party) as self-avowed
wrongdoers in the initial outbreak of war. As a result, Scipio condemns the Carthaginians
457
458

Livy 30.25.
Polyb. 15.1.

190

for flouting Roman goodwill and acting in a faithless and insincere manner, breaking not
only a truce, but also a treaty in the making, already ratified by one party. Polybius
continues:
There were but few among the Carthaginians who approved of adhering to the
treaty. The majority both of their leading politicians and of those who took part in
the deliberation objected to its harsh conditions, and with difficulty tolerated the
bold language of the ambassadors459
The Roman Senate must have made some amendments to the original terms
ones that displeased the Carthaginians, who then also bristled at the accusations brought
by Scipios envoys. We have no direct indication, but the Carthaginians could possibly
have felt that their own actions, in scuttling the wrecked transports, were not grounds for
making them the sole transgressors of the truce. Indeed, the very presence of the Roman
transports, in such numbers, such proximity to Carthage, and in the company of thirty
warships, might have been taken as a threatening move and as a potential infringement
upon the truce. According to Polybius, the Carthaginians, angered by Scipios actions,
dismissed his envoy without reply, and then hatched a plot to have its escort depart,
leaving it prone to surprise attack.460 It was this attack that then became the immediate
cause for a return to a state of war. From a Roman perspective, it provided strong legal
grounds upon which to claim a justly waged conflict grounds upon which Scipio would
later so adamantly refuse Hannibals offer before Zama (see above).
So why, then, does Livys account differ from that of Polybius would there be
some deeper reason for Livy (or some pro-Roman source of his) to have the Senate reject
459
460

Polyb. 15.2.1-2.
Polyb. 15.2-3.

191

the offer of peace, and have this rejection only reach Scipio after his envoy was allegedly
attacked? A third text is available for evidence of the accounts circulating about these
events in the second century. It provides an additional perspective in the form of what
appears to be an epitome of a Greek historical text. It was written on a papyrus later
reused as a Ptolemaic government document (on verso), a feature that in turn provides the
terminus ante quem for the historical text of about 130 BCE.461 The text has been
reconstructed and translated as follows:
[column II]
][][ | ] | [] | ]
||5 [] | ] | [ ] | [
][ ] | [ ]||10[ ][] |[ ] |
[] |[ ] | [ ] ||15 []
| | .
| ||20 | : [] |
| | ||25 [ ] |
(26-30) [ ] |31 [ ][ ][ ]
[column III]
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] ||35 [ ] | [ ] | [
][ ]| ||40 [ ] |
[]. [ ] [] | [] ||45
[ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] | [ ]
[column II]
... (?) ... sending (?) to the envoys, they gave (had given?) the oaths and (had)
already freed the captive-group of the (They) having heard more
amenable(?) (were?) the paroche, envoys(?) about the oaths they sent out, with
the men from Carthage and from themselves, to render the oaths and to take
(oaths) from them. They then from Rome therefore sailed to Scipio's city, but the
Phoenicians, when they reached Carthage and (announced) the agreements about
the peace

461

= P. Rylands III.491. See Staatsvertrge III, pp. 291-295, with Greek text and discussion of the
papyrus date; Hoyos (2001), with the latest Greek text as well as the translation provided here.

192

[column III]
the (?) (??) sent men (??) to them, repudiating the oaths
they sent out men bearing, instead of peace, war. On this therefore being
announced to both the generals (?)
The account begins with oaths and captives, which were indeed part of the
negotiations for peace and would have then been offered by the envoys at Rome. Some
sort of approval, possibly that of the Roman Senate, comes next, and it results in envoys,
Carthaginian and Roman together, being sent to administer final oaths. The envoys sail
from Rome to Scipios city (presumably his camp at Tyneta), and Carthaginian
messengers go on to Carthage. Unfortunately, there is no mention of Roman transports
this mention could tentatively be reconstructed in the lacuna between columns II and III,
but with no surety whatsoever.462 Column III then mentions repudiation of the oaths
(presumably those being brought from Rome), with men then bearing war instead of
peace.
For the most part, this text seems to confirm the broad sequence of events
provided by Polybius version,463 in that peace terms were agreed upon (rather than
rejected) in Rome, and that these envoys returned to North Africa to administer final
oaths before said oaths were repudiated, possibly but not certainly in the form of an
attack on an envoy. But another, perhaps more unsettling possibility lingers in the P.
Rylands text. What if the messengers from Scipio to Carthage were Carthaginian (and not
Roman), as is seemingly implied in column II (l. 22)? Could it be that there was no

462

See Hoyos (2001: 74-5) for a reconstruction along these lines, contra Hoffmann (1941: 276).
Note: Hoyos (2001) does not discuss the differences between Polybius and Livy with respect to this
document.
463

193

devious attack on an envoy, and there was simply a rejection of peace terms, followed by
a (therefore wartime) naval engagement?464
Quite possibly, the P. Rylands text preserves the essence of a more proCarthaginian account. And indeed, the Carthaginians, with the same goals of claiming to
wage a just war, could have perceived such a sequence of diplomatic events, by which
the Romans had made some inflated, even misrepresented allegations. This left Carthage
with a number of diplomatic avenues, as perhaps reflected in the many angles of
Hannibals pre-Zama proposal. A segment of the Carthaginian state (be it Hannibal and
his followers or another faction) could first be found liable for the mistakes made
regarding the seizure of transports, and, if acknowledged, the alleged attack on an envoy.
But at the same time, such errors, while admitted, were not to be found commensurate
with extreme penalties or a war fought without chance of parlay, for, in the Carthaginian
perspective, Rome also played a part in them. The Romans had moved ships (with
military supplies?) possibly threatening to Carthage during the truce, and had made
antagonizing accusations seemingly calling off all peace negotiations prior to the attack
and whether it was on an envoy or not could then be disputed.

464

There are other examples of peace negotiations that reveal such actions would not have been
exceptional in interactions between Rome and other Hellenistic states compare the conference at
Phoenice (205 BCE), negotiations at River Aous (198 BCE), Nicaea (198 BCE), negotiations between
Glabrio and the Aetolians (191 BCE), and between Scipio and Antiochus (190-189 BCE). The home state
(or king) being petitioned for peace in this case, the Roman SPQ could reject the offer, or, one or more
parties in the field (when dealing with a king this was often the same individual!) could reject the terms
upon their amendment or upon new circumstances. Here, if we follow Polybius and the P. Rylands text, it
appears that not only was Scipio losing his support for the peace terms, but that the Carthaginians did so as
well, making the final rejection, as was their legal right within the prevailing norms.

194

And so Livys version removes any issue with the envoy/naval attack and places
it squarely within the truce-period, prior to the return of the messengers from Rome. In
the meantime, it also avoids any discrepancies between the Senates vote and Scipios
decisions, since Scipios claims against Carthaginian perfidy are only confirmed by the
decree from Rome. And as an added bonus, it provides the opportunity to extol Scipios
virtues as a foil for the behavior of the Carthaginians, as he can then be shown nobly
returning the Carthaginian envoys unharmed. The key throughout, then, was to establish
the legal, and hence divinely sanctioned, footing for a justly waged war. And whether it
was the Carthaginians as perhaps hinted at in the P. Rylands text and in the subtext of
Polybius account or the Romans, as most strongly evident in Livy, both sides wished
to build such an international case. A foundation of justice for ones war would
subsequently guarantee not only victory with victory corroborating ones claims but
would also confer rights of ownership to dorikttos choros, in accordance with the
prevailing norms of Hellenistic international politics.

THE ZAMA (201) TREATY & ROMAN INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

In the pre-Zama meeting, therefore, Hannibal, according to Roman PR accounts,
was placed heavily in the position of unjust party, while Rome claimed the right to fight
out this latest conflict to a new, and tougher, surrender deditio even. And this is indeed
the sort of surrender seen after the battle of Zama, one unique for its time, in that the
terms of its peace as we shall see contained one clause in particular that had not been
applied to a power as internationally significant as Carthages before.
195

According to Polybius, in the negotiations following Zama, the Carthaginian

ambassadors displayed an excessive, ignoble, and even disingenuous display of emotion.
He characterizes the Carthaginians behavior as acts exceeding the general custom of
exchange among certain men seem[ing] to be mere hypocrisy for the sake of
charlatanry465 behavior typical of those experiencing moral degradation in the
downward portions of the cycles in his model of anacyclosis.466 Scipio gives the
following response, in a clear reiteration of Romes justified position:
,
,
,
,
,
.
Scipio began by stating briefly to them [the Carthaginians] that the Romans were
not bound to treat them with leniency for their own sakes, as they confessed that
they had made necessary the war with the Romans from the beginning, by
taking Saguntum contrary to their treaty and enslaving its inhabitants, and that
they had quite recently been guilty of treachery by violating oaths and written
agreements.467
Scipio thus stresses the subordinate nature of the Carthaginian position, on the basis of
not just one, but two instances of (alleged) guilt: Saguntum and the transgression(s) upon
the latest truce and peace agreement. And he ends with a sanctimonious rejection of
Hannibals offer:
,
, ,
465

Polyb. 15.17.1-2:

466 See above pp. 155ff.; and compare below (regarding Corinth) pp. 294ff.
467 Polyb. 15.17.3.

196

 ,
.
For you should not regard it as strange if we [Romans] impose sufferings and
obligations on you or if we demand sacrifices from you, but rather it should
surprise you if we grant you any favors, since Fortune owing to your own
misconduct has deprived you of any right to pity or pardon and placed you at the
mercy of your enemies[!]468
As the wrongful party, Carthage should not expect leniency at all. Any
clemency received would speak merely to Roman magnanimity. And although these
passages may have been introduced by Polybius to heighten the dramatic effect of the
pre-Zama meeting, they do reflect contemporary thought and practice in international
politics, especially in regards to framing a justly waged war. Within such norms, it was
first and foremost important to establish a claim that the other party had infringed upon a
contracted agreement and/or upon ones territory/property (as determined by legal
conquest, inheritance or gift from rightful owner, etc.) or that of ones ally or allies (as
determined by documented philia, symmachia, etc.).469
These claims were broadcast loudly on the international stage not only in
agreements inscribed and displayed prominently in urban and sacred areas and in the
airing of arbitral disputes, but also in the works of contemporary historians.470 It was

468

Polyb. 15.17.5-6.
See Chaniotis (2004; 2005); also Karavites (1984); Low (2007); Hunt (2010: Ch. 6).
470 Epigraphic evidence of this = IPriene 37 (cf. Ager no. 26 II, 190s BCE), in which envoys in an
international arbitral court reference written histories as evidence in a territorial dispute, naming the authors
and summarizing their accounts. In this light, the role of the second century historian was a complex one, as
at once political participant and PR rep (sometimes even formally enlisted by a king or city-state), judge,
jury, and advocate for a state in its international conduct. Polybius takes the job seriously, especially in
regards to the writing of history as a guide for current and future politicians. However, he adamantly rejects
what he sees as unadulterated and unsubstantiated bias, reserving the harshest judgment for some of his
contemporary historians (e.g. Philinus).
469

197

important to do so, because such claims would subsequently become the legal foundation
upon which peace agreements were substantiated and internationally accepted. Military
victory could verify ones immediate claims to justified war, but was not always a
guarantee. In subsequent years, even generations later, arbitral judges or rival states could
dismiss or challenge military conquests, if those conquests were deemed as having
occurred in the absence of recognized or adequate cause.471 Therefore, it was of
continuing value to make sure ones just cause in waging war was first established and
then repeatedly emphasized on the world stage; military victory would then serve to
finalize the justice of the cause and then allow for a legal, internationally recognized
contract of peace.
This process was the one being played out in the events leading up to Zama, and it
would take place again in 149-6 BCE. However, while engaging in this process of justwarfare, and while interacting with prevailing international norms, the Romans also in

471 See arbitral evidence regarding territorial disputes: (1) Ager no. 26 (ca. 283/2 BCE, in a dispute that
was to continue until ca. 135 BCE, between Priene and Samos, over areas of the Mykale peninsula. Priene,
in its claims (Ager no. 26 I, ll. 14-20), cited a history going as far back as the seventh century, to a
Cimmerian invasion under Lygdamis, who acknowledged Prienes rightful ownership and restored
( ) conquered lands to Priene three years after the invasion. Priene also referenced an
allegedly wrongful seizure by force ( ) of these lands by Samos an injustice confirmed by a
mediation of Bias (ibid., ll. 20-23); (2) Ager no. 42, ll. 19-27 (ca. 238-221 BCE, between the cities of
Nagidos and Arsino in Cilicia, the latter founded a few decades earlier, on land conquered by Aetos,
commander for Ptolemy II. These lands were still claimed by Nagidos in the dispute, however, on the
grounds that they were unjustly taken from barbarians illegally occupying them, rather than from
Nagidos itself); (3) Ager no. 146 (ca. 150-133 BCE, Pergamene judges, in arbitrating between Mytilene and
Pitane, considered the following criteria for rightful ownership: whether Seleucus, as victor at
Kouropedion, was rightful owner, able to bequeath the lands in question to his heir, Antiochus I; and
whether a lawful transaction of these lands had thus occurred between Antiochus I and Pitane see ll. 132150); (4) Ager no. 158 I (ca. 140-111 BCE, in which envoys of Hierapytna are recorded as having
emphasized, ll. 6-8, that the Hierapytnans had never attacked unannounced or otherwise wronged their
adversaries, the citizens of Itanos: [] , |
[ ] [] , |
[]

198

both instances ultimately added their own specific outlooks and practices to the mix.
More so than their contemporaries, Romans appear to have felt even more strongly about
the significance of military victory and its relationship with just cause. In their patterns
of behavior, they reveal an underlying belief that military victory was completely and
unambiguously related to the just-cause of a war at least a war waged by them and in
accordance with proper Roman conduct. The belief system underlying the continued
practice of fetial law (whether or not such law held associated procedures that had
changed over the past century),472 as well as the very deep-seated connection between
Roman religious rite and the conduct of war both meant that for Romans, military victory
was the final and definitive proof of the justice of their cause and the rightful
performance of a divine verdict.473
Such a fundamental belief system played out in a manner that distinguished
Roman ethics from contemporary just-warfare systems. And the Roman-specific features
can still be detected, making themselves most evident during moments of discord and

472

Much scholarly debate continues to surround the subject of Republican-era ius fetiale for the range of
viewpoints, see Phillipson (1911, ii.26); McDonald and Walbank (1937); Walbank (1949); Dahlheim
(1968: 171-180); Rich (1976); Harris (1979: 166-175); Saulnier (1980); Wiedemann (1986); Rpke (1990:
97-117); Watson (1993); Ferrary (1995); Giovannini (2000); Bederman (2001: 76-9, 231-41); Santangelo
(2008); Ando (2010); and most recently, Zollschan (2011); Rich (2011a and b); and Milano and Zollschan,
eds. (forthcoming). For the most part, the problems being tackled by such debate derive from the nature of
our source evidence, which comes almost exclusively from later authors (Livy, Cicero, and Dionysius of
Halicarnassus in particular). The view taken here is that an old tradition of fetial law continued to be
practiced and be of central importance during the second century, when Romans themselves discussed its
proper deployment in dealing with states that did not themselves have fetials or practices that directly
matched the conventions of fetial law. See also below p. 278.
473 See Watson (1993: 27-29) for this connection between ius fetiale and the concept of a divinely
sanctioned, legal verdict. As noted by Ager (2009: 23ff.), while the Greeks also believed that the gods
supported their causes in war, such convictions allowed for the possibility of error, leaving space for
practices the Romans would have found humiliating see discussion below.

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misunderstanding between Roman and Hellenic diplomatic conventions, especially when

in engaging in certain (but not all) forms of international third-party diplomacy.474
On the one hand, Romans clearly integrated with their contemporaries, and
recognized that other states could indeed make unjust conquests and thereby lose legal
rights to certain possessions. Such states, after all, did not practice fetial law. In
acknowledging the possibility of others injustice(s), Romans thus assimilated well with
at least one direction of contemporary third-party diplomatic practice. There are
numerous examples of Roman mediation (often in response to invitations to mediate) in
international conflicts. In these instances, the Roman Senate would bring two parties
together, assigning a third state to arbitrate or adjudicate that is, provide a legal
ruling.475 More frequently, however, the Senate would serve as a panel of international
arbiters, designating powers to special legates or commanders to act on its behalf abroad,
making inquiries and conveying judgments.476

474

See Ferrary (1995) and Ager (2009), who also make this connection between the Roman belief system
underlying fetial law and Roman antagonism to at least certain forms of contemporary international thirdparty diplomacy. Ager furthermore discusses the need to distinguish between forms of third-party
diplomacy e.g. mediation, arbitration/adjudication, good-offices (all in the spirit of current international
law classifications) and she adds to work first done by Eckstein (1988) and Kaeev (1997) by suggesting
another category, of apologetic deprecation.
475 Examples of third-party states designated by the Senate: (1) 175-160 BCE, Mylasa was chosen to
arbitrate in a dispute between Magnesia and Priene (= Ager no. 120); (2) ca. 166 BCE, in a dispute between
Ambracia and Athamania, Corcyra was delegated to arbitrate via senatus consultum (= Ager no. 131); (3)
156-5 BCE, the Senate decided upon the unjust party (Athens), but designated another state Sicyon to
decide the sentence for a raid on Oropus (= Ager no. 141).
476 Examples of Senate rulings/designation of magistrates: (1) during what modern scholars have called the
settlement of Greece in 196 BCE, a decemvirate settled a number of territorial disputes see Ager no.s
76, 156 (see also no. 86); (2) in disputes between members of the Delphic Amphictyony, ca. 190 BCE =
Ager no. 88 (documents IIA and B list both the consul and Senate as making the arbitration decision); (3)
during the settlement of Asia in 189-188 BCE = Ager no. 97 (arbitration clause included in the Treaty of
Apamea), no.s 98-99, 101-102, and 104; (4) 175-160 BCE, in the dispute between Magnesia and Priene
mentioned above (Ager no. 120), the Senate voted a consultum authorizing the praetor M. Aemilius to
delegate the arbitration to another third-party; (5) 156-4 BCE, a series of legations and even a decemvirate

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However, there are no clear examples of Romans participating in the category of

third-party diplomacy known as good-offices in which the third party (here, Rome)
would make an informal approach to bring parties together but would not otherwise take
a major role in negotiations.477 And, there are no known instances whatsoever of Romans
participating in the category Ager has called apologetic deprecation in which the
third-party (Rome) would apologize for making an offer of intervention, acknowledging
the just-cause of the party approached, but nevertheless begging that this partys anger be
diminished against the adversary.478 Both practices were frequent tools in the trade of
contemporary Hellenic diplomatic practice, yet Romans appear to have avoided them
when conducting their own international relations.479
Such patterns testify to a fundamental Roman belief system in place, according to
which all Roman interstate action was self-perceived as fully sanctioned, on a level not
on par with some of the flexibilities inherent in contemporary Hellenic diplomatic
were sent by the Senate to mediate between Attalos II and Prusias II, with threats of war in the air for
Prusias (= Ager no. 142); (6) ca. 140 BCE, the Senate ruled on a dispute between Melitaia and Narthakion
(= Ager no. 156). Note: Romes interventions in and responses to the conflicts between Carthage and
Numidia, as well as between (contested) members of the Achaian League were also in this vein of thirdparty diplomacy see discussions below in chapters 5 and 6.
477 On good-offices, see Ager (2009). Romans instead preferred to make more forceful third-party
diplomatic offers. Such offers were closer to acts of mediation, which involved direct participation in the
negotiation between parties cf. the conference at Lysimacheia in 196 BCE, at which Roman envoys
essentially mandated an agreement for Antiochus and Ptolemy. Antiochus had his own reply making
what turned out to be an empty promise to submit to an adjudication by Rhodes = Ager no. 77. Note that
although Antiochus escaped adjudication by virtue of his international power, he did not find a promise to
submit to arbitration something shameful in fact, he found it face-saving. Romans would not have
thought otherwise. Their form of such propagandistic offers toward arbitration involved submitting to the
Senate! (e.g. Flamininus offer to the Aetolians, 192 BCE Ager no. 84). A similar mediation-order occurs
later in 168 BCE, with Popilius Laenas famed line in the sand for Antiochus.
478 On apologetic deprecation, see Ager (2009). Roman behavior in asking parties to submit to diplomatic
intervention is actually far from being either apologetic or anger-deprecating e.g. 200 BCE, a Roman
commission demanded that Philip submit to arbitration or face war with Rome (an ultimatum looking very
much like res repetere) Polyb. 16.34.3-4.
479 See extensive discussion in Ager (1996; 2009), with citations.

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thought. For on the one hand, Roman magistrates and the Senate as a whole would most
certainly intervene abroad especially upon invitation. Such invitations were received as
acknowledgments of and praise for Roman just-practice. And the right was reserved to
choose between refusing, postponing, or agreeing to the alleged international injustice or
not. Invitations for direct Roman mediation thus confirmed, on an international level, the
high moral ground upon which Romans already believed they stood. And in doing so, the
door was opened to what modern terminology would call interventionalist conduct. In
second-century BCE norms, however, these would have been recognized as panHellenizing, honorable friendship/kinship (even noble-kingship) actions, according to
which Rome, whether directly or indirectly, in a legal and/or military vein, came to the
aid of friends, allies, and other states otherwise believed to be in need. And there were
many potential benefits in store for Romans and the state as a whole, in the form of
friendship, alliance, and territorial networks of obligation. By contrast, on their very
deepest cultural level, Romans would never think of stooping to other contemporary
behaviors, to make what for them constituted gestures of international-level inferiority
be it via good-offices (bringing parties together, getting involved, but not having the
status or legal standing to decide!) or apologetic deprecation (admitting to be making a
wrong step, supporting a presumably unjust party and deprecating the rightful anger of
another!).
That such beliefs were in place is only further proved by the patterns of behavior
seen when third-party diplomacy went in the other direction, and was aimed at Rome by
other states. A direct reversal is evident: what Romans practiced towards others in
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interstate intervention, they did not appreciate from others; and what they themselves
shunned, they accepted from others. For whereas Romans appear to have been amenable
to offers from other states in the form of good-offices or apologetic deprecation,480 they
responded with suspicion, contempt, and even hostility to offers that others mediate or
adjudicate in Roman-involved affairs. Depending on the circumstances, and the current
strength of position for the offending third party as a friend/ally of Rome, the Senate
would at some times deflect and at others go as far as threatening war,481 when
propositions of mediation or adjudication were made.482

480

--Romans accepting good-offices: (1) 212 BCE, during the siege of Syracuse, a number of Sicilian
states (allied with Rome) acted as go-betweens in negotiations between Syracuse and Rome these
negotiations, however, eventually failed (see Livy 25.28-9); (2) 205 BCE, the Epirotes helped open
negotiations between Rome and Philip, leading to the Peace of Phoenice (see Livy 29.12.8-12); (3) 198
BCE, the Epirotes again facilitated negotiations, leading to the abortive conference between Flamininus and
Philip at the River Aous (cf. Ager no. 72); (4) 196 BCE, Athenians and Achaians are called upon by
Flamininus to witness a bellum iustum piumque against Boiotia for acts of violence allegedly done to
individual Roman soldiers the Athenians and Achaians brought about a meeting between Flamininus and
the Boiotian League, to discuss the contested indemnity (= Ager no. 75). See discussion in Ager (2009:
27ff.).
--Romans accepting apologetic deprecation: (1) 190-189 BCE, Athenians and Rhodians called down the
anger of Rome, leading to a settlement with Aetolia (the Athenian and Rhodian envoys corresponded both
with commanders in Greece and before the Senate, but found success only after the battle of Magnesia) (=
Ager no. 94); (2) 188 BCE, Ilian diplomats spoke before the decemviri in Asia Minor, employing kinship
diplomacy to call down Roman anger against Lycia the decemviri agreed not to punish Lycia for
having allied with Antiochus but they did gift Lycia to Rhodes (cf. Ager no. 102).
481 Perhaps the best-known (and most discussed) example of Roman hostility to an offer of mediation
occurred at the end of the Third Macedonian War, vis vis Rhodes see Gruen (1975); Gabrielsen (1993);
Ager (1991; 2009: 34ff.). Polybius (29.19) tells us that Rhodian envoys were already in Rome when news
of the victory at Pydna arrived. He then describes the Rhodians, summoned to appear before the Senate,
stating that, they had come to bring the war to an end; for when the people of Rhodes saw that the war
still continued to drag on, and observed that it was unprofitable to all the Greeks and to the Romans
themselves owing to its great expense, had decided on this step; but now that war had terminated in the
way that the Rhodians had wished, they congratulated the Romans. Polybius remarks upon the curtness
and anger of the Roman response construing it as a misfortunate turn for the foolish envoys (29.19.2), and
as an opportunity taken by Rome to make an example of Rhodes (29.19.5-6). Such an interpretation
reflects a Hellenic perspective on acceptable third-party diplomatic behavior, whereby Rhodian behavior
perhaps displayed unwise self-importance, but was not otherwise insulting to another states sense of
sovereignty. However, for the Romans, there were added implications to the presence of Rhodian envoys
seeking peace, then reacting to Pydna with a denouncement of the war. These details could have been read
as an attempted mediation, followed by a quick turn of policy towards anger-deprecation, rather than a full,

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On first glance, similar patterns seem to appear in the third-party diplomatic

behaviors of Hellenistic kings. There simply are not clear cases of kings submitting to
mediation or adjudication in their affairs though there are cases of engagement with
good-offices. Such patterns perhaps make sense in terms of straightforward, capabilitydefined power politics: Hellenistic kings were simply on a level in the international
system that meant they did not have to bow down to the judgment of third parties. In this
light, Romes earliest engagements with Hellenistic third-party diplomacy and their
outright rejection of mediation would have seemed even more peculiar to Hellenic
contemporaries. Perplexity at Roman behavior would have been even more prevalent
during the years when Romes standing abroad did not yet rival that of the kings. But
even afterward, Roman third-party practices would have only added to the other
problems Greek-speakers were having with defining the nature the politeia of the
Roman state (see above).
Going beneath the surface of capability-driven power politics, however, more
subtle details can be detected in the third-party behaviors of the kings. Unlike Romans
subsidiary, and allied support for the Roman cause. Some senators thus construed Rhodian actions as a
form of implicit support for Perseus (Polyb. 29.19.6-8), and even threatened war (Polyb. 30.4) though
others, such as Cato, argued that the Rhodians ill-conceived diplomacy did not constitute enough grounds
(i.e. harm/injustice to Rome) for war (cf. Gell. 6.3). Livys account of the affair of 168-7 BCE amplifies the
anti-Rhodian interpretation, and provides a window into Roman-specific evaluations. In Roman
understanding, Hellenic third-party mediation, when suggested for their own affairs, was viewed as
extremely arrogant and offensive even suspiciously looking like unfaithful support for the hostile cause.
482 Some of the earliest known instances of such Roman behavior took place when Hellenistic kings
approached Rome (e.g. Pyrrhus in 280 BCE cf. Ager no. 27; Ptolemy II in 252 BCE cf. Ager no. 35).
These kings seem to have considered Rome, along third-party diplomatic lines, in much the same way they
did the Greek poleis (e.g. Lysimachus between Priene and Samos in 283/2 BCE cf. Ager no. 26; Philip V
between Gonnoi and Herakleion post-218 BCE cf. Ager no. 54; and Ptolemy VI between Arsino and
Troizen, ca. 163-146 BCE cf. Ager no. 138). Romes contemptuous and even hostile responses to
monarchic overtures may have thus seemed strange, if not outright arrogant, contributing to the well-known
conclusion that Rome was governed by a Boul of kings. see above, p. 147.

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whose aversion to mediation in their affairs reflected a unique cultural belief system
kings did occasionally negotiate with both directions of Hellenic diplomatic practice,
despite all their physical power. Textual evidence indicates the very infrequent monarchic
nod to mediation for example, in the texts of two treaties made in Crete by Antigonus
III, one with Eleutherna and the other with Hierapytna (both ca. 224 BCE).483 Both
treaties included a form of adjudication clause, according to which a transgression
upon the other terms would be judged by a neutral third party, who would then decide
upon and collect any fines due. These clauses were decidedly one-sided, however, since
they only applied to transgressions made by Eleutherna and Hierapytna, not Antigonus.
All the same, they still put the verdict in the hands of another party. And even if that third
party happened to be more biased or obligated toward Antigonus, this was not the same
practice as having Antigonus directly delegate (as Romans would have had it).
A similar acknowledgment of adjudication is also evident in Antiochus IIIs
promise at Lysimacheia (never fulfilled) to submit to the judgment of third-party Rhodes
(rather than Rome) in 196 BCE (see above). Hellenic territorial dominions and
international law therefore retained certain grey areas, and the kings acknowledged them,
if only in nominal terms that minimized the possible damage to their stature. Monarchs
were thus said to return lands to poleis, in the sense of gifting them back. And such
actions held repercussions beyond paying mere lip service to Greek diplomatic
conventions and international goodwill. For as we have seen, cities and arbiters even
generations later could rule against a kings conquests as having rightfully established
483

= Ager no.s 47 (IC II.xii.20) and 48 (IC III.iii.1a).

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legal dominion over land, if such conquests were found to have been taken from unlawful
owners (see above). Romans simply did not consider such grey areas a viable, even
fathomable part of their own international conduct, and they would not even pay lip
service to the idea that a third party could intervene in their own affairs.
Unlike their contemporaries, then, Romans could not acknowledge that their
acquisitions or foreign engagements were for the legal jurisdiction of others. Romans
could not and would not fully participate in all directions and forms of Hellenistic thirdparty diplomacy. This is not to say that Romans believed that their state-representatives
were beyond all reproof. On the contrary: guilt for improper behavior, when such
missteps did happen in Roman wars, was placed squarely in the hands of individual
commanders. And only the Senate certainly not anyone outside Rome could put these
commanders on trial. For their crimes were ultimately to be defined as contravening the
mission and purpose of the original imperium, which retained its essence as divine verdict
throughout. And in no cases do the crimes entail an occupation of territories within a
commanders provincia. Instead, they involved a disgrace to the res publica, in the form
of shameful surrender and/or fleeing in defeat,484 or via misappropriation of

484

Evidence indicates that indeed, the Roman Senate would only condemn a magistrate for an abuse of
imperium for a premature, unfavorable, or otherwise embarrassing surrender/defeat in battle and in quite
rare instances, it seems, given the overall number of known imperatores victi (Rosenstein, 1990, gives an
estimate of some 92 defeated commanders during the Republic). Examples from our period include: (1) P.
Cl. Pulcher, cos. 249 BCE, defeated at sea, presumably for ignoring the auspices, recalled to Rome and
ordered to name a dictator, then put on trial for perduellio, eventually given a heavy fine, dying soon
thereafter (possibly by suicide?) cf. Polyb. 1.51-52, Livy Per. 19, Cicero, ND 2.7, Div. 2.71; (2) Cn.
Fulvius Flaccus, praetor 212 BCE, whose army fled when defeated by Hannibal he was prosecuted and
exiled cf. Livy 26.2.7-3.12; (3) M. Cl. Marcellus, procos. 209 BCE, whose army also fled when defeated
by Hannibal he was recalled to Rome to defend his actions before an assembly but was acquitted cf.
Livy 27.12.7-17, 27.20-21; (4) Baebius Tamphilus, praetor 199 BCE, relieved of command after a
horrifying loss to the Insubrian Gauls (losing > 6,700 men) cf. Livy 32.7.5-7; (5) C. Plautius Hypsaeus,

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movables/monies from individual socii or amici.485 This explains why an icy reception
awaited any foreign suggestions (intended or not) that Rome was even possibly involved
in less-than-rightful conflicts or, by extension, unlawful territorial possessions. Over the
course of the third and second centuries, in their interactions with and at times to the
consternation of other states, Romans continued to cling to a deep set of convictions. No
matter the occasional individual blunder (or the possible evolutions in fetial law) along
the way, Romans remained certain of their res publicas fundamental sanctioning by and
adherence to divine justice.

CONCLUSION
The political and legal frameworks of the second-century international system
were thus shot through with linguistic-semantic disjunctions and newly evolving
meanings (e.g. polis vs. res publica, provincia vs. eparcheia). Greek-speaking
intellectuals and politicians who were entering this conceptual middle ground in their
interactions with Romans, were therefore attempting to define the Roman state in
essentially pan-Hellenic terms, identified Rome as a polis. At the same time, however,
praetor 146 BCE, who fled and did not re-engage the enemy after being defeated by Viriathus Hypsaeus
was prosecuted and exiled upon his return cf. Livy Per. 52, App. Iber. 64, Diod. 33.2; (6) C. Hostilius
Mancinus, cos. during the siege of Numantia, 137 BCE, ordered by the Senate to be delivered, bound and
naked, over to the Celtiberians, in repudiation of the treaty of surrender he had made with them cf. App.
Iber. 80, 83, Cicero Rep. 3.28, Off. 3.109 compare earlier episodes with the commanders at the Caudine
Forks, as well as with a previous commander at Numantia (who was acquitted), Q. Pompeius, cos. 141
BCE cf. App. Iber. 78-9, Cicero Off. 3.109, Rep. 3.28, Fin. 2.54. Possibly the Manlius Vulso episode after
Cannae, despite Livys heroic treatment of the story (22.61), fits this pattern, with Vulso being sent back to
the Carthaginians as a prisoner, in representation of the Senates refusal to parlay in defeat. See Rosenstein
(1986; 1990). Flamininus offer to the Aetolians, to go to arbitration via the Senate, also reflects this
perceived role of the Senate.
485 In these instances, ex-magistrates could be condemned for illegal confiscation of properties from
Roman socii and amici (but not inimici), and were prosecuted in individual trials, in accordance with recent
de repetundis legislation. See Richardson (1987).

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they were also encountering Romans and the Roman state on the international stage in a
manner seemingly analogous to a Hellenistic kingdom. Romans in turn were re-defining
some, but certainly not all, of their own concepts, in ways that were moving toward
Hellenic ideas, concretizing the notion that Roman commands abroad (e.g. imperium and
provincia) could be conceived in an abstract and geographic sense. The end result was
that Rome was increasingly being viewed, by a cross-cultural majority in the
international sphere, as the polis or res publica of a monarchic arch an empire.
And as we have seen, Polybius represents a key individual standing in the
complex middle ground of these conceptual interactions. Polybius analysis of Romes
politeia thus takes a Greco-centric approach in framing Rome in Hellenic, polis terms,
and yet Polybius does so with special experience in witnessing Roman practices. We thus
gain a window into one among many Greeks confronting Roman peculiarities in the
definitions of state sovereignty, just warfare, and territorial/treaty arrangements. Such
disjunctions, which we have explored in this chapter, held important implications for the
outlining of terms in the treaty of Zama, conceived as just punishment for the unjust
defeated. The terms, the political-cultural differences that they highlight between
Hellenic and Roman frames of reference, and Polybius agenda in highlighting them as
necessary informational tools for his intended audience of current and future statesmen
will be discussed in further detail in the next chapter.

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Chapter 5: From 201 to 149 BCE Diplomatic Crisis

INTRODUCTION
In the previous two chapters, we have established that during the second century
BCE, there existed an evolving interstate community that was increasingly connected, or
globalized via networks of myth-historic kinship and a fluid discourse on civilized
pan-Hellenism. At the same time, this interstate community shows signs of having
become increasingly self-aware, as it progressively looked to contemporary events as
fitting within the scope of world history, and Rome/the Romans in particular being
negotiated as fulfilling a new world order. We have also explored the fact that this
evolving, international middle ground was not without its disjunctions and
misapprehensions, as different political-cultural frames of references as most evident in
Greek as opposed to Latin terminologies sought to communicate with, dominate over,
and identify analogies between each other. And perhaps most importantly, we have
discussed Polybius as a key figure in this international environment, as biased actor,
incidental testimony, and historian with an authorial agenda. For Polybius not only
provides us with more detailed evidence (both intentionally and inadvertently) as to the
convergences and disparities of international political-cultural developments of his time,
but he also represents an influential - but not solitary voice contributing to the
contemporaneous construction of 146 as a significant historical juncture.
The present chapter takes these broader contexts and applies them to an analysis
of diplomatic events leading up to the outbreak of the Third Punic War in 149 BCE. As
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discussed in chapter 1, the tradition in modern scholarship has been to view 146 in light
of Roman motivations for going to war with Carthage in 149, either for fear of Carthage
and/or Numidia, or with economic motivations of eliminating a competitor or gaining
access to Carthages harbor, or in manifestation of a new, more imperialist approach to
foreign policy. Here, however, a different approach is being taken, one that looks beyond
the Romano-centric perspective, to the international as well as local North African
contexts. Such an approach reveals that modern traditions, in structuring the debate
around Roman motivations for war, have been working from an assessment given by
Polybius himself that the Romans had long before decided to go to war with Carthage,
but merely sought, and found in 149, a pretext (prophasis) to do so.486
The contention here, then, is that this last statement reflects an individual opinion
and personally held theory regarding causation (prophasis vs. aitia), though it existed
within a historiographical tradition tracing at least as far back as Herodotus. At the same
time, it is a contention that this statement manifests a subtle and yet significant
disjunction existing between Greek-speaking political-cultural concepts of polemos
dikaios and Roman bellum iustum on the international stage. In other words, it is argued
here that the Romans were not so much searching for an excuse for war in 149 as they
were sincerely debating whether just cause (in legal/ divinely sanctioned terms) existed,
and whether or not a perceived injustice had indeed been inflicted upon the res publica. If
some or a majority of Romans felt continued or enhanced enmity toward Carthage as
Polybius implies was the truest cause (aitia) and as modern traditions have debated is
486

Polyb. 36.2 see below, pp. 285ff.

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largely irrelevant to explaining why the war began when and how it did. What does
explain the diplomatic fallout is the wider set of environmental contexts, and the present
chapter represents an analysis of these in particular.
We begin with an analysis of the peace treaty of 201 BCE, which first established
the conditions that came to a head in 149. The terms of the treaty are read by comparison
with contemporary Hellenistic international patterns and Roman legal-diplomatic views.
Given such contexts, the 201 treaty takes on some added meanings, becoming more than
just a marker for an end of conflict, and serving to outline a new position for the
Carthaginian state and limits to its sovereignty in the international system. As with other
Hellenistic peace agreements, the nature of the terms and the degree of their specificity
were seen by international-level politicians as a direct reflection, not only of the
defeated partys level of guilt, but also of the certainty with which both parties had agreed
to a decisive end of conflict. The implications for Carthage were significant, because
Romans, in their unique self-perception of the res publica as the ultimate and
irreproachable arbiter of justice, essentially repositioned Carthage within a sphere of
obligation, and, to a certain extent, within their roster of mandated socii. And in doing so,
they also removed the legal right for Carthage to engage in her own, independent
international diplomacy, instead transferring this key aspect of sovereignty into the hands
of the Roman state.
It was the first of two terms from the 201 treaty in particular that established this
new position, one which prohibited Carthage from engaging in military conflict at all
outside of Africa, and within Africa only with Romes permission. The second term
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perhaps even more disastrous for the future of Carthage returned to Massinissa the
ancestral lands of the Numidians. The implications of both are discussed in detail here.
Using archaeological evidence (excavation and survey), post-war conditions are
reconstructed for Carthage, Carthages immediate hinterland, and in areas disputed
between Carthage and Massinissa. These reveal the ways in which Carthage responded to
the crisis of defeat and the removal of its independent foreign policy: experiencing a
growth in urban population, the city intensified its reliance upon local/regional
agricultural production, while remaining linked to international trade networks, these last
increasingly dominated by Italian wares. Such evidence debunks the theory that Romans
ever actively sought to capture Carthage in order to eliminate economic competition or
gain control and access to a new market.487 Survey evidence, when combined with
modern ethnographic comparanda, also reveals the ongoing transformation of the North
African hinterland, and helps clarify the series of territorial disputes that plagued the
region in the decades following 201.
We analyze these disputes as emblematic of the cultural misapprehensions taking
place in the international arena of the second century for while Romans and Greekspeakers approached territorial disputes in analogous and yet divergent ways, both of
these differed from local North African tribal traditions. And as a result, Rome was never
able to comprehend or disentangle the disputes between Numidians and Carthage
over what constituted ancestral land, and in characteristic fashion, avoided making
decisive declarations on the matter. Massinissa, in turn, was only too willing to take
487

See below pp. 232ff.

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advantage of these misapprehensions, advancing claims to North African lands at

moments of international tension abroad, when allegations of Carthaginian misbehavior
could also gain some ground with Rome. And Massinissa did so knowing full well that
Carthage could not take military action against him, without permission from Rome or
without contravening the strictures of the 201 treaty. Overall, it was a recipe for disaster
that ended in armed conflict between Numidians under one of Massinissas sons and
Numidians under Carthaginian leadership. The battle took place within the exact year that
Carthages 201-treaty indemnity expired, and yet at least after debate in the Roman
Senate it was determined to be a breach of the 201 treatys prohibition against
Carthaginian military action without Roman permission.
As we will see, then, there were a number of disjunctions and misapprehensions
in play: not only between international Greeks (Polybius to a certain extent included) and
Romans over what constituted a just cause for war, but also between Romans,
Carthaginians, and Numidians (broadly defined) as to how territorial holdings were to be
defined in North Africa and how the 201 treaty terms were to be read over the years.
Similar miscommunications are evident in the disintegration of relations between Rome
and Carthage from the battle in North Africa which took place in 152 BCE and the
final outbreak of direct conflict in 149 BCE. The latter was formally signaled by
Carthages refusal of the so-called Censorinus Ultimatum, which ordered the wholesale
evacuation and re-location of Carthage to a site further inland. Polybius provides a key
discussion of this ultimatum, fitting it as we can tell from other evidence into the
peculiarly Roman practice of deditio. From this testimony it will be concluded that in
213

Roman eyes at least (though not necessarily in others), a state of war already existed and
a provincia Africa had already been allotted. In acceding to Roman demands, however
what in Hellenistic practice could lead to a truce or more lasting peace Carthage
inadvertently made a full surrender into the faith of Rome. This last as Polybius
clearly states meant something very different to Romans. It constituted a full admission
of guilt of having inflicted injustice upon the res publica and placed the state in
question (Carthage) utterly in Roman hands, at the utmost mercy of Roman command.
The consul Censorinus could therefore order that Carthage be un-founded and re-founded
elsewhere it was within his full legal rights. As with an earlier international incident
involving misunderstood deditio in which the Roman commander Glabrio had Aetolian
statesmen put in chains deditio constituted a literal subservience to Roman maiestas.488
Polybius narrative in this context thus reveals a number of interesting points.
First, it testifies to continuing international confusion over certain Roman diplomatic
practices deditio standing out among them. Secondly, it indicates Polybius strong
opinion that a didactic manual as in his Histories is essential for contemporary
statesmen (and for future politicians confronted with a rising foreign power). Polybius
thus finds fault with Carthaginian leadership for their naivet in dealing with Rome,
indecisively deciding to stand up to Massinissa and yet by the same token submitting to
Roman deditio without fearing any consequences. However and thirdly Polybius
narrative reveals an assessment of the Romans as well, as arbiters of a newly minted
international arch. It is here that important implications for 146s eventual placement as
488

See below p. 279.

214

an important historical marker in Polybius text in particular can be seen developing. For
as Polybius had earlier stated, he had planned to extend the Histories in order to assess
the latest turn in international conditions toward a period of tarach kai kinesis, both for
the rulers and the ruled. The new endpoint for this extension was to be 146 ostensibly a
juncture at which this period of disturbance was to lead to something else. And as we will
see, Polybius discussion of Roman governance in North Africa (in Book 31) is not
necessarily a positive one, and his presentation of the outbreak of the Third Punic War
leaves as many questions regarding Roman justice as it does answers (mostly regarding
the avoidance of deditio!). This chapter thus raises some early signs to be developed
further in the next chapter regarding 146 as an historical construction that was closely
tied to judgments of Roman international power, as either a positive or a negative force in
the oikoumen.

201 TREATY & POLYBIAN COMMENTARY

We begin, then, with the nature of the 201 treaty terms, which set the stage for the
next half-century. The main surviving historical references to the treaty indicate quite
specific terms,489 and present a dramatized picture of debate and diplomatic
communication in the time leading up to the final agreement. Such drama appears to have
been heightened (with increasing intensity by authors over time) as a means of

489

The major sources are Polybius, Livy, Appian, and Dio, who for the most part agree on the main outline
of the treaty: Polyb. 15.17-19; Livy 30.36.9-38.5, see also 42.23.3-4; brief note in Appian Pun. 2b, main
text at 49a-56a, 59a-b; Dio fr. 57.82; epitomized by Zon. 9.14.i-k. Note: here, for purposes of highlighting
the contemporary second-century context, we will focus solely on Polybius, footnoting the later texts where
they contain additions/deviations.

215

highlighting the deep importance of this international contract and its implications for the
future of Carthage, as well as serving as a post eventum reflection upon Carthages
ultimate fate in 146. It is in this light that Polybius began his description of the post-Zama
treaty negotiations with a scornful commentary. He opens by remarking on the
Carthaginian envoys profuse display of emotion in begging Scipio for mercy. And he
scathingly concludes that such behavior rather than inspiring pity for genuine emotions
felt in human tragedy was in reality quite disgusting:490
,
,
,
:
, , .
.
When men give expression to their feelings more violently than is the general
custom of habits among some men, if this excess seems to spring from genuine
emotion due to the magnitude of their calamities, it arouses the pity of those who
see and hear it, and its very strangeness touches all our hearts; but when such
extravagance seems to be a mere piece of charlatanry and acting, it incurs not
pity, but anger and hatred. Such was the case on the present occasion with
regard to the Carthaginian ambassadors.
Elsewhere as in the description of King Prusias II at Rome Polybius also
reserved disparaging words for excessive displays of emotion, especially when they
involved shameful acts of self-humiliation and ignoble responses to defeat at the hands of
a great(er) power.491 Here, however, in describing the Carthaginian envoys, Polybius
went even further, categorizing the behavior as not only excessive and shameful but also

490

Polyb. 15.17.1-2.
For the Prusias passage, see Polyb. 30.18 see also above, pp. 100ff. On Polybius view on excessively
servile and emotion-ridden behavior, see Eckstein (1995, esp. pp. 221ff.), with examples.
491

216

as hypocritical and involving goteia, or witchcraft / illusion.492 Such an implication

that Carthaginian behavior also involved an element of con-artistry adds a sinister twist
to the interpretation. Polybius thus not only implies that the Carthaginians degraded
themselves by acting in a servile manner, but also hints that they were guilty of doing so
with disingenuous intentions. Rather than making a genuine acknowledgment of defeat or
conveying a sincere sense of humility, the Carthaginian envoys in Polybius estimation
were manipulating the ideal diplomatic ethos in an underhanded and unseemly way.
They were performing in a manner that others with a sense of dignity would not stoop to,
simply because they were seeking to be let off the hook, tricking Scipio into making a
truce that would be overly lenient, would not be accepted, or would otherwise fall apart
in some way (as the pre-Zama truce did).
At first glance, Polybius conclusions here seem to have been influenced by his
exposure to Roman ideologies, which not only held a strong aversion to dishonorable
surrender but also developed a clear rhetoric against the stereotype of Punica fides. This
last development may at least in part have had its origins in Roman reactions to some of
the more foreign (and perhaps in some ways more Hellenic) approaches by Carthaginians
to the grey areas of international diplomacy.493 However, while Polybius shows signs
of having been influenced by Roman thought, as a native Achaian, he read the shame in
the Carthaginian envoys behavior on a somewhat different level. He makes sure to note

492

Elsewhere, at 4.20.5, Polybius uses goteia in conjunction with apat (treachery/deceit), to

characterize Ephorus more jaded thoughts on the purpose of music in human society.
493 See above (also on the problems associated with elucidating the unique features of Carthaginian
interstate politics) pp. 75ff.

217

that the excessive display of emotion could possibly be excused as a cultural oddity for
citizens of a not fully Hellenized state. But as Polybius stresses this would only be
true if it were clear that such behavior sprang from genuine emotion, felt in response to
misfortune and in fear of impending doom. And it is here that Polybius finds the most
fault with the Carthaginian reaction. In particular and in line with his aim to present a
manual to statesmen Polybius sets up a negative exemplum of Carthaginian leadership
and its unmanly insincerity. And in doing so, he also presents a stark contrast between
this episode after Zama and that of Roman reactions to Cannae, the latter being presented
at a key climax in Polybius narrative:494

,


, ,
,
. :

,
,
,
.
The Romans on their part owing to this defeat at once abandoned all hope of
retaining their supremacy in Italy, and were in the greatest fear about their own
safety and that of Rome... It seemed indeed as if Fortune were taking part against
them in their struggle with adversity and meant to fill the cup to overflowing Yet
the Senate neglected no means in its power, but exhorted and encouraged the
populace, strengthened the defenses of the city, and deliberated on the situation
with manly coolness. And subsequent events made this manifest. For though the
Romans were now incontestably beaten and their military reputation shattered,
yet by the peculiar virtue of their constitution and by wise counsel they not only

494

Polyb. 3.118.5-9.

218

recovered their supremacy in Italy and afterwards defeated the Carthaginians,

but in a few years made themselves masters of the whole world.
The Romans had thus been in an even more desperate situation after Cannae than
the Carthaginians after Zama at least according to Polybius formulation. Yet despite
Romes extreme calamity, Polybius notes a key difference. Romes leadership and moral
fiber, as generated by the strength and aret of Romes politeia, meant that the irrational
fears of the mob had been quelled and its emotional energies directed calmly toward
recovery. Polybius thus pulls together his account to show his readers that the end result
for Rome went far beyond recovery from misfortunes sent by Tyche. Instead, the
recovery itself had launched into the accomplishment of something truly unprecedented:
the achievement of world power in a very short span of time. From near-ruin to global
giant, Romes meteoric rise was more than just a reversal of Fortune, that favorite
catchall of Hellenistic historical drama. It was the triumph of a human politeia over the
whims of Fortune, and even more than that, a turning of Fortunes rudder to Romes
supreme benefit a phenomenon so compelling that Polybius had made it the central
framework for his Histories.
Therefore, in the course of the post-Zama episode and its implied contrasts with
Rome after Cannae, a key set of Polybian themes and theories are brought to the fore.
These all center on Polybius belief in a grand, worldwide cycle of history, itself
connected to the life cycles of individual poleis, and driven not only by the vicissitudes of
Tyche but also and even more importantly by the strength of a polis constitution and
the moral virtues of its leading politicians. It was with these strong convictions that
219

Polybius anchored his Histories, setting it up as an all-important set of lessons for present
and future statesmen. For Polybius identified leading politicians as the cogs running the
gears of state in the engine of international history. The politeia could help produce
stronger, more honorable and morally durable leaders, but it could also decay, and only
the most steadfast statesmen could help forestall disaster. Polybius found this the case
with powers both great and small, but throughout his Histories, he repeatedly emphasized
the importance of noble, rational, and resolute leadership in smaller, weaker states.495 He
did so out of personal experience, having witnessed the travails of his native Achaia and
having observed firsthand a foreign states triumph, stepping into the role of new panHellenic power.
Polybius thus saved some of his strongest censure for the Carthaginian diplomats
after Zama. And there are a number of reasons why. On the one hand, Polybius believed
that their playacting revealed a disturbingly deep internal decay in Carthages politeia
and among its leading men. And at the same time, he saw their choice of display as
bringing shame to themselves and their polis on the international stage. On the other
hand, and perhaps even more significantly, this decay and this disgrace were being
played out by leaders of one of the greatest challengers, even alternates, to the supremacy
of Rome a state whose politeia had in many ways held comparable potential (at least in

495

Eckstein (1995) has analyzed this Polybian theme in some detail. To summarize: Polybius frequently
uses exempla to teach a vitally important task for small-state leaders: to maintain honor and their states
individual autonomies (to the greatest extent possible), for as long as they can, while avoiding the ruin of
their city, at the hands of internal mob-rule and/or larger states after separate agendas. See also Baronowski
(2011: 124ff.), who sees a development in Polybius thinking on this subject over time, evolving from
slight criticism for misguided military opposition to Rome to strong censure for small-state leaders
initiating stupidly disastrous wars against Rome.

220

Polybius estimation cf. 6.51-52). The self-serving and debasing acts of the leading
Carthaginians during such a crucial test of Fortune thus garnered Polybius profound
disgust, tinged perhaps even with a degree of sadness.
The contrast between Carthaginian and Roman continues with Scipios response
to the Carthaginian envoys. The brief speech given to Scipio presents the Roman general
as a stern, yet fair and rational force of justice, rebuking the Carthaginians and like a
judge, proceeding to outline the sentence and dictating the terms for peace.496 Following
the itemization of terms, Polybius provides a brief, yet interesting note on the effect their
announcement had on the Carthaginian Gerousia.497 One of the elders is said to have
risen to speak in opposition to the terms, but Hannibal intervened and physically pulled
the man down from the podium. This was a clear violation of civil(ized) practice, and the
Carthaginian elders are said to have begun to object, but Hannibal continued, and his
words appear to have calmed his audience and swayed their opinion.498 He began by
apologizing for his conduct, explaining that he had been raised largely outside the
cultural milieu of Carthage, asking that he be forgiven, if only by virtue of the purity of
his intentions those of service to his country. Polybius then has Hannibal urge his
fellow citizens to think about the leniency of Scipios terms, and to accept them, so as to
avoid further disaster for their city:499

496

Scipios speech (Polyb. 15.17.4-7) is quoted above - pp. 197ff. Note that Appian (Pun. 53ff.) includes a
similar speech, adding details as to how exactly the Carthaginians broke faith prior to Zama, and making a
direct contrast between Scipios diplomatic behavior and that of the Carthaginians.
497 Polyb. 15.19.2-7.
498 Appian, Pun. 55, elaborates on this story, portraying the Carthaginian mob as lashing out angrily
against the nobles, the latter being led by Hannibal.
499 Polyb. 15.19.6.

221


,
.
If you had been asked but a few days ago what you expected your country to
suffer in the event of the victory of the Romans, you would not have been able
even to give utterance to your fears, so great and excessive were the calamities
then in prospect.
Once again, we see Polybius using this counterpoint moment to bring out a
number of key thematic elements. There is first a hint of the internal decay occurring
within Carthages politeia, made evident via the break in council procedure. Yet at the
same time, Polybius seems to set Hannibals uncivil behavior as an unfortunately
necessary evil, a preventative-measure against the unleashing of selfish, misguided, and
ultimately irrational emotion (as occurred in the council halls of his own native Achaia,
in 147 and again in 146).500 And lastly looms a shadow of what Polybius knows will
eventually happen, not only to his native land, but also to Carthage in large part blamed
on the folly of leaders much inferior to Hannibal. With this shadow comes an implicit
warning to contemporary statesmen, to work to recognize the moment when fighting for
the independence and honor of ones country actually requires submission to a great(er)
power.501 And it is a lesson for future statesmen as well, but more than anything, for the
generations yet to come, it is intended by Polybius as a document of Romes
unprecedented growth. For what he sees as truly remarkable in his own time is the
forging of an international, worldwide powerhouse a process he sees crisscrossing the
500

Compare the demagogic stirring up of the Achaian mob against Roman envoys at Polyb. 38.11-12; and
Polybius criticisms of what he views as the Achaian leaders extremely misguided conduct in urging the
rejection of Metellus peace offer at 38.17. See below pp. 294ff.
501 On this theme, see the recent work by Baronowski (2011, esp. 114ff.).

222

oikoumen like never before, combining the products of Roman arete, the folly of Roman
enemies, and an admixture of Tyche.

201 TREATY: TERMS & SIGNIFICANCE

Polybius provides a full list of Scipios terms, as they were accepted by Carthage
after Hannibals intervention.502 The extant text does not include mention of any further
debate regarding the treaty and its terms most likely by making a detailed itemization
here, Polybius is recording the treaty as it (at least for the most part) was finally accepted
by Rome and sworn before the decemviri in Africa.503 The terms themselves are a
revealing range of legal clauses, and all told, they establish a new position for Carthage
on the international stage one that would ultimately lead to the diplomatic crisis that
erupted into the Third Punic War.
Polybius divides the terms into the more lenient reflective of Roman clemency
and the more severe reflective of Romes strict justice:
-
-
-

, ,
,
,
, .

Carthage was to retain all the cities she formerly possessed in Africa before
bringing about the last war with Rome, all her former territory, all flocks,
herds, slaves, and other property504

502

Polyb. 15.19.8.
Doing so leaves Polybius text without the later drama of debate back in Rome a topic quite popular
among later authors. Livy even adds an earlier discussion occurring in Scipios camp over whether or not to
destroy Carthage with Scipio seeking to claim a triumph in that year named as his final deciding point
(30.36)!
504 Polyb. 15.18.1. Appian, Pun. 54 has a shorter version of this clause.
503

223

From that day onward, the Carthaginians were to suffer no injury, they were to
be governed by their own laws and customs and to receive no garrison.505
These were the more lenient clauses. The first granted Carthage control over lands

and properties as held in Africa before the war, and the second freed Carthage,
recognizing her as a self-governing and un-garrisoned polis. Both terms fit into the
normative patterns seen in other Hellenistic treaties the first being a typical penalty for
a defeated state, re-setting the bounds of its legal dominion according to the precepts of
just warfare,506 and the second marking its continued status as a polis, to be issued with a
number of possible modifiers. The status outlined here by Scipio was indeed on the better
end of the scale for Carthage she would continue to exist as an independent polis (i.e.
was not de-commissioned as state, and/or was not to be forced into sympolity with
another);507 she was allowed to keep her own constitution, not receiving a new one or a
foreign supervising magistrate; and she was to be un-garrisoned (a rather daring addition
by Scipio, seeing as Roman troops had not occupied Carthage!).508 The exact boundaries,
however, with which Carthage as polis was to be re-defined, were yet to be determined in
detail. And the procedure for determining these bounds was to relate to a later clause in

505

Polyb. 15.18.2.
See discussion above pp. 178ff.
507 E.g. Phthiotic Thebes, sacked by Philip in 217 BCE, population enslaved, and city re-founded as
Philippi (Polyb. 5.100.8); Sparta, taken by the Achaians in 188 BCE its Lycurgan politeia abolished
(Polyb. 21.32, 22.11); and the treaty bringing Magnesia into Smyrna, most likely by order of Seleucus, ca.
241 BCE (= B-D2 29 = Staatsvertrge 492 = OGIS 229).
508 Agreements including the terms , autonomous and , un-garrisoned: e.g.
treaty between Lysimacheia and Antiochus, 246 BCE (= Austin2, no. 171); see also Polyb. 4.25;
Staatsvertrge 442 (= Diod. 20.99.3); Staatsvertrge 492 (=B-D2 29) l.11-12, 65; Staatsvertrge 536
(212/211 BCE alliance between Rome and Aetolians).
506

224

the terms, one that would become a key bone of contention over the next half-century.
After the first two terms, Polybius lists the remaining as punitive:
-
-
-
-
-
-

,
,
,
.

Reparation was to be made to the Romans for all acts of injustice committed
by the Carthaginians during the truce.
Prisoners of war and deserters who had fallen into [Carthaginian] hands at
any date were to be delivered up.
They [the Carthaginians] were to surrender their ships of war with the
exception of ten triremes, and all their elephants.509
Clauses for reparations and POW/deserter exchange were common enough

features in both truces and more decisive end-of-war agreements.510 However,

disarmament and especially a continued limitation on arms appear to have been less
prevalent treaty clauses. As the evidence currently stands, the only other known
instance during the third to second centuries can be found later, in Romes peace
terms with Antiochus at Apamea (188 BCE). According to this treaty, Antiochus was
to surrender all elephants and not keep/train any more, and surrender all warships,
with their rigging and tackle, maintaining no more than ten un-decked vessels in the
future, and none with more than thirty oars.511 Scipios terms for Carthage may thus
509

Polyb. 15.18.3. Livy (30.37) adds the further stipulation that Carthage was not to train any more
elephants (compare the Treaty of Apamea cited below). See also Appian, Pun. 54. Livy and Appian both
also mention the return of the once controversial naval transports of Scipio (see above pp. 185ff.) in this
context.
510 E.g. Carthaginian peace agreements in Sicily (see above pp. 80ff.); truce between Teuta and Epirus,
230-229 BCE (Polyb. 2.6ff.); negotiations at Nicaea, between Flamininus and Philip, 198 BCE (Polyb.
18.1.14); treaty between Magnesia and Miletus, 195 BCE (= Burstein 37).
511 Polyb. 21.42.12-13.

225

have established if not a new international precedent, then a newly prominent

one.512 And it was a legal precedent that through experience (and most likely the
post-war controversies with Carthage in particular) was to gain greater specificity
by the time of Apamea. In its restriction on number (and type) of ships in another
states fleet, such a clause most certainly went further than the more common
international practice at the time, of placing restrictions on sailing.513 For such
restrictions essentially established key landmarks usually capes or promontories
to act as boundary markers, marking territorial dominions with respect to sea-going
traffic as they would for land troop movement or other travel. By contrast, the
Romans were here intervening by implementing a stronger expression of potestas,
determining the makeup itself of Carthages fleet, and thereby moving from the
simple demarcation of dominion over the seas to a direct policing of another polis
international power. This intervention was to be even further strengthened by the
next of Scipios terms:
-

512

It is quite possible that the introduction of these terms may have been the extension of norms already
part of prevailing Roman interstate practice i.e. typical Roman treatment of defeated enemies in Italy. It is
a possibility that requires additional research, though it may be difficult to confirm, due to the late nature of
our source material for Romes Italian conquests.
513 E.g. in the 5th century Peace of Callias with Achaemenid Persia; Romes treaty with Teuta, 228 BCE
(Polyb. 2.12.3; see also Appian, Illyr. 7; Dio frg. 49) [Illyrians were] not to sail beyond Lissus with more
than 200 vessels; Romes first two treaties with Carthage, 509 BCE (Polyb. 3.22) Neither the Romans
nor their allies are to sail beyond the Fair Promontory ( , Cap Bon), unless
driven by stress of weather or the fear of enemies, and 348 BCE (Polyb. 3.24); also in the Apamea treaty
(Polyb. 21.42.14).

226

They [the Carthaginians] were not to make war at all on any nation outside
Africa and on no nation in Africa without consulting Rome514
This is the most significant clause of all, something truly new to the prevailing

norms of Hellenistic peace-treaty arrangements,515 and quite possibly a Roman-specific

procedure first developed in interstate politics in Italy. For as it seems to have occurred
(whether formally or more informally) with the Italian socii, this clause here explicitly
prohibited Carthages independent military action abroad, and required that permission
and diplomatic interventions first come from Rome for any action in Africa.516 In
essence, this was a modification and combination of the spirit of two more conventional
Hellenistic clauses: one that could outline future arbitral procedure, and one that could
establish a defensive bilateral military arrangement (either tilted toward the greater power
or not).517 Together as a modified clause, they placed Carthaginian foreign policy

514

Polyb. 15.18.4. Livy (30.37) states this term in the following manner: bellum neve in Africa neve extra
Africam iniussu populi Romani gererent. Appian, Pun. 54 provides a strange additional deviation
(possibly referring to later accounts claiming that some Carthaginian military units continued to be present
and make raids in north Italy in the year or so after the war): You shall not recruit mercenaries from the
Celts or the Ligurians, nor wage war against Massinissa or any other friend of Rome, nor permit any
Carthaginians to serve against them with consent of your people. Compare Dio 58 (a compilation of the
different variations): they should not hold levies, nor employ mercenaries, nor undertake war against
anyone without the consent of the Romans.
515 There are simply no direct comparative examples in the existing body of Hellenistic peace agreements.
The relative newness of Romes approach is also evident in the repeated Greek confusion and
misunderstanding regarding deditio, with a maiestas clause eventually added to Romes 189 BCE peacetreaty with the Aetolian League cf. Polyb. 21.29-32; discussion of the different views on this maiestas
clause in Bauman (1976). See also below p. 279.
516 The evidence for such arrangements is mainly circumstantial we see Italian envoys coming to Rome,
asking the Senate to judge in their interstate affairs/disputes and to alleviate problems associated with
making required levies to Rome. Nor do we hear of Italian socii (outside of mercenaries) engaging in
independent military ac In addition, historical records of the actual treaties with the Italian socii often come
from later authors. See Bispham (2007); Jehne (2009, esp. pp. 153ff.).
517 Mandatory arbitral clauses, of various kinds: see Ager (1996: 7ff.), esp. Ager no.s 33, 47, 48, and 71.
Bilateral military arrangements: e.g., treaty between Lysimacheia and Antiochus, 246 BCE (= Austin2, no.
171); treaty between Rhodes and Hierapytna, 200 BCE (= Austin1, no. 95 = Austin2, no. 113).

227

squarely in the hands of another state Rome, and for all intents and purposes, the
Roman Senate.
From that point on, Rome was set to make all legal decisions regarding
Carthaginian international disputes, and to determine whether or not such disputes, if they
should occur in Africa, should warrant a military response from Carthage (and/or Rome).
And considering the immediately preceding clause in Scipios terms, if Carthage were
ever to be allowed to take military action in Africa, it would only involve land forces and
mercenary/allied aid the latter especially for naval operations (since Carthage could
only have a fleet of ten triremes). These details were all to play an important role in the
shape of interstate politics in North Africa from 200-149 BCE. And during this period,
Carthage would need to repeatedly send envoys on trips to Rome, not only in order to pay
the war indemnity (see below), but also to ensure that the Senate would hear directly
about the citys latest interstate affairs especially when they involved accusations from
and territorial disputes with Numidia. In general, this was a time-consuming and most
likely quite frustrating process one that served to continuously highlight and physically
manifest Carthages subsidiary position with respect to Rome. Carthaginian envoys
would have to be granted an audience before the Senate,518 and then return home with
messages that, as we will see, most likely involved promises of future investigative action
on the part of Rome. Carthage was basically being removed from the international arena

518

Compare the account of the Lampsakene mission led by Hegesias, describing the process of obtaining
an audience before the Senate (see above pp. 106ff.). See also the inscription of the Tean ambassadors,
recounting their work for a favorable vote from the Senate (ca. 166 BCE): [by some of our Roman
patrons] exposition of the situation, and by daily morning-calls at their atria, (our envoys) won over their
[the opposing Romans] friendship (= Sherk no. 26, ll.24-27). And these were the successful envoys

228

as an independent actor and at a time when Roman interests in the international system
were turning to an alleged secret pact between Antiochus III and Philip519 and this was
to have great implications over the next half-century, especially given the next clause in
Scipios terms:
-

,



They [the Carthaginians] were to restore to King Massinissa, within the
boundaries that should subsequently be assigned, all houses, lands, and
cities, and other property that had belonged to him or to his ancestors.520
As we will see, this clause when considered alongside the restrictions on

Carthaginian military action in Africa and requirement for Roman judicial intervention
was to have problematic results. The main issues at hand involved defining which
properties and territories had rightfully belonged to Massinissa at some point and which
had belonged to his ancestors a more straightforward process for relations between
poleis, perhaps, but a tricky and convoluted business for relations between a city, once
tributary communities, and nomadic/semi-nomadic tribes with a number of changing
allegiances. And it was a situation that Rome would not have actively sought, given the
diplomatic stress it ultimately caused (especially at times of international crisis elsewhere
see below). Most likely, Massinissa, as Romes victorious ally, pushed for the addition
of this clause, and Scipio complied, believing it to be simple re-assignment of dominion

519

See Eckstein (2006), and discussion of the power-transition crisis above pp. 38ff.
Polyb. 15.18.5. Livy (30.37) states this term in the following manner: Masinissae res redderent
foedusque cum eo facerent. The foedus evidently referred to a future formal settlement of boundaries, as
mentioned in Polybius text.
520

229

in accordance with just-war precepts (see above). It most certainly worked to

Massinissas benefit more than anyone else and was to be a thorn in Carthages and
Romes side for years to come.
The remaining clauses represent the standard range of contemporary peace-treaty
terms:
-

[The Carthaginians] were to supply the Roman army with provisions for three
months, and with pay, until such time as an answer should be returned from
Rome on the subject of the treaty;521

They were to contribute ten thousand talents in fifty years, paying two
hundred Euboic talents each year;522

,
.

They were to give as surety a hundred hostages chosen by the Roman general
from among their young men between the age of fourteen and thirty.523
The most interesting of these clauses is the specification of a fifty-year term for an

annual payment of the indemnity. This is a rather long period, especially since other
Roman agreements around this time involved ten-year arrangements and it possibly
reflects the large monetary value placed on Carthages penalty owed to the Roman
521

Polyb. 15.18.6.
Polyb. 15.18.7. Appian, Pun. 54, says the indemnity was 250 Euboic talents over 50 years (adjusting for
value?). For an added detail that Carthage pay in silver of a particular quality see Plin. NH 33.51 and
Gell. 7.5.1.
523 Polyb. 15.18.8. Appian, Pun. 54, gives the number of hostages at 150.
522

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state.524 Given the other clauses listed by Scipio, it is most likely that this long indemnity
period was intended to monitor and maintain Carthages subsidiary position on a much
more permanent basis. In essence, Carthage was being placed on a strict and extended
probation for a half-century. During this time, Carthaginian envoys would need to visit
Rome on an annual basis, line up with the Italian socii and other foreign envoys, pay their
dues and update the Senate on their latest interstate politics. Such an annual checkup at
the beginning of the Roman calendar year, upon the accession of the new consuls again
served as a continuing, symbolic reminder of Carthages new subordinate position. And it
was a reminder not only to Romans and Carthaginians, but also to citizens of other
nations that increasingly international gathering of ambassadors traveling to and from
Rome to conduct political business. At the end of the fifty years, it is thus only logical
that some citizens at Carthage would have been quite eager to find and assert a new, and
less chastened diplomatic position for themselves and their city.

CARTHAGE AFTER 201

Carthage was thus de-fanged as an international political player, and she lost
territories to a neighboring kingdom that would continue to dispute her position in North
Africa. During the half-century after Zama, this political situation led to a number of

524

Compare: the treaty at the end of the First Punic War, at 2,200 talents over 10 years, with an additional
1,000 talents immediately (cf. Polyb. 3.27.5); the treaty after Cynoscephalae, at 1,000 talents over 10 years
(cf. Polyb. 18.44.7); and the treaty of Apamea, at 10,000 talents over 10 years (cf. Austin no. 161).
According to Livy (36.4), the Carthaginians offered to pay the full amount of the outstanding indemnity in
191 BCE), but they were turned down see also Gruen (1984: 293). The Romans were not interested in
having an immediate inflow of such a large amount of funds, which could result in divisive debates,
jealousies, rivalries, etc. over where to spend it! And it served Roman political purposes to have the
Carthaginians required to visit Rome on an annual basis, to check in with the Senate see below.

231

changes in the urban topography and economic outlook of the city. The nature of these
changes in turn reveals the manner in which Carthage redefined herself after Zama and
provides clues as to the effects on her relationship with Rome.
In physical terms, the urban topography of Carthage experienced a significant
building boom in the first half of the second century the so-called late Punic II
period.525 This was most likely the result of an influx of people possibly of groups from
areas once held by Carthage seeking shelter and opportunity in the mother-city. A whole
new section of the city underwent systematic development, on the slopes of the hill
known today by the name, Byrsa.526 French excavators dubbed this sector the
Hannibal Quarter, since Hannibal served as suffete of Carthage at around the time the
area was apparently developed (196/5 BCE). The quarter, although dated to the early
second century on the basis of stamped Rhodian amphorae527 found near and below the

525

Recent archaeological research and pottery analysis (e.g., the Bir Massouda excavations see below)
have further divided late Punic (Hamburg excavations considered from 300-146 BCE) into late Punic I
(300-200 BCE), and late Punic II (200-146 BCE). See most recently, Bechtold and Docter (2010: 87).
526 See Lancel (1978; 1995), and Byrsa I, p. 187ff., Byrsa II, p. 368ff.; Lancel et al. (1980); Tang (2005).
The name Byrsa as has been known for some time (as early as Charles Tissot in 1884: cf. Lancel
[1988]; Ladjimi-Sebai [2005]) was used ambiguously by ancient writers. It was used alternatively to refer
to the hill/citadel, or to the overall core of the city (i.e. the area within the city walls, but excluding the
orchards/agricultural-garden area of Megara/Megalia = Servius Magalia Aen. I.368. See Ladjimi-Sebai
[2005: 25]). Systematic excavations have only uncovered portions of Byrsas slopes primarily on its
southern side, where the SW corner (excavated by Delattre in the late nineteenth century) did not show
signs of second-century BCE residential development, but instead showed signs of continued use as a
cemetery until 146 BCE: see Lancel (1995: 149).
527 Note: the chronology of Rhodian amphora-stamps remains a subject of continuing research, with two
main chronologies in place: a High Chronology (= HC, following Grace and Empereur) and a Low (=
LC, following Finkielstejn) for more, see Finkielstejn (2001). The chronologies are constructed from
groups of names/ateliers, divided into relative periods (I-VII, from earliest to latest Finkielstejns
groupings are used here), which are then assigned to an absolute framework, often on the basis of city
destruction events Carthage and Corinth being among them. The latest work at Corinth, however, has
shown that occupation and trade continued there after 146 BCE, and that stratigraphic assumptions
regarding destruction layers/fills no longer hold water see James (2010). The chronology of the
controversial second-century BCE period IV of Rhodian amphorae nevertheless continues to stand, albeit

232

floors (ca. 180 BCE),528 cannot otherwise be connected with Hannibal or his position as
chief magistrate but the name has stuck.
The quarter, as excavated, consists of five insulae on the SE corner of Byrsa,
organized around three unpaved streets, which were terraced with a number of small
stairways. These insulae were laid out according to a concerted plan, in standardized plot
sizes measured according to the Punic cubit, over an area that had previously served as a
metalworking district.529 The structures are only preserved to the height of their ground
floor, since they were later subject to leveling, infilling, and the installation of massive
foundation piers for an Augustan-era forum.530 However, judging from the thickness and

with less certainty, on the basis of the subsequent period V, which is independently dated by material from
Judea - see Finkielstejn (2001, esp. 167-171). The current absence of period V names in the material from
Carthage, especially within early Roman colonial construction fills the site-wide RBPS (Rmisch
bewegte punische Schichten), containing late Punic and any potential interim-period material could be
additional, though tenuous, confirmation of this chronology see Lancel, Byrsa I & II; Finkielstejn (2001:
167). Note the one currently known example of a post-146 BCE Rhodian amphora stamp (from Byrsa)
that of Herakleitos, period VIIa = ca. 85 BCE-Augustan (HC) / ca. 85-40 BCE (LC) cf. Lancel, Byrsa II,
p. 174 possibly left during the Augustan-era re-building process.
528 The most diagnostic of these stamps in terms of find-spot was found in a foundation trench for
block B of the insulae. It names Pratophanes (see Lancel [1978: 310]; Byrsa I, p. 255) a priest of Helios
whose tenure is dated to period IIIb, ca. 201-194 BCE (HC) / ca. 189-182 BCE (LC): cf. Delos, 27: 294 and
301 (dating Pratophanes to a few years prior to 180 BCE); Finkielstejn (2001: 192, 196-7). See also Lancel
et al. (1980: 20); Tang (2005: 75). Other identifiable Rhodian amphora stamps from Byrsa occur in layers
close to the floors (e.g. Athanodotos, period IIId = ca. 187-182 BCE [HC] / ca. 175/3-169/7 [LC] cf.
Lancel, Byrsa I, pp. 215, 217; Peisistratos and Gorgon, period IVa = ca. 174-156 [HC] / ca. 160-153 BCE
[LC] cf. Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 19-20; Sosikles, also period IVa cf. Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 136-7; and
Nysios, period IVb by his association with Pausanias (III) at Delos cf. Grace, Dlos XXV.304-5 = ca.
155-146 BCE [HC] / ca. 152-146 BCE [LC] cf. Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 136-7); or within the RBPS (e.g.
Damothemis, period IIIa = ca. 205-202 [HC] / ca. 234-220 [LC] cf. Lancel, Byrsa I, p. 142; Thestor,
also period IIIa cf. Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 169-171; Symmachos, period IIId = ca. 187-182 BCE [HC] / ca.
175/3-169/7 [LC] cf. Lancel, Byrsa I, p. 237; Aristodamos (II), period IIIe = ca. 181-175 [HC] / ca.
168/6-161 BCE [LC] cf. Lancel, Byrsa I, p. 237, Byrsa II, p. 209; and Peisistratos, period IVa, listed
above cf. Lancel, Byrsa I, p. 139).
529 On standardized plot sizes, see Lancel et al. (1980: 14ff.); Lancel (1995: 162); Tang (2005). This layout
though using Punic dimensions is comparable to those at Solunto in Sicily and on Delos see Lancel et
al. (1980: 16); Tang (2005: On the presence of a metalworking district in this location prior to the
residential development, see Soren et al. (1990: 150); Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 217-260.
530 See Lancel, Byrsa I, p. 132ff.; Gros (1990: 548-551); Ladjimi-Seba (2005: 50ff.).

233

sheer number of support walls, and the amount of flooring material found during
excavations, it is generally agreed that these structures were multi-story. The groundfloor rooms appear to have served as street-facing shops (one containing the stone parts
of a rotary grain mill),531 or as internal traffic spaces, moving people through narrow,
dead-end corridors that must have led to stairwells for wooden ladders (as at Olynthus
and Delos).532 At their center, each unit of ground-floor rooms/corridors surrounded a
small, shared portico, dominated by a tiled impluvium for the collection, storage, and
retrieval of rainwater. Beneath each of the floors of these impluvia was a large cistern,
apparently for the communal benefit of a number of families inhabiting that unit. These
cisterns attest to the high density of population that could be supported in this district: in
less than 1.2 acres of excavated area, sixteen large-capacity cisterns were discovered,
some measuring as large as 20m3 (= ca. 5,283 gallons).533 And this residential district
evidently continued around some of the other slopes of Byrsa on perhaps one street to
the east (adjacent to the area that continued to serve as a cemetery), and along a possible
five to seven more streets that fanned outwards around the hill to the west and north.534
These were rather tight quarters (even if the upper stories had larger rooms), especially

531

See Lancel (1995: 172); Byrsa II, pp. 93-103.

Cf. Lancel et al. (1980: 19, n. 30), with references to excavation publications from Olynthus and Delos.
533 Such a high capacity calls to mind Appians famous description of the upper city of Carthage, where
the inhabitants made a final defense of their homes against the Romans in 146, fighting hand-to-hand and
from the rooftops of buildings that stood as high as six stories (=Lib. 128):
, There were three
streets ascending from the agora to this [Byrsa], along which, on either side, were houses built closely
together and six stories high
534 These streets are plausibly reconstructed on the basis of aligned cisterns from the same period and
scattered residential finds from rescue excavations around Byrsa: see Lancel, Byrsa II, pp. 378-9; Lancel et
al. (1980: 230); Lancel (1995: 149, fig. 75).
532

234

when compared to the lower residential quarter of town (Quartier Magon see below).
Overall, this new construction on Byrsa appears very much like systematic development
intended to accommodate a significant number of new residents (possibly even
refugees?).
No matter what, the evidence paints a picture of growing urban population and
planned construction to accommodate it in the upper reaches of the city. That this
development connected the original, old town of the coastal, harbor area of Carthage to
a new town to the north is hinted at by a truly unique find from the city: a portion of a
black limestone stele, inscribed in late Punic script.535 Unfortunately, its exact find-spot is
unclear it was found ca. 1966 in the vicinity of modern Carthages Avenue de la
Rpublique (near Carthage Station, to the northwest of the circular harbor), apparently in
late Roman fill from the fourth century CE. Yet it is the only known legal-municipal
document from Punic Carthage, and it references a significant building project, its
presiding magistrates, and what were apparently the tradesman-guilds taking part.536 The
project itself involved the opening-up of a major new city street from the south, leading

535

Dated on a paleographic basis to the late third century a by no means certain date. However, the text
clearly predates Roman-era Neo-Punic: See Dupont-Sommer (1968: 116); Lancel (1995: 142-144).
536 The text (transl. from the French reading by Dupont-Sommer [1968: 117]) is as follows: this street
was opened and constructed, leading to New Gate square, which is in the southern wall(?), by the people of
Carthage, in the year of the suffetes Safat and Adonibaal, in the time of the magistracy(?) of Adonibal, son
of Esmounhilles(?), son of B( , and of , son of Bodmel)qart, son of Hanno, and their colleagues. Those
in charge of the work (were): Abdmelqart, (son of , son of , in the capacity of [foreman?]);
Bodmelqart, son of Baalhanno, son of Bodmelqart, as road engineer; Yehawwielon the brother (of
Bodmelqart, as [quarryman]?). (And there worked(?) on it all) the tradesmen, porters, packers(?), from the
plain of the town, the weighers of small change(?) and (those) who have neither (silver? nor gold?) and
also those who do, the gold-smelters, the craftsmen who make vessels(?), and (those employed) in working
the furnaces, and the makers of sandals(?), (all) together. And (if anyone effaces this inscription), our
accountants will punish that man with a fine of one thousand (shekels of) silver, over and above (?)
measures(?)

235

to a New Gate square. Quite possibly, this could be a commemoration of just one part
of the grand construction works that ultimately developed the new district of Byrsa, and
then connected it with the older harbor areas. And there is more to add to this picture.
Another early second-century project added new residences in the so-called Quartier
Magon, to the northeast of Carthages two main harbors.537 This district had for centuries
(since the fifth century) been an area of larger, statelier residential insulae. The new
structures, however, were fitted into a 30m open space that had originally separated the
insulae from a fortified sea wall (also from the fifth century), which doubled as the city
walls in this area.538
The evidence thus points to a population boom in Carthage during the first half of
the second century. But was this increase a sign of prosperity, as has been generally
assumed?539 For the most part, such assumptions of Carthaginian prosperity have been
inspired by ancient tradition: in particular, the legendary tale of Cato and the
Carthaginian figs (told by Plutarch and Pliny), and the description of post-war Carthage
given by Appian.540 These ancient authors, however, were writing centuries after the late
Punic period, and they lived at a time when Colonia Iulia Carthago was a great trading

537

Name given by M. Fantar cf. Rakob (1991: 252 n. 232).

On these developments and the Quartier Magon in general see Rakob (1991; 2002); Lancel (1995:
136, 152-154).
539 E.g. Soren et al. (1990: 115); Lancel (1995: 404ff.); Tang (2005: 71); Miles (2011: 1948) These
scholars all follow to some degree in the wake of Rostovtzeffs assessment (1926: 21, n. 15), that Roman
landowners helped urge on the war against Carthage in 151-149 BCE, since they were motivated by a
desire to remove Carthaginian economic competition.
540 On Cato and the figs: Plut., Cato 27.1; Pliny, NH XV.74). Appians description = Libyca 67:

.
538

236

city of agricultural produce in the Roman empire.541 And the intervening years had only
heightened the drama of Romes final standoff with Carthage. So were there more trends
at work in the Punic city of the second century BCE?
To answer this question, it is necessary to investigate the directions in which
Carthages economy trended during the post-Zama period. Only then can population
growth per se be connected with a specific form of economic development whether it
be characterized as prosperity or not. Until recently, this was a task that was practically
impossible and even now, only the beginnings of an economic picture can be
reconstructed. Much further study on this subject is still required. For now, the main
quantifiable evidence comes from pottery, in its capacity to indicate networks of
import/export. And there are two key issues with handling this evidence: (1) being able to
date sherds in absolute terms with some degree of accuracy; and (2) connecting these
site-specific artifacts and their trends with wider Mediterranean data. The most promising
recent research has come from excavations in the district of Bir Massouda a residential
area just to the west of Quartier Magon, with occupation layers spanning the entire range
of Carthages history, from archaic through early Roman and even Byzantine.542 The
material uncovered here has not only been systematically excavated (as opposed to
Byrsa, which was excavated piecemeal, across the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries), but it has also been subjected to statistical analysis (with work still in
541

Cf. Fulford (1983).

These excavations comprise two major campaigns, brought together into a single database: (1) the
Hamburg DM excavations below the crossroads of Roman Carthages Decumanus Maximus and Cardo X;
(2) the University of Amsterdam excavations of 2000-2001; and (3) the Belgian-Tunisian (co-directed by
the University of Ghent and Institut National du Patrimoine) soundings of 2002-2005 see Bechtold (2010:
1-2), with references (incl. forthcoming works).
542

237

progress). According to preliminary publication of the transport amphorae from the site,
what is most striking about the second-century BCE material (specifically from site 2
of Bir Massouda) is a low percentage of imported vessels and their limited
provenances, as compared to the percentages of local/regional transport vessels, when
compared with relative proportions of import-to-local in preceding periods at Carthage.543
Only 12% of all transport containers were imported compared with 20-30% in the
previous Middle Punic II period544 and they only came from two regions: Campania
(Greco-Italic)545 or Rhodes.546 The excavators have noted the following:
There is no doubt that during the final decades of its existence Carthage
depended heavily on goods produced in the immediate surroundings of the
capital. These were mainly transported in North African amphorae of Ramons T7.4.2.1/3.1 (fig. 10, 33, 37) the latter type constitutes more than the half of all
Late Punic amphorae and, in smaller quantities, of Ramons T-5.2.3.1 (fig. 10,
31) and T-7.7.1.1 (fig. 10, 38). Punic amphorae of these four types constitute
nearly 80% of all 2nd century BC amphorae in the present sample.547
From this data, it appears that Carthage perhaps began to look inward after the
201 treaty, turning to the immediate hinterland for goods that had earlier come from

543

Bechtold and Docter (2010: 99). See also Bechtold (2010: 60, tab. 27).
See Bechtold and Docter (2010: 99ff., esp. fig. 3); also Bechtold (2010: 59-65, tab. 27, fig. 34). Morel
(2004: 16, 20) has also noted a relatively smaller proportion (exact numbers not given) of Greco-Italic
amphorae as compared to the number of local/regional Punic wares in the Late Punic material from the
French excavations on Byrsa. By contrast, Wolff (1986: 147-149), in recording finds from the American
excavations at the commercial harbor, noted 30 Greco-Italic amphora sherds, and thought these gave the
impression of an upturn in Campanian imports. However, in the absence of numbers of local/regional
wares for comparison, this impression cannot be confirmed see Bechtold and Docter (2010: 100, n. 80)
and Bechtold (2010: 60, n. 103).
545 Cf. Bechtold (2010: 60-61, tab. 27, fig. 34.2); Bechtold and Docter (2010: 99-100, fig.s 10.30, 10.36)
546 Cf. Bechtold (2010: 60-61, tab. 27, fig. 34.3).
547 Bechtold and Docter (2010: 100). See also Bechtold (2007: 67, n. 264) and (2010: 62, n. 105), where
similarly low proportions are cited for deposits recently excavated in the Sidi Bou Sad quarter of Carthage
(= Terrain Boudhina cf. Maraoui Telmini [2006: 31, 33-4]).
544

238

abroad.548 This is a picture that is at least in part confirmed by an extensive (rather than
intensive) survey of this hinterland region, bordered by the Medjerda and Miliana river
basins.549 The preliminary (and as yet only partially published) results from this Carthage
Survey suggest a substantial rise in the number of agricultural sites during the late Punic
period. And although sites were identified by the surveyors on the basis of surface
pottery finds alone, the steep rise in site numbers from nine to fifty from the third
century onwards does seem to indicate some sort of upturn in the level of land
occupation and development.550 Such agricultural intensification also seems to be
confirmed by the current data on the export of Late Punic Carthaginian transport vessels.
Although more research remains to be done, the evidence (from the western
Mediterranean) indicates that from the last quarter of third century onwards, coastal and
island sites along the Iberian peninsula imported consistently large numbers of Punic
transport vessels, of types identified as Carthaginian.551 Often, these types have even
represented the most numerous class of amphorae uncovered at these various sites, with
examples even discovered in the western part of Mauretania.

548

Bechtold (2010: 32-33, with additional citations) observes that the Bir Massouda Middle Punic II
horizon (= 430-300 BCE) contains amphorae from Punic Sardinia (almost half of all imported transport
vessels), followed by examples from Corcyra, Ionian Calabria, and Sicily. Peacock (1986: 106) has also
noted that ca. 83% of Middle Punic (ca. 300 BCE) imported amphorae from Carthages harbor area came
from Spain (proportion to local amphorae unknown).
549 Greene (1983; 1984; 1986; 1992); Greene and Kehoe (1995); Fentress and Docter (2008: 107ff.);
Docter (2009: 182ff.).
550 See Greene (1986; 1992: 196-197); Fentress and Docter (2008: 108); Docter (2009: 184). A much later
Roman legend recorded by Aurelius Victor in the 4th century CE had it that Hannibal, fearing the effects
of idleness on his veterans, set them to a project of mass-planting of olive trees in North Africa (De Caes.
37.3).
551 See Ramon Torres (1995: 291ff.); Bechtold (2010: 62-3, with citations); for the classification of Punic
North African amphorae, including types coming from the so-called Carthage-region, see Ramon Torres
(1995).

239

All told, the evidence from the city itself, as well as from the chora and from what
is known of Carthaginian exports, seems to point to an intensification of local/regional
agricultural production from the Second Punic War period onwards, as Sicily/Sardinia
were first disrupted by war and then lost to Rome.552 And this trend toward North
African agricultural production seems to have gained new significance after Zama, as
development of the hinterland was increasingly directed toward the city itself, regional
transports increasingly being shipped to Carthage for use by the urban population there.
And yet despite this turn toward regional self-sufficiency which makes sense given
Carthages losses post-Zama the data from the Iberian peninsula, from shipwrecks, and
from Bir Massouda hint at an interesting picture of Carthaginian trade in the final Punic
era. On the one hand, Joan Ramon Torres, in her study of Punic amphorae in the western
Mediterranean, has noted that there is no detectable change in trade connections between
Carthage and the areas of the Iberian peninsula mentioned above.553 If a break in
production and trade occurred because of Carthages defeat, it did not last long enough to
be noticed in the archaeological record North African style Punic containers continued
to be in use. If this is true (and more work is needed), Carthage was potentially not only
supplying her own urban population but those of communities along the Iberian peninsula
a compelling testament to the building picture of intense development in the North
African hinterland.

552
553

See also Bechtold (2007).

Ramon Torres (1995: 291).

240

On the other hand, however, Ramon Torres has also observed that known
Mediterranean shipwrecks from this period (200-146 BCE) have simply not yielded a
significant number of Punic amphorae.554 Instead, the ships contained a general
international assemblage of Campana A fine wares, Greco-Italic amphorae, and Rhodian
transports, followed by Knidian and Koan examples.555 This phenomenon is interesting,
because (as we have seen) the excavations at Bir Massouda have revealed that late Punic
imported transport vessels, while less prevalent than local/regional types, were almost
exclusively Greco-Italic and Rhodian (rather than north Aegean or Sardinian, as in
middle Punic). Presumably, whatever goods these amphorae held, they arrived at
Carthage along the same predominant Mediterranean trade routes for the time, in ships
much like those found in early second-century wrecks. And despite the relative paucity of
imported amphorae at Carthage, Campana A Black Glaze fine wares have nevertheless
shown up in massive amounts, sometimes comprising over half the total amount of
pottery per context, all across late Punic deposits at Carthage (not just Bir Massouda).556
A very specific, Punic North African connection with international exchange was
occurring here: Carthage was trading with the dominant Greco-Italian system at large, but
was selecting fine wares in particular. Foreign transport vessels, and the agricultural

554

Were regions of the Iberian peninsula perhaps producing their own imitations of North African Punic
amphora shapes? This question requires additional research (comparing fabrics FACEM.at?)
555 Ramon Torres (1995: 292).
556 See Bechtold (2010: 64-5), who notes a comparable occurrence at late Punic Sabratha, in Tripolitania
(p. 65, n. 114). In earlier middle Punic periods, Carthage had already developed a taste for Hellenic fine
wares and adopted at least portions of Hellenistic symposion practice, but had preferred imported Attic
Black Glaze over Italic forms see Bechtold (2010: 27ff.).

241

produce they carried (be it wine, olive oil, or grain), were no longer of interest,
presumably because of local production.
There are two possible interpretations for this picture of supply and trade both
requiring further study. One is to envision a sort of triangular trade, with Greco-Italicloaded ships arriving in Carthage, selling their Campana A cargos, and replacing them
with Punic transport amphorae bound for the Iberian peninsula.557 The other is to
envision Punic-specific traders (their ships as yet undiscovered as shipwrecks), carrying
Punic amphorae and fine wares to the Iberian peninsula, with other, perhaps more
perishable Punic items replacing the Campana A on Greco-Italic ships (losing their
visibility in known wrecks). As Bechtold and Docter have noted, these are alternatives
(not necessarily mutually exclusive), which await further study:
It is only by looking diachronically at the full amphorae repertoire of Carthage in
conjunction with the repertoires of other Mediterranean sites that such wider
economical-historical and social questions may be addressed and eventually be
answered.558
To make some preliminary conclusions, however: the evidence, as it currently
stands, does seem to paint a picture of a changed economic paradigm for Carthage in the
wake of the Second Punic War. The city no longer traded for the same inventory of
foreign agricultural goods, and now followed new international trends that largely
reflected Greco-Italic/Rhodian routes over northern Aegean or Sardinian/Sicilian ones.
However, it was selective in doing so, opting only for Italic Campana A the latest
fashion in drink-ware, no matter the politics with Rome. At the same time, imported
557
558

Cf. Bechtold (2010: 65).

Bechtold and Docter (2010: 103).

242

agricultural goods which shipwreck evidence suggests arrived on the same ships as
Campana A were not purchased.559 Carthage supplied the urban population instead
with the produce of the immediate hinterland. This hinterland if the data from the
Iberian peninsula has been accurately assessed must have been very intensively
developed, for it not only continued to feed the demands of those foreign communities,
but also, for the first time, those of Carthage itself. And as the immediate chora of the city
underwent a revolution in the landscape, so did the urban fabric: the population grew to
new levels and building project(s) opened up an entire new, and tightly packed,
residential district.
Carthage thus showed herself to be adaptable in the face of defeat, able to
maintain internal self-sufficiency, yet also able to maintain selective connections with
international networks. The city dealt with a loss of territories by concentrating on
exploiting her immediate hinterland, and was thereby able to accommodate an influx of
urban inhabitants, for whom new residential districts were developed. These measures,
however, were a matter of survival Carthage by no means established herself as a direct
economic competitor to Roman interests, or as an alluring gem for the taking, as scholars
have sometimes claimed in their assessments of the Third Punic War.560 In fact, Carthage
was a large consumer of Campana A wares, and as such, already provided a lucrative
market for Italian merchants a war would actually work against such interests. And

559

See Ramon Torres (1995: 291-2); Bechtold (2010: 65).

Cf. Mommsen (1913: 239); Rostovtzeff (1926: 12, 21); and to some degree, Romanelli (1959: 31f., esp.
p. 34); De Sanctis (IV.3.20-24); and Baronowski (1995: 28-29). More recently, and from an archaeological
standpoint: Rakob (1984: 10; 1985: 502f.).
560

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Carthage had indeed transformed her chora into an agricultural powerhouse, but had done
so with the primary goals of feeding a growing urban population and funding the
indemnity to Rome. All the same, the contention here is that one of the most important
underlying factors in the outbreak of the Third Punic War was indeed Carthages intense
development of her hinterland. But this was not because Rome viewed such development
in any light (or was well informed of it, for that matter). It was because this agricultural
development had adverse effects on Carthages relationships with her neighbors in North
Africa. And these relationships were to play out in an escalating series of insoluble
conflicts over the next half-century. What brought these conflicts to breaking point and
what ultimately brought Roman armies back to North Africa was an incompatible system
of international law, put in place to preside over territorial holdings, from a
Roman/Hellenistic way of thinking. To understand the crisis that took place mid-century,
we thus need to first look at the situation in North Africa after the treaty of Zama.

NORTH AFRICA AFTER 201: THE SOURCES

As we have seen, Carthage moved in a number of infrastructural directions in the
wake of her defeat at Zama and loss of position as an independent international player.
On a political level, however, the adjustments to defeat were not so untroubled.
According to later sources, Hannibal, suffete in 196 BCE, was forced in 195 to leave
Carthage, amid rumors of high political drama.561 Enemy factions within the city were

561

The account of events comes from: Cic. Sest. 142; Diod. 28.10.1; Nepos 23.7.6-7; Liv. 33.47.7-49.8;
Val. Max. 4.1.6, 5.3e1; Silius 13.878-885; App. Syr. 4a; Just. 31.1.7-2.8; Eutrop. 4.3.2; Oros.
4.20.13; Zonar. 9.18i-j.

244

allegedly aiming for his demise, accusing him of public embezzlement, and, even more
gravely, of making overtures to Antiochus, the latest bte noire for Rome. Rome
apparently became concerned enough to send an investigative envoy, ostensibly to look
into disputes between Carthage and Massinissa/the Numidians. Hannibal, suspecting a
secondary purpose for the envoy, slipped out of the city, and eventually joined the court
of Antiochus, fueling the rumor mill even further. Subsequent tradition even told of a
secret spy, Ariston of Tyre, being sent by Hannibal back into Carthage to attempt a coup
or test the waters of the city in order to forge an alliance with Antiochus against Rome.562
Now while these incidents have become wrapped in generations of later dramatic
enhancement, they do contain three key kernels of information themes that are
relevant to what is otherwise known from contemporary second-century evidence. First is
a theme of division and factionalism within Carthage itself a feature that was to play an
important role again in the international crisis mid-century. Second is a theme of
international interconnectivity i.e., a perceived correlation between diplomatic tensions
developing in otherwise separate geopolitical regions. Lastly and perhaps most
significantly for the mid-century crisis is the theme of dispute between Carthage and
Massinissa, with Roman envoys being sent to arbitrate in disagreements over territories
in North Africa. These are three general pieces of the puzzle, highlighting not only the
main issues leading to crisis but also the fundamental concerns of groups (e.g. North
African, Roman, Hellenic), who were involved in and were reacting to the events
themselves.
562

See Nepos 23.8.1-2; Livy 34.60.1-61.16, 39.51.2; App. Syr. 7a-8b; Just. 31.3.5-4.3.

245

It is from this perspective thinking about diplomatic behaviors and expectations

on various sides, international and local/regional that Polybius (once again, our only
contemporary historical source) can be woven into context. For Polybius went much
further beyond pure narrative when it came to his treatment of the Third Punic War,
largely because of his overall agenda in writing the Histories as a manual for statesmen.
And at the same time, his assessments which have strongly influenced subsequent
generations (ancient and modern) were also guided by his own cultural frame of
reference, which was not fully in tune with Roman, Punic, or Numidian frames. Yet it
was Polybius who first constructed the now classic explanatory paradigm for the Third
Punic War: that the Romans had long ago decided on war, but had only waited for a
suitable pretext (prophasis) in order to make the final declaration.563 The assessment
was a value-laden one, rooted in some of the deeper ideas that drove Polybius work, and
centered upon his belief that contemporary Rome had achieved unprecedented world
dominion. The extension of the Histories to 146 BCE thus reflected Polybius individual
response to what we will see was a contemporary intellectual phenomenon: that is, of
viewing the events of 146 BCE as together marking a significant crescendo point in
Romes trajectory as a world power.564 Polybius takes this important juncture and thus

563

Polyb. 36.2:
. See the discussion of Polybian aitia and
prophasis in Baronowski (1995).
564 For more on this contemporary phenomenon, see below pp. 321ff.

246

applies it to his didactic mission, deploying it as an opportunity to assess both Roman

arch and the tragically flawed responses by other polities and politicians to it.565
In order to cut through Polybian rhetoric, then, it is first necessary to identify it
i.e., analyze Polybius treatment of the post-201 situation in North Africa for the
agenda(s) and biases it might contain. From there, clues to the events themselves can be
gathered, and this information can be compared to some of the traditions recorded by
subsequent authors. These elements can then be aligned with their normative contexts:
second-century Greek vs. Roman views on arbitration; Carthaginian, Numidian, and
North African approaches to territory; and Roman practices of international law. The end
result is a new picture, which pulls together Polybius deeply influential views, a broader
international context, and the political and cultural interactions taking place in North
Africa. Taken together, these pieces will then reveal the complex relationship between
Polybius and his contemporary international environment his account being at once an
indirect testimony to trends occurring in diplomatic and ideological norms and at the
same time involving a personal evaluation of the world around him, with 146 perceived
as an essential turning point within that worlds history.566
At the heart of it all were recurring back-and-forth disputes between Carthage and
Massinissa/the Numidians, over territories in North Africa. There are some fundamental
problems with our ancient sources when it comes to the accounts of these disputes, and
for this reason, Polybius becomes our main subject of inquiry. Between Polybius, Livy,

565
566

For more on Polybius extension to the Histories, see Walbank (1977/1985).

For more, see the discussion below in chapter 6.

247

and Appian (the main three sources), there is no agreement on a clear chronology of
disputes, and in some instances, there even appear to be direct contradictions over the
locations of territories and Romes decisions as arbiter.567 Prior to the late 150s BCE,
Livy describes four major disputes (dated to 193, 182, 174/2, and 157 BCE).568 Appians
account is usually lined up with the first two in any case, he does not seem to discuss a
third or fourth dispute prior to the late 150s.
What can be taken from these highly muddled accounts are the elements they
have in common. Two general regions were disputed: the Lower Syrtis gulfcoast/Emporia region (south of Carthage and west of Leptis Magna), and the
Bagradas/Medjerda river valley, or Great Fields around Tusca (west/southwest of
Carthage in modern Tunisia).569 Massinissa tends to be the party accused of wrongful
occupation Carthage sends envoys to Rome in order to obtain arbitration and
enforcement, and the Numidians send envoys to defend their position. In doing so, both
parties appear to have presented Rome with evidence supporting their case, following
typical Hellenistic/international procedure. The Roman Senate then either sends or makes
some promise to send an embassy to investigate, but in each case either makes no
decision, or the ancient sources tell of no definitive conclusion to the dispute. And as
noted above, there is a general tendency for these flare-ups to be situated within an
international context, and receive notice during times of tension between Rome and
567

For more on this subject, see Walsh (1965); Astin (1967: App. III); Desanges (1995).
= Livy 34.62.1-18 (193 BCE); 40.17.1-6 (182 BCE); 42.23.1-24.10 (1974/2 BCE); and Per. 47b (157
BCE).
569 Tusca mentioned by Appian (Pun. 68c) most likely refers to the important pagus of Roman
Dougga/Thugga see Poinssot (1958: 9); Walsh (1965: 158).
568

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another state.570 In this light, either the Numidians were cashing in on an opportunity to
play upon concerns that Carthage might join or be wooed by Roman enemies,571 or the
Romans (and later historians) only find notable significance in North African disputes
when these disputes presented such potential dangers or, most likely, some combination
of the two.
Polybius text appears to pull all of this material together, providing a general
overview of what must have been an impossibly tangled series of back-and-forth disputes
(reflected in the confusion among the sources). Polybius makes only one reference to the
conflict over North African territory, placing his overview in the year 162-1 BCE a year
in which none of the other sources mention a dispute. He tells us that after a longstanding
peace, Massinissa had attempted to seize Lower Syrtis/Emporia from the Carthaginians,
in a number of attacks. According to Polybius and in stark contrast to the picture
portrayed by the other sources these actions were consistently upheld by decisions of
the Senate. Also in stark contrast to the other sources is a distinction between towns
and open country with the Numidians occupying the latter and the Carthaginians at
first holding the former but being ordered to turn them over. The following is Polybius
account:
In Africa, Massinissa, seeing the numbers of the cities founded on the coast of the
Lesser Syrtis and the fertility of the country which they call Emporia, and casting
envious eyes on the abundant revenue derived from this district, had tried, not
many years before the time I am dealing with, to wrest it from Carthage. He
570

E.g. Antiochus in 193 BCE, the Celtiberians in 182, Perseus in 174/2, and the Ptolemy brothers in 157
BCE. Appian (Pun. 68b) even mentions one of the disputes (ca. 182 BCE?) occurred in the context of the
Celtiberian Wars, and Livy (41.22.1-3) mentions Numidian allegations that Carthage was sending
messengers to Perseus in 174.
571 This is an interpretation well argued by Walsh (1965: esp. p. 157ff.).

249

easily made himself master of the open country as he could command it, owing to
the Carthaginians, who had always been poor soldiers, having latterly become
completely enervated in consequence of the long peace. He could not, however,
get hold of the towns, since the Carthaginians carefully guarded them. Both
parties appealed to the Senate about their differences, and numerous embassies
had come from both on the subject, but the Carthaginians always came off
second best at Rome, not because they had not right on their side, but because the
judges were convinced that it was in their own interest to decide against them.
Their claim to the country was evidently just; for Massinissa himself not many
years previously, while pursuing with an army Aphther (who had rebelled against
him), had begged permission from them to pass through this district, thus
acknowledging that he had no claim to it. But nevertheless at the end, the
Carthaginians were in such straits, owing to the decisions of the Senate at the
time I am speaking of, that they not only lost the country and the towns in it, but
had to pay in addition five hundred talents for the revenue of it since the dispute
had originated.572
We will return to the issue of towns vs. open country shortly, but first: why does
Polybius discuss the North African territorial disagreements in this year, when no other
sources mention a dispute? The view taken here is that the answer can be found in the
agenda of Polybius Book 31 (or at least in what survives of his narrative of the years ca.
165-160 BCE). Polybius deliberately chose to mention North African troubles within
what appears to be a synopsis of Mediterranean-wide tarach kai kinesis that is, of the
disrupted and turbulent international symplok of politics post-Pydna. Polybius had first
introduced the subject of tarach kai kinesis in Book 3, immediately following his
extended introduction and discussion of historical background in Books 1 and 2. In being
placed at the beginning of his main historical narrative, from 220 BCE onward, the
subject is earmarked as being of key significance. And although Polybius is vague
regarding an exact chronology of the period of disturbance, he does provide an

572

Polyb. 31.21.1-8.

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important clue, stating that he has modified his original plan for the Histories to include
more recent, post-Pydna events that is, including discussion of interstate conditions
after the fifty-three year period of Romes rise to power.573 Tarach kai kinesis is thus
used as general shorthand for this period, which appears to have begun in different
regions at different points after Romes accession to world dominion North Africa and
the Greek world being among their number, and 146 marking their culmination point.574
The fragments of Polybius text from Book 31 move from arena to arena, but in
each, the same impression of tarach kai kinesis is being promoted: that Rome is now in
the position of moderating every international issue; that across the Mediterranean, the
less-than-honorable are gaining the most success in weaker/weakened states; and that
Rome is not necessarily deploying the most admirable behavior in dealing with her new
world-wide responsibilities. To summarize, we are presented with the following
examples: (1) King Eumenes Polybius characterizes Roman treatment of him as
unfairly harsh;575 (2) Seleucid prince Demetrius being kept hostage in Rome, being
denied his kingdom in favor of a nine-year old boy (Polybius takes this opportunity to
remark on Romes preference for expediency, to sympheron, over justice, to dikaion);576
(3) a renewed alliance with Cappadocia and its new king Ariarathes, who disputes with
573

On this subject, see Walbank (1990: 29); Eckstein (1995: 265); McGing (2010: 24).
= Polyb. 3.4, specifically 3.4.12: ,
,
.
So the final end achieved by this work will be, to gain knowledge of what was the condition of each people
after all had been crushed and had come under the dominion of Rome, until the disturbed and troubled time
that afterwards ensued.See also the discussions below in chapter 6.
575 Polyb. 31.6.6.
576 Polyb. 31.11.11: Forit was not because Demetrius was not right in what he said that they [the
Senate] had decided to keep the young king on the throne, but because it suited their own interest.
574

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the Galatians Roman legates judge in his favor, but rebuke his offers of guidance in
other eastern affairs; (4) Calynda in Caria being ceded to Rhodes, by approval of the
Senate, after Calynda had revolted from Caunus and had simply sought Rhodian aid; and
(5) in Egypt, the kingdom being partitioned by Rome between brothers, but Rome
reneging on the original terms, favoring the younger brother, Ptolemy Physcon (a
character strongly disliked by Polybius).577 Polybius at this juncture inserts a comment
that summarizes the overall tone of the entire sequence of 165-160 BCE:
,

,
.
For many decisions of the Romans are now of this kind: availing themselves of the
mistakes of others, they effectively increase and build up their own power, at the
same time doing a favor and appearing to confer a benefit on the offenders.578
This is truly a negative assessment of international standards and international
elite morality (with the two running hand-in-hand for Polybius), not only on the side of
Rome in the position of Mediterranean arbiter but also on the side of lesser powers, who
were seen to be making egregious errors in judgment. In this context, Polybius extended
discursion on the nobility of young Scipio (usually placed after these fragments in
reconstructions of the text)579 gains even further meaning. In Polybius eyes, his close
friend represented something truly special, if not history-making for his time a nobility

577

On the latter, see Eckstein (1995: 104-5), and Polybius comment at 31.18.14.
Polyb. 31.10.7.
579 Buttner-Wobst/Loeb, Polyb. 31.22-30.
578

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of character that stood out from the decay of his generation, both at Rome and abroad,
and represented a last hope for the future of Roman greatness as a world power.
Polybius thus frames the North African disputes within a highly rhetoricized
context, an interpretative framework that was intended to make sense of a broader arc of
world history, and one in which Scipio was to become a key player. However, once this
agenda is peeled back, there are a number of clues not only from Polybius but also from
the very general picture to be gleaned from Livy and Appian as to the events
themselves. And these involve a clash between political practices Hellenistic, Roman,
Numidian, Punic, and North African all put in motion by the Zama treaty.

NORTH AFRICA AFTER 201: CLASHES BETWEEN POLITICAL CULTURES

There were two clauses from the Zama treaty that in particular pushed relations to
the brink. These were the clauses that mandated the following to Carthage: (1) to restore
to King Massinissa, within boundaries to be assigned, all houses, lands, cities, and other
property which had belonged to him or to his ancestors; and (2) to make war on no nation
whatsoever outside of Africa and within Africa, not to do make war without consulting
Rome first.580 Taken together, these terms essentially made Rome the ultimate arbiter of
territorial holdings in North Africa, with Carthage unable to independently enforce
control over any possessions in the face of foreign challenge.
It was for this reason that embassies from Carthage and the Numidians repeatedly
found themselves in Rome over the next half-century, presenting evidence for claims to

580

See above, pp. 224ff.

253

various pieces of territory and making accusations of the other party. They were doing so
in accordance with standard contemporary practice of international adjudication at least
on the level of making legal arguments for rightful ownership on the basis of just war and
rightful inheritance.581 However, there was a significant twist to these arbitrations, since
the Roman Senate was essentially the treaty-designated panel of judges for all such cases
involving Carthage. And whereas the Senate did not necessarily make final decisions on
the spot, there is no evidence that it re-delegated these cases to another third party (as it
often did elsewhere see above). These were evidently matters of unique import, ones
that were perceived as pertaining directly to the Roman state, to be settled by
senators/Senate-designated Roman envoys.
On a certain level, then, the territories of Carthage had come under the maiestas
(though not direct ownership) of the Roman people. That this was the case becomes even
clearer by comparison with other contemporary examples of obligatory arbitration. For
the standard at the time was to include clauses for future arbitration within
isopolity/sympolity agreements,582 or within federal league constitutions.583 In other
words, such clauses tended to be a feature of contracts that exchanged a degree of legal
581 For example: the Numidians at one point were said to have claimed lands because Massinissas father
Gala had retrieved them from Carthage; these lands, according to the Numidian argument, had
subsequently been seized wrongfully by Syphax and had thus been illegally gifted to Carthage (Livy
40.17.1-6). In another dispute, Carthage argued that since Massinissa had had to request permission from
Carthage to travel with an army through certain lands in pursuit of the Numidian rebel, Aphther, he had
acknowledged Carthages rightful possession of those lands (Polyb. 31.21.1-8). For contemporary
comparative examples, see above pp. 178ff.
582 E.g., the planned synoikism of Lebedos and Teos by Antigonos I, ca. 303 BCE (= Ager no. 13);
isopolity between Hierapytna and Priansos, early second century BCE (= Ager no. 67). See also Ager no.
89 and 108.
583 See Ager (1996: 22ff.); also Ager no. 92, the early second-century BCE constitution of the Lesbian
League.

254

sovereignty between poleis. And when such obligatory clauses appeared in peace treaties
or arbitral decisions, they did not specify a particular arbiter for all future cases they
simply referenced a designated city (ekkltos polis), which was to be determined by
various means once a dispute arose.584
But this was not the only unique aspect of the post-war situation in North Africa.
For despite the Hellenistic surface of the Zama treaty terms which treated Carthage as a
polis and Numidia as a kingdom, both with decisively definable borders a much more
complex system was in play. The notion of ancestral lands did not have the same
meaning in North Africa as it did for the most part in the wider Hellenistic/Roman
worlds. In the latter, territories were primarily conceived in terms of poleis as the major
units, with each polis established by myth-historic genealogy and by just-warfare with
rights to a particular chora. Within these polis units, property ownership was understood
at the most basic level as a legal and alienable right, divided among citizens.585 And even
if these boundaries, and those of the greater polis, were at times contested, they were
nevertheless lines that were definitively mapped to the judicial unit of city-state. In North
Africa (specifically in the areas of modern Tunisia and Libya), however, evidence
suggests that the Hellenized urban core of Carthage had a different history of interaction
with what was otherwise expected to be its chora.
584 Cf. Ager no. 71. Such procedure is outlined clearly in a ca. 185/4 BCE treaty between Herakleia and
Miletos: the third party was to be a free and democratic state selected by both parties (Ager no. 108, l.
84). See also Ager no. 120 (II, l. 16). In another, late second-century example, a group of third-party states
was to make the selection of ekkltos polis for the disputants (Ager no. 170 IV, ll. 18-29).
585 Cf. Sakellariou (1989: 80ff.); Gargola (1995: 25ff.); Rathbone (2003) with discussion of the definitive
(and ritualized) delimitation of Roman public territories, including pastureland. Note: this is a generalized
view, intended for comparative purposes only, of Greco-Roman land tenure systems, the nuances of which
remain a subject of study in their own right.

255

Building the beginnings of a picture of this North African context, in the absence
of extensive contemporary evidence, requires a combination and distillation of dispersed
sources. These sources range from ancient historical references, later Roman/Neo-Punic
epigraphic clues, archaeological data (from surveys in particular, and with much further
work yet to be done), and modern sociological comparative analysis.586 Scattered surveys
across modern Tunisia and Libya have revealed the following basics as a starting point.
From the area around Leptis Magna (coastal Libya), on at least the fringes of the Emporia
region mentioned in the ancient sources as a matter of dispute, preliminary survey data
suggests a rise in the number of early second-century rural settlements around the portcity.587 This is a pattern that would roughly parallel the data coming from Carthages
immediate hinterland (see above), and would again point to an intensification of
agriculture in both zones. To the north of Leptis, past the Lesser Syrtis bay, survey work
in the dryer Sahel coastal region (around Leptiminus) has revealed a contrasting trend.
There, the amount of pottery material from the third century BCE through first century
CE has been characterized as extremely small when compared with later periods.588
Moving further to the north and west, though, intensive surveys in the transitional zone of
the Segermes valley have revealed a scattering of nucleated settlements, with two in
particular being developed as fortified centers during the third century BCE.589

586

See Whittaker (1978); Fentress (2006, esp. pp. 14ff.).

Cifani et al. (2003).
588 Dore and Schinke (1992: 154). See also Stone (1997: 121; 2004); Stone and Stirling (1998: 307); Quinn
(2003: 21-22).
589 Cf. Quinn (2003: 22-23). Note that like the Sahel region, the Segermes valley experienced even more
significant settlement growth during the Roman imperial period (ibid.).
587

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The most interesting evidence, however, relates to the region today known as the
Tunisian Tell: the area around Tusca/Dougga referred to as the Great Fields in the
ancient sources.590 This region, comprised of hilly and fertile lands to the west/southwest
of Carthage (and west/northwest of Segermes), has been studied via extensive (rather
than intensive) survey work, and only scattered sites have been excavated. Yet all the
same, the surveys have revealed that a large number of fortified hilltop sites and so-called
proto-urban settlements emerged all over this region during the second half of the third
and early second centuries BCE.591 These sites call to mind the fifty cities (poleis) of
the Great Fields mentioned by Appian, the over seventy towns and forts (oppida
castellaque) mentioned by Livy, or even the multitude of cities (
) mentioned by Polybius in connection with the disputes between Carthage and
the Numidians.592 From the same period (latter third-early second centuries), the Tell
surveys have also recorded an upturn in the number of monumental tomb buildings, and
in a wide variety of types. These tombs appeared all across the same region, and always
in close vicinity of a proto-urban settlement.593
In order to better understand these patterns, later evidence can be used to suggest
possible explanations for the cultural processes at work. From epigraphic evidence, we
know that the Roman imperial system developed for the province of Africa during the
first century CE centered on pagi administrative districts, run by Roman(ized)
590

See above pp. 250-1.

Ferchiou (1990a: esp. 230-231; 1990b; 43-44; 1994).
592 Cf. Appian Pun. 68c; Livy 42.23.2; Polyb. 31.21.1. Ferchiou (1990a: 230) has collected a list of terms
used in the Greek and Roman sources that seem to refer to the settlements seen in the Tell surveys. They
vary from polis to pyrgos and phrourion, to urbs, oppidum, and castellum.
593 Cf. Ferchiou (1987; 1994); Quinn (2003: 20-21, 23ff.); Fentress (2006: 8ff.).
591

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magistrates, and overseeing regional civitates (often gathered into tax-paying units).594
From comparative, sociological analysis of modern-era Berber tribes, a number of
analogous practices help pull the picture together.595 As with the patterns suggested by
Roman-era pagi and survey data, the main unit amongst a number of the modern tribes is
that of a village, itself organized along lines of kinship.
The territories associated with these independently operating villages are in turn
held on an unalienable basis by the village families, among whom a founding or leading
family is often revered at a local gravesite.596 On a periodic basis, male representatives of
the village families meet in an assembly (modern tajma th), with the elders making all
decisions. An assembly-chosen leader serves as chief of the village, and is usually also
the head of the dominant family. Villages are then linked together, often on the level of
chiefs and elders, into broader alliances, which are not defined in kinship terms but in
terms of payment, barter, and histories of obligation. From this level, two to five villages
become linked into traditional tribes (taqbilt). On the village and/or tribal level, these
communities then develop their own arrangements with nomadic/semi-nomadic groups,
who move their herds along transhumance routes and across village lands.597 Tribes are

594

See Warmington (1954); Jeddou (2008).

See esp. Fentress (2006: 17ff.), whom I follow here; also Whittaker (1978). Although complicated by
the use of modern ethnographic information, this reconstruction makes the best use of available data. Until
further primary source evidence is available for the rural areas of late Hellenistic North Africa, such a
reconstruction is generally accepted see, for example, Hitchner (1994). For more on this complex subject
and its own colonial-era history see McDougall (2010).
596 Cf. Fentress (2006: 17-18).
597 The term tribe is here to be understood in the most general sense possible, as a collection of North
African villages. This is at the exclusion of nineteenth-century ethnic or social-evolutionary connotations,
but is intended to capture some of the Roman categorization and labeling that later took place on both,
see the discussion in Moore (2011).
595

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brought together into much looser confederations ( arsh), which only come together at
meetings arranged by the leaders of the most powerful tribal families during times of
need, crisis, or conflict.
These modern ethnographic comparanda appear to reflect and flesh out the
evidence available from later Roman-assigned terms, which in turn appear to be a
continuation of developments from the late Punic/Numidian eras (as indicated by the
available archaeological evidence). Such terms include nested domus-familia-gens-gentes
labels, as used in the second-century CE Tabula Banasitana, which records an imperial
honorary grant of Roman citizenship to a local family of the gentes Zegrensium.598
Parallel phenomena are also visible in the various seniores and principes mentioned in
inscriptions from across the early Roman African provinces, as well as in references to
civitates stipendiarii (e.g. civitates LXIII pagi Thuscae et Gunzi = sixty-three villages
assessed by Rome and making payment together as a doublet pagus).599
The networks of village-to-tribal elites thus sat the very foundation of any power
structure operating in North Africa, be it tied by obligation and tribute to Carthage
(especially during that citys heyday in the region), or to the rising Numidian kingdom,
itself constructed as a sort of greater-chief-of-chiefs arrangement, connected to the wider
Hellenistic world or eventually, to the legal and administrative structures of Rome. As
a flexible arrangement, it worked well with these international powers, and succeeded in
maintaining a level of cultural continuity over the centuries (if not millennia). Yet it also
598

This document, although it comes from Morocco, describes an analogous social hierarchy, lasting into
the Roman period. Cf. Oliver (1972); Bnabou (1976: 448); Whittaker (1978: 343); Fentress (2006: 19).
599 Cf. Fentress (2006: 19), with citations.

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resulted in a number of misinterpretations, since North African villages conceived of

their own territories and socio-political structures in a manner that differed from Roman
approaches. In addition, the externally-determined labels of civitas, pagus, or polis, or
false-ethnic epithets attached to Libyan or Numidian e.g. Massyles, Muxsi,
Mauri, etc. were terms determined by cultural outsiders that created and solidified
fixed units where there had not been ones before.600
In the years following 201 BCE, these shifting local-to-regional groups faced
additional challenges. Rome had now, from abroad, unwittingly set up what was an
overly simplistic dichotomy for North Africa. And this dichotomy dealt with a situation
in which Rome only realized and designated two states as being involved: the Numidian
kingdom and Carthaginian polis. Local-to-regional groups had interacted with both statestructures for a number of generations (with Carthage for longer). Carthage had for some
time now relied upon negotiation with, tribute and mercenary forces from, military
enforcement over, and actions empowering tribal elites. These individuals, identified
by the Greek sources as basileis or botharchs,601 were most likely the heads of tribes
and/or confederations seen in modern Berber society. Such interactions had thus not only
served to begin the process of solidifying hierarchical structures, but had essentially
produced the Numidian kingdom as a gradual bi-product. The latter, upon gaining its own
independent status a status confirmed by Rome thus manifested a remarkable degree

600

See Desanges (1967); Whittaker (1978: 333); Camps (1979); Greene (1986: 139); Mattingly (1992);
Moore (2011). In this sense, modern colonialists/nineteenth-century scholars in some ways mirrored the
approach taken by our Greco-Roman sources (often deliberately so).
601 Cf. Polyb. 1.67.1; Appian e.g. Pun. 74.

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of multiculturalism, evident in a combination of traditional local-to-regional networks of

power, use of Libyan and Punic in inscriptions, engagement with Hellenistic diplomacy,
and use of a wide range of monumental tomb types, combining native dolmens with
Punic tomb-types, Punic grave goods, and even international Hellenistic-style
mausolea.602
Therefore, it was not only Carthaginian responses to the Zama treaty namely, an
increased interest in and intensification of agriculture within the North African hinterland
that would have had an effect on local communities. It was also the rise of the
Numidian kingdom, which not only enjoyed a new level access to the wider Hellenistic
world, but also was apparently interested in developing and intensifying agriculture.
Polybius even reserved the following praise for Massinissa (although he did not have
much approval for the Numidian peoples):
His greatest and most godlike success lay in agriculture. Before his time, the
whole of Numidia lay fallow, being thought naturally incapable of producing
cultivated crops. Unaided, he was the first to demonstrate that it can bear all the
crops which any other land produces. To each of his sons separately he allotted
an estate of 10,000 plethra bearing all kinds of crops.603
From the early second century onward, then, both Carthage and the Numidian kingdom
were interested in transforming the North African landscape, if only in their separate
attempts to consolidate political control over the region. The results have since become
602

The most famous example is a combination of multiple styles at Dougga. Also from Dougga: a
bilingual Libyan-Punic dedication to Massinissa. See Millar (1968); Khanoussi (2003).
603 Polyb. 36.16. These are sentiments echoed by Appian (Lib. 106), as well as Strabo (17.3.15), who noted
that Massinissa converted nomads into citizens and farmers. Polybius strong distaste for mercenaries a
service the Numidians had served for Carthage is well known. Cf. Eckstein (1995: 125-127, 175-6). For
Polybius negative comments regarding Numidian trustworthiness, see 14.1.4: [there is a] natural tendency
of the Numidians to grow disgusted with what pleased them, and how lightly they always break their faith
to gods and men alike

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evident in the growth and shift in the character of settlements in regions such as the
Tunisian Tell. Socio-economic structures were becoming increasingly solidified, and land
was becoming less a zone of labor and bartered usage, and more a commodity in of itself,
tied to the production of a certain amount of goods with definable economic value.604 A
certain degree of the traditional, unalienable, and kinship-tied nature of the land seems to
have lasted, however.605 And along with this trend, leading local families in the
intensified agricultural zones were now coming into a wealth and power like never
before. Such wealth and power and a whole new need to defend defined tracts of land
helps explain the patterns seen in archaeological survey of areas such as the Tell, with a
sudden growth in fortified settlements and physical presence upon the landscape. And as
a result, a dynamic, and at times a tense one, between fortified/proto-urban centers and
rural territories would have developed as reflected in the poleis vs. countryside split
recorded by Polybius. The monumental, wealthy, and even multicultural tombs located
alongside the Tell settlements speak even more volumes, for they still serve as strong
visual statements, not only highlighting ancestral pasts and traditions, but also boasting of
newer networks, connected to the wider Hellenistic world.606

604

On such changing approaches to land and territory in general, see Gray (2009: esp. p. 23).
as evident in Massinissa keeping lands in the family (see above), and in later Roman references to
the unique landholding patterns in North Africa. The (second-century CE?) Roman land surveyor,
Agennius Urbicus, in his book on land disputes, even noted the following: It is not easy for disputes [over
land] between communities and private individuals to arise in Italy. But they often occur in the provinces,
especially in Africa, where private individuals have estates (saltus) no less extensive than the territory
belonging to communities. Indeed, many estates are far bigger than [these] territories. Moreover, private
individuals have on their estates a not insubstantial population from the lower orders and villages
scattered around their country house, rather like towns cited in Klingshirn (2012: 30, 32).
606 Cf. Stone (1997: 95-96).
605

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The landscape and socio-cultural dynamic of the North African countryside was
thus in flux, making conditions ripe for tension and conflict, and even raising the stakes
for all parties involved. Carthage in particular had a lot to lose by failing to maintain ties
of allegiance or rights of taxation to the fruits of the hinterland. As we have seen, the city
(its numbers swollen perhaps with individuals displaced by the changes in the hinterland)
depended upon locally imported foodstuffs. And yet the citys hands were tied by the
terms of the Zama treaty, which not only prevented active, military enforcement of
allegiances, but also granted Massinissa back all of his ancestral lands. The latter
clause was where Massinissa had really outwitted his Roman ally. For the notion of
ancestral lands in this region was incredibly fuzzy at least from a third-party
perspective: for it was based upon the village unit, and traditionally, was not firmly
anchored to any greater political entity. In this sense, the Numidian kingdom had never
had and could not have boundaries in the sense of a polis (or of a Hellenistic
kingdom, whose bounds were measured with the polis as a fundamental unit). And for the
same reasons, both Carthage and the Numidians would have both believed that they had
legal international rights to any given parcel of land. And both would have probably been
able to bring forward evidence of historical occupation, recognized by the other party
and/or by local leadership. Massinissa, however, retained an upper hand, for he was able
to keep an army in the field, and he could use it to build and maintain a powerbase of
tribal allegiances, leaving Carthage only able to stand back and issue complaints to a
foreign third party the Senate in Rome.607
607

See, for example, Massinissas apparent claim (quoted by Livy 34.62) that Carthage only had a rightful

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The Romans in the meantime (as well as Greek observers such as Polybius) were
largely unaware of and unprepared for these fundamental problems and intercultural
disjunctions. It is for this reason that the Roman Senate repeatedly postponed making
definitive judgments regarding the disputes between Carthage and the Numidians and
why our Greco-Roman sources are impossibly confused in their accounts of where the
disputed territories were located and who gained what lands at what time. If a post-Zama
delegation/decemvirate determined territorial bounds via arbitral court(s) in accordance
with the to be determined clause of the treaty and in line with Roman practice
elsewhere608 the results were largely a failure. Rome appears to have found it truly
impossible to determine boundaries in recurring conflicts over territory in North Africa,
repeatedly making non-decisions. Only in the case described by Polybius was the Senate
said to have passed judgment, supporting the claims of Massinissa. And perhaps it did so
because it caught Polybius eye not only because it represented a rare moment of
decisiveness in this arena, but also because it fit into Polybius tarach kai kinesis theme
and overall scheme of Book 31 (see above).
The Roman approach, however, was much simpler it followed in a culturally
specific tradition of punishing a defeated foe, on a level commensurate with that foes
legal injustices to the res publica (in this case, the breakdown in relations prior to Zama
had sealed Carthages fate in losing territories and diplomatic sovereignty). And over the
following half-century, the confusion made evident in the sources and the scattering of
claim to the territory of Byrsa (referring to the urban limits, using the cowhide legend), since this land was
what had been granted to Phoenician settlers(/Dido) by the Numidians!
608 E.g. in Greece in 194 BCE (cf. Ager no. 79), and in Asia Minor in 188 BCE (cf. Polyb. 21.42.5).

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clues all indicate that rather than setting Machiavellian traps for Carthage, the Romans
were in all reality ill acquainted with and unready for the unique conditions in North
Africa. They thus responded with their usual attitude of unwillingness to commit to an
unclear international matter, especially when it was perceived as not inflicting an
injustice or potential harm upon the res publica. For this reason, Roman interest was only
piqued when Massinissa could make allegations that Carthage was making possible
overtures to foreign states hostile to Rome. When such occasions arose, Roman envoys
were sent, but the general impression is that they went to check up on Carthage as much
as listen to the never-ending tangle of North African territorial claims. The ultimate end
product out of these ingredients was to be disaster for Carthage but not out of any cruel
master plan of Rome (as Polybius has often been taken to suggest). For once the fiftyyear term of the indemnity and by implication, the need for Carthage to send envoys to
the Senate on an annual, submissive basis had expired, a faction at Carthage appears to
have gained a growing voice and following, fueled by frustrations with the loss of
territory to Massinissa and Romes repeated indecision. It was a faction that would have
urged for reprisals against Massinissa, and a re-assertion of prestige as well as control
over lands lost and/or occupied de facto. But taking such self-asserting action would only
mark a major violation in Roman eyes, and along with it, real, legal grounds for war.

MID-CENTURY DIPLOMATIC CRISIS

For the most part, the disintegration of relations between Carthage and Numidia
and Rome must be reconstructed from later sources Polybius text as it has survived
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only provides a window into events once the Roman Senate had made its vote for war.
But what is clear is that a crisis had begun to develop around the year 154/153 BCE.
From that point on, the sources pay much closer attention to North African disputes, the
responding Roman envoys, and perhaps most famously, the war-debate between Cato and
Scipio Nasica.
The Periochae of Livy mentions the earliest instance of trouble, providing a brief
reference to a Roman envoy sent to negotiate between Carthage and Massinissa upon the
accession of the new consuls of 154.609 Unlike all previous references to North African
disputes, this one makes note that the Roman envoy returned with a report that they had
seen lots of timber at Carthage.610 Whether this additional claim is a product of Roman
contemporary or even post eventum rhetoric cannot be determined. All the same, it
reflects a much closer attention to the details of reports that for decades must have been
brought back by Roman envoys returning from Carthage.
For as we have seen, later Roman historical tradition paid the most attention to
North African disputes when other international incidents were in limbo that they made
609

Livy, Per. 47c.

This issue over timber along with a later hint (Livy, Per. 48g) that Carthage may have had ships
(though of what sort is not explained) to be burned as part of a res repetere has led modern scholars to
look for archaeological evidence that Carthage was re-outfitting a navy Carthage did receive a new and
state-of-the art harbor system in the late Punic period, built by removing ca. 135,000 m3 of earth and
divided into two connected parts: an inner, circular (naval) harbor, fringed by ship-sheds; and an outer,
rectangular (merchant) harbor with dockyards. Cf. Rakob (1984); Hurst and Stager (1978); Vitali et al.
(1990: 32-33); Stager (1992). The British excavators of the naval harbor (led by Hurst) believed that they
could date construction to the early second century BCE, on the basis of a few finds from below the shipshed ramps. The American excavators (led by Stager) of the commercial harbor, however, came up with a
date of the second-half of the third century (a date confirmed by later British work along the quay). One
solution perhaps (cf. van Zeist et al. 2001) is that the late Punic harbor system first dates to the Second
Punic War era, when Carthage built and outfitted a very large fleet (the naval sheds could accommodate ca.
200 ships!). Quite possibly, the ship-sheds were then renovated in the early second century whether prior
to or following the outbreak of the Third Punic War cannot be determined at this point.
610

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such interconnections is at least in part a reflection of second-century thinking. In this

case, if Roman envoys did bring back reports of additional timber lying around Carthage,
it only gained significance in the context of later events. At the very least, Romes
attention was piqued. And it was no coincidence that in the same year, Rome had become
engaged in two wars in Spain Carthages old stomping grounds. Among the Lusitani, a
man aptly named Punicus had led an attack, reportedly killing over 6,000 Romans and
even the quaestor, Terentius Varro.611 Around the same time, conflict with the
Celtiberians returned over a reputed breach of treaty by the Arevaci at Segeda.612 It is a
possibility that some Romans would have felt concerned that such events would only
encourage Carthage to rise up again, enticed by an opportunity to seize parts of her old
dominion (with which she had apparently retained trading contacts). Massinissa if the
timing of his previous diplomacy, as suggested by later historical tradition, is to be
trusted would have been only too eager to build up such concerns. Another embassy
was thus sent to Carthage in the following year, in 153 BCE.613 This time, it was an
embassy led by the venerable Cato himself and this time, the sources have a lot more to
report.
Ostensibly, the purpose of the Cato embassy, as with previous examples, was to
arbitrate in a territorial dispute between Carthage and the Numidian kingdom. Livy and
Appian both allude to claims that Massinissa was occupying Carthaginian land, and Livy

611

Appian provides the main account: Hisp. 56a-b. See also Livy, Per. 47b, 54b; Strabo 3.152e; Flor.
1.33.15; Obseq. 17; Eutrop. 4.16.2.
612 Again, Appian is the main source: Hisp. 44a-b. See also Diod. 31.39.1.
613 Sources: Livy, Per. 48a-b; Plut. Cato 26-27; App. Pun. 69.

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also mentions that armed forces had gathered against Massinissa, under the command of
a Numidian leader, Arcobarzanes, son of Syphax.614 It is possible that this force was
acting independently, but the Romans, whose views of North African social and political
conditions were less than accurate, nevertheless saw these Numidians as agents for
Carthage. Catos alarmist report apparently concluded that the forces under
Arcobarzanes, although outwardly mustered against Massinissa, were in all actuality
gathered against Rome. This last statement most likely reflects a hyperbolic rhetorical
device used by Cato in one of the speeches he gave upon his return to Rome. The point
he was making was that military force coming to the aid (silent or otherwise) of
Carthages cause in North Africa was in all reality an infraction upon the clause that
forbade Carthage to engage in independent military action or armament without Roman
permission. What Cato might have taken as sneaky behavior was for him on par with a
breach of faith. And by extension, the conclusion to be made and the one driven home
by Catos statement about forces being gathered against Rome was that it would not
take long before Carthage could take the next step. Success against Massinissa would
lead to further Carthaginian brashness, and even possible involvement in the Spanish
conflicts.
It is at this juncture, then, that the now legendary debate between Cato and Scipio
Nasica first began.615 Like the famed phrase, Carthago delenda est, the arguments on
both sides have since become wrapped up in generations of later authors attaching their
614

Cf. Appian, Pun. 69; Livy Per. 48a.

For the Cato-Nasica debate, see Livy Epit. 49; Zon. 9.26; Ampel. 19.11; discussion and reconstruction
from the sources in Astin (1967: 276ff.); cf. De Sanctis, Storia, iv.3, p. 23ff.
615

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own rhetoric and interpretations to it. Elements of the modern English slogan put into
Latin, Carthago delenda est, for example, do not even appear in our sources until the
Silver Age resurgence in Latin rhetoric, in Pliny: Cato . . . cum clamaret omni senatu
Carthaginem delendam616 And the many other features of the debate which have
spawned a great deal of the modern scholarly theories on Romes war motivations are
rhetorical red herrings. For despite the fact that each one may indeed have a kernel of
truth originating in second-century BCE thinking, each one also has several subsequent
layers of added meaning, which stray from the main issue. Debate over metus hostilis
as a motivation may have its roots in Hellenistic balance-of-power political ideologies,
but such debate only achieved central significance for late Republican authors, who
looked to 146 BCE and the elimination of Carthage as a landmark for the decline of the
morals and structures of an idealized old republic.617 Fear of Numidia does not even
enter into ancient discourse, and would not be cause for war with Carthage in Roman
eyes.618 And economic motivations were simply not conceived in modern terms.619 We

616

Pliny, NH 15.18.74. Pliny is then followed by Florus (I.13.4): Cato inexpiabili odio delendam esse
Carthaginem, et cum de alio consuleretur, pronuntiabat. as well as Aurelius Victor (De Vir. Ill. 47. 8):
Cato Carthaginem delendam censuit. The Greek texts, on the other hand, possibly echoing the now lost
account of Polybius, use the phrase: cf. Plut. 27.1; App. Rom. 10.10.69. In latter
passage, Appian also quotes Cato as asserting that Roman liberty would not be secure until Carthage was
removed: . This last phrase possibly translates a Latin tradition, present in the
text of Cicero, De Sen. 6.18 (= our earliest reference to Catos speech, without using delere or a gerundive):
Karthagini male iam diu cogitanti bellum multo ante denuntio; de qua vereri non ante desinam, quam illam
excisam esse cognovero. See the discussion (and other early imperial Latin texts) in Little (1934).
617 I.e. Sallusts Theorem: cf. Sallust, Cat. 10-11; Jug. 41. See discussions in Conley (1981); Wood
(1995); and Kapust (2008). For more on previous modern scholarship regarding Roman motives for war,
see above pp. 15ff.
618 Modern theories along these lines: cf. Kahrstedt (III.615f.); Scullard (1951: 304); Marti (1983: 224);
Huss (1985: 437); Gsell (III. 329f.); Vogel-Weideman (1989: 85). See also above pp. 15ff.
619 IPE reading of the Third Punic War: cf. Mommsen (1913: 239); Rostovtzeff (1926: 12, 21); and to
some degree, Romanelli (1959: 31f., esp. p. 34); De Sanctis (IV.3.20-24); and Baronowski (1995: 28-29).

269

have already seen that Italian merchants would not have been an interest group pushing
for a war with Carthage instead, they actually stood to lose from such a war. Instead,
Cato referred to wealth in agricultural production (with the famed African fig as a prop)
alongside wealth in fighting-age men and in terms of provisions for war. Such
observations were intended to confirm his argument that Carthage was primed and
ready to push the envelope; that she had already indirectly violated the terms of the 201
treaty; and that it would not be long before she would be the first to deploy troops against
Romans if not in Africa then in Spain.
All the same, the core of the debate between Scipio and Nasica was ultimately
regarding the presence or absence of legal (and divinely sanctioned) iusta causa, and this
is evident in the less dramatic hints of Nasicas opposing arguments.620 At issue was
whether or not Carthages actions represented a breach of treaty and an injustice inflicted
upon the res publica.621 Evidently, the decision made in 152 BCE sided with Nasica
that no iusta causa was in place for the Romans neither levied troops nor issued
commands for North Africa for the following year. Instead, we hear of yet another
delegation, of decemviri, sent to investigate and negotiate further.622 It returned with
Gulussa, son of Massinissa, bringing along allegations that Carthage was raising an army
and navy (allegations the Numidians had made earlier over the decades). Cato again
spoke out for war, and Nasica urged that Rome issue a disarmament order one that if
More recently, and from an archaeological standpoint: Rakob (1984: 10; 1985: 502f.). See also above pp.
15ff.
620 Cf. Livy, Per. 48a, d, f-g.
621 Cato himself had used the same arguments but against the presence of a iusta causa to speak out
against declaring war on Rhodes in 167 BCE: cf. Gellius 6.3.16 = Cato, ORF, fr. 164.
622 Cf. Livy, Per. 48d.

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unheeded would then grant grounds for war.623 Our sources do not provide us with the
details, but subsequent events point to a vote again in Nasicas favor, with another
embassy sent to Carthage, with Gulussa in tow (most likely early 150 BCE).624 By
putting together the texts of Appian and Livys Periochae, it would seem that the
Carthaginians refused to grant Gulussa entry into the city, thereby putting a halt to
negotiations.
From this point, in 150 BCE, relations appear to have completely deteriorated. A
faction (the democratic) among the Carthaginians, led by Carthalo, botharch, and a
man named Hasdrubal, nicknamed the Samnite, had gained enough support to take
action, and they organized a surprise attack on Gulussa.625 Massinissa retaliated or
possibly was already poised to strike and set up a siege over the town of Oroscopa (a
site unidentified, but most likely located somewhere in the Great Fields region around
Tusca/Dougga). It is at this juncture that a major set of engagements, even called a war
between Carthage and Massinissa briefly erupted.626 And it just so happens that Scipio
Aemilianus, who was then serving under Lucullus in the Celtiberian War, showed up in
North Africa. Ostensibly, he was there to obtain elephants from Massinissa to aid in the
fight in Spain, but there was perhaps no coincidence in his mission. A likely additional

623

Livy, Per. 48f-g.

Cf. Livy, Per. 49a: they [the Carthaginians] had refused to receive in their city Massinissa's son
Gulussa (who had been with the Roman envoys); and Appian, Pun. 70b, referring to Gulussa returning
in 150 BCE from an attempted diplomatic entry into Carthage...
625 The following account (unless otherwise noted) derives from Appian Pun. 70-72, since the texts of the
other authors at this point are missing. On Carthalo as botharch, see App. Pun. 74.
626 Polybius (3.5.1) actually lists a war between Carthage and Massinissa as one of a number of explicit
examples of growing mid-century tarach kai kinesis across the Mediterranean world. See also above pp.
252ff.
624

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task could have been to check up on what was an increasingly critical diplomatic
situation in North Africa. In addition, the cognomen of Scipio could have been viewed as
a potential added resource in achieving some sort of diplomatic progress.
Aemilianus is nevertheless reported to have stood by and witnessed a major battle
between Massinissa and forces commanded by Hasdrubal. And according to Appian
(echoing Polybius?), he reputedly described the experience of standing on a hill
overlooking the battle as a particularly epic one, comparing his birds-eye view to the one
enjoyed by the gods at the Trojan War: Jupiter from Mt. Ida and Poseidon from
Samothrace.627 A lofty claim indeed and perhaps one added by later tradition, which
developed a strong symbolic connection between Scipio, who would later stand
overlooking Carthage in 146, and the Trojan War, in its position in the broad arc of world
history.628 Ancient readers (of Appian at least) would have relished the foreshadowing.629
After the battle, in which Hasdrubal was decisively defeated, the Carthaginians
first learned of Scipios presence. Apparently Scipio had not chosen, or was not able, to
make his presence known to the Carthaginians earlier, although he had purportedly met
with Massinissa before the battle (a reflection, perhaps, of the deterioration in relations
between Rome and Carthage). Hasdrubal contacted Scipio to set up negotiations with
Massinissa, but these talks failed. According to Appian, the parties could not agree upon
an exchange of deserters (possibly those Numidians who had supported Hasdrubal and
627

App. Pun. 71.

For the tears of Scipio motif, its origins in the text of Polybius, see below pp. 333ff.
629 At a number of junctures, Appian appears to have used Polybius as his source for the Punica, and
Polybius was indeed the first to draw this epic-scale parallel between his friend Scipio and the fall of
Carthage in 146. So there is a possibility that second-century BCE readers would also have had this
opportunity to consider the prophetic occasion in 150.
628

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had likely composed a majority in his army). Scipio then departed, and returned to his
post in Spain, with no authority to take further action. Massinissa in the meantime starved
out the fortified town of Oroscopa, and as its inhabitants attempted to surrender, he made
an ambush, leaving Hasdrubal, utterly crushed, to limp back to Carthage.
In one year, then 151-150 BCE the powder keg that North Africa had become
had caught a fast spark. This year also happened to be the first in which Carthage was no
longer obliged to pay indemnity in Punic eyes, a tribute to Rome. Given the recent
diplomatic history in North Africa, it is possible to reconstruct the existence of some
leaders at Carthage who saw this end in obligation as one freeing their city from the
strictures of Roman supervision over their affairs in Africa. After all, Roman adjudication
over the past half-century had not resulted in any meaningful solutions. The actions taken
by this party, however, not only ended in military disaster, but they also created a
situation in which iusta causa for war was no longer a matter for debate in Rome. By the
end of 150/beginning of 149, a Roman vote for war was passed, Roman troops were
levied, and one of the new consuls, Manilius, having been assigned the provincia of
Africa, summoned Polybius to join him in Lilybaeum and serve as a military adviser.630
In the meantime, a new faction appears to have gained an upper hand within Carthage,
for the city sent two embassies to Rome, one toward the end of 150 and the second in
149, to apologize for the Hasdrubal war with Massinissa, and to make an offer of

630 See Polyb. 3.5.5; Livy, Per. 49a-b, Epit.Ox. 49.88-89; Strabo 17.833a; Vell. 1.12.2; Flor. 1.31.3-6;
Appian Pun. 74a-b, 75a-c, 80b, 86a, 93a and for Manilius summoning Polybius: Polyb. 36.11.1-12.5.

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recompense.631 According to Polybius, the (second) Carthaginian embassy found, upon

their arrival in Rome,
that war had already been decided on, and that the [Roman] generals had left
with their armies and therefore, as the situation left them no choice, they
committed Carthage to the faith of Rome.632
At this point, the Romans issued a number of formal demands for Carthage,
beginning with the handing-over of three hundred sons from leading families as hostages
(in standard practice, as diplomatic guarantee), and followed by a surrender of arms and
artillery.633 Polybius reports that at this juncture, he decided that war had been averted,
and he turned back to go home.634 In doing so, he sets up the final Roman demand as
somewhat of a surprise. For in what is now dubbed the Censorinus Ultimatum,
Manilius co-consul, Censorinus, requested that Carthage be fully evacuated and a city be
re-founded inland, at a distance of eighty stades (= ca. ten Roman miles).635 On one level,
this was a request that paralleled the hard-hitting, and not very frequent, Hellenistic
monarchic practice of large-scale polis relocation as in the case of Antigonus forcibly

631 150 BCE: see Diod. 31.1.1, 3.1; Appian Pun. 74b-d. 149 BCE: see Polyb. 36.3.1-9; Diod. 32.6.1;
Appian Pun. 76a; Zonar. 9.26b-c. Around the same time, an envoy from Utica arrived separately, and
submitted that city independently into Roman faith cf. CIL 585.79 (Utica mentioned separately as a free,
allied community in the lex agragia of 111 BCE); Polyb. 36.3.1,4; Livy, Per. 49b, Epit.Ox. 49.8990; Appian Pun. 75a. Polybius believed that this action affected Roman views of Carthage, which by
contrast did not immediately surrender in the same fashion cf. Polyb. 36.3.4.
632 Polyb. 36.3.9:
, , . On
this formal surrender, see also Diod. 32.6.1; Livy, Per. 49b-c, Epit.Ox. 49.90-91; Appian Pun. 76b, 80a;
Zonar. 9.26c-d.
633 See Polyb. 36.4.8-5.9, 11.3, 36.6.1-7; Diod. 32.6.2; Livy, Per. 49c; Strabo 17.833a; Flor. 1.31.7;
Appian Pun. 78a-80c; Oros. 4.22.1-2; Zonar. 9.26d-e.
634 Polyb. 36.11.
635 Cf. Diod. 32.6.2-4; Livy, Per. 49c, Epit.Ox. 49.91-93; Flor. 1.31.8-9; Appian Pun. 81a; Oros. 4.22.3;
Zonar. 9.26e-f. Diodorus, Livy (Periochae), Appian, Orosius, and Zonaras all give the figure for distance
that Carthage was to be relocated inland.

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disbanding Skepsis, evacuating its inhabitants and bringing them into synoikismos with a
number of smaller towns to create a new city, Antigonea (later Alexandria) Troas.636 The
Censorinus Ultimatum thus showed Rome acting in a manner characteristic of a
Hellenistic monarch and showed Censorinus own personal determination to fulfill his
imperium and engage Carthage in a iustum bellum, decisively, (gloriously,) and with no
more negotiation. On an added level, the distance of eighty stades was also laden with
meaning, since it corresponded with the exact minimum recommended by Plato as a
means of avoiding the ethical contagion of sea-borne communication.637 The message
was crystal-clear: Carthage had committed its last injustice upon the Roman res publica,
and there were no further remedies, other than to found Carthage anew, as a moral,
Roman-sanctioned polis in a Roman oikoumen.
Over the years, scholars have emphasized that Rome showed no signs of backing
down, and may even have manipulated or been encouraged by Carthages surrender of
arms and hostages in 150 BCE.638 The issuing of escalating demands, ending in the
Censorinus Ultimatum, are thus construed as diplomatic hyperbola, only thinly veiling a
long-held plan to annihilate the city.639 In many ways, this interpretation is itself inspired
by the text of Polybius, which mentions that the Romans had long decided upon war,
636

Cf. Strabo 13.593, 597, 604, 607. See Billows (1990: 215ff.). Compare the synoikism of Teos and
Lebedos = Ager no. 13 (= B-D2 7).
637 Plato Laws 4.705a-b.
638 E.g. Flower (2009: 70-71), in one of the most recent interpretations of 146 BCE, assessed Roman
behavior as part of a strikingly harsh and imperialistic new foreign policy in which Carthage and Corinth
were completely razed to the ground, though neither posed a credible threat to Rome. Other examples
include Adcock (1946); Badian (1958: 125ff.); Hoffmann (1960); Harris (1979); Baronowski (1995: 31).
639 For Censorinus Ultimatum, see Polyb. 36.7.1-5; Diod. 32.6.2-4; Livy Per. 49, Epit. 49.91-93; Flor.
1.31.8-9; App. Pun. 80-93; Oros. 4.22.3; Suda B320; Zon. 9.26. Astin (1967: 274) is one of the few modern
scholars to suggest that the ultimatum could have been intended literally.

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with only a prophasis needed to bring it to fruition.640 This assessment fits with Polybius
general theory on the causes of wars a three-part complex of beginning (arch) (here,
refusal of the ultimatum), pretext (prophasis) (here, Carthages war with Massinissa),
and deeper motivation (aitia) (here, a desire to eliminate Carthage though we do not
have Polybius text on this).641
At the same time, Polybius comment reflects a Greek perspective on Roman
behavior and the disintegration of relations that continued for years, from 154 onward,
with an extended iusta causa debate (as fought for a number of years between Cato and
Nasica) ending in a series of demands (res repetere) and a final order for Carthage to
literally un-polis herself. Contemporary Hellenistic Greeks did not necessarily hold the
same view of just warfare as Romans did, and for them, such extended debates and series
of demands could result as Polybius text testifies in the opinion that the Romans
were simply manipulating polemos dikaios precepts to obtain legitimacy, rather than
sincerely debating over whether to go to war.642 For on the one hand, the issuing of
demands reflected the well-worn practice of res repetere, through which Rome let it be
known that injustice had been done to her by another state, and which Rome, in
accordance with her unique system based on fetial law,643 brought an offending state into

640

Polyb. 36.2; see also 3.5.5.

Cf. Baronowski (1995).
642 For more on Roman conceptions of bellum iustum see Albert (1980) and list of sources in Ager (2009:
15-16). For a comparison of Roman bellum iustum with Greek polemos dikaios, see ClavadetscherThrlemann (1985: 185ff.). For the existence of a Hellenistic discourse focused on recording the just
cause(s) for war, see Chaniotis (2005: 177ff.).
643 See above (with citations) pp. 200ff. To reiterate: modern scholarly debate regarding fetial law
continues, mostly due to the problems with (and lack of early and mid-Republican) source evidence. The
641

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submission to the maiestas of the Roman state. Issuing a series of demands, including
disarmament and delivery of hostages, was also an international standard practice, among
Greek states and Rome alike.644 Both disarmament and hostages worked to confirm one
states promise to adhere to, and to hold honest intentions within, an ongoing diplomatic
exchange, and assurance against taking armed action. Yet in Hellenistic Greek practices
and this is a crucial difference such actions were means to a truce or even negotiations
for a more permanent peace. For this reason, we hear that the Carthaginians were at first
relieved by Romes acceptance of the hostages and arms and Polybius even began to
make his way back to the Peloponnese. But by contrast, Roman res repetere was part and
parcel of an injustice already inflicted upon the res publica one that according to the
precepts of iustum bellum already established a cause for war and a need to seek
penalties. In Romes eye, a state of war was already in existence; in Carthages, it did not
until the Censorinus Ultimatum was more than they were willing to accept.
At the same time, Roman iusta causa discourse, in its analogies with
contemporary Hellenistic practices, was recognizable as such. And, as we have seen,
internationally based intellectuals and politicians were already primed in their thinking to
look for a momentous power-showdown for Rome in its increasingly pan-Mediterranean
position. Polybius reflects these attitudes, placing his discussion not only within a grander
scheme in which Rome was confronted with various crises all across the Mediterranean,
and not always handling them with the greatest degree of integrity, but also prefacing his
view taken here is that an archaic tradition of fetial law continued to be practiced and its underlying
ideologies continued to be of central importance during the second century.
644 Cf. Allen (2006); De Ligt (2008: 358-9), with references.

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discussion of the beginning of the Third Punic with a statement on prophasis vs. aitia.
Polybius was nevertheless better informed than perhaps much of the rest of the Greekspeaking world. And while not culturally adhering to Roman concepts of iustum bellum
and the underlying importance of fetial tradition, he did have something to teach his
Greek readers (and intended statesmen audience) regarding Roman deditio namely, that
unlike Hellenistic surrender, this practice involved the complete and utter renunciation of
sovereignty metaphoric enslavement to the Roman state.645
Polybius final conclusion, then, is that while Rome might make an at times harsh
master, it was the prerogative of the leading men of lesser states to learn how to deal with
the behemoth. And in order to do so, they must understand what deditio truly entailed (its
true dunamis). Ultimately, then, it was the leaders of Carthage, and the social
disintegration of the Carthaginian politeia into factionalism and mob-rule, that in
Polybius view were at fault. For Polybius argues that the Carthaginians made a
foolhardy decision in submitting to Romes initial demands for deditio, irrationally
believing that handing over arms and hostages would prevent war. Instead, they had not
only weakened their city, but had submitted it to the sovereignty of Rome.646 And as
Polybius states in a pointed jab at the Cato-Nasica debate already becoming legendary
it was not the dramatic speeches and rhetorical flourishes that made this juncture worthy
of his Histories. It was the effect this juncture had upon the wider Mediterranean world,
for as Polybius quotes Demetrius, a fellow foreign-hostage having spent time in Rome:
645

Cf. Polyb. 36.4, referring back to his discussion of deditio and Greek confusion and misunderstanding
of it in the debacle between the consul Glabrio and the Aetolians, 191 BCE (Polyb. 20.9-10).
646 Polyb. 36.5/9.

278


,
.
when the inception of a war seems just (to foreign nations), it makes victory
greater and ill-success less perilous, while if it is thought to be dishonorable and
wrong, it has the opposite effect.647

647

Polyb. 36.2.(1/)3.

279

Chapter 6: Tragedy, Triumph, & 146 BCE

INTRODUCTION

, .
.
For it is especially in moments of personal or community success that we should
reflect upon the opposite extremity of Fortune; only thus and then only with difficulty
can a man prove moderate in the hour of good fortune.
--Polybius 29.20.2-3.
Polybius wrote these words within a pivotal scene in his Histories. The Roman
general Aemilianus Paullus was presenting the defeated Perseus, former king of
Macedon, to his men, in celebration of Romes great victory at Pydna. The year was 167
BCE the year originally projected to act as the endpoint of the Histories, as the juncture
at which Rome had achieved, after a surprisingly short span of only fifty-three years,
world dominion (arch).648 But in the years since, Polybius had experienced additional
trends unsettling ones which had prompted him to extend his work, as an assessment
of this world dominion and the responses by those living under its shadow. The new
endpoint was to be 146 BCE the year in which Roman generals, including Paullus son,
Scipio Aemilianus, were to triumph over two disparate cities, Carthage and Corinth. And
as we will see, this new endpoint was to be presented by Polybius in particular, yet in
response to contemporary intellectual Zeitgeist as the ultimate fulcrum-point in the
cycles of world history: a moment of both triumph and tragedy, with the future that it
held for Rome as the ruler and other states as the ruled held lightly in the balance.
648

See above pp. 156ff.

280

The present chapter looks in detail at the collocated triumphs and tragedies
surrounding 146 BCE, as these events were pulled together to become a constructed
historical moment in the second century. It does so by looking first at a key passage in
Polybius (36.9), in which the historian explicitly connects the outbreak of the Third Punic
War with the public opinions of a wider (international) Hellenic community. As in the
previous chapter, we again see in this passage evidence of two major developments.
Firstly, it provides evidence of the political-cultural disjunctions inherent in the
international system of the second century with Greek-speaking frames of reference not
entirely compatible with or cognizant of Roman ones (especially regarding deditio). And
at the same time, it reveals Polybius own individual agendas regarding the matter, in
seeking to provide a practical manual of examples to current (and future) statesmen, and
urging this readership to assess not only Roman behaviors as a world leader but also the
naivets, failings, and other blunders of those confronting Rome.
The chapter then transitions to an historical narrative, which reconstructs
diplomatic events leading to the outbreak of war between Rome and the Achaian League
in 147 BCE and even more importantly, to Polybius moralizing sentiments thereof.
The account begins with the surprisingly successful revolt of a pretender to the throne
of Macedon Andriscus, or Pseudo-Philip. We analyze this revolt in terms of an
undercurrent perhaps not so hidden of anti-imperialist/anti-Roman texts circulating
across the Mediterranean oikoumen during this time. Such texts told of a savior prince
who would come from the East to save the world from tyranny and give rise to a new
pan-Hellenic order. The legends not to mention the meteoric success of Pseudo-Philip
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appear to have been closely connected with these anti-imperialist undertones, and it is
argued here that Rome first took serious note of these as a result of the revolt. Polybius
also testifies to these trends, referring to a madness () sweeping the
Greek world, and attributing it not only to the whims of Tyche who is so wont to
destroy those who were once in a position of glory but also, and more importantly, to
the corrupt machinations and decayed morals of Greek leadership. That this is Polybius
individual assessment becomes even more apparent in the connection he draws between
Macedonian madness, surrounding Pseudo-Philip, and Achaian insanity. This insanity,
according to Polybius, was stirred up within the passions of the mob by power-hungry
demagogues, and was perhaps the strongest example of a decayed polis, at the tail end of
its anacyclosis.
At the same time within the overall agenda of the Histories as a political manual
the downfall of the Achaian League was held up as a model of exactly what not to do
when confronted by an international powerhouse like Rome: that is, to deliberately and
rashly seek direct and unwarranted antagonism. For Polybius, then, the death of Corinth
exemplified the greatest tragedy within the long history of Greek misfortunes and by
comparison with Carthage, an even more momentous disaster. It is at this point that we
therefore look to the collocation of the two destruction events in 146. For as an analysis
of the available archaeological evidence shows, Carthage was subjected to severe
physical damage and burning, while Corinth was left almost completely untouched. The
fact that Polybius introduces a comparison of the two, and even goes so far as to argue
that Corinths defeat was more traumatic, is revealing. On the one hand, it testifies to the
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symbolic value with which Corinth was de-commissioned as a polis, its cultural heritage
removed, and its physical remains left as a visible reminder to all other free Greeks.
And on the other, it points to what other contemporary literary evidence suggests: that
Carthage and Corinth were already being discussed within international intellectual
circles as a pairing with political/ideological significance.
Within this international context, a number of concomitant historiographical
trends were in play. These first involved the perception of a cyclical world history, which
could be divided into a series of great world empires, in different formulations involving
Assyria, Persia, Macedon, and ending, for the moment in the second century, with Rome.
At the same time, they also involved a growing Hellenistic science of
synchronography, as made increasingly popular by authors such as Eratosthenes and
Timaeus. An international framework for history was thus a topic of second-century
debate, with intellectuals actively interested in the subject of synchronic events linking
otherwise separate geo-political regions. The destructions of Carthage and Corinth fit
neatly into this trend and did so with an even greater significance. For they also
intersected with contemporary political-philosophical debates regarding the possibility of
justice in international arch, as some (e.g. Panaetius) claimed that hegemonia, or
beneficent world governance, was not only an option but was a goal to be sought after,
while others (e.g. Agatharcides of Knidos) contended that all imperial power could ever
represent was despoteia, beneficial to the rulers at the expense of the ruled.
And this brings us back to Polybius and to the ideas visible in Paullus warning
regarding the whims of Fortune and the necessity of moderation in triumph. The same
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ideas return in a key scene in the Histories, discussed below: that is, the climactic vision
of Scipio standing before the city of Carthage in flames. It is here that we see all the
pieces falling into place and 146 BCE set within a broader scope of world history. For in
the account of Scipios tears and his quote from Homers Iliad, we see a pan-Hellenic
hero in the style of Polybius own pragmatic vision, as well as in contemporary traditions
placing the Trojan War at the beginning of history and the fall of Troy as the tragic
exemplar for the urbs capta motif of human suffering coupled with human renewal. And
as Polybius notes, this is the greatest good possible the chance that a future can rise
from ashes, for Romans as rulers, for other powers seeking to replace Rome, and above
all, for statesmen who may take the opportunity to learn from Polybius pragmatik
historia.

FROM NORTH AFRICA TO THE GREEK WORLD: CRISIS PANDEMIC

As discussed above, in the previous chapter, Polybius believed deeply that there
were serious lessons to be learned by second-century (and future) statesmen out of
studying the experience of Carthage. However, the argument here is that Polybius posited
even greater lessons to be learned from the experience of Corinth and the Achaian
League. That Polybius connected the two arenas on the international stage and with
farther-reaching significance for his analysis of world history is evident from what

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survives of his text. And this is clear even despite the fragmentary nature of the account
for the years 150-146 BCE, from Books 36 and 38 (Book 37 being completely lost).649
On the one hand, we have already discussed how Polybius perceived of a
symplok, or interconnectedness, increasingly becoming a new feature of a
Mediterranean-wide oikoumen. And we have also seen how Polybius contemporaries
would have recognized developments along similar lines, within a pan-Hellenic,
civilizing (even myth-historic) discourse. Polybius goes further in this instance, however,
making the connections between the Third Punic War and the Greek world even more
explicit. Such linkage first becomes evident in a passage that is perhaps one of the most
quoted and discussed: a passage that could be aptly subtitled, Greek responses to Roman
actions, 149 BCE.650 In this passage, Polybius makes a marked transition in his regionalbased account (a standard practice throughout his work), here connecting two regions,
North Africa and the Greek world, with a digression on the major reactions Greekspeakers had to the outbreak of war in both spheres Rome against Carthage and against
Pseudo-Philip in Macedonia. Regarding the first, he describes four variant opinions,
taking the end-result the destruction of Carthage three years later as a fait accompli.
These four groups can be summarized as follows:
1.

-those who approved of Roman actions, believing the elimination of a polity

perpetually hostile to Rome to be a wise and statesmanlike act;

649

On the reconstruction of Books 36 and 38 from fragments (including the Constantinian excerpts, de
legat. gent., de legat. Rom., de virt. et vit., and de sent., and Suidas) and loss of Book 37, see Walbank,
Comm., III.44-50.
650 = Polyb. 36.9. For a selection of modern opinions on this passage, see Hoffmann (1960: 311-2);
Walbank (1965: 8-11; 1974: 14-7; 2002: 19-20); Musti (1978: 55-6); Harris (1979: 271-2); Gruen (1984:
342-3); Eckstein (1995: 216-7); Baronowski (2011: 90).

285

2.

-those who saw Roman actions as power-hungry and not in line with the ethics by
which Rome had earlier won her power. Instead, this group believed that Rome
had developed a new, unfair, and even tyrannical turn in policy, according to
which enemy states were utterly disbanded upon defeat (as in the creation of four
Macedonian republics post-Pydna);

3.

-those who countered that Romans were otherwise a civilized people and
conducted their wars in civilized manner But in this particular case, this group
believed that Rome had acted with fraud and deceit; and,

4.

-those who argued that Rome had acted within her international legal rights, since
Carthage had fully surrendered, and in doing so, had admitted to the guilt of
breaking the treaty with Rome. Polybius gives a longer explanation of this last
group and its opinions not necessarily because he endorsed this group more than
any other.651 His language does not indicate a choice among the four. Instead, it
was more likely that the fourth group required more attention, simply because it
was not as prevalent among members of the Greek international community and
was more so among Roman ones. For the subject of Roman deditio and the lack
of extensive Greek awareness of its true dunamis was something that Polybius
had on more than one occasion stressed. And this meant that the international-

651

See Harris (1979: 271-2), who believes Polybius supported groups two and four. Walbank see (2002:
19-20) stressed that Polybius was writing with Roman eyes watching him, implying that any censure of
Roman actions would not have been endorsed. All the same there are other instances in the Histories at
which Polybius is not afraid to criticize Rome. Here, he neither clearly endorses nor criticizes Rome,
although he has the opportunity to do so. His ambivalence at this point has also been noted by Eckstein
(1995: 217).

286

level argument that Romans were acting within their legal limits was actually in
need of greater explanation (ironically) to a Greek audience.
In the end, Polybius leaves the question of his own conclusions open. However,
judging from his comments elsewhere in the Histories, it is not impossible that he may
have believed in a combination of elements from all of the above. By putting all four
together, Polybius could have concluded that Rome acted shrewdly in moving toward
war, and in general possessed an admirable politeia and civil approach to international
hegemony. Yet with these factors still in place, the signs of decay were already starting to
show within the Roman leading class, and there were now individuals who were
increasingly power-hungry. Such men (possibly Censorinus could be implied here?) were
individuals who could take advantage of the letter of Roman law to achieve personal,
selfish goals of expediency.652 What was of the greatest importance, though, was that
Rome could not ultimately be blamed for the war. For, as Polybius had explained earlier,
Censorinus had deployed his full legal right in the wake of a deditio (even if the
ultimatum came as a surprise). It was the Carthaginians, in their naivet and
foolhardiness (both being signs of their own internal decline), who ultimately became the
engineers of the war that brought their destruction. It was a theme, connected to the
Polybian concept of pan-Mediterranean tarach kai kinesis, which would play out again

652

Compare Polybius judgments of Roman behavior post-Pydna with his statement regarding monarchic
power at 15.24 that kings begin by treating their subjects like friends and allies, but over time become
increasingly tyrannical, gaining immediate advantage ( ) yet breaking the standards of noble
behavior ( ). Polybius sees this pattern, with preference for expediency rather than honor, within
Roman actions toward the Attalids (30.1-3), the Ptolemies (31.10), in North Africa (31.21), toward the
Seleucids (32.1-2), and Demetrius (31.2/11). See discussion in Eckstein (1995: 228ff.), above pp., 154ff.,
and below pp. 320ff.

287

for the Greek world in Macedon, followed by (most tragically, at least in Polybius
eyes) the Achaian League.
Polybius therefore connects his discussion of the four types of reaction to the
Third Punic War to a progressive series of responses to the brief, yet zealous revolt led by
Andriscus in Macedon, 149-8 BCE. This Pseudo-Philip, as Polybius calls him, was an
elusive and enigmatic figure who exploded quickly onto the international scene, and yet
his movement rocked the entire northern Greek mainland of Macedonia, Thrace, and
Thessaly. Polybius tells not so much of a division of opinions as of an evolution of Greek
(and at least to a certain extent we can assume Roman) diplomatic attitudes.653 These first
thought the whole matter was an utterly ridiculous story being told by a man seemingly
fallen from the skies (), simply treating both Macedon and Rome with
(otherwise harmless) disdain. Yet three or four months later, after word had spread that
this Philip had inflicted military defeat on Macedonian forces, some observers
apparently accepted the news, while most thought it a new high-point in absurdity. They
were to be surprised, however: a second victory and occupation of all of Macedon
ensued, with the Thessalians sending for help to Achaia. At this point, Polybius describes
a consensus: something wonderful and extraordinary (
) the truly impossible had happened!
Later in Book 36, Polybius returned to the subject, as one that had deeply
mystified him. The events following the Thessalian call for aid are unclear, and only
survive in fragments from later authors. All told, they mention two Roman armies being
653

= Polyb. 36.10. On Andriscus and the revolt of 149-8 BCE, see Helliesen (1968).

288

sent to deal with the rebellion (the circumstances leading to this Fourth Macedonian
War otherwise unknown).654 The first, led, by praetor Publius Iuventius Thalna, was
utterly crushed, and apparently lost a legion. The second, led by praetor Q. Caecilius
Metellus, succeeded in defeating this Philip and taking him back to Rome in chains,
thereby ending the insurgency.655 Polybius finds it necessary to ruminate on the episode
as a whole, which he appears to have found intriguing for its lack of rational explanation
(in accordance with his otherwise trusty theory of causes).656 He thus returns to a frequent
character in the Histories: Tyche. And in doing so, he comes to the conclusion that
natural-world phenomena are usually the realm of Tyche and political events usually that
of men. Political history can thus search for and find causes by looking to mens actions
and their basis in thoughts, desires, and motivations, and their roots in past actions of
others. But in this case, Polybius concedes a rare exception. For in his estimation,
Macedon in 149 had been blessed with freedom from tyranny, taxation, and a significant
amount of civil strife in the wake of Romes reorganization of the region into four
republics. Yet, paradoxically, when Pseudo-Philip came out of nowhere and established
power for himself on the basis of bloodshed and massacre, the Macedonian people
supported him. And even more surprisingly they did so with even more vigor than they
had done for their earlier (and in Polybius eyes, much more admirable) kings. They
fought for Philip with so much bravery that they even succeeded in inflicting serious
654

Cf. Diod. 32.9a1; Livy, Per. 50e, Epit.Ox. 50.126; Flor. 1.30.4-5; Eutrop. 4.13.1; Oros. 4.22.9; Zonar.
9.23e. Polybius refers in general terms to a Roman defeat see infra.
655 Diod. 32.9b1, 15.7; Livy, Per. 50e, Epit.Ox. 52.153; Vell. 1.11.2; Paus. 7.13.1; Euseb., Chron. 239d;
Obseq. 19; Vict., Vir.Ill.61.1; Eutrop. 4.13.1; Zonar. 9.28f-g.
656 = Polyb. 36.17.

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defeat upon Roman forces. Polybius metaphorically throws up his hands such events
could only be the work of Tyche, like a freak snowstorm or sudden drought:


So that in pronouncing on this and similar phenomena we may well say that the
thing was a heaven-sent infatuation, and that all the Macedonians were visited by
the wrath of the gods657
Above all, the Macedonian rebellion of 149-8 BCE was thus an example of the
frightening madness of a growing international malady (tarach kai kinesis), and an
example like none other. Polybius paid close attention to it not only for its strangeness
but also for its place as a backdrop to Achaian affairs, for which the insanity of the
citizenry was also to play a key role (the active role of corrupt demagogues nevertheless
returning blame back to earth). And, as evident in Polybius earlier discussion of the
revolt, it was to be connected conceptually with the crisis developing for Carthage to the
west, as well as to a potential tipping-point for the Mediterranean symplok as a whole.
It has already been established that Polybius in accordance with contemporary
thought believed in a cycle of history comprised of a rise-and-fall of great powers, with
Rome placed at an important recent stage in this cycle. However the fact that the
international community was increasingly attuned to this cycle becoming tied to
contemporary political events, specifically in 149 BCE, only becomes clear upon
investigation of Polybius digression at 36.9-10. For deeper currents ran beneath the
otherwise inexplicable of the Macedonian rebellion ones with pan-

657

Polyb. 36.17.16.

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Hellenic, and not-so-subtle anti-Roman sentiments. These were sentiments that found
expression in apocalyptic prophetic texts, and which communicated a belief in, and even
fevered anticipation of, a savior-king figure, who would overcome the evil empire and
restore a new Hellenic order. Such ideas, on a fundamental level, were not new. Instead,
they were part of an anti-imperial set of eastern traditions with a long history. The
tradition can be seen directed against the Seleucids in a third-century BCE Zoroastrian
scripture, the Bahman Yasht, foretelling of an avenging savior-prince, born under a
shooting star and destined to drive foreign tyrants out of Asia.658 In a similar vein, the
Hebrew Book of Daniel from the 160s BCE (directed against Antiochus IV) predicted the
downfall of a last great empire.659
Such texts could be and were contemporaneously turned against Rome.
Phlegon of Tralles cites Antisthenes of Rhodes (a contemporary of Polybius) as having
recorded, following the defeat of Antiochus III at Thermopylai (191 BCE), a disturbingly
bizarre text, complete with re-animated corpse and prophetic, disembodied head. It
foretold the punishment and annihilation of Rome, at the hands of a bold-hearted tribe
and a great king from the East, who would recruit a mighty army of many nations.660 And
as time went on, the number of anti-Roman apocalyptic texts grew: texts such as Book III
of the Sibylline Oracles, which around the mid-second century BCE, described the

658

Bahman Yasht 3.13-15.

Daniel 27. Rome was not the great empire in question here, since Rome is mentioned by the same
text as the only foreigner to help check the Seleucids cf. Daniel 11:18, 11:30.
660 Phlegon of Tralles, Mirab. iii Hansens translation (1996: 32-7, 101-112). For an excellent brief
summary of this and the other apocalyptic prophecies, see Mayor (2010: 34-5), with discussions of
dates/contexts in Gruen (1984: 340-1).
659

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plunder, enslavements, and exactions of retribution to be wrought on Italy;661 or the

oracle circulated under the name of a Persian magus, Hystaspes, that Rome was to be
destroyed by fire and the sword, at the coming of a savior-king from the East, his birth to
be proclaimed by a light from heaven.662
That such prophecies fell on receptive ears, could inspire large numbers of people
and muster significant military strength became only too evident a generation after 149,
in the immense success experienced by Mithridates, who deployed the notions of a
savior-king in a maelstrom that swept much of the East against Rome.663 In this context,
Polybius heaven-sent infatuation and description of Pseudo-Philip as sky-fallen
could be additional hints. Was there possibly a comet-event in 149 BCE that triggered the
sudden appearance and widespread acceptance of Andriscus, who then renamed himself
as Philip a Macedonian King Philip resurgent? Seneca does mention cometes blazing
bright, fiery red, bringing daylight to the night sky, sometime after the death of
Demetrius and just before the outbreak of the Achaian War.664 And later sources do
indeed describe the story of the shadowy Andriscus in terms that are myth-heroic, and

661

Orac. Sib. III.350-355; cf. 652-4; (and written later, in the early first century BCE) IV.145-148.
Quoted by Lactantius, Inst. 7.15, 18.
663 See Mayor (2010). According to later sources (unfortunately, Polybius text does not survive at the
juncture), there were additional uprisings in Macedon under the leadership of another man (or men)
claiming to be a lost son of Perseus an Alexander and an aliud Pseudophilippus either the same
man or two separate individuals, defeated (according to Zonaras, 9.28.8) closely after Andriscus (147
BCE?), and killed (according to Livy, Epit. 53 and Eutropius 4.15) in 143/2 BCE. See Morgan (1969:
430ff.).
664 Seneca, Nat. Quaes. 7.15.1: Post mortem Demetrii Syriae regis paulo ante Achaicum bellum,
cometes effulsit non minor sole: primo igneus ac rubicundus orbis fuit clarumque lumen emittens, quanto
uinceret noctem; deinde paulatim magnitudo eius districta est et euanuit claritas; nouissime totus
intercidit.
662

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even re-enact the legend of the hero Perseus, namesake of the last Macedonian king,
whom Andriscus claimed as father.
These myth-historic accounts sound very much like the sort of stories that would
have stirred the great popular backing that Andriscus received and which so shocked
Polybius. Andriscus, as the Perseus (or even Cyrus the Great) of legend, was reportedly
of illegitimate, royal birth (son of the Macedonian king Perseus and a concubine), hidden
away across the sea, and raised on an island [Crete] by a lowborn couple, in order to
escape the dangers of court. He then made a triumphant return and underwent a
recognition-scene by means of proofs in the Pergamene court, and underwent a mission
to regain his rightful kingdom. And as Polybius was so scandalized to learn these epic
claims were not to be laughed at. For they tapped into a deep undercurrent, inspiring
masses, and even supposedly (if Diodorus is to be believed) gaining the support of
leaders in Asia Minor (Pergamene court and Byzantium).665 It was a lesson to be learned
by Rome as well that such apparently subversive and prodigious claims were to be
taken seriously. For the Achaian League, ominously, Polybius saw a madness among
citizenry, combined with an absence of good leadership, spreading across the Greek
world and with Romes attention at the ready, the mixture spelled disaster.

665

According to Diodorus (32.15ff.), Andriscus traveled from Crete, where he had been raised, to
Pergamon, where the wife of a certain Athenaeus a woman named Callippa and a former concubine of
King Perseus of Macedon allegedly confirmed Andriscus secret identity. From Pergamon, Diodorus says
Andriscus was welcomed as a son of Perseus in Byzantium.

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ACHAIAN LEAGUE DEBACLE

In many ways, then, the end of 149 BCE marked an international stage set for an
ideologically significant moment. Cato and Nasica had prominently sparred in a debate
over war with Carthage a debate that had ended with a dispatch of consuls and
Censorinus controversial ultimatum at a moment when Rome was still embroiled in
conflicts in Spain. In the meantime, the Greek hostages of 167 BCE, of one thousand
leading aristocrats (Polybius included), had been released in 150, though their effect on
regional politics remains debated an inheritance from Polybius himself, who identifies
civil disturbance as a key factor in the Leagues humiliating fate.666 At the same time
nationalistic spirit (Achaian, Spartan, Macedonian, etc.) remained a factor, though it had
recently erupted in the sudden, and surprising outburst of success surrounding PseudoPhilip. Here emerged a leader a champion for the old Macedonian monarchic system
who tapped into a different, and potentially disturbing vein of pan-Hellenism, one with
anti-foreign-imperialist, and even apocalyptic tendencies. And Rome was the foreign
imperialist in the picture. As the state now increasingly identified (by Romans and others)
as the guarantor of world order, within a tightening international symplok, Rome was
being put to a symbolic test.667 And Polybius, for one, clearly saw this: he extended the
scope of his Histories with this realization and the shockwaves of 146 in mind. For
666

For Polybius opinions regarding Corinths demise in particular see below, with citations. For debate
regarding the return of the Achaian hostages, see Gruen (1984: 518) noting that a return would lead to
internal civic problems contra Larsen (1968), who argues that there would not have been a significant
effect especially since so many hostages had either passed away, been away for too long, or were
advanced in years.
667 As Harris (1979: 243) noted, the Achaian League hardly represented a serious military challenge to
Rome for, as he quipped, the [Achaian] League could cause the Roman Senate no more anxiety than a
wasp on a warm afternoon!

294

he, no doubt like a great many of his contemporaries, saw that the nature and future of
Romes interstate position was to be determined by the manner in which the Roman state
and its leadership handled the new variety of challenges.668
Hints of anti-Roman feeling had from time to time emerged within the Achaian
League over the second century these are perhaps best known from speeches in
Polybius Histories, speeches in which Greek politicians dramatically warn against the
Roman shadow from the West.669 Yet these speeches largely reflect a particular
Polybian goal: to write a guide for statesmen dealing with the rise of a great international
power. And as such, their rhetoric and placement reflect Polybius conviction that the
autonomy and honor of small states must be protected above all else, with a great deal of
maneuvering with and away from a large power, rather than either purely slavish
subservience or foolhardy insolence.670 Indeed, by looking solely at the actions taken by
Achaian leaders over the years, it becomes clear that there was never any distinct antiRoman vs. pro-Roman set of camps. Instead, sentiments and actions varied, and they
reflected local and internal politics as the main motivators. Opposition to Rome (or more

668

On this subject in general, see the contributions in Kagan (2010).

See above, pp. 222ff.
670 Polybius opinion in this regard has long been a subject of scholarly debate e.g. Gruen (1984: 331ff.);
Walbank (1974; 1990: 166ff.); Eckstein (1995: Ch. 7). As mentioned above (see p. 164), the view taken
here is that Polybius took a naturally complex attitude toward the Roman state and toward Roman leaders.
Some actions and individuals are criticized, and there are hints that Polybius sees trends toward Roman
internal decay. Yet by the same token, some actions and individuals are highly praised, and Polybius
establishes the possibility that Rome could be the next great hope for the oikoumen. The decision in some
respects is left to the reader intentionally so. For it is Polybius view that the statesmen of smaller nations
must learn to navigate the tides of Rome to learn to choose their battles wisely, and as such, be able to
assess Roman strengths, weaknesses, and cultural peculiarities.
669

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often, visiting Roman diplomats) was only sparked on the basis of momentary reaction,
checkered, and even indirect.671
All of these trends continued as the chronic rash of issues within Achaian League
politics flared up again in 149-8 BCE. These issues mostly revolved around renewed
attempts, by a number of poleis Sparta in particular at secession from the League.
Polybius, however as we will see makes sure to highlight the role of internal social
issues, with the rise of new demagogues in particular, as leading his beloved League
down a path to disaster and shame. And this time, in the wake of Andriscus surprisingly
successful revolt, Roman eyes and Roman legions were turned to the Greek mainland,
with a heightened sensitivity and with major conflicts and developments already in
progress in the west.
At first, Roman responses to events in the Peloponnese were generally on par with
earlier diplomatic approaches. As Gruen has noted, there was almost an exact replay of
incidents from forty years earlier.672 Once again, the Romans showed concern for
disruption, secession, and threats of military action within the League, but they did so
with a certain degree of remoteness. The argument here, then, is that there was an
unwillingness to interfere directly or aggressively in League matters, and the Roman
Senate had elsewhere shown itself disinclined to become entangled in or to otherwise
micro-manage local/regional affairs, especially when they involved matters of
adjudication that did not affect the res publica or its conduct in war, and remained a

671
672

This has been firmly established by Gruen (1984: esp. 437ff.).

Gruen (1984: 520ff.).

296

fundamental domain for Greek poleis.673 Hellenistic Greek cities had long prided and
closely guarded such levels of autonomy and they continued to do so with Rome. But
within the Achaian League, the Achaian strategoi and, for example, their Spartan
opponents, had learned that involving Rome could provide even more diplomatic playing
cards, granting opportunities for delay, rhetoric towards international-level legitimacy,
and even opportunities for exploiting the gaps between the ephemeral authority of Roman
envoys and the ultimate power of the Roman Senate.
With only one clear instance of a consensus to submit to Roman arbitration (in
184/3 BCE) and this instance leading only to abortive results the issues of the
Achaian League continued to remain just that: issues of the Achaian League.674 The
Roman Senate remained in contact and involvement with the League, but on a peripheral
basis, responding to complaints and accusations as they were brought to their attention,
and deploying only letters of recommendation and courtesy envoys. There was no treaty
of obligation between the two states at least not on par with the sort of treaty existing
between Rome and Carthage.675 And even if there was some sort of treaty or informal

673

For debate on this point, compare Gruen (1984) who argues against Roman interest in micromanagement and Derow (2003), who sees the Romans actively seeking to assert suzerainty over
Greece.
674 In 184/3 BCE, in response to a number of Spartan and Achaian envoys to Rome, the Senate (rather than
making its own formal judgment) re-assigned the task, designating a three-man board (consisting of
Flamininus, Q. Metellus, and Ap. Claudius Pulcher) to arbitrate. These three purportedly decided upon a
recall of Spartans exiled and convicted in 188, a rebuilding of Spartas city-walls, an injunction that Sparta
remain within the League, and a deferral of all capital cases to judges from outside the League. However,
they could not settle on issues of territory, and only the Achaian representatives are mentioned as having
signed the agreement. Spartan and Achaian ambassadors again appeared in Rome complaining of each
others injustices in the following year evidently, the arbitral agreement had fallen through. See Polyb.
23.4; 23.6.1-3 and 23.9.
675 There are references to two more formal agreements between Rome and the League. The first was in
198 BCE, towards the end of the Second Macedonian War, for which Polybius uses the term, symmachia

297

agreement (this remains a matter of debate), there were certainly no terms in it that would
allow Rome to directly engage in Achaian policy or procedures.676 Roman ambassadors
only arrived on missions that had been called for by messengers from the Peloponnese.
And as such, their missions were not usually intended for formal adjudication, but rather
for investigative and/or good-offices purposes, meant to bring the disputants together to
forge their own solution(s).677 In the meantime, Greek (including Achaian) leaders
consistently followed their own, independent policies, often not shying away from
sometimes offending the sensitivities of a visiting Roman envoy, choosing instead to
sidestep his recommendations, to re-assert their own pride of place, and yet always
making sure to send back the appropriate affirmations of goodwill back to the Roman
Senate.678 Such maneuvering, incidentally, was not only a practice criticized by Polybius

(18.13.8). He mentions that the League decided to transfer their symmachia with Philip for one with Rome
but according to Livy (who uses both amicitia and societas cf. 32.21), this vote needed to be confirmed
by decree of the Roman Senate something we do not hear anything more about in the sources. Even if the
Senate confirmed some sort of written alliance (whether of friendship or military pact), it would only have
lasted for the duration of the war against Philip, and any of its obligations would not have been extended
cf. Lvy (1995). The same applies to a vote made by the League in 192 BCE, approving philia with Rome
against Antiochus (according to Polyb. 39.3.8 Livy 35.50 uses the phrase having the same friends and
enemies clause to refer to this vote).
676 Note that Badian (1952) believed a formal treaty existed. One example that suggests otherwise is the
Roman response to Spartas secession from the League in 189/8 BCE. Even though Sparta apparently
surrendered herself to Rome (cf. Livy 38.32, even using the term deditio), the consul Fulvius merely
suggested that Sparta and the League seek counsel from the Senate; the Senate then voted that no change be
made in Spartas circumstances (a recommendation interpreted in vastly different ways by both parties).
The position here (with Gruen [1984] and Dmitriev [2011: 441] contra Harris [1979] and Derow [2003])
is that Rome evidently did not wish to intervene in League affairs, and felt that it was not within the res
publicas international legal rights to do so either
677 On these types of diplomatic missions, see above pp. 200ff.
678 E.g. letter from M. Lepidus (cos. 187 BCE), expressing distaste for the Leagues massacre at
Compasium in 188 (cf. Polyb. 22.3.3); Achaian disregard for Q. Metellus demands (186/5 BCE) that a
League assembly be called to negotiate troubles with Sparta, since he had no mandate (Polyb. 22.10.4-13);
the same disregard for legate Q. Marcius Philippus recommendations (183 BCE) that the League consult
with Rome before taking military action against Messenian secession (cf. Polyb. 24.9.12-3); followed by
requests to the Senate for Roman aid against the Messenians, once this action was already underway

298

(when it was conducted by leaders Polybius considered disastrously demagogic) it was

also a practice attempted by Polybius himself, in his past career as a prominent Achaian
diplomat, and in his writing of the Histories. This latter attempt, however, came with a
new agenda namely, to instruct other statesmen in the ways of conducting such
maneuvers with honor, integrity, and in the best interests of ones home state.
Unfortunately, Polybius text in large part does not survive for the following
events in Greece, for the years 149-146 BCE. Only the barest of outlines will be followed
here, tracing events based on what pieces remain of Polybius and from what is otherwise
known of contemporary diplomatic practice/precedent.679 Polybius narrative picks up
(Book 38) with reference to two successive Roman envoys sent to meet with the
Achaians and discuss internal conflict within the League. Our later sources refer to a
series of earlier missions, that in their basic elements, clearly followed the same old,
decades-long pattern: Sparta (and some other poleis) had attempted to secede, sometime
in 149-8 BCE concurrent with the Andriscus revolt and the League had moved to
enforce its membership. Metellus, the praetor then in command in Macedonia, was said
to have sent a message as with earlier letters of rebuke advising the Achaians to

(Polyb. 23.9.12); later offers (though very delayed ones) of Achaian aid to Rome in the fight against
Perseus, 169 BCE (cf. Polyb. 28.12).
679 The main continuous account of events in Macedon and Greece for these years comes from Pausanias,.
The other key sources are the Epitome of Livy, Justin (epitome of Pompeius Trogus), and Zonaras. Modern
scholarship has had a tendency to take these accounts at face value, rather than leave gaps in the story,
inserting their details to create a continued historical narrative of the Achaian War. As a counteracting
measure, these details will be avoided as much as possible here they have already been described at
length elsewhere cf. Fuks (1970); Gruen (1976); Bowman (1978); Wiseman (1979: 461ff.); Green (1993:
450ff.).

299

refrain from military action against Sparta until further consultation with the Senate.680
The message was ignored, as others had been in the past, and the Achaians had every
right to assume that there was no greater crisis at stake. They moved forward, our later
sources tell us, with a vote of war and attack against Sparta.681 And it was at this juncture
(judging by the sequence in later accounts) that the two legates mentioned by Polybius
were sent, in succession, to the Peloponnese.
L. Aurelius Orestes was the first and it was his encounter with the Achaians that
was to become, in later tradition, the diplomatic event most memorably and dramatically
attached to the outbreak of war with Rome.682 Orestes apparently made a lot of noise
upon his return to Rome, complaining about the rudeness and even physical abuse he
received, barely escaping with his life. Polybius remarks on the matter, stating that the
reports were exaggerated, since the Roman legate and his companions were never in
danger, but were instead being targeted consciously by the Achaians 683 Here, there
emerge glimmers of Polybius biases: on the one hand, he blames the demagoguery of
Achaian leadership in their foolhardy and self-promoting rabble rousing for actually

680

Cf. Paus. 7.13.2ff., and compare with Philippus earlier, failed attempts to discourage war between the
Achaians and Messene in 183 BCE (Polyb. 23.9-24.9).
681 Paus. 7.13.1-5; Just. 34.1.1-3.
682 Polybius refers to Orestes mission at 38.9.1-2. For the later tradition, see: Cicero, Leg.Man.11; Livy,
Per. 51b, Epit.Ox. 51.135-136; Strabo 8.381a; Vell. 1.12.1; Flor. 1.32.3; Paus. 7.14.1-3; Dio fr.72.1-2; Just.
34.1.6-9; Eutrop. 4.14.1.
683 Polyb. 38.9.1-2:
, ,
:
,
.

300

planning to disgrace a Roman legate. On the other, he hints at the less than honorable
conduct of Orestes in overreacting, and even misrepresenting events.
Polybius next statement is even more interesting: that the Senate was vexed not
so much at the alleged violence, but at the underlying effect of the interaction in general,
the gesture of disrespect it represented, and the level of civil unrest it indicated.684 And he
notes that this displeasure was more than it had been before, thereby supporting his own
case that the whole debacle was one brought about by the sheer lunacy of Achaian
leadership in its handling of diplomacy with Rome. In the context of the revolt of PseudoPhilip to the north, Rome was more likely to take note, especially since the politics of the
southern Greek states had long been cross-associated by the Romans with those of
Macedon. Roman envoys had made a practice of visiting the southern Greek states in
order to gather political and even military support when conflicts with Macedon loomed.
And in post-war arrangements as in 196 BCE Roman commanders had considered
and adjudicated territorial matters for the Peloponnese and Macedon at the same time, as
a single diplomatic mission. Therefore, in 148-7, the stirrings of trouble within the
League, when accompanied by signs of disrespect for Rome, caught the Senates eye
more than before. For no matter the details, the overall picture was that Romes hands
were full in Carthage and Spain, and that southern Greece could erupt in conflict.
For these reasons, the second envoy sent by the Senate was one of reconciliation,
intended to smooth over tensions in the Peloponnese, at least while Metellus was still

684

Polyb. 38.9.3:

301

occupied in Macedon.685 There was certainly no Roman war-vote, no res repetere

instead, the legate, Sextus Iulius Caesar, was provided with instructions to mildly
censure the League (as earlier in 187).686 From Polybius description, Caesar was told to
explain that Orestes had either made an error and/or had been misunderstood in making
his earlier announcement to the League.687 The subject at issue was evidently that the
Achaians had interpreted Orestes as ordering a disbandment of the League something
that the Senate now denied as ever being its true intention. Instead, as Polybius states, the
Senate now reassured the Achaians that it did not wish to dissolve the League, but to
alarm [them] and to deter them from acting in a presumptuous and hostile manner.688
Stripping away Polybius interpretation that the Senate had been deceptively
seeking to scold or cow the wayward Achaians into good behavior (which fits with his
less positive views on more recent Roman approaches to international governance), there
is a core of diplomatic meaning. For the Senate had earlier made a very similar statement
regarding the departure of some cities from the League, in the context of the complete
failure of their attempted three-man commission to adjudicate disputes, in 183 BCE.689 At
that juncture, the Senate had responded, first to Spartan envoys bringing renewed
685

Cf. Polyb. 38.9.3-8. The year, based on reconstructions from the ancient sources, was 147 BCE.
Orestes mission was either in 148, or and scholars generally agree earlier in 147, when Metellus was
wrapping up his work of pacifying Macedon. The timing of this work is based upon a final victory over
Andriscus toward the end of 148, determined by the beginning date of the Macedonian Era and
confirmed by Livy and Obsequens. If Zonaras is to be believed, there was even a second uprising by an
Alexander after the capture of Andriscus, sometime in 147 BCE. See Morgan (1969); Gruen (1984: 4325). On the Macedonian Era, see Tod (1918/9; 1953); Theodossiou and Mantarakis (2006: 353);
Vanderspoel (2010: 252).
686 Polyb. 38.9.4: . For the parallel with 187 BCE, see above p. 298.
687 Polybius description of Caesars mission is at 38.9.9-11.11.
688 Polyb. 38.9.6: ,
[] .
689 See above pp. 298/300.

302

complaints that it had done all it could for the city; and then to Achaian envoys bringing
protests against secessionist movements that it did not care if Sparta, Corinth, or Argos
left the League.690 In other words, the Senate, in sending Orestes, had wished to wash its
hands of the perennial Achaian problems as it had in 183. And as the political body
forever plagued with complaints and disputes back and forth between members of the
League, the Senate (if it ever were to become an approved third-party arbiter) could
indeed make the judicial decision that some cities especially some of the newer
members should leave the League peacefully. Of course no Achaian strategos alive
would ever agree to such a decision. And so the very suggestion that cities secede
however Orestes phrased it would have brought strong reactions and an easy political
leverage point for such as Critolaus.
Achaian leadership had always been one of competing interests and at times,
bitter rivalries. In 147-6, Polybius depicts the rivalry in a dichotomous manner, as
separating the populist Critolaus (followed by his successor as strategos, Diaeus) and a
wiser minority, the latter sending an envoy to apologize for Orestes treatment, meeting
with Caesar on the road, and joining him in an attempt to call a summit in Tenea for
negotiations.691 All the same, Caesar ultimately returned to Rome with bad news.
Polybius sets up the situation as one molded by the rabble-rousing Critolaus, who is
portrayed as sabotaging an opportunity for peace by simply not showing up, announcing
that the issues would be discussed at the next meeting of the League assembly in another

690
691

Response to the Spartans: Polyb. 23.9.11; and to the Achaians: 23.9.13.

Polyb. 38.10.

303

six months.692 The same lack of regard for a Roman representatives call to meet,
followed by independent action taken against Sparta, had happened before.693 And in
those instances, no further action other than diplomatic missives had come from the
Roman Senate. Rather than itching for a direct war against Rome or even worse, madly
seeking the self-destruction of his own state (as Polybius bitterly asserts) Critolaus was
simply following a standard, pride-in-autonomy and popular, nationalist procedure as his
predecessors. What was different this time was that Roman diplomatic perspective on the
region had shifted, by virtue of events in Macedonia. Of this last shift, Critolaus may
have been caught unaware.
After Caesars return, and upon follow-up news coming in waves from Metellus,
toward the end of 147, the Senate ultimately decided upon a bellum Achaicum, since one
of the consuls for the following year, Lucius Mummius, was assigned to Achaia.
Unfortunately, none of our surviving sources give us the details of the decision,
especially from the angle of the Roman Senate. Some clues, however, remain. Polybius
does reveal that while Caesar made his way back to Rome, Metellus, upon hearing what
had happened to the missions of Orestes and Caesar, sent four legates to the Peloponnese.
Metellus in the meantime remained in the north, evidently policing post-war Macedon

692

Polyb. 38.11.
E.g., disregard for Q. Metellus demands (186/5 BCE) that a League assembly be called to negotiate
troubles with Sparta, since he had no mandate (Polyb. 22.10.4-13); the same disregard for legate Q.
Marcius Philippus recommendations (183 BCE) that the League consult with Rome before taking military
action against Messenian secession (cf. Polyb. 24.9.12-3). See also above p. 298/300. Note that while the
Senate had sent Orestes and later Caesar explicitly to the Achaian League as their main diplomatic mission,
the other, earlier examples involved messengers stopping by on their way to another diplomatic task, or
letters and/or recommendations coming from Roman commanders, their communiqus with the League
only indirectly mandated by the Senate.
693

304

and working on preliminary judicial arrangements there. The legates arrived at a meeting
of the League assembly in Corinth presumably the one that Critolaus had earlier
mentioned to Caesar. According to Polybius, Metellus legates spoke in the same
conciliatory tones, urging the Achaians to refrain from hostile action and to seek
diplomatic negotiation.694 But these words had been heard before and they had never
led to negative repercussions. And so Polybius describes the quiet voices of the elders
pressing for peace as being drowned out by the ravings of Critolaus and his followers.
The demagogue managed to whip the crowd of workmen and lowly types (
) into a frenzy, their noise and near
stampede driving the legates out of the meeting, their anger turned against the elders as
suspected pro-Roman traitors.695 The mob-chaos whose rabidness, according to
Polybius, was at its worst in Corinth696 led to a formal vote for war on Sparta (again, as
had happened before in the past).697 Yet in addition, the assembly voted to grant absolute
wartime power to the strategia698 a measure perhaps put forward to forestall the work
of potential traitors (who also happened to be Critolaus political opponents), but also a
vote of confidence selecting Critolaus as new Achaian champion.
Polybius was utterly disgusted. His attitude is evident simply in the colorful
adjectives he finds to describe the mele even though he was in North Africa at the
time. Resentfully, he closes his account of Peloponnesian events for the year (147) with a
694

Polyb. 38.12.1-3.
Polyb. 38.12.4-13.5.
696 Polyb. 38.12.5.
697 Polyb. 38.13.6.
698 Polyb. 38.13.7.
695

305

dark accusation. Critolaus had one more trick up his sleeve. For the newly minted
dictator was apparently intending to send Achaian troops against the Romans, not just
the Spartans.699 And as Critolaus was plotting, the four Roman legates had apparently
stationed themselves in waiting: one at Sparta, one at Naupactus, and two at Athens to
await the arrival of Metellus.700 In these last statements, Polybius has left us with blame
resting squarely on the shoulders of Critolaus, and hints of what was to become the
beginning of war with Rome. For this time, as Achaian troops gathered to enforce the
membership of the League (as it had in the past), a Roman presence this time stayed in
the Peloponnese, presumably at some point later being joined by the commander
Metellus himself. Achaian forces may or may not have sought out these Romans
Polybius certainly seems to believe they did and they may or may not have even known
where the legates had gone after leaving Corinth.
Yet no matter what, direct violence must have ultimately come to involve Roman
officers/troops, leading to an immediate state of war. And it is perhaps for this reason that
no extended, senatorial war-debate became part of the historical tradition of the Achaian
War, as it so prominently did for the Third Punic War, which had been more a matter of
international law than of direct aggression against Roman troops. In the end, then,
Mummius obtained a provincia to settle what was evidently a straightforward injustice to
the res publica: outright defiance and attacks that had somehow involved a Roman trooppresence. Who attacked whom cannot be determined from the sources though Roman

699
700

Polyb. 38.13.8.
Polyb. 38.13.9.

306

ethics would suggest that the legates and/or Metellus would have simply waited for the
slightest aggression from the Achaians before fully deploying. In this sense, the Achaians
would have simply marched into a war with Rome.

COLLOCATED DESTRUCTIONS
After a suspenseful ending to his account of 147 BCE, Polybius text for the
following year is lost, leaving only the scattered narratives of later sources. From these,
there is reference first to an Achaian campaign (most likely over the winter) against
Heracleia, another city seeking to withdraw from the League.701 This is followed by
reports of military engagements between Metellus and various Greek troops, beginning
with Achaians under Critolaus,702 followed by Arcadians attempting to reinforce
Critolaus,703 and ending with occupation of a number of Peloponnesian cities.704
Pausanias account is somewhat anti-Metellus in its tone, portraying the commander as
aggressively seeking out the Greek forces, slaughtering them and burning down
sanctuaries,705 and as such, it could reflect a pro-Mummius Roman tradition in what must
have been sharp competition between the commanders over credit for victory (and access
to a triumph) over Achaia.706

701

Paus. 7.15.2-3, 15.9-10; Zonar. 9.31b.

= battle at Scarpheia in Locris: cf. Livy, Per. 52a; Vell. 1.11.2; Flor. 1.32.3-4; Paus. 7.15.4, 15.8-9;
Vict. Vir.Ill. 60.2, 61.2; Oros. 5.3.2-3; Zonar. 9.31b-c.
703 = battle at Chaeronea: cf. Paus. 7.15.5-6, 15.8; Vict. Vir.Ill. 61.2; Oros. 5.3.3.
704 = Thebes and Megara: cf. Polyb. 38.16.10; Livy, Per. 52a; Paus. 7.15.9-10.
705 Cf. Paus. 7.15.4-6, 15.10.
706 Similar competition also seems to have taken place between Mancinus and Scipio over Carthage
Mancinus claiming to be the first to enter the city in 147 (cf. Livy, Per. 51a; Flor. 1.31.10-12), even
supposedly having his supporters give public lectures in Rome, using maps to showcase the attack (cf.
Pliny, H.N. 35.23); Scipio in the meantime claiming that Mancinus actually needed saving from disaster
702

307

According to a later citation (in Orosius 5.3), Polybius only mentioned one battle
prior to Mummius arrival in Greece the one between Critolaus and Metellus at
Scarpheia, which resulted in Critolaus death. At this juncture, Polybius also apparently
drew another parallel between events in North Africa and those in Achaia, noting that at
the time, he was still with Scipio at Carthage. At the beginning of the campaign season of
146, Scipio was preparing his final assault on the city, having at the end of the previous
year succeeded in taking the outer quay of Carthages harbors and having captured
Nepheris, the major town on the outskirts, connecting Carthage to its supply route to the
hinterland.707 To a great extent, then, as both Scipio and Mummius prepared for the
campaigns of 146, both would have anticipated being on the verge of a potential great
victory and triumph, for themselves and for Rome.708
Polybius narrative of Achaian events resumes with Diaeus replacing the deceased
Critolaus as strategos, mustering the Achaian forces, collecting emergency funds
(including even womens jewelry), and resorting to the emancipation of slaves in order to
have the greatest number regroup and gather at Corinth.709 In the meantime, Polybius
describes panic and civil chaos spreading like wildfire across all the cities of the
Peloponnese, as citizens fled their homes, evacuated urban areas, began informing against
upon entering the city, with retreat from what amounted to a raid into Megalia = Megara becoming
necessary (cf. App. Pun. 113a-114d; Zonar. 9.29b-e).
707 Capture of the outer quay at Carthage: Polyb. 38.19.1; App. Pun. 124a-125b; occupation of Nepheris:
Livy, Per. 51a; App. Pun. 126a-e; Zonar. 9.30b-c. Appian describes the significance of Nepheris a site
for which the exact location is not yet known.
708 Note: whether or not Scipio and Mummius knew of each others campaigns while they were in the field
cannot be known with certainty the sources simply do not provide clues on this. What is clear is that the
two destructions Carthage, followed by Corinth were immediately paired, as a contrasting duo, when
news of the Roman victories spread across the Mediterranean. See below
709 Polyb. 38.15.1-11.

308

their own friends, accusing them of treason and support of Rome, while others committed
suicide or turned themselves in, hoping for mercy and usually not receiving it.710 This
was Thucydidean-style stasis at its very worst a literal implosion of the Peloponnese.
Envoys, led by a certain Andronidas, at this point were said to have returned from
negotiating a preliminary settlement with Metellus what the terms were is not disclosed.
Polybius simply describes the frenzied insanity with which Diaeus and his party accused
Andronidas and his fellow envoys of treason, arresting, torturing, and then executing
them.711 Polybius bitterly quotes a proverb that he says was on the lips of all at the time
of this horrible travesty: Had we not perished so soon, we would never have been
saved."712 By some twisted design, Tyche had found the only way out for the
unsalvageable League to have it defeated as quickly as possible so as to avoid further
suffering at the hands of such utter internal collapse and its concomitant madness.713
And indeed, in a fragment placed at the introduction to Book 38, Polybius
discusses the tragedy of Greece in 146 in comparison to that of Carthage, as well as in
terms of the whole history of major (Hellenic) tragic events, from the invasion of Xerxes
to Alexanders destruction of Thebes and Chalcis.714 He does so in terms of
versus : the former defined as utter disaster, involving hardship combined

710

Polyb. 38.16.1-10.
Polyb. 38.17.1-18.6.
712 Polyb. 38.18.12: ,
, .
713 Polyb. 38.18.7-11.
714 Polyb. 38.1.1-2.14.
711

309

with shame, and the latter as calamity, involving hardship but with the honor of the
victim intact. He thus observes that,

,
.
,
.

,
.
The ruin of Carthage is indeed considered to have been the greatest of sufferings,
but when we come to think of it, the fate of Greece was no less terrible, and in
some ways, even more so. For the Carthaginians at least left to posterity some
ground, however slight, for defending their cause, but the Greeks gave no
plausible pretext to anyone who wished to support them and acquit them of error.
And again, the Carthaginians, having been utterly exterminated by the calamities
which overtook them, were for the future insensible of their sufferings, but the
Greeks, continuing to witness their disaster, handed on from father to son the
memory of their misfortune.715
Polybius then recounts a series of calamities in Greek history, none of which amount to
the degree of shame and thus, utter disaster encountered by the Achaian League:716
1.

Xerxes invasion: the Greek world suffered greatly, and Athens did in particular,
but in the process, won pan-Hellenic glory and authority like never before;

2.

the Peloponnesian wars: Athens was defeated and forced to tear down her walls,
but shame came to Sparta, the victor, which made such oppressive use of the
victory;

715
716

Polyb. 38.1.4-6.
Polyb. 38.2.1-3.7.

310

3.

the Theban war: Sparta was defeated, yet maintained a modicum of respect by
giving up her wider hegemony and withdrawing to her ancestral lands (Polybius
anti-Spartan bias is very evident here!);

4.

Alexanders destruction of Thebes: Thebes was greatly pitied as a result of the

cruelty that Alexander showed the city. Here, there is at first a seeming parallel
with Carthage. Yet Polybius goes on to explain that the Thebans were soon able
to return and restore their city to life; and,

5.

the fetters of Greece Demetrias, Chalcis, and Corinth: three cities were forced
to submit to Macedonian garrisons, but all the same, they continued honorably to
strive for full autonomy, eventually winning it back.
Carthage, then, was fitted into this pan-Hellenic historical scheme as a city

suffering the ultimate calamity an ill-starred fate, brought about by a combination of

poor decision-making, a certain degree of internal decay, and naivet regarding Roman
diplomatic practice (as Polybius had outlined earlier).717 Yet, there is an indication that
there was also a tragically redeeming quality to Carthages catastrophe (at least from a
third-party perspective) a sense that total annihilation was somehow better than being
left pathetically looking at the broken pieces. And why Polybius comes to this conclusion
besides his own citizenship, of course, as an Achaian (more on his opinions regarding
Corinth, below) can perhaps be clarified by the surviving account of the final laststand of Carthage.

717

See above pp. 156ff.

311

Appian, whose narrative of the Third Punic War tends to match Polybius at
points where the latter survives, tells the story.718 And it is one of the most dramatic
scenes of urban warfare and horribly graphic depictions of a citizenry fighting to the
very last for their city, after three years of siege: from the struggle over the harbors and
agora in the lower town, to the weeklong street-by-street battle over Byrsa, in the new
residential district of high-rise insulae. Romans and civilians were described fighting
hand-to-hand, across rooftops and as the buildings started to burn and be torn down
the living and the dead and the rubble were swept up together into pits to clear the way
for the Roman army. And at the top of the citadel was the Temple of Asclepius (Punic
Eshmoun), where the suffete Hasdrubal hid with his family. Here, at least part of
Polybius account survives, as one final testament to the stark contrast between the
extreme bravery of the Carthaginian people (and hence their lack of shame in the annals
of history, according to Polybius paradigm), and the tragic disappointment of their
ineffectual leadership (the main cause of Carthages end, in Polybius opinion).
Later sources amplify the drama of these last moments - Hasdrubals pathetic
begging, his wifes scorn, and her epic/heroic-style suicide alongside their two children
on a fiery pyre Hasdrubal also killed as the blaze consumed the temple.719 What
remains in Polybius, however, is a note on the whims and vicissitudes of Tyche,
references to an earlier, abortive attempt by Hasdrubal to negotiate a last-minute peace
agreement with Scipio, and a description of Hasdrubals proud, noble wife seeking death
718

App. Pun. 127-130.

Diod. 32.23.1, 24.1; Livy, Per. 51c, Epit.Ox. 51.139-142; Strabo 17.832d; Val.Max. 3.2e8; Flor.
1.31.16-17; App. Pun. 130b-132c; Oros. 4.23.4; Zonar. 9.30d-e.
719

312

rather than dishonor and capture in defeat.720 Here was an account of a citys tragic death
worthy of Greek theater, ending in an all-consumptive inferno reminiscent of an offering
to the gods the goddess Tyche in particular, who now ushered in an undisputed age for
Rome.
By contrast, the death of Corinth was for Polybius the ultimate fiasco the
example par excellence of the sort of self-inflicted destructions of politeiai that had swept
the entire Greek mainland, including the Peloponnesians, Boeotians, Phocians,
Euboeans, Locrians, some of the cities on the Ionian Gulf, and finally the
Macedonians.721 And what made events so reprehensible and pitiful at Corinth was that
the Achaians there had not even attempted to make a heroic last-stand. Mummius, upon
arriving in Greece, had dismissed Metellus, and then defeated the rag-tag Achaian forces
on the Isthmus.722 From later sources, we then learn that the Achaians had fled, without
regrouping at Corinth and thus leaving the Achaian center abandoned. Mummius waited
a few days, wondering whether he would receive any opposition, and when he did not, he
simply marched into Corinth, in a very anti-climactic manner, without a real siege or
fight for the city. The victory hardly ended in an epic maelstrom.
Yet Polybius goes to some effort to emphasize that this second Roman conquest
was more lamentable than the first, possibly because Corinth was being discussed in
international circles as a contrast to the grand-scale ruin of Carthage for which a widely
720

Polyb. 38.20.1-22.3.
Polyb. 38.3.8.
722 Polyb. 39.8.6; Livy, Per. 52a; Flor. 1.32.5; Paus. 7.16.3; Just. 34.1.2-5; Vict. Vir.Ill. 60.2; Oros. 5.3.3;
Zonar. 9.31d-e. On Diaeus suicide after this battle, see Livy, Epit.Ox. 51.145-146; Paus. 7.16.4-6; Vict.
Vir.Ill. 60.2; Zonar. 9.31e.
721

313

discussed war-debate had also been circulated three years earlier. In addition, many
Greeks in Polybius readership would have had, and felt, a very real connection to the
political and cultural undoing of Corinth.723 Polybius statement, then, adds up: what was
the worst factor in the Achaian disaster was that future generations were left with a
continued memento of their past errors, of what they themselves had done to fragment the
Peloponnese.
That this was the situation has only become clearer as more archaeological
evidence has come to light at Corinth. For to summarize: the sack of Corinth simply
does not show up in the same physical terms that contemporary authors (Polybius
included) would have us think (see below). This reality reveals the degree to which the
destruction of Corinth was enhanced by ancient contemporary modes of thinking in terms
of synchronicity in world history and an urbs capta motif in historiography (more on this
below). Polybius thus built upon a scheme already in place, arguing that Corinth was not
simply a lesser part II to Carthages fiery death, but was a tragedy of even greater
significance. Such a tragedy even more than the one at Carthage was, in Polybius
formulation, a starker lesson in shame, which revealed a showcase of everything not to do
when faced by a greater international power like that of Rome,
Archaeologists at Corinth, influenced by such heightened traditions of 146, thus
worked on the original assumption that the city had been burned and destroyed. The
expected destruction layers which had shown up in massive amounts, even several

723

On the post-war re-organization of Greece a subject of debate that requires further study see
Bernhardt (1977).

314

meters thick, at Carthage were few and far between. And more recently, re-analysis of
the Hellenistic pottery from Corinth has shown that many of these supposed destruction
layers are actually fills dumped down wells during the Augustan-era cleanup and refoundation of the city: they contain pottery from before and after the fall of Corinth, and
include Roman material, from the second and first centuries BCE.724 Over the years,
excavations have also confirmed that the site was still inhabited in the later second and
first centuries BCE, and that a local pottery industry continued, although public buildings
fell into disrepair.725 The only signs of physical damage that could even possibly be
connected to Mummius capture of the city are debris layers in two buildings in a hall
724

= fills in South Stoa wells see Broneer, Corinth I.iv, 100-159; Edwards, Corinth VII.iii; James (2010;
forthcoming); Sanders (forthcoming).
725 For an overview of the evidence, including pottery deposits from the so-called interim period (i.e.,
between Mummius occupation and the Roman colonial re-foundation), see Wiseman (1979, 494-496);
Gebhard & Dickie (2003: 266-270); Millis (2006). Excavations of the Panayia field, to the southeast of the
South Stoa, have revealed signs of continued occupation and local pottery industry see James (2010;
forthcoming). For more on a continued local and regional (Sikyonian) pottery, see Williams and Russell
(1981: 42-43); Pemberton, Corinth XVIII.i, 4. For a brief discussion of the prevalence of amphorae from
Knidos at interim Corinth, see Gebhard and Dickie (2003: 267). For evidence of pottery and wine imported
from Italy, see Williams and Russell (1981: 34-7). A large Latin inscription cut into the base of a 4th
century BCE monument, also indicates a Roman presence cf. Gebhard and Dickie (2003: 272-7).
Gebhard and Dickie make the case that the Latin text was translated from a Greek original. It
commemorates, in elegiac verse, the transport of a Roman fleet across the Isthmus by a Marcus Antonius
(most likely the praetor of 102 BCE) = Corinth VIII.ii, no. 1; Corinth VIII.i, no. 31; CIL 122662; ILLRP
342. Wheel-ruts that pre-date the colonial re-foundation crisscross the area once used as the Hellenistic
racetrack, just to the north of the South Stoa in the area that later became the Roman-era forum cf.
Weinberg, Corinth I.v, 4-5; Gebhard and Dickie (2003: 270). A smattering of small, poorly constructed
buildings, some using reused blocks, has been discovered around this former public area cf. Wiseman
(1979: 494); Gebhard and Dickie (2003: 269-270); Millis (2006). In the Asklepieion, wheel-ruts have also
been found running across the Lerna court and up the Asklepieion ramp, into which a water tank was
installed cf. Roebuck, Corinth XIV, 82-84. The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore has an interim-period
deposit, but is not diagnostically votive cf. Corinth XVIII.i, 4; XVIII.iii, 434; Gebhard and Dickie (2003:
266, 269). No interim period votive deposits have been found in the sanctuary of Aphrodite on Acrocorinth,
and the Archaic Temple appears to have fallen out of use cf. Gebhard and Dickie (2003: 269). An
interim-period building was constructed over the Sacred Spring cf. Williams and Fisher (1971: 22, 45);
Williams (1978: 22, n. 31). The Hellenistic theater, prior to the Augustan period, appears to have fallen into
disuse, losing its roof and superstructure, possibly to spoliation for building stone cf. Corinth II, 135. For
signs of a possible Corinthian diaspora, with individuals using the Corinthian ethnic on late second and first
century BCE grave monuments in Athens, Egypt, and on Delos, see Millis (forthcoming) cited by James
(forthcoming).

315

identified as the Strategeion,726 and in the North Stoa, which had presumably contained a
military store of sling bullets and large stone catapult balls727 and the removal of the
South Stoa monuments.728
Excavations at Carthage, by contrast, have revealed some frightening signs of the
horrors that took place there in 146 especially on Byrsa. There, in a layer some 2-3
meters thick, the residential district was covered in a destruction layer consisting of
burned domestic items (pottery, figurines, cookware) and bones (both animal and
human), mixed with rubble.729 Even more disturbing was a discovery made in the
southwest corner of the hill. There, late nineteenth-century excavations came across an
unlined burial pit, covering earlier Punic tombs and filled with several hundred skeletons,
carefully aligned and stacked, about four to five skulls deep in two end-to-end rows.730 In
two other locations, there are thinner burn-layers: in the ruined remains of a small, Late
Punic house on the lower southern slopes of Byrsa, which had held a large number of
transport amphora;731 and in the military harbor, prior to its reconstruction in the Roman
period.732 And across the entire city, all sites that had been occupied during the Late
Punic period from Byrsa to Quartier Magon and Bir Massouda were covered in a

726

As the so-called Columned Hall to the west of the South Stoa has been identified, on the basis of two
inscribed marble counting tables/abaci found at the site, reading DIOS BOULEOS DAMOSIA
KO/RINYIVN and STRATA[GION]: cf. Williams (1978: 56).
727 Scranton, Corinth I.iii, 175.
728 Broneer, Corinth I.iv, 100.
729 Cf. Byrsa I-II esp. II, pp. 15-18, with an overview of the areas stratigraphy.
730 This fosse commune was excavated by Delattre in 1890, and it does not conform to any other
example of Punic burial. See Delattre (1891; 1893: 114-118; 1896: 77-80); Lancel (1988: 85-6) and
Byrsa I, p. 21, no.s 20-22; Soren et al. (1990).
731 = Tunisian rescue excavations, Rue Astart: Cedac 3, p. 29; Chelbi 1984, BAC 17B, p. 21-33.
732 Hurst (1979: 27-8).

316

substantial layer that has been dubbed the RBPS (Rmisch bewegte punische
Schichten).733 As a recognizable layer from site to site, it represents a massive project of
cleanup and re-leveling completed during the Augustan period in some ways, a redestruction prior to colonial re-foundation of the city. For the RBPS, dated by the
presence of the occasional Augustan-period amphora handle, contains a dense mix of
Late Punic domestic material (coarse and fine wares, amphorae, figurines, beads, bones,
etc.) dumped and spread out to create a new level for the Roman city.734
As at Corinth, then, a major part of re-founding Carthage consisted of a cleanup
operation, mostly of material not otherwise indicative of violent disturbance. At
Carthage, however, the sheer amount of material gathered was on a much larger scale a
testament to widespread violence, which if nothing else left so much domestic material
available for terrace-works and leveling. And although no work has yet been done to
study whether any of the RBPS contains interim period material (for the moment, none
has been identified), the strongest impression is that Carthage, unlike Corinth,
experienced extensive destruction and abandonment.735

733

See also above p. 233.

Rue Ibn Chabat excavations (adjacent to Quartier Magon), where an unburied skeleton a possible
casualty of war was also found: Cedac 1, p. 6; Rakob (1990: 41) and 1997, Cedac 16-7, p. 15 and 53; Bir
Massouda: Bechtold (2010). On Byrsa, the original destruction layer was covered by sequential layers of
mixed sand and gravel, followed by the RBPS, as part of an immense re-terracing of the hill: cf. Byrsa II,
p.15-18.
735 Note: in the Salammbo area, to the west of the commercial harbor, two Late Punic sites do not show
signs of re-occupation until the late Roman period! = a home excavated to the south of Salammbo, overlain
by a Byzantine level (Cedac 3, p. 17); and Cartons Chapel, a Punic-era sanctuary near the Salammbo
rail-station, followed by a late Roman cemetery (Cedac 8, p. 13; Carton, 1929. Un sanctuaire punique
dcouverte Carthage).
734

317

As discussed by Polybius, then, the destruction wrought at Corinth was of a

different nature than at Carthage, traumatic in another sense. At Corinth, the wounds
were political and ideological, with less of the physical force inflicted at Carthage.
According to later sources, Mummius, in the wake of his victory, called an assembly of
the Achaian League and announced all of its cities to be free with the marked exception
of Corinth, whose current inhabitants were to be sold in slavery, whose walls and public
monuments were to be demolished, and whose control over the pan-Hellenic Isthmian
Games were to be transferred to the Sicyonians.736 In this context, Polybius discussion of
his involvement in post-war arrangements in Greece gains added meaning. He rather
proudly records his key role in saving and restoring statues of Philopoemen to cities
across the Peloponnese.737 It was thus the civic and cultural heritage that was at stake in
Corinth in particular, as a showcase to the rest of the Greek world, over and above the
physical toll. It is for this reason, then, that the only archaeological evidence for
destruction at Corinth involves the carting away of public statues and the abandonment
of former civic buildings. And indeed, later historical tradition tells of Corinthiaka a
flooding of the art-market and of Italy in particular with Corinthian bronze statuary and
fine vases.738 Polybius apparently even told of Roman soldiers playing cards over up-

736

Cf. Cic. Leg. Agr. 1.2.5; 2.51; Paus. 2.2.2. This proclamation of Greek freedom was clearly intended as
a parallel with that of Flamininus. Note that Mummius received thanksgiving honors from a number of
Peloponnesian cities, again in a manner comparable with Flamininus (as well as Paullus) see below pp.
96ff.
737 Given this account, it is perhaps interesting to note that excavators at Corinth discovered a trophy
statue-base set up in the vicinity of the Strategeion, around the time it was destroyed? cf. Williams (1978:
56-8).
738 Livy, Per. 52a-b, Strabo 8.381b, Plin. H.N. 34.7, Flor. 1.32.6-7, Vict. Vir.Ill. 60.3; Oros. 5.3.6-7.

318

ended great-master paintings set up as tables739 a different, yet still meaningful violence
done to the city, now cheapened and stripped of its cultural heritage a key feature in the
pride of place for Hellenistic poleis on an international level.
To go along with this, Corinths very status as a polis was removed, leaving it at
most to exist as a mere village, its lands becoming ager publicus the public property of
Rome.740 In this latter, and significant punishment upon the defeated, there is a strong and
deliberate parallel being made, evidently by order and decree of the Senate, between
Corinth and Carthage, since Carthage too was decommissioned as a city and made into
ager publicus.741 Here, then, was a meaningful new precedent in Roman imperial
expansion, beyond Italy and Sicily at least one that was being extended into territories
that had not been former holdings of another state (as Sicily had once been to Carthage),
or the private estates of a king (as in the lands of King Hiero of Syracuse), but fully
autonomous, long-standing poleis of the Hellenistic international system.742 It was a

739

Polyb. 39.2 fragment as cited by Strabo VIII.6.28.

Cf. Lex Agraria of 111 BCE = CIL I.585. One clause in particular indicates that Carthage was no longer
considered a polis at this time: extraque eum agrum locum ubei oppodum Char[tago] fuit. This issue then
raises the question of a curse being laid on Carthage (and later, Corinth). There is no contemporary
evidence to support this. However, it is not out of the question that Scipio would have engaged in some sort
of formal, ritual process to un-found the city, if it was to cease to exist and to subsequently become ager
publicus. The late Roman author Macrobius records just such a formula, indicating that it was spoken both
at Carthage and at Corinth cf. Sat. 3.9.10-11. An imperial inscription found at Carthage does claim to be a
copy of Scipios original dedication of the site (consecratio) to Lord Baal see CRAI 1966. For other
Roman-period descriptions of Carthages consecratio, see Cicero, Leg.Agr. 1.5, 2.51; and App. Lib. 135.
For the act of plowing as a reversal of the Roman act of city foundation, see Modestinus Dig. 7.4.21; and
Pliny, HN 26.19. Florus adds an odd detail, stating that a trumpet was played at the destruction (1.33.5)
though this could simply be a confusion between ritual and military signaling.
741 Lex Agraria of 111 BCE, CIL I.585; see also Cicero, Leg.Agr. 1.5, 2.51 (land for sale in Rullus landlist, 64-3 BCE); cf. Lintott (1992).
742 On ager publicus in Sicily (Syracuse in particular), see Eckstein (1987: 164-5), contra Holm (1898),
who argues that all of Syracuse not just the Hieronic estates became ager publicus. See also Frank
(1927); Pritchard (1975), with further discussion.
740

319

significant move indeed, and one that would have driven home a much more permanent
presence for Roman hegemony, and like never before, on a pan-Mediterranean level.

146 BCE & HISTORY: CYCLES OF WORLD EMPIRE

After 146, Polybius thus chose to extend his monumental Histories to a second
endpoint a point at which the entire Hellenistic oikoumen had been pulled in a new
direction. It was not so much a question of Rome as dominant power, however this had
already been established with some degree of international recognition after Pydna
(Polybius original endpoint).743 It was much more a question of how Rome was to be
characterized as world hegemon, with what outlook and how lesser states were to
respond.744 And in a pairing of rousing finality the very sort of imperial moment that
had been awaited (with mixed feelings and expectations, certainly), the events of 146
presented a juncture for debate. The end of Polybius Histories, then, brought a unique
hinging-point. For it was at once a product of contemporary Zeitgeist, a conscious
743

Cf. Polyb. 1.1.5-6, 1.3.1, also 6.2.3 (53 years for Rome to subject the oikoumen; starting from the
140th Olympiad, 220 BCE), 3.1ff. (starting points of the Histories proper excluding introductory historical
overviews in Books 1 and 2 are set as the Social War, Hannibalic War, and the war for Coele-Syria, in
the 140th Olympiad; endpoint to be in the destruction of the Macedonian monarchy, with an intervening
space of 53yrs = 220 167 BCE). In the meantime, in the wake of Pydna, other forms of Hellenic
literature, from the laudatory and myth-historic to the apocalyptic, had also shifted their focus to Rome as
imperial arch see above, pp. 108ff.
744 This is clear from Polybius explanation of the extension (3.4.1ff.): Now if from their success or failure
alone we could form an adequate judgment of how far states and individuals are worthy of praise or blame,
I could here lay down my pen, bringing my narrative and this whole work to a close with the lastmentioned events [= destruction of the Macedonian monarchy], as was my original intention. For the
period of fifty-three years finished here, and the growth and advance of Roman power was now complete
But since judgments regarding either the conquerors or the conquered based purely on performance are by
no means final what is thought to be the greatest success having brought the greatest calamities on
many, if they do not make proper use of it, and the most dreadful catastrophes often turning out to the
advantage of those who support them bravely I must append to the history of the above period an
account of the subsequent policy of the conquerors and their method of universal rule, as well as of the
various opinions and appreciations of their rulers entertained by the subjects

320

looking-back to a longue dure of world history, and a creation of an entirely new

reference position with which to consider the future. As a conclusion to this study,
therefore, we will consider the fulcrum-point of 146. On the one hand, we will do so in
terms of ancient historiographical thought, regarding synchronisms, universal world
history and its imperial cycles, and the fall of cities (with Troy as the paradigm). On the
other, we will do so with an eye to how second-century principles affected future
perspectives, together enshrining 146 as a moment with which to draw a line, to interpret
Rome as an imperial power and to posit possible beginnings for its change.
As was discussed earlier, the contemporary second-century BCE international
community was already primed to experience a major set of events on a panMediterranean level. Since Pydna, a wider international discourse had gained momentum
one that viewed Rome as a new power in the oikoumen, and as a state with a unique
position vis vis Hellenism. At the same time, such Hellenism itself was finding new
definitions and was increasingly becoming involved in an interlinking of diverse political
and cultural arenas (characterized by Polybius as a symplok).745 In such a self-conscious
age, long-standing historiographical traditions especially those involving the nature of
universal history and its chronology gained added meaning and scope. Greek
historians had long held an interest in synchronicity and the linking of events across time
and geographic/political space sometimes over great distances, and tracing back to the
realms of mythic and legendary pasts. Doing so allowed these authors to bring together
an otherwise incomprehensible mix of local histories and regional calendars and
745

See above pp. 65ff.

321

thereby build interpretative frameworks for a broader scale and set of destinies across an
expanding Hellenic world.746
The synchronistic tradition can be detected as early as Herodotus, for whom there
existed a neat and compelling symmetry between pan-Hellenic battles fought against
barbarian threats, on land and on sea: Salamis and Himera, Thermopylai and Artemision,
Plataiai and Mykale.747 The tradition continued and was made into a Hellenistic science
by the late third century BCE. Eratosthenes, in an approach analogous to his system for
measuring the circumference of the earth, devised a framework for measuring world
history one that became a standard for later historians and even today continues to
anchor ancient events to modern BCE/CE. In his Chronographiae, Eratosthenes used
Olympiads to align across various Hellenic systems (archonships, kingships, vastly
different calendric systems), pulling together the whole trajectory of the Greek
oikoumen, from the fall of Troy to the death of Alexander.748
It was just this sort of systematic synchronography (to coin a phrase) that
Timaeus applied to his history of Sicily and the western Mediterranean a history that,
despite Polybius abuses, had been motivated by an ambitious and telling, if not
groundbreaking vision. For it represents the earliest known attempt to integrate the
histories of the western and eastern Greeks with those of Rome and Carthage, utilizing
the then latest systems of historical timekeeping (from Olympiads to Argive priestesses,
746

For much more detail and an excellent discussion on synchronism, the construction of Greek
histories, and the integration of Rome into these systems, see Feeney (2008).
747 Salamis and Himera (Hdt. 7.166); Thermopylai and Artemision (Hdt. 8.15); Plataiai and Mykale (Hdt.
9.90, 100ff.).
748 Cf. FGrH F241; Fraser (1971); Feeney (2008: 19).

322

archons to kings and ephors). The fragments that remain of Timaeus work provide a
window into the diverse links meticulously plotted, each one with underlying, symbolic
significance: Euripides birth coinciding with Salamis his death with the accession of
Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse;749 Alexanders birth and the burning down of the
Artemision at Ephesus;750 the founding of Carthage and Rome in the same year;751 or the
capture of the cult-statue of Apollo at Alexanders sack of Tyre, seventy-three years to
the day and hour on which the statue was first taken by the Carthaginians from Gela.752
Polybius might have blasted Timaeus work, in a large digression in Book 12, for
its factual inaccuracies, biases, and illogical claims, but he makes no direct discussion
(positive or negative) of Timaeus approach to synchronography, and in this, there are a
number of important contemporary trends being made evident.753 To begin with, Polybius
felt it necessary to address and challenge Timaeus history it was apparently influential
(and indeed, it inspired the later synchronographic work of first-century BCE Roman
authors Varro, Nepos, and Atticus).754 At the same time, Timaeus work appears to have

749

FGrH 566 F105.

FGrH 566 F150.
751 FGrH 566 F60.
752 FGrH 566 F106. For modern scholarship on Timaeus, see Brown (1958); Walbank, Comm. II. 347-8;
Meister (1989-1990); Pearson (1975; 1987); Feeney (2008).
753 Cf. Polyb. 12.3-16 esp. 12.4: Timaeus, while making a great parade of accuracy, is, in my
opinion, wont to be very short of the truth. So far is he from accurate investigation of the truth by
questioning others that not even about matters he has even with his own eyes and places he has actually
visited does he tell us anything trustworthy
and 12.7: Timaeus frequently makes false statements. He appears to me not to be in general uninformed
but his judgment to be darkened by prejudice; and when he once sets himself to blame or to praise anyone
he forgets everything and departs very widely from his duty as a historian
and 12.12: We should indeed reprove and ridicule the frenzy of those authors who dream dreams and
write like men possessed. But those who indulge freely p341themselves in this kind of foolery should, far
from accusing others, be only too glad if they escape blame themselves. Such is the case with Timaeus.
754 See Feeney (2008: 18ff.).
750

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fed into the same Zeitgeist as Polybius Histories, which itself was driven by some of the
same basic concepts: i.e., that political events and relationships across wider distances of
the oikoumen were becoming ever more interlinked, and that the arch of that world was
being pulled to the west. And as it did so, both historians were reacting to Romes wars
with Carthage (at first over Sicily Timaeus regional home) as determining which
power would look to the east, the processes involved being somehow connected to the
ever-rotating wheel of Fate (Tyche).755 Polybius also included his fair share of
synchronicities, with Carthage and Corinth in 146 providing the revised ending to his
entire work, and with a strongly Eratosthenian time marker setting his general
introduction, with an overview of history prior to 220 BCE.756 At heart, then, both
Timaeus and Polybius were ultimately interested in linked destinies, between Rome,
Carthage, and the Greek east. Their respective emphases on Tyche and their
interpretations of causal linkages (not to mention their cultural biases), however, set them
apart. And for this reason, Polybius makes it clear that his history, as a continuation of
(and to a certain extent, antidote for) Timaeus treatment, was to be distinguished as an
inherently political work one to be read as an instructive guide to current and future
statesmen regarding their practice. For Tyche had her grand designs, but the final
determining factor of achievement in the face of these greater forces, of maintaining
honor and survival for the state whether in success or defeat ultimately rested in the

755

On Timaeus and these concepts, see Feeney (2008: 47-8). On Polybius and these concepts, see above
pp. 289ff.
756 = Polyb. 1.6.1-2, where he synchronizes the Spartan peace of Antalcidas with Persia, Dionysius siege
of Rhegium, and the Gallic sack of Rome.

324

hands and moral conduct of statesmen (not the random accidents and eerie coincidences
of the sensational as in Timaeus and his like).757
From this perspective, then, Polybius sought to engage with and re-direct
contemporary responses to 146, away from some of the popular tendencies toward mythheroic dramatization and more along a path guiding history to a political-scientific
purpose. In doing so, he also interacted with related theories regarding the rise-and-fall of
kingdoms and empires the greater phenomena Polybius saw played out in Romes rise
to international arch and as fueled by anacyclosis, the cyclical growth and decay of all
politeiai, great and small alike. 146 was thus a scheme of individual cities Rome,
Carthage, and Corinth, each on separate trajectories of political evolution, growth, decay,
and fall to be fitted into a framework of world history and that historys greatest
imperial powers. This is evident in Polybius review of the broader picture of Greek
history, from Xerxes invasion onward, held up as a comparison to the tragedy of the
Greeks in 146.758 And it is also evident in his recounting of Demetrius maxim a
pondering by Perseus on the reversals of Fortune, placed at what was originally planned
as the ending of the Histories, and what eventually served as a mirror to Scipios remarks
at Carthage.759
Contemporary audiences would have recognized and immediately attached
significance to these references to the cycles of imperial world history. For alongside the
tradition of synchronism, Greek historiography also had deep roots in the practice of
757

See Eckstein (1995).

= Polyb. 38.2-3 see discussion above, pp. 310ff.
759 See discussion below pp. 333ff.
758

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dividing the past into a particular set of great kingdoms/empires, following one upon the
other across millennia. From the mythic-prehistoric Ages of Hesiod, there developed a
conception of three successive eastern kingdoms (Assyrian, Median, then Persian)
coming into fateful contact with the Greek world a destiny that would make the Greeks
(and the Macedonians) the fourth heirs to global power. The beginnings of the sequence
can be first detected in Herodotus,760 and appear about a century later in the Persica of
Ctesias.761 And in the wake of Alexanders conquests, the topos developed further,
becoming a favorite among prophetic texts, which restlessly told of a more glorious
kingdom yet to come, and in doing so, presumably gave voice to the discontent felt in an
era of many monarchies, constant wars, and (for some, oppressive) power wielded from
afar. The pattern could vary,762 but they all tapped into a now accepted view of cyclical
world history, and an equal anticipation of something greater: either a realization of
Alexanders pan-Hellenic dream, or a return to local/regional freedom.763
Such historiographical traditions eventually combined and solidified as they came
into contact with the growing power of Rome and with Roman intellectuals thinking on
the subject. The end result was a more clearly defined four-plus-one sequence, with
Rome all too readily becoming the anticipated and prophesied fifth kingdom. The process

760

Hdt. 1.95-130: overviewing the history of the great kingdoms of the Assyrians, followed by the Medes,
and followed by the Persians, whose failed invasion of Greece lies at the heart of Herodotus inquiry.
761 Cited by Diod. 2.1-34; cf. 2.21.8 = Assyrians to Medes; and 2.34.6 = Medes to Persians.
762 For a good overview of the tradition, see Mendels (1981), responding to (and tempering) the discussion
by Swain (1940). The examples include Daniel 2; 7; 8 (mentioning four great kingdoms to be replaced by a
more glorious fifth); the Third Sibylline Oracle (vv. 157-160), which lists more than four kingdoms in
succession: Egypt, Persia, Media, Aethiopia, Assyria and Babylonia, Macedonia, Egypt and Rome; cf. also
the Testament of Naphtali.
763 For the latter, see the testimony of Agatharcides of Knidos below, p. 331.

326

was in motion during the second century and as we have seen, Rome was clearly being
discussed as the latest great world power, for good and for ill. Unfortunately, however,
there is no evidence currently surviving of the paradigms development within
mainstream, pro-Roman historical texts of the time. There is, however, the ominous
testimony of the Third Sibylline Oracle, which is usually dated to the 140s BCE.764 Its
text shifts the prophecy away from the point of heralding Rome, and instead adds steps to
the sequence, foretelling of Romes demise. By the first century BCE, the pro-Roman
texts come to the fore. Castor of Rhodes, in his Chronica, began his world history with
King Ninus of Assyria (linked via synchronism to King Aegialeus of Sicyon) and ended
with Pompeys conquests in the East.765 And a generation later, Dionysius of
Halicarnassus presented the four-plus-one paradigm, fully formed, providing a sequence
of world kingdoms from Assyria to Media, Persia to Macedonia, and ending with
Rome.766 From that point on, the scheme becomes fully ingrained into Roman tradition
from Varro767 to Pompeius Trogus,768 to Velleius,769 and only requiring tangential

764

On the date, see Gruen (1984: p. 340), with citations.

Cf. Feeney (2008: 63ff.), who also notes the influence Castor had on later Roman authors, including
Nepos, Atticus, and Varro. Castor, also engaging in synchronography, reportedly ended Book 1 of the
Chronica in the year 754 BCE, a year prior to Romes founding and the year in which the life archonship at
Athens had ended and the powers of the Spartan kings had been curbed a prophetic symbolism of Greek
decline and Roman future
766 Cf. Dion. A.R. 1.2-3. The Fourth Sibylline Oracle contains the same paradigm, though its date is
debated (usually placed ca. 80 CE, with earlier Hellenistic roots).
767 Varro is cited by Augustine, De Civ. Dei 18.2, as making connections across time and space e.g.
between Ninus of Assyria and Sicyon. Augustine later (21) mentions a chronology (though not explicitly
naming Varro), which traced history from the Assyrians to Medes, and was synchronized with Amulius,
grandfather of Romulus and Remus.
768 Epitomized in Justin. Book 1, which lists Assyrians, Medes, followed by Persians. Bks 2ff. then
recounts a history of Greece/Macedonia, and ends, with Bks. 18ff., on Rome. See also 30.4.4: As all men
were alarmed at this prodigy [EQs at Thera and Rhodes, 198 BCE], the soothsayers predicted that the
rising power of the Romans would swallow up the ancient empire of the Greeks and Macedonians.
765

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reference by the times of Tacitus,770 Appian,771 and Aelius Aristides.772

No matter the details of the progression of world kingdoms concept, it was clearly
a theme in the intellectual mindset of the Mediterranean in 146. For this was a point for
historical synchronism, ready to be placed somewhere in the map of imperial histories.
Just where, however, was a matter of great debate. Polybius hints at this in his digression
on the Greek worlds varied responses to the Third Punic War (see above). The insertion
of the debate, however, was not only a commentary on the wider, international ripple
effect the war caused, or a weighing-in by Polybius on the widespread misunderstandings
of Roman diplomatic practice. It was also a very real document of the types of politicalphilosophical thought and discussions that were on the tips of tongues at the time. For on
the one hand and as we have seen Hellenistic international power had for some time
been legitimized in the language of great and noble kingship, with treatises published on
the proper functions and necessary virtues of kings, as shepherds to their flocks, wise and
awe-inspiring, terrifying in righteousness, and yet also fair and beneficent to their
769

= Vell. Pat. 1.6.1-2, from Aemilius Sura, in a gloss inserted into the text of Vell. Pat. 1.6.6: Aemilius
Sura de annis populi Romani: Assyrii principes omnium gentium rerum potiti sunt, deinde Medi, postea
Persae, deinde Macedones; exinde duobus regibus Philippo et Antiocho, qui a Macedonibus oriundi erant,
haud multo post Carthaginem subactam deuictis summa imperii ad populum Romanum pervenit. Inter hoc
tempus et initium regis Nini Assyriorum, qui princeps rerum potitus, inter- sunt anni MDCCCCXCV. The
date of Aemilius Sura is unfortunately a matter up for debate some believe he dates to the second century
BCE (which would fill a gap in evidence), but this cannot be confirmed.
770 Tacitus, Hist. 5.8-9 (history of Judea).
771 Appian, Praef. 6-11 esp. 9.
772 Aelius Aristides, Panath. 234, where he quickly recaps the four-plus-one sequence without names,
revealing its common-knowledge acceptance: Again, history records five empires, and may their number
not increase. In the time of the oldest of these, the Assyrian, occurred the first deeds of the city's history,
and the anecdotes about the gods fall in this period. In the time of the second occurred the rise of the city.
The third she completely defeated. In the fourth, she [Roma] alone held out and came off best of all. In the
time of the empire now established, which is in all respects the best and greatest, she holds the place of
honor in the whole Hellenic world, and has so fared that one could not wish for her the old circumstances
instead of the present. See Swain (1940); Mendels (1981).

328

subjects, as the gods were to the kosmos.773 In this context, then, both Scipio and
Mummius were primed to be seen as kingly figures on the international stage (though
certainly not back home in Rome!). Polybius alludes to this in his description of Scipio at
Carthage, as a great and perfect man a man, in short, worthy to be remembered.774
And a series of inscriptions honoring Mummius testify to the continuation of a
Hellenistic-style practice, hailing the general (in a manner parallel to honors earlier
granted to eastern kings, as well as to Flamininus in 196-4 BCE, Paullus in 168-7) for his
excellence and benevolence towards individual cities and other Greeks in general.775
And it was important that both men projected such great-king images on an
international level they had both just unmade an independent polis. That such action
needed confirmation as being just and fair, rather than oppressive and tyrannical,
connected with a matter of great political-philosophical debate a debate sensationalized
by Carneades in his ambassadorial visit to Rome about a decade earlier (155 BCE). The
details of Carneades controversial speeches while in Rome have unfortunately not
survived - there only remain a general summary given by Lactantius and a dialogue in
Ciceros Republic that stands only in indirect relation, as a composite of multiple

773

Cf. Goodenough (1928); Murray (1971, 2007); Walbank (1985); Bringmann (1993); Sherwin-White
and Kuhrt (1993: 114ff.); Smith (1993); Bilde (1996); Gruen (1996); Schofield (1999: 743ff.); Ma (2005);
Eckstein (2009); Strootman (2011). See also above - pp. 95ff.
774 Polyb. 38.21.3: .
775 E.g. Burstein 78 (= I. Olympia 319; Syll.3 676): The city of the Eleians (honors) Lucius Mummius, son
of Lucius, consul of the Romans, for his excellence and the benevolence which he continues to have for it
and the other Greeks. On Flamininus and international Hellenism in this context, see above pp. 95ff. For
comparison between Mummius and Flamininus declarations of Greek freedom, see above.

329

philosophies.776 But the essence of Carneades arguments fit right into what is otherwise
known about Hellenistic political theory regarding international power. He reportedly
gave two lectures on justice, on the first day presenting arguments in favor of the
concept, and on the second, negating them all. And according to Lactantius, he did so in
the manner of a rhetorical exercise, using sophistic argumentation (e.g. reductio ad
absurdum) to undermine the very notion that true justice could exist. In doing so, he was
entering with devastating results a debate that had first been brought to the fore by
Plato, followed by Aristotle, who had together outlined an existence of natural/true
justice, in relation to a civil (and in Aristotles discussion), imperial form of justice.777
To summarize this philosophical background: Plato had originally framed his
inquiry by introducing a challenge of Thrasymachus (Rep. 343c-344c), that justice was
merely a social construct introduced by the strong to have the weak serve the their
interests. The rest of Platos Republic was thus built as a response defending the
existence of true justice, viewing it as manifest in the hierarchy of the state, which in turn
reflected the hierarchy of mind/soul over body. Such an order, if properly constructed,
thus served the best interests of all, strong and weak alike. (Polybius was clearly
influenced by this premise in his theory of anacyclosis and the cycles in the health of
776

= Lact. Div. inst. 5.14.3-5 and Epit. 50.8: When he [Carneades] was sent by Athens as an ambassador
to Rome, he discoursed at length on justice in the hearing of Galba and Cato the Censor, the foremost
orators of the time. On the next day, he overturned his own discourse on the opposite side, and subverted
justice, which he had praised on the previous day, not with the seriousness of a philosopher, whose opinion
should be firm and stable, but in the manner of a rhetorical exercise in which argument is given, pro and
contra With the object of refuting Aristotle and Plato, supporters of justice, Carneades in his first
discourse assembled all the arguments in favor of justice, in order that he might overturn them, as he did
not because he thought justice ought to be disparaged, but to show that its defenders had no certain or firm
arguments about it. (transl. by Long and Sedley (1987: no. 68M). For the passage in Cicero, see Rep. 3.829. See the summary and discussion in Baronowski (2011: 17ff.).
777 For the following summarization, see in particular Brown (2011) and Baronowski (2011: 18-19).

330

politeiai). Aristotle built upon these ideas and laid the groundwork for Hellenistic
political philosophy, by taking the interrelationship between natural and civil justice and
applying it to international governance. He defended imperial power, dividing it into two
main forms. The first was despoteia, which was paralleled with slavery on an individual
level. Aristotle argued (in a continuation of Platos hierarchic order) that such
subordination was just for as long as master and slave were each suited to their stations.
And although such hierarchy was of benefit to the governed, it was aimed primarily at the
interests of the rulers. The second form was hegemonia, which was paralleled with the
rule of father over family. Such governance unlike despoteia benefited both, but was
ultimately aimed at the interests of the ruled.778
Carneades lectures seem to have entered the fray at this juncture and
considering the normative rhetoric regarding just kingship that was prevalent at the time,
rocked all convention involving the justification of empire, and Roman power in
particular. For by undermining the very concepts of natural and/or civil justice,
Carneades would have by extension (if not explicitly) disconnected international empire,
whether as hegemonia or despoteia, from benefit to the ruled, leaving the eye-opening
conclusion that Roman international power could not ever be said to be just. And this
very sort of argument was already being voiced by other intellectuals of the day.
Agatharcides of Knidos, for example the author of On the Erythraean Sea, written
during reign of Ptolemy VI (180-145 BCE) made it abundantly clear that he saw the
expansionism of empire (Hellenistic kingdoms and Rome equally guilty) as
778

Cf. Baronowski (2011: 19 extensive primary and secondary sources cited at n. 4).

331

fundamentally unjust. For such practices, in his view, undermined natural law, corrupting
native populations and their traditional, and happier (even if they were considered less
advanced) ways of life. Hegemonia was an illusion, and despoteia held no benefit to the
ruled, for it was for them wicked and inexpedient to its core.779
By contrast, however and in support and justification of Rome stood the
responses of men such as Panaetius (a known personal friend to Scipio). These responses
saw the Romans as common benefactors (koinoi euergetai as they had begun to be
eulogized in inscriptions in the East).780 Romes power was a necessary and beneficial
world hegemonia a natural order that was for the service of those being ruled. The
argument appears, in echoed form, in Ciceros dialogue in the Republic, put into the
speech of Laelius: Rome provided a system of international order in which the wicked
were prevented from doing evil and those incapable of exercising their own autonomy
were afforded civil justice and by extension, those that were capable, were left free.781
Here, then, was the heart of the debate (ostensibly over the Third Punic War) that
Polybius describes at 36.9.782 And here was where 146 served an added significance for
some, marking confirmation of Roman despoteia, as being against the good of the ruled,
and for others (the Romans in particular), marking confirmation of Roman hegemonia,
the rule of the best, which eliminated the unjust (Carthage in breaking international law)
and those who failed to adequately rule themselves (Corinth/the Achaian League).
779

See Fraser (1972: I.173-4, 515-7, 539-553); Ferrary (1988: 232-6); Burstein (1989); Verdin (1990);
Clarke (1999: 62-3); Baronowski (2011: 22-4, 26-7, 53-4).
780 See above p. 113.
781 See Baronowski (2011: 21-22), with citations.
782 See discussion above, pp. 284ff.

332

As for Polybius views on the matter, we have already seen the ambivalence with
which he weighed in on the debate at 36.9. However, his treatment of Scipios final
victory over Carthage although tantalizingly fragmentary provides some clues, as
well as additional indications of the ways in which the debate over Roman international
power intersected with contemporary thought regarding history, tragedy, and the fall of
great cities. And the clues suggest that Polybius perhaps considered Rome and Scipio in
particular as in this world-historical moment at least, embodying a just hegemonia. The
juncture is the famed tears of Scipio scene, which has survived in three main versions,
beginning with Polybius. All three are repeated here, for comparison:
1.

Polybius (38.21.1-3):
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ...
... ... ... [ :]
,
,
.
:



.

the just says Polybius what is more glorious than this and this he
proclaimed, by/quoting the poet and turning round to me at once and
grasping my hand Scipio said, A glorious moment, Polybius; but I have a dread
foreboding that some day the same doom will be pronounced on my own
country. It would be difficult to mention an utterance more statesmanlike and
more profound. For at the moment of our greatest triumph, and of disaster to
our enemies, to reflect on our own situation and on the possible reversal of
circumstances, and generally to bear in mind at the season of success the
mutability of Fortune, is like a great and perfect man, a man in short worthy to
be remembered.

333

2.

Diodorus (32.24):

, .

, :

: ,
.
When Carthage had been put to the torch and the flames were doing their awful
work of devastation throughout the whole city, Scipio wept unabashedly. Asked
by Polybius, his mentor, why he was thus affected, he said: "Because I am
reflecting on the fickleness of Fortune. Some day, perhaps, the time will come
when a similar fate shall overtake Rome." And he cited these lines from the poet,
Homer: The day will come when sacred Ilium shall perish / And Priam and his
people shall be slain.

3.

Appian (Pun. 132):

...
,
,

. ,
, ,
, .
Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last
throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for
his enemies. After being wrapped in thought for long he said: A day will come
when sacred Troy shall perish / And Priam and his people shall be slain.And
when Polybius asked him what he meant by the words, they say that without
any attempt at concealment he named his own country, for which he feared when
he reflected on the fate of all things human. Polybius actually heard him and
recalls it in his history.
In the surviving portion of Polybius text, no tears are specifically mentioned

though there is a possibility that they belonged to the mutilated section just prior to
Polybius question to Scipio ( What is more glorious than this?).
334

The question was raised as the two men stood watching the ruin of Carthage, and, if
Bttner-Wobsts restoration (made by comparison with Diodorus) is correct
[ :] it possibly involved a reference to Homer, a reference that
both Diodorus and Appian appended in full, quoted directly from Hektors departing
speech to Andromache in the Iliad,783 as a pronouncement of Troys inevitable end.784
Clearly, for Polybius even if there were no tears this was a moment of great emotion,
as indicated by Scipios taking of Polybius hand and by Polybius effusive praise for the
nobility of Scipios character. And at the same time, there were connections also being
made to Homer, and to a poetic/tragic tradition of the Ilioupersis motif if not stated
outright, then strongly implied by virtue of the setting and context of the scene. Such a
reference would have made a decisive connection between 146 and the entire scope of
Hellenic history, which synchronographers traced back to the fall of Troy, and mapped
onto a framework of the rise-and-fall of great powers.785
That Polybius presents such an emotionally charged, Ilioupersis-type scene, at
this point in 146, is at least by outward appearances somewhat exceptional for the
historian. For elsewhere, he shows little patience for the mixing of mythic and

783

= Iliad 6.448ff.
Note that with the reconstruction suggested here, the basic order of events shifts between authors: (1)
Polybius: weeping (possibly), question, quotation of Homer, foreboding for Rome; (2) Diodorus: weeping,
question, foreboding for Rome, quotation; (3) Appian: tears, quotation, question, foreboding for Rome.
Compare with Astin (1967: Appendix IV), who does not recognize a difference between Polybius and
Diodorus.
785 Apollodorus of Athens, in his Chronica (dedicated to King Attalos II Philadelphus, possibly 144/3
BCE?) may have done just this, with the works four books (written in iambic verse) beginning with the
Fall of Troy, stopping half-way through with the death of Alexander, and concluding with Apollodorus
own time 146 BCE? cf. FGrH 239ff.; and Pfeiffer (1968: 253ff.).
784

335

pragmatic history,786 and in one digression, criticizes the gaucheness of writers who
confuse the tasks of tragic poets (= to thrill and to charm) and of political historians (=
to instruct and convince). Phylarchus in particular garners disapproval, for his
overwrought and sensationalized accounts of disasters, including the destruction of cities
(such as Mantinea).787 That Polybius finds it necessary to address this issue testifies to the
very prevalence of a dramatically framed urbs capta topos in contemporary
historiography.788 Just this sort of embellished and theatrical report is apparent in the
poetic writings of Polystratos about the destruction of Corinth: the deed is
monumentalized as revenge inflicted by the descendants of Aeneas upon the Achaians
who had sacked Troy and burned the house of Priam. The scene is one of the bones of the
Achaians being dumped unceremoniously into a pile, to be left un-mourned and robbed
of their funerals:
Lucius has smote the great Achaian Acrocorinth, the Star of Hellas /
And the twin shores of the Isthmus. /
One heap of stones covers the bones of those felled by the spear; /

786

See above pp. 323ff.

Polyb. 2.56: In general Phylarchus through his whole work makes many random and careless
statements he tells us that the Mantineans, when they surrendered, were exposed to terrible sufferings
and that such were the misfortunes that overtook this, the most ancient and greatest city in Arcadia, as to
impress deeply and move to tears all the Greeks. In his eagerness to arouse the pity and attention of his
readers he treats us to a picture of clinging women with their hair disheveled and their breasts bare, or
again of crowds of both sexes together with their children and aged parents weeping and lamenting as they
are led away to slavery A historical author should not try to thrill his readers by such exaggerated
pictures, nor should he, like a tragic poet, try to imagine the probable utterances of his characters or
reckon up all the consequences probably incidental to the occurrences with which he deals, but simply
record what really happened and what really was said, however commonplace. For the object of tragedy is
not the same as that of history but quite the opposite. The tragic poet should thrill and charm his audience
for the moment by the verisimilitude of the words he puts into his characters' mouths, but it is the task of
the historian to instruct and convince for all time serious students by the truth of the facts and the speeches
he narrates see also 29.12.
788 See Paul (1982); Rossi (2002).
787

336

And the sons of Aeneas left un-mourned by funeral rites the Achaians who burnt
the house of Priam.789
The fact, then, that Polybius despite his opposition to such extravagant accounts
proceeded nevertheless to include a moving scene at the fall of Carthage reveals that
something truly significant was at work here. Polybius signals for his readers an event of
singular impact a moment of philosophic eupatheia, with Scipio representing a real and
true (not exaggerated or fabricated) heroic exemplum, a victor who displays a wondrous
magnanimity of spirit.790 In Polybius estimation, what was most admirable about Scipio
was his ability to recognize, in that moment of triumph, a lining of humility a
realization that his own city was at the same time getting closer to its own inevitable
demise. Here, therefore, was the meaning for tears if Polybius included them. For
789

Cf. Anth. Graec. 7.297 (trans. W.R. Paton, 1919). Compare this with the later epigram by the Augustanera Antipater of Thessalonica: I, Rhodope, and my mother Boisca, neither died of sickness nor fell by the
enemys sword, / But we ourselves, when fierce Ares burnt the city of Corinth, our fatherland, chose a
brave death. / My mother slew me with the slaughtering knife, / Nor did she, sorrowful woman, spare her
own life. / But tied the noose around her own neck, for to die in freedom was better than slavery. = Anth.
Graec. 7.493 (trans. W.R. Paton, 1919).
790 Compare this with Polybius scene of Scipio at Carthago Nova, where the Roman hero sheds tears in
realization of the past horrors experienced by the women of the town, when it was under Carthaginian
dominion 10.18.7/13. Aristotle/Stoics on eupatheia see Konstan (2007: esp. ch. 4).
Note: A later tradition developed out of Polybius presentation of Scipio as a Roman hero par excellence. It
centered upon Scipios redistribution of the spoils of Carthage a subject discussed at length by Cicero (2
Verr. 4). Cicero describes the communities in Sicily as being directly involved in the recognition and
restitution of property that had been taken from them by Carthage. These properties apparently included
significant cult-statues, like that of Artemis of Segesta, Hermes of Tyndaris, and Apollo of Acragas. Cicero
holds high praise for the mansuetudo exhibited by Scipio in accomplishing these returns. Scipio would
have indeed served a number of political goals in this mode of distributing the spoils of war: he would have
avoided the criticisms launched against men like Marcellus and Mummius, for bringing excessive luxury
and corruptive wealth, and he would have made a strong statement of contrast between Rome as hegemon
and Carthage in its past. The latter is evident in Ciceros description of the ecstatic joy among the Sicilians
in welcoming back their cult statues it is a direct foil between the old regime and the generosity and
fairness of the new one. As Cicero says, the rededication of the statues was a testimonium societatis,
monuments of Scipios aequitas and humanitas. See also Eutrop. Brev. 4.12.2: spolia ibi inventa quae
variarum civitatum excidiis Carthago collegerat et ornamenta urbium civitatibus Siciliae Italiae Africae
reddidit quae sua recignoscebat; as well as an inscription honoring Scipios generosity, found at
Marruvium, which had possibly suffered depredations in the Second Punic War (CIL i2.625, Hadrianic
restoration of original text?).

337

Scipio appears like a figure of legend, but in the form of a living, breathing, and real
statesman. As a Roman, he is made an emblem for the best of both the Greek and the
Trojan heroes, being at once like Achilles before Priam, in the shedding of empathetic
tears for the defeated,791 and like Hektor before Andromache, in a heroic fight for his
home city, at least symbolically (since in Polybius formulation, Scipio represents a last
bastion against the moral decay of Romes younger generation).792 As such, the scene of
Scipio at Carthage stands as a climactic example of eupatheia, as the triumphant victor
weeps in pity of the defeated, and yet also in the realization that he/his city too will
crumble, and that by virtue of his success, it has come that much closer to a final end.793
And the moment mirrored other such epiphanies, when the wheel of Tyche could be seen
actually turning before mortal eyes: Antiochus, when faced by the captured and
humiliated rebel-leader, Achaeus, in 213 BCE;794 or Perseus, defeated in 168/7 BCE the
originally projected conclusion to Polybius Histories reciting to Aemilius Paullus
(Scipios father) the maxim of Demetrius of Phaleron:
791

Iliad 24.507ff.
Iliad 6.448ff. the passage quoted in the text of Diodorus and Appian, and presumably referenced
indirectly by Polybius (by referring to a saying of the poet with regard to the inevitable fall of ones own
city) see above, pp. 334-5. For Polybius opinion that Scipio stood out within his generation as a model of
virtue, see Polyb. 10.2ff., and 31.24ff.
793 Interestingly enough, there is no evidence of a comparable tears of Mummius episode at Corinth
this perhaps reflective of the deep shame associated with the collapse of the Achaian League which
Polybius discusses at length see above. There is, however, a substantial later tradition regarding
Mummius and the taking of spoils, with some sources emphasizing the generals magnanimity in not taking
spoils for himself (Livy Per. 52; Strabo 8.6.23; Dio fr. 76; Vir. Ill. 60.3), and others serving up biting
commentary on his lack of cultural refinement and ignorance of the deeper value of Corinthian artworks
(Vell. 1.13.3-5; cf. Cic. Verr. 21.55; Off. 2.76; Strabo 8.6.23) see discussion in Yarrow (2006). Such a
tradition linked to the ideological destruction that was brought upon Corinth re-engages with the bythen long-standing negotiation between Roman and Hellenic cultures see discussions above in chapter 3.
According to Pausanias (5.24), Mummius was remembered as the first Roman to make a formal dedication
(as victor over Greece?) in a Greek sanctuary. As such, the sacker of Corinth was presented in a panHellenic fashion, as a benefactor vindicating the true freedom of Greece.
794 Polyb. 8.20.9.
792

338

 Demetrius, in his treatise on Fortune, wishing to give men a striking instance

of her mutability, asks them to remember the times when Alexander overthrew the
Persian empire, and speaks as follows: For if you consider not countless years or
many generations, but merely these last fifty years, you will read in them the
cruelty of Fortune. I ask you, do you think that fifty years ago either the Persians
and the Persian king or the Macedonians and the king of Macedon, if some god
had foretold the future to them, would ever have believed that at the time when we
live, the very name of the Persians would have perished utterly the Persians
who were masters of almost the whole world and that the Macedonians, whose
name was formerly almost unknown, would now be the lords of it all? But
nevertheless this Fortune, who never compacts with life, who always defeats our
reckoning by some novel stroke; she who ever demonstrates her power by foiling
our expectations, now also, as it seems to me, makes it clear to all men, by
endowing the Macedonians with the whole wealth of Persia, that she has but lent
them these blessings until she decides to deal differently with them. And this now
happened in the time of Perseus795
In conclusion, then and as Hartog796 has also recently noted Polybius, in
making Tyche the driving force behind the events of his pragmatic world history, has
created the truest tragedy of all, both specific to the lives and decisions of individuals,
and universal to the scope of world history and its inevitable cycles. And we can see
Polybius constructing a progression moving from east to west, via such momentous
occasions in which individuals actually recognize the wheels of Fate turning, and (quite
possibly in each case) shed tears, overcome by the scale of it all. This progression first
moves from the tears of a victor Antiochus, the Macedonian successor to Alexanders
line in the East to the tears of one defeated Perseus, king of Macedon, before his
conqueror, the Roman Aemilius Paullus. It then moves back to a victor Paullus own
795

Polyb. 29.21.1-7. Polybius text is broken after this point, and we do not know whether Paullus shed
tears at this point. Later tradition Livy 45.4.2-3 does have Paullus weep. For other examples of this
topos, see Antigonus weeping over the defeat of Pyrrhus Plut. Pyrrh. 34.4; Caesar over Pompey (Plut.
Caes. 48; Pomp. 80; Dio 42.8.1-3; Lucan 9.1010-1108; Eutropius 6.21.3; Orosius 6.15.29); and Octavian
over Antony (Plut. Ant. 78)..
796 Cf. Hartog (2010), considering Polybius with respect to (and as a rebuttal against) Aristotelian
definitions, of history as specific and tragedy as universal.

339

son, Scipio, standing over the burning city of Carthage, once Romes greatest rival for
power in the West. In which direction the pendulum should swing next to a defeated
Roman, perhaps? is left as an unknown, for only future generations to know.

AFTERMATH
In framing his Histories, Polybius posed a number of crucial questions for his
readers, both present and future. Among these questions was the following:

,
.
[should] those now living shun Roman domination or do the reverse, and
[should] those in the future consider the Romans government worthy of praise
and emulation, or of blame[?]797
At its heart was a dual phenomenon: Roman superiority continued onwards, and yet there
existed the distinct possibility that Rome could be on the decline. For Polybius and his
contemporaries, the oikoumen thus hung in the balance, awaiting that tipping-point at
which Rome would become the greatest power in all of history. At what juncture such
success would also become the tripping-point was something to be looked-out for by
those in the future. For Polybius leaves us at an equivocal endpoint.
On the one hand, the tarach kai kinesis of his day is characterized as the results
of both Rome being a poor international ruler and of lesser states not taking the
opportunity to thrive. Polybius hints at this sentiment though he does so in reference to
Carthage as a former hegemon (rather than Rome as a current one):

797

Polyb. 3.4.7 see above, p. 169.

340


,
.
.
When, having attained their desire, men begin to act wickedly and to treat their
subjects tyrannically, it is only natural that with the change in character of the
rulers, the attitude of the ruled should change as well as actually happened now
to the Carthaginians.798
Across the board, then, the greatest historical tragedy for Polybius, in looking at his
times, is the pandemic self-destruction enacted by so many small states across the
Mediterranean, in response to Romes possible (though never explicitly stated) failings as
a world leader. And at the same time, the narrative serves as an implicit warning to
Romans, lest they hasten their eventual fate like the Carthaginians had done.799 But this is
not to say that the Histories is an account without hope. In the act of writing, Polybius
intended to make a change, potentially on both ends of the spectrum: ideally informing
leading men of all states, and thereby allowing Rome to step more fully and responsibly
into the role of world hegemon, and enabling lesser states to recover, rebound, and
achieve nobility and status once again (if not more). The dual destructions of Carthage
and Corinth in 146 thus stand as a world-changing cue: to Rome that it be mindful of
potential decay and cultivate leaders like Scipio, who could continue to chart an
honorable, hegemonic course; and to lesser states to simply get their act together.

798

Polyb. 10.36.7. This passage is symbolically placed by Polybius in the wake of Scipio Africanus
successful siege of Qart Hadasht (Carthage) in Spain a city renamed Carthago Nova by Scipio after
its capture in 209 BCE.
799 See the latest discussion in Baronowski (2011: Ch. 9).

341

At the same time, Polybius provides ominous warnings along the way, suggesting
that Rome as an international arch could be on the edge of tyranny, moving from
hegemonia to despoteia and worse.800 At 3.4.5, he notes that those who achieve great
success often do not make proper use of it, while at 15.24, he remarks upon the evils of
great power, once attained (in a passage following Philips destruction of Thasos, 202
BCE a timing that would have surely caught a synchronographers eye). At 9.10, upon
the Roman sack of Syracuse, Polybius discusses the internal decay that can result for a
victor who develops a taste for luxury and expensive treasures (a clear mirroring of
Catos rhetoric at the time).801 It is indeed an ominous parallel with the capture of
Corinth, and this time, it followed upon the heels of a high point for Rome: Scipios
triumph at Carthage. Taken together, there is perhaps a hint here, that Rome could be
putting herself on the road to decline. And as we have seen there were those in the
international community who would not only have formed such an interpretation, but

800

See also Shimron (1979).

Polyb. 3.4.5: what is thought to be the greatest success [brings] the greatest calamities on many, if
they do not make proper use of it, and the most dreadful catastrophes often turn[s] out to the advantage of
those who support them bravely.
15.24: Perhaps it may be said of all kings that at the beginnings of their reigns they talk of freedom as of a
gift they offer to all and style all those who are thus loyal adherents their friends and allies, but as soon as
they have established their authority they at once begin to treat those who placed trust in them not as allies
but as servants. Therefore they are disappointed of any credit for noble conduct, though as a rule they do
not miss their immediate interest
9.10: when opportunities become ever more frequent, and the victor collects around him all the
treasures of other peoples, and these treasures may be almost said to invite those who were robbed of them
to come and inspect them, things are twice as bad. For now spectators no longer pity their neighbors, but
themselves, as they recall their own calamities. And hence not only envy, but also a sort of passionate
hatred for the favorites of fortune flares up, for the memories awakened of their own disaster move them to
abhor the authors of it. There were indeed perhaps good reasons for appropriating all the gold and silver:
for it was impossible for them to aim at a world empire without weakening the resources of other peoples
and strengthening their own. But it was possible for them to leave everything which did not contribute to
such strength, together with the envy attached to its possession, in its original place, and to add to the glory
of their native city by adorning it not with paintings and reliefs but with dignity and magnanimity
801

342

would have also welcomed it gleefully. These were individuals who subscribed to the
opinions and/or arguments of intellectuals such as Agatharcides or Carneades, or to the
apocalyptic prophecies foretelling Romes doom, from 1 Maccabees to the Sibylline
Oracles the sort of texts that continued in popularity and served as explosive fuel for
Mithridates later defiance of Rome.
Over the following decades, then, second-century notions of cyclical history and
moral decline thus fed into what was to become the discourse typical of the first century,
as conceptions of imperium and provinciae gathered more abstract, territorial, and
administrative associations.802 Intellectuals looked to the topoi of imperial power, foreign
influence, and moral decline and used them in their battles against each other. The
Gracchan period in particular appears to have been transitional, shaping the concept of
metus hostilis later espoused by Sallust. In the turmoil of 133 BCE and rivalry between
Scipio Aemilianus and Tiberius Gracchus, notions that the elimination of Carthage had
indeed given rise to ambitious demagogues and would-be tyrants surely became more
prevalent. Scipio defended his name by transferring blame to Gracchus annexation of
Pergamon, as bringing the evils of Greek luxury and effeminacy too close to the city.803
And about a decade later, following Gaius Gracchus failed attempt to establish a colony
at Carthage, political opposition fomented and encouraged beliefs that a curse existed on
the site a subject that captured the imaginations of later Romans and moderns alike.804

802

On this evolution, see Richardson (2008).

See Astin (1967); Lintott (1972).
804 Cf. Cic. Leg. Agr. 1.5; Pliny HN 26.19; App. Pun. 135-136; Macrob. Sat. 3.9.10-11. On the modern
myth of the lands being biblically sown with salt, see Ridley (1986).
803

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By the first half of the first-century BCE, the destructions of Carthage and Corinth
had achieved legendary status.805 For Cicero (who blamed Sulla for the moral decline of
his day), Scipio and Mummius represented shining exemplars of the former Roman
virtues, of fides, mansuetudo, aequitas, and humanitas.806 Like his contemporary, Sallust,
Cicero also amplified the notion of Carthage as rival to empire (aemula imperii),807
presenting the pair of Carthage and Corinth as insignia et infulae imperii.808 The two are
also described as eyes of the maritime face,809 a rare pair capable of sustaining the
burden and reputation of world-empire.810 Cicero also breathed new life into earlier
Hellenistic themes of tragic reversal, romanticizing the elegiac gloom and emptiness of
once-great cities.811 The imagery of tragic ruins at Corinth was even adapted to the genre
of consolation-letter by Servius Sulpicius, in an example written to Cicero.812 In the same
period, Diodoros, perhaps echoing Servius, noted that travelers passing by Corinths
ruined prosperity could not refrain from shedding a tear, even long after the destruction.
With even greater emotion, he declared that the horror of Corinths demise was made all
the worse, in that it left Greeks behind to look at the remains.813

805

For a general discussion of the evolved rhetoric of destruction, see Purcell (1995).
E.g. Cic. 2 Verr. 4; Pro Mur. 58, 66; De Off. 1.108; Vir.ill. 60.3; De Orat. 2.154; Verr. 2.2.86.
807 Sallust Cat. 10.1; see also Strabo 17.3.5 (832); Velleius 1.12.5-6; Appian 51. The topic is taken up by
later authors cf. Livy, Per. 52; Strabo 8.23; Dio fr.76 (regarding Mummius).
808 Cic. Leg.Agr. 1.5-6.
809 Cic. ND 3.91.
810 Cic. Leg.Agr. 2.87.
811 Cic. Leg.Agr. 1.2.5; 2.51; 2.87: Corinthi vesitigium vix relictum est; cf. Appian Pun. 135-6; also Plut.
Mar. 40, on the imagery of Gaius Marius amid the ruins of Carthage.
812 Cic. Fam. 4.5.4
813 Diod. 32. 27, and 32.36-37, respectively.
806

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It was in the Augustan age, however, that the greatest transformations in 146
BCEs legacy took place, as all of Romes various power-networks were channeled in the
direction of one man. The Mediterranean international system was conceptually framed,
by authors and intellectuals, into a singular imperium Romanum, and for the first time,
the term referred to a collective, territorial entity.814 Geographical, administrative
provinciae were linked to Rome via newly founded colonies across the Mediterranean,
including Carthage and Corinth. Just over a hundred years (a saeculum) after 146 BCE,
the tragedies and politically charged rhetoric associated with the pair was re-forged as
part of the rebirth of Rome itself. It was at this point that 146 BCE truly crystallized as a
temporal boundary.815 Exultant in Romes newly re-conceptualized imperium, Vergils
Aeneid in particular connected world history to the saga of Rome, from the fall of Troy to
the foundations of Carthage and Rome, to the fall of Carthage, and to the rebirth of both
under a new golden age.816 Other writers of the period further amplified the scale and
grandeur of 146 BCE: Strabo, for example, doubled the circuit-length of Carthages walls
to equate them with legendary Babylon.817 Most importantly, however, intellectuals
delved into world chronology and determined new synchronisms. Corinth had been
destroyed in its 952nd year, while Carthage had been destroyed in its 672nd year, or its

814

Richardson (2008), with special reference to the Res Gestae in chapter 4.

Cf. Diod. 32.37; Plutarch Caes. 57; Dio 43.50.3-5; Paus. 7.16.7-8; cf. Strabo 17.3.1.
816 E.g. Aen. 6.836ff. (Anchises revelation of Romes future, including both Mummius and Scipio in the
procession of heroes); building of Carthage in Book1, followed by Aeneas tale of the burning of Troy in
Bk. 2; Didos curse of hatred, of her (Carthaginian) people upon those of (Roman) Aeneas, in Bk. 4.
817 Strabo 17.3.14 (to a length of 365 stades!); compare Livy Per. 51; Appian Iber.15.98; and Dios
description of Corinths epic scale (fr. 72).
815

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seventh saeculum, an age now surpassed by Rome in her celebration of the ludi
saeculares in 17 BCE.818
These notices of age upon destruction made key connections with a theory
popular during the Augustan era, of a succession of five world empires, from Assyria to
Media, to Persia, Macedon, and ending in Rome. The concept was rooted in secondcentury BCE ideas, but it had become a leading principle for Augustan historians.
Pompeius Trogus Philippic Histories was completely framed by it, and Dionysius of
Halicarnassus opened his Roman Antiquities with it, adding that Carthage and Rome, as
rivals for the west, had been founded in the same year.819 Velleius also structured his
History around the principle, beginning with the fall of Assyria, and closing book I of II
with Roman ascendancy in 146 BCE.820 And Livy, perhaps more subtly, placed the
theory in the rhetorically prophetic words of Antiochus, noting that the ordained rise of
Rome would involve the fall of the eastern kingdoms.821 Less subtle, however, was
Livys use of 146 BCE as the endpoint for his first fifty books, which had begun with
Aeneas landing in Italy.
Polybius would have appreciated this continued tradition for 146 though
perhaps with criticisms along the way of historical inaccuracies. For the legendary status
and symbolic significance of 146 remained distantly linked to his interpretation of history
and of imperial power in general, of Romes position with respect to these, and of the
818

Vell. 1.12.5-6; Livy Per. 51.

Dion. Hal. 1.2-4.1, 1.74.1 = FGH 566F60 (38yrs before the First Olympiad = 814 BCE). Cf. Kramer
(2005); Purcell (1995).
820 Vell. 1.6.6, 1.12-13, and 2.1ff.; Kramer (2005).
821 Livy 37.25.5-7 (cf. Polyb. 21.11.1-2).
819

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elusive mystery that 146 presented as a potential tipping point. And so, we conclude with
the final words of the Histories, as quoted by the Constantinian excerpts, De Sententiae
(39.8.6-7):
,
:

,
.
students, by this treatment [of the shared history of the whole world], will
attain the best and most salutary result, which is to know how and by what system
of polity the whole world was subjected to the single rule of Rome an event
without any parallel in the past.
Thanks to Polybius, 146 BCE has become forever tied to a very human drive to consider
a particular form of history that is universal rather than merely specific, its interpretation
always left for redefinition and reapplication, in a striving to make sense of the
intersections of the political, from individual to international, across the millennia.

347

Appendix
INTRODUCTION
The following sections are included as a general introduction to the various
schools of thought that have developed and continue to evolve within the wider
discipline of international relations (IR) theory. They are intended to serve as a reference
point for the IR approach taken in this study, which is best categorized as a normative
constructivist analysis. The major schools of thought are traditionally divided into the
following groups, which then have their own range of sub-groups: Realism vs. Idealism /
Liberalism (as the old oppositional dichotomy); Neorealism and Neoliberalism;
International Political Economy (IPE); and Postmodernist International Society (IS) and
(Normative) Constructivism.

REALISM & IDEALISM

The prescriptions directly derived from a single image [of IR] are incomplete
because they are based upon partial analyses. The partial quality of each image
sets up a tension that drives one to the inclusion of others... One is led to search
for the inclusive nexus of causes.
-- Kenneth Waltz822
For Kenneth Waltz in 1959, the study and practice of international politics was a
seemingly limitless and exponentially diverse field, in need of an explanatory theory that
could pull together a complete, overarching, and multifaceted picture. Twenty years later,
he proposed such a nexus, known (and still influential) today as structural realism.823 In
822

Waltz (1959: 229-230).

See Waltz (1979). Note that Eckstein (2006, 2008) is deeply influenced by Waltzian realism see
above, pp. 28ff.
823

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the thirty years since, however, this theory has grown into simply another image, not an
inclusive nexus. For it has become increasingly apparent that no single or monolithic
form of scientific (that is, completely objective) theory can adequately encapsulate all of
international politics, across time or space.824 Instead, with greater openness, scholars and
practitioners are looking to the possibility of multiple nexuses, which may pull together
the various images of IR in different ways, at different times and with different meaning.
Such eclecticism not only recognizes the (in some cases, long-standing) contributions of
various schools of thought, but also explicitly explores their intersecting histories, their
overlapping and conflicting perspectives, and seeks to negotiate and/or recombine them
in order to raise new questions and solve new problems. The current study embraces such
an eclectic approach, to both the study of IR and the study of ancient civilization.
Beginning with IR theory, then, we will first map out the sub-disciplines of the field
using standard definitions, before breaking these down and laying the groundwork for a
more eclectic form of political realism, employed in the current study of 146 BCE.
Within the discipline of international relations theory, five major sub-disciplines
or approaches have evolved over the past few centuries. They are generally known as: (1)
realism; (2) liberalism; (3) international political economy (IPE); (4) international society
(or the English School); and (5) constructivism. Within each of these categories, there
exists a particular history of development, a range of manifestations, and even internal

824

In fact, scholars (though not yet a majority) are breaking theoretical rank and seeking to explore the
interfaces between, and build bridges across, problematics and analyses originally constructed within
seemingly incommensurable research traditions. The quote is from Katzenstein and Sil (2008: 110), citing
the following examples of growing eclecticism: Berstein et al. (2000); Makinda (2000); Sil and Doherty
(2000); Dow (2004); Zrn and Checkel (2005).

349

debate(s) regarding the position and future course of the sub-discipline. As a result, sets
of theories have developed within each sub-discipline, which communicate and even
intersect with each other. For example, as we will see, the neorealist and neoliberalist
approaches both represent a positivist and empirical turn, and despite different
emphases regarding competition and cooperation, both look to structure as fundamental
in IR. It is at such intersections that contemporary eclecticism can make theoretical and
methodological headway, as it recombines once alienated, though in essence
corresponding perspectives. This in turn is an evolving process, and in many ways began
with the formation of the last three sub-disciplines listed above (IPE, international
society, and constructivism). Each of these has developed in the wake of and now
crisscrosses a once standard dichotomy between realism vs. liberalism, as the original
traditions in IR theory.
The typical assumption, persistent today, that realism and liberalism are stark
alternatives is due largely to the disciplinary foundations of IR and the way in which
early realists and idealists became framed as mutually exclusive positions.825 The formal
creation of IR as a distinct academic subject, with its own university departments and/or
programs began in the wake of World War I, in which the labels of realist and idealist
became increasingly charged with divisive and highly politicized meaning.826 The
standard synopsis of interwar IR theory characterizes the period as essentially idealist,
825

Cf. Bell, ed. (2008: 12), who notes that, we are often presented with highly distorted accounts of
disciplinary history, and earlier (on the same page) that, There is no antithesis between realism and
liberalism per se.
826 Cf. Jackson and Srensen (2007: 31ff.); Sharp (2007: 261, 263, 268). Schmidt (1998) and Ashworth
(2006) are both excellent reviews of the complexities and confusions in the evolution of interwar realism
and idealism.

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and posits that the subsequent events precipitating WWII largely discredited idealist
principles in favor of realism.827 However, such a summary is the product of decades of
rhetorical oversimplification, often traced back to E.H. Carrs (often misunderstood)
critique of the interwar period.828 Theorists and practitioners split, roughly along
conservative and liberal lines, in their approach to the new League of Nations,829 between
those who continued to adhere in some fashion to state-centric and power-balancing
politics, and those who were concerned with achieving an integrated (i.e. capitalist
democratic) international community and set of organizations/ institutions.830 After 1931,
in response to the rise of fascism and mistakes of the West, the debate became ever more
polarized as idealists were criticized for busying themselves with paper safeguards,831
while realists were accused of using the League to continue an outmoded world order.832
In the years since, the divided disciplines have assumed key points of departure, which,
although extremely generalized (if not superficial), serve as the guideposts for
827

See Morgenthau (1946); Herz (1950); Kennan (1951); Thompson (1960); and more recently, Guzzini
(1998: 5-6); Donnelly (2000: 28); S. Whitworth in Reus-Smit and Snidal, eds. (2008: 397); Bell, ed. (2008:
12).
828 See Jones (1998: 3). Though completed in 1939, Carrs book, The Twenty Years Crisis, 1919-1939,
was not published until 1946. Until the 1930s, realism and idealism were not very common or technical
labels in IR scholarship, and were used quite inconsistently. For example, Brailford (1923: 4) used them to
refute both supporters of pre-war diplomacy (as realists) and those who thought the Great War an
opportunity for a new world order (as idealists). Only a year later, the same author used the terms realist
and idealist to describe methods of thought both necessary for good policymaking cf. Brailsford (1924:
9). On the changing connotations of realism and idealism, see Ashworth (2006).
829 Cf. Schmidt (1998: 440-445); Bluntschli (1880, 1921); Lieber (1885); Treitschke (1970 reprint);
Willoughby (1918); Ellis (1920); Laski (1921); Krabbe (1922); Coker (1924); Merriam (1924); Garner
(1925: 18); Dickinson (1926); Burgess (1933); Follett (1934). For more on evolving notions of sovereignty,
see MacCormick (1995); Kukathas (2008); Prokhovnik (2008).
830 Ironically, many affirmed liberals increasingly lost faith in the League of Nations, which they saw as
perpetuating pre-war type diplomacy see Ashworth (2006: 307). For more on the so-called democratic
peace thesis both in support and in critique see Doyle (1983); Fukuyama (1991); Layne (1994); Levy
(1989); Owen (1994); Waltz (2000: 6-13); Eckstein (2006: 72); Sharp (2007: 265ff.).
831 Brailsford (1933)
832 Carr (1939/1946: 5).

351

understanding the history and current shape of debate. And as in the ancient historians
debate over Roman imperialism, once dichotomized between defensivists and
offensivists, the various IR schools of thought must first be unpacked before a more
nuanced modern IR theory can grant a new, and more productive analysis of 146 BCE as
a moment in ancient international relations. The goal is also to introduce classicists to the
wide range of approaches being developed in current IR theory, an area of study that
informs and questions the manner in which political processes take place, and requires
experts in ancient history to add their voice to the mass of available source material. The
main schools of thought in IR can thus be summarized as follows:833

REALISM & NEOREALISM

1.

From the broadest perspective, realism is associated with a pessimistic view of

human nature. According to this view, human reason is limited, often tragically
so, when combined with egoism and pride. Mankind is also thought to be driven
by an animus dominandi, a will to power, by which individuals and groups
enjoy taking advantage over and avoiding the domination of others. Such
human nature realism is often referred to as biological or classical, the latter term
used to extend the realist tradition back to pre-modern roots.834

833

Good introductions can also be found in Elias and Sutch (2007); Jackson and Srenson, eds. (2007).
Biological realists expressing these views: Niebuhr (1932: xx, 6, 23; 1944: 19); Carr (1939/1946: 231);
Morgenthau (1946: 192-193, 202-203; 1948: 4). Though not a biological realist, Waltz does make similar
assumptions regarding human behavior cf. (1979: 175). Contemporary realism is making a return to the
emotional/irrational elements discussed by biological realists cf. Ross (forthcoming).
834

352

2.

At their heart, realist theories emphasize that international relations are about
power politics, with power being the means and the end in survival. As a result,
competition and conflict are persistent, even inevitable features of political
history.835

3.

Connected to the conception of power politics is state centrism that is, the
notion that national security and state survival are of primary importance.
Theorists with traditional views on the state as sovereign are proponents of this
feature of realism. They perceive the state as the primary political institution
worth protecting, for it alone can guarantee citizen safety and prosperity. Among
structural (or neo)-realists, state-centrism has been translated to an emphasis on
great powers as leaders in the international arena, if only by virtue of their
greater capability distribution, responsible for directing international politics
(including its organizations and institutions).836

4.

State-centrism then links with an overall realist skepticism regarding the notion of
progress, especially in international politics, when compared to the domestic
sphere. For structuralists (especially in the US), this concept has been enshrined
as international anarchy, the belief that lasting, centralized government, although
for some perhaps desirable, is in fact impossible and even antithetical to interstate

835 A

small section of examples: Schumann (1941: 9); Morgenthau (1948: 17); Schwarzenberger (1951:
147); Waltz (1979: 186); Gilpin (1986: 305); Mastanduno (1997: 88); Wohlforth (1999: 10-18); Guzzini
(2000: 55); Mearsheimer (2001: 55); Schmidt (2005: 529).
836 Some examples of realist state-centrism: Morgenthau (1954: 4-10); Waltz (1979: 73, 81-82, 97, 118);
Jervis (1989: 38-40); Stein (1991: 431-451); Snyder (1997: 20-33); Schweller and Priess (1997: 15-23);
Mearsheimer (2001: 34-36). Keohane (1986: 164-5) actually defined the realist core as containing three
assumptions: state-centrism, rationality, and power.

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relations. For this reason, some theorists promote realism as more objective and of
transcendent validity, since the fundamentals of human nature and anarchic
international environment remain constant across time and space.837

LIBERALISM (IDEALISM AND NEOLIBERALISM)

1.

In the simplistic dichotomy between realism and liberalism, the latter group
presents a generally positive view of human nature and faith in human reason,
especially regarding the application of rational principles to international affairs.
Such optimism corresponds with a belief in civil and economic progress,
modernization, and globalization as improving the scope and need for
international cooperation. An important feature of liberal debate thus focuses on
the directions of progress how much, of what sort, with what limits, for whom,
etc.838

2.

In contrast with traditional, especially biological or classical realism, liberalism

also posits that while individuals are somewhat self-interested and competitive, it
is more important to note the shared nature of their interests. These commonalities
allow human beings to seek mutual, even long-term benefits and engage in
collaborative social action, on both domestic and international levels.839

3.

Like realism, liberalism is strongly rooted in state-centrism. However, unlike

realism, the liberal paradigm of state sovereignty is more Lockean than

837 E.g.

Swarzenberger (1951); Waltz (1979: 66); Glaser (1997: 171); Elman and Elman (1997: 9); Cronin
(1999); Copeland (2000b: Ch. 8); Mearsheimer (2001); Eckstein (2006).
838 Cf. Pollard (1971: 9-13).
839 See overview in Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 98ff.).

354

Hobbesian, with states guaranteeing liberty and happiness as constitutional

entities (Rechtsstaaten), rather than as concentrations and instruments of force or
power (Machtsstaaten).840
4.

Lastly, while some liberals acknowledge that international anarchy is a problem,

all agree that progress, human rationality, shared interest, and constitutional
statehood can make war and conflict avoidable. Despite debate over the
magnitude of the obstacles,841 liberals believe that Rechtstaaten especially
democratic, capitalist republics842 can come to tolerate and even respect each
other, giving way to agreed-upon legal configurations of international law and
even government.843 In a methodological turn that parallels the development of
structural neorealism, neoliberals have taken a more behavioralist or scientific
approach to quantifying and tracking the development of international institutions
and interdependence. They have and in many ways continue to emphasize the
processes by which functional, transnational activities (e.g. trade), formal
international organizations (e.g. WTO, EU, OECD), and less formal regimes
forge multiple, beneficial links of mutual advantage, long-term cooperation, and

840

On the Hobbesian view of sovereignty (in contrast with Locke), see McClelland (1996: 193ff.);
Ahrensdorf (2000); Yurdusev (2006).
841 Cf. Smith (1992: 204).
842 On processes of democratization and the democratic peace thesis, see Lake (1992); Schweller (1992);
Srensen (1992); Russett (1993); Thompson (1996); Lipson (2003). For a recent critique, see Rosato
(2003).
843 The eighteenth-century philosophic roots of such arguments can be found in Jeremy Bentham (who
coined the phrase, international law) and Immanuel Kant (who posited that republics could ultimately
establish perpetual peace).

355

shared information and/or values.844 In contrast to the realist position,

international institutions are not so much governed by great powers with the
highest capability distribution, but are the expression of complex multilateral ties
of economic and political interdependence.845
Such basic oppositions between realism and liberalism represent decades of
disciplinary entrenchment. Over the decades, however, such division has become less and
less useful. Overly schematic on the surface, the dichotomy is actually riddled with
shared tradition and complementary visions. In the resulting maze, it has become almost
impossible to pin down what is political realism and what is political idealism/liberalism
(the latter being the more preferred term today). Both contain paradigms that give
primary force to domestic factors, and others that emphasize international ones.846 Both
emphasize power to some extent and contain multiple forms of defining that power. Both
include theorists who try to quantify political relations, using economic, geographical,
manpower, technological and other indexes.847 And both include theorists with a broad
spectrum of views regarding sovereignty, the role and position of the state, of law, and of
intervention and/or the use of force.

844

Examples include Haas (1958); Keohane and Nye, eds. (1975, 1977); Deutsch et al. (1957); Young
(1986, 1989); Keohane (1989); Rosecrance (1986, 1995, 1999); and recently, Moravcsik (2008).
845 For multilevel governance and a recent survey of the debates regarding neoliberal institutionalism,
see Stein (2008a, and b, respectively).
846 Some examples... Realists with a domestic emphasis: Morgenthau (1946), Katzenstein (1978), Snyder
(1991); with an international one: Hoffman (1965); Waltz (1979); Mearsheimer (2001). Liberals with a
domestic emphasis: Doyle (1983), Schweller (1992), Srensen (1992); with an international one: Rittberger
(1993), Adler and Barnett (1996).
847 These are primarily the neorealists and neoliberals. See Bearce and Fisher (2003) for a more recent (and
cross-disciplinary) approach to quantifying interdependence and conflict.

356

The result, then, has been a whole set of new approaches, such as IPE,
international socialism, and constructivism. These approaches, though at times presented
as alternatives to realism and/or liberalism, are in essence a response to the need for more
complex analyses of divergent problems. Known as post-positive and critical theories,
they reflect a (post-modern) world in which simple dichotomies, such as East-West,
primitive-modern, and domestic-international have lost much of their original force.848
New approaches thus aim to reveal the multiple facets of such linked issues as state
partition, disintegration, and reconstruction, transnational terrorism, ethnic/religious
conflict, international intervention, and global economy. A simple set of law-like
principles is no longer adequate and is even dangerously one-sided in such a context. As
a result, theorists have turned to methodologies that rest on the proposition that people
conceive, construct, and constitute the worlds in which they live, including the
international world, which is an entirely human arrangement.849 Their various emphases
are described in the sections below.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY (IPE)

IPE was one of the earliest forms of critical theory, and it developed as an
offshoot of so-called neo-Marxism, focusing on the use of economic power to exploit,

848

The term Frankfurt School is sometimes used as a label for critical theory, since it was developed by
a group of German scholars in the US. They argued that social laws are not permanent in world politics or
economics, but are constructions of time and place, forever biased morally, politically, and ideologically.
See Horkheimer (1972); Habermas (1972); and more recently, Honneth (2004).
849 Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 292); Smith et al. (1996).

357

oppress, and even impoverish the post-colonial Third World.850 In many ways, it
dovetails neatly with the economic interpretations of the Third Punic War.851 Beginning
in the early 1970s, the concept of dependence was used to evoke and condemn the
apparently conscious underdevelopment of poorer nations by wealthy capitalist ones.852
Both liberal and realist IR scholars adopted elements of this critique, and over the
years have forged a unique sub-field highlighting the relationships between economics
and international politics. The labels liberal and realist remain however, and somewhat
superficially frame some of the debates. Liberal IPE is generally associated with the
tradition of Adam Smith, and posits that human prosperity can be achieved, through freemarket global expansion of capitalism.853 By contrast, realist IPE is traced back to the
nineteenth-century German economist, Friedrich List, and the belief that economic
activity should be put in the service of building a strong state and supporting national
interest.854 On an international level, then, realist IPE is associated with the labels of
mercantilism and economic nationalism, for its stance that the smooth operation of a free
market ultimately depends upon the presence of a strong international political power or
hegemon.855 However, this simplistic divide often goes unrecognized outside the US, and
some scholars have begun to claim that IPE itself should be approached as an adjacent,

850

For a good review of Marxism, its relationship with IR theory, and the development of IPE as a subdiscipline, see Teschke (2008: 163-187). In general, see Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 50-52).
851 See the introduction - above, pp. 15ff.
852 Cf. Frank (1967); Wallerstein (1974, 1983).
853 E.g. Friedman (1962). See Smith (1776/1976).
854 Cf. Ravenhill (2008).
855 E.g. Gilpin (1987).

358

rather than subordinate, field to IR theory.856 For the purposes of the current study, the
confusions and occasional narrow focus of IPE will be avoided. Instead, economic
relations will be recognized as inherent to the processes of power, but will not be the
primary angle of focus.

TOWARDS AN ECLECTIC APPROACH: INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY IR THEORY

In order to cross the artificial divide between realism and liberalism, and meet the
need for a more multivalent approach in addressing the complexities of IR, a variety of
new alternatives have been developed over the past few decades. Among these is the socalled International Society approach, or English School, known for its origins within UK
universities.857 From the Cold War era onward, international society (IS) theorists have
derived a different form of IR theory from behavioralist or scientific forms found in the
US, which often heightened the (neo)- liberal-realist divide.858
Instead, IS differs in two key ways. First, it rejects deductive analysis seeking
law-like paradigms, and favors a more holistic approach based on human understanding,
norms, and history. Second, it rejects making any firm distinction between strictly realist
and liberal views (both important elements in the present study).859 IS does acknowledge
that realism, both classical and structural, represents an important perspective in
recognizing the self-interested and competitive elements in human nature, the continued
856

See the recent overview in Ravenhill (2008).

Cf. Jones (1981). -- Finnemore; Epp; Reus-Smidt; Wendt.
858 Leading scholars of the English School, 1950s-1980s: C. Manning, H. Bull, A. Watson, and J. Vincent.
From the 1990s onward: B. Buzan, A. Hurrell, R. Jackson, E. Keene, A. Linklater, R. Little, J. Mayall, H.
Suganami, and N. Wheeler. Cf. Dunne (2008: 267).
859 Cf. Sterling-Folker (2002). See also Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 46-50) for a general overview.
857

359

importance of states (however defined), and the significance of such problems as

international hierarchy (or lack thereof), power, security, and survival. At the same time,
it critiques some elements of traditional realism, and in doing so, represents a promising
new angle for debate.860 It questions the potentially one-sided focus of arguing against
liberalism, and instead posits that the complete picture of IR should address the multiple
features of human nature, including those that lead to cooperation, and the elements of
order in the jungle of IR.861 Rather than pure anarchy (as posited by structural
neorealism), the English School suggests that international politics occur within a
societal/group context. Bull and Watson summarize well, characterizing such
international society as:
a group of states (or, more generally, a group of independent political
communities) which not merely form a system, in the sense that the behaviour of
each is a necessary factor in the calculations of the others, but also have
established by dialogue and consent common rules and institutions for the
conduct of their relations, and recognize their common interest in maintaining
these arrangements.862
International society scholars also recognize the role played by transnational
actors that is, individuals and (more marginally) IGOs and NGOs.863 In essence, they
graft traditionally liberal concepts, such as progressive international law and
institutional/economic cooperation, with key realist notions of national interest and power
capability. They also emphasize the character of international politics as a historical
860

Cf. Jackson and Srensen (2007: 89).

The term anarchical society was first popularized by Hedley Bull (1977) to describe a system of
independent states sharing common interests and values, rules and institutions in dealing with each other.
This concept combines realist claims of international anarchy with a liberal emphasis on shared concerns
and organizations.
862 Bull and Watson (1984: 1).
863 IGO = intergovernmental organization; NGO = non-governmental organization.
861

360

dialogue, with an ongoing dialectic between political thought and action, ideology, and
constructions of the past.864 In doing so, IS scholarship represents a fruitful perspective
that crosses disciplinary bounds, and allows for consideration of ancient politics within
changing processes of human political interaction across time and space.

POST-MODERNISM & CONSTRUCTIVISM

Another key development in IR studies has been influenced by so-called postmodernism, a trend in thought arising out of the rejection of French existentialism in the
late 1940s and 50s, but only entering political theory in the 1980s.865 Like other critical
theorists (examples in IR include IPE and international society), post-modernists are keen
to point out the conceptual prisons constructed by scholarship. In particular, they focus
on notions of modernity and progress whether based on liberal, Kantian enlightenment
or realist, Waltzian science as intellectual illusions, inescapably subjective in
conception. As a result, one of post-modernisms most important contributions is to rehighlight the inter-relations of power and knowledge in human social interaction. As
Steve Smith has aptly noted,
All power requires knowledge and all knowledge relies on and reinforces existing
power relations. Thus there is no such thing as truth, existing outside of power.
To paraphrase Foucault, how can history have a truth if truth has a history?
Truth is not something external to social settings, but is instead part of them.866

864

Martin Wight, a leading proponent of the IS approach, has noted that IR scholarship itself represents a
dialogue between three political philosophies, resurrected/redefined across history realism (Machiavelli),
rationalism (Grotius), and revolutionism (Kant) cf. Wight et al. (1991).
865 A leading example of post-modern theory applied to IR can be found in Ashley (1996: 240-253). For an
overview, see Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 294-296).
866 Smith (1997: 181).

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Rather than envisioning absolute truths, then, post-modernism is skeptical, and

posits that neither a single theory nor set of universally moral institutions can be
fashioned to fit, i.e. be just and fair in the eyes of all humankind (and certainly not for
all time). When taken to extremes, post-modernism can tend toward nihilism, but in its
more moderate forms, it has served as the driving force for one of the most promising
recent trends in IR theory, known as constructivism.867
Nicholas Onuf first introduced constructivism to IR, coining the term to capture
the essence of inter-subjectivity in all human (and hence international) interaction.868 The
underlying thesis is that individuals and groups construct their reality, by relating
different values and conceptions to the more objective elements of physicality and shared
insight (i.e. concept) around them. In its more moderate form,869 constructivism joins
international society theory in bridging the realist-liberal divide. It does so by reemphasizing the nature of power as a social process, which in turn involves elements that
are both material (i.e. of military/economic capability) and ideational (i.e. ideological
and legitimizing).870 In reconnecting physical and conceptual forms of power,

867

Cf. Hopf (1998, 2002). On the more critical side, of (de)-constructivism (essentially placing ideas
over physical power), examples include Der Derian (1987); Tickner (1992); Walker (1993); George (1994);
Campbell (1998); and Linklater (1998). On the more moderate, conventional side (placing ideas and
power in co-relation), examples include Katzenstein (1996); Reus-Smidt (1997); Adler and Barnett (1998);
Ruggie (1998a); Checkel (1998); Wendt (1999); and Finnemore (2003).
868 Cf. Onuf (1989). Good introductions to the history of constructivism include Barnett (2005); ReusSmidt (2005); and Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 53, 164-176).
869 Critical constructivists tend to oversimplify the distinction between constructivism and realism on these
very grounds, rejecting realism as essentially materialist cf. Hurd (2008a: 300-301). However, this is a
damaging misrepresentation, since the realist tradition includes much discussion of ideational factors,
especially in its classical/biological form. On the convergence of realism and constructivism, see Barkin
(2003) and Jackson, ed. (2004).
870 For more on the ideational focus of constructivism, see Wendt (1992: 394; 1995); Finnemore (1996,
2003); and Weldes (1999) (the latter two discussing the historical formations of national interest). See also

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constructivism has derived much inspiration from the sociological notion of

structuration, which is used to analyze the relationships between structures and
actors.871 According to the principle of structuration, structures the rules and
conditions guiding social action do not predetermine an actors behavior in a
straightforward or mechanical manner. Instead, structures are inter-subjective, and
despite their constraints on actors, they can be transformed. In acting and/or thinking on
structures in various and/or new ways, actors can subtly or drastically shift the nature of
their constraints.
A central example is the structure of sovereignty, a significant organizing force in
political relations across history, but of vastly different conception. As forms and
perceptions of state as corporate entity have changed, so have the definitions of
sovereignty, in placing authority, rights, and obligations over or within citizens, territory,
and law.872 Structuration thus allows for the study of historical change that gray area
once avoided by disciplinary battles for supremacy and paves the way for a closer
investigation of how shared, intersecting, and conflicting identities, interests, and thought
(Zeitgeist) are created, transformed, and eliminated over time and space. For this reason,
some scholars have joyfully used the label emancipatory to describe constructivisms
potential to liberate current political thought from at least some of the outmoded

Tannenwald (2005: 15), who divides the ideational into four main types: (1) ideologies (shared belief
systems); (2) normative beliefs (principles of right and wrong); (3) cause-effect beliefs (guidelines for
means-end strategies); and (4) policy prescriptions (programmatic ideas regarding policy issues).
871 Cf. Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 163), and Giddens (1984), who first used the term structuration.
For more on how constructivisms approach to power can serve as a useful additive to structural realism,
see Barkin (2003).
872 Cf. Biersteker and Weber (1996); Prokhovnik (2008).

363

strictures of Westphalian statehood and its concomitant IR theory.873 Such theory really
a perspective rather than a set of paradigms offers more dynamic possibilities for future
study, whether into security as an issue on multiple levels (not just national), into interest
as defined in intersecting, even contradictory ways, or into the inter-relations of political
philosophy, action, and historical interpretation.

NORMATIVE IR THEORY
At this juncture, constructivism dovetails with another theme among the
alternatives to the divide between realism and liberalism: normative theory.874 Echoing
much of the scholarship in international society and constructivism, normative theory is
not so much post-positive that is, transcending behavioralism and social science as it
is pre-positive. In many ways, it returns to the humanistic and holistic approaches of
classical realism (and classical liberalism), in that it looks to the inseparability of human
rational and irrational features.875 It is at once modern and pre-modern, being part of a
long history of political thought that has re-evaluated and responded to the texts of
ancient Greece, Rome, the medieval period, and onward. In its modern sense, normative

873

See Booth (1991), who first developed so-called emancipatory theory. See also Linklater (1989). For an
overview, see Jackson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 90-92). Please note that constructivists remain divided,
between those who perceive neorealist anarchy as fundamental (e.g. Cronin (1999)), and those who take a
post-anarchy view (i.e. including elements of international/transnational authority) (e.g. Ruggie (1998a,
b); Barnett and Finnemore (2004: Ch. 1); Hurd (2008b)). The current study advocates a balanced approach,
characterizing all politics as inherently heterarchic.
874 I characterize normative theory as a theme, because its content and purpose are so closely related to
both international society and constructivism, that to draw the lines between them too deeply would only
damage their theoretical potential.
875 Cf. Finnemore and Sikkink (1998). The term classical here refers to the post-war era of realism,
including scholars such as Morgenthau, Carr, and Niebuhr. Recent work has also resurrected the topic of
human emotion, as at once rational and irrational, and as a main driving force in political interaction and
power relations cf. Ross (forthcoming).

364

theory is quite similar in usage to the Greek word, nomos (custom), especially in its
inclusion of a contextual moral dimension in IR, and in its wider questioning of meaning
and interpretation in the issues of international order, war and peace, justice and injustice,
diplomacy and intervention.876 Norms represent standards of behavior in a web of
expectations, sometimes shared, sometimes conflicting, and enforced both formally and
informally.877 Many positivist/structural IR scholars draw a distinction between their own
empirical theories and normative ones, characterizing the latter as exclusively
prescriptive. This oversimplification has translated into a general equation of norms with
non-existent ideals (as opposed to facts). However, most normative theorists do not
agree with this definition, and for the present study, the meaning of norms will be closer
to the ancient Greek term nomos encompassing social conventions that are at once
about facts (i.e. formal and informal rules and practice) and about values.878 And because
political interactions are constrained by limited rationality that is, a degree of
uncertainty in interpretation, and emotional response in decision-making normative
theory offers a crucial tool for understanding frameworks of conceivable and/or

876

Leading normative IR theorists include Nardin (1983); Brown (1992); Frost (1996); Jackson (2000).
See also Brown, Nardin, and Rengger (2002).
877 For definitions of norms in IR, see Jepperson (1991); Thomson (1993); Axelrod (1986); Florini (1996);
Jepperson et al. (1996: 54); Katzenstein (1996); Raymond (1997); March and Olsen (1998); Ruggie (1998a,
1998b). Some scholars also use the term rule systems, defined as the steering mechanisms through
which authority is exercised... Rule systems have spheres of authority (SOAs), through a range of
formal (i.e., consitutional/legal) and informal (i.e. repeated practice) means. Cf. Rosenau (2004: 31-32).
878 Note that normative theorists rightly point out that even positivist/empirical theories are themselves
inevitably based on values/evaluative assumptions. Cf. Jaskson and Srensen, eds. (2007: 297-299).

365

acceptable action, and for assessing events such as the outbreak of war and the practice of
violence in this case, 146 BCE.879
Normative frameworks are not static, however. At different times and in different
contexts norms develop and transform as collective understandings of the proper
behavior of actors.880 As such, they include elements of prescription, characterizing
certain behavior as proper, and of description, achieving collective understandings
through regular patterns of behavior and/or communication between actors.881 At their
most concrete, then, norms can become formalized as institutions and as manifestations
of international order.
In order to understand how and why certain norms develop instead of others,
scholars have turned to evolutionary theory.882 Norms are thus classed as memes, the
cultural equivalent of genes as the basic unit of transferred, encoded data.883 Certain traits
and/or types of behavior are thus selected according to the environment (international/
domestic/ transnational), with advantage for the norm itself (i.e. its survival and
growth).884 The evolutionary model of norm development thus allows for complexity,
both in the expression of norm variation and in the transfer of essentially acquired
879

Cf. Finnemore (1996); Rosenau (2004).

880 Legro (1997: 2).
881 Some scholars employ a distinction between behavioral and deontic to describe the active and
conceptual expressions of norms (cf. Raymond 1997: 218-219, with citations), but this is perhaps too
limiting.
882 The evolutionary theory applied is not Darwinian in the sense of late 19th-early 20th century emphases
on fitness as embedded superiority. Instead, it takes a contextual approach, envisioning fitness in terms of
advantage for a specific environment (in both time and space). See Florini (1996) for more on developing
evolutionary normative theory.
883 Dawkins (1989: Ch. 11) first coined the term meme to describe this cultural type of replicator, or item
that copies, transmits, and expresses (coded) information.
884 Selection is thus not directly tied to human survival, although if the norm were lethal to all hosts, it
would obviously not last.

366

characteristics. When presented by a number of different norms, then, a population may

be polymorphic that is, some actors may follow one norm and others follow another
or an individual may pursue a mixed strategy. What determines a norms success is its
relevance to the social environment(s) at hand, its acceptability and applicability, and
eventually, its popularity across a growing number of existing communities. As a cultural
phenomenon, the development and shift in norms represents a set of processes that may
be gradual or sudden, coerced or organic, and at once rationally and emotively
produced.885 Therefore, while norms serve as the building blocks of group identities,
shared practices, and cultural/ethical values, they are remote from a groups genetic
evolution.886 Norms may operate on another plane of reproductive success or failure, but
these events are not completely detached from the success or failure of the population(s)
practicing and modifying them. Perhaps for this reason traditional realists have had so
much trouble assigning motivational assumption to international politics, and have ended
with the rather unenlightening syllogism that all state interest is ultimately about
survival.887 They have been asking the wrong question, and looking in the wrong
direction for their answers, as human survival and the evolution of norms are uniquely
linked and are both contextually, historically based. The same problems, and the same
possible solution, exist for the study of Roman imperialism vis--vis 146 BCE.
In the development and transfer of norms, three factors in particular are said to
determine the spread of a new (i.e. contested) norm: (1) prominence; (2) coherence;
885

As Douglas (1986) notes, human actors do not consciously assess every action and choice that they
make, and even when they do, may be unconsciously following normative habits.
886 Cf. Gellner (1992: 14).
887 Cf. Donnelly (2000: 52-56).

367

and (3) environment.888 Prominence is a relational phenomenon, through which a norm

first emerges to gain notice and a foothold over other, pre-existing norms.889 Norms may
achieve prominence via the isolation and/or heightened visibility of a certain population,
as well as through active promotion. In the first instance, particularly powerful,
prestigious, and/or rising groups/states have an edge in determining which norms will
become conspicuous. In the second, key individuals and/or groups (known in normative
theory as entrepreneurs) endorse new norms, and play an important role in framing
them.890 Entrepreneurs use a frame to fix meanings, organize experience, alert others
that their interests and possibly identities are at stake, and propose solutions to ongoing
problems.891 However, power, influence, and promotion are not enough for a norm to
thrive. The norm must also have coherence that is, it must interact well or fit with an
environment of other prevailing norms.892
This last attribute also known as resonance describes the relative strength of
a norm that possesses greater compatibility with and reinforcement from its surrounding
norms.893 Discussion of normative coherence in turn intersects with Weberian debates
regarding legitimacy, both as a means for setting out criteria for the right to rule, and

888

Cf. Florini (1996: 374-377). For a recent application of this model, see Fisher (2006-2007).
For norm emergence and the stages of norm influence, see Sunstein (1997).
890 E.g. Nadelmann (1990). Entrepreneurs may be single actors, but are often networks or groups see
Keck and Sikkink (1998). See also Snow et al. (1986), who use the term frame alignment processes to
describe the development of prominence.
891 Barnett (1997: 25). See also Payne (2001: 39). For more on the rational/ strategic aspect of norm
promotion, see Axelrod (1986); Bernheim (1994); Fearon and Laitin (2003).
892 Cf. Florini (1996); Thomas (2005: 27-28, 31); Fisher (2006-2007: 742).
893 For the term resonance, see Lumsdaine (1993); Keck and Sikkink (1998).
889

368

for understanding the beliefs of those subject to rule.894 As a cluster of coherent norms
that establish membership and/or consensus within a society (international or otherwise),
legitimacy at once reflects the physical capability and evaluative acceptance of
authority.895 Any new norm of legitimacy (as with any other new norm) must therefore fit
into the pre-existing web of shared understandings of what constitutes acceptable
behavior for the context at hand.896
A wide variety of mechanisms and forms of social praise and censure drive a
norms decline or its emulation and growth.897 Once a norm or set of norms reaches broad
acceptance (in what is known as a norm cascade), it becomes internalized as a new
social/cultural standard, either informally or formally delimited.898 In their continuing
processes of transformation, norms both affect and are affected by the politics of
individuals and transnational actors (first level), the politics within states (second level),
and between states (third level).899 All actors state and otherwise are thus concerned
simultaneously with shifting their behavior to match the rules (formally and informally

894

For overviews of legitimacy and political theory, see Barker (1990); Beetham (1991). On the Weberian
tradition and legitimacy, see Clark (2003: 79-80). On legitimacy and norms, see Franck (1990).
895 See Wight (1977: 153). On legitimacy as a social consensus, with no element of coercion, see Hurd
(1999). For a constructivist realist approach combining consensus and coercion (soft and hard forms of
power, respectively), see (among others) Tarrow (1994); McAdam (1996); Linklater (1998); Payne (2001).
896 On norms and this so-called logic of appropriateness (including explicitly inappropriate action
framing some new norms), see Finnemore and Sikkink (1998); March and Olsen (1998).
897 Cf. Scott (1971); Ullman-Margalit (1977); Opp (1982); Axelrod (1986); Florini (1996); Finnemore and
Sikkink (1998: 902). On the importance of identity, esteem, and competition in IR, see Feldman and
Stenner (1997); Rubin and Hewstone (1998); Brewer (2001); Fearon and Laitin (2003); Spinner-Halev and
Theiss-Morse (2003).
898 For more on the three-stage life-cycle of norm influence (emergence, cascade, and internalization),
see Nadelmann (1990); Sunstein (1997); Finnemore and Sikkink (1998). For another example, see the
proposed spiral model of Risse et al. (1999), who explore the ways in which compliance is achieved out
of repression and internalization.
899 See Cortell and Davis (1996); Tarrow (2001).

369

defined), and in reconstructing the rules to condone their behavior.900 On the dynamics
between domestic and international norms in particular, there are some differences in
emphasis. Some scholars study the role of domestic norms in shaping international ones,
and others study the reverse.901 However, making too much of a primary focus on one or
the other misses the degree to which norms can converge among a large number of highly
varied states, or to which domestic and international concerns interrelate in directing the
course of foreign policy. From this angle, the ethics of international behavior, of law
and statecraft, and of the decisions of states-people and governing institutions can be
addressed from multiple angles.902 And in an important connection with (social)
constructivism, such normative theory recognizes that the actions of states and statespeople help shape the norms of international life, which in turn serve to define, socialize,
and influence them.903 In a feedback loop, then, institutions, states, and individuals are
redefined and re-constrained by the actions taken by themselves and others, and by the
evaluations these receive (i.e. legitimizing or not).
Turning to conflict (especially international), norms play a number of roles: in
defining the tension between cultures and national identities, in the convergence and
contestation of norms as they come into contact with each other, and in defining the

900

Cf. Thomas (2001); Hurd (2007).

Emphasis on the role of domestic norms: Finnemore and Sikkink (1998); Cortell and Davis (2000: 66);
Hooghe (2005). On international norms, see Florini (1996: 366).
902 E.g. Nardin (1983); Jackson (2000).
903 For the constructivist origins of this proposition, see Onuf (1989: Ch. 1); Wendt and Duval (1989: 5173); Wendt (1992, 1994); Klein (1994: Ch. 1-2); Cortell and Davis (1996); Finnemore (1996: Ch. 1);
Katzenstein (1996: 1-32); Jepperson, Wendt, and Katzenstein (1996: 33-75); Adler (1997: 338-340);
Hasenclever, Mayer, and Rittberger (1997: 158-167); Reus-Smit (1997); Hopf (1998: 172-173); Ruggie
(1998a: Ch. 1).
901

370

ethics of conflict resolution, identifying appropriate forms of diplomacy, arbitration, and

even resorts to violence.904 Conventionally, however, the concept of normative ethics
playing an expansive role in international politics has been considered problematic in the
least, and antithetical at the most. For the liberal/neoliberal tradition, it represents a
positive goal to be achieved, in mimicry of domestic social order (usually defined
according to the democratic peace thesis). For the realist/neorealist tradition, such
ethical behaviors and rule-systems may range anywhere from pure sham performance
to wholly self-serving leverage for those with the greatest physical capability.
Such a dichotomous approach, though, between absolute morality and interest,
misses the more complex extent to which norms underlie the forms taken by physical
prowess and evaluations of right and wrong (with both positive and negative
outcomes). The location of power and the processes of politics remain contextualized,
conceived in social judgments of morality as much as in quantifiable ways. For this
reason, the perception, for example, of the good in dying for ones country involves an
evaluation that is at once moral and based on collective self-interest (enforced or not). In
other words, a particular set of socialized norms has evolved to define a state as worth an
individuals life, in terms that are at once emotionally and rationally framed. Making
simplistic assumptions regarding pure self-interest as opposed to or even governing
ethics is to deny the central role of changing group dynamics, and of the human ability
for self-sacrifice in the belief that something is right. The need to assure oneself and

904

Cf. Raymond (1980); Sullivan and Siverson (1981); Brecher and James (1986); Snyder (1997);
Raymond (1997); Guidry et al. (2001); Tarrow (2001).

371

others of such truth, both inside and outside the group, drives the manner in which any
structure of power, be it coercive or collaborative, gains and changes shape.
Therefore, as suggested by social constructivist theories, power is best viewed as
a process, the quintessence of politics as a particular form of human social activity
creating and communicating systems of relative order, both quantitative/physical and
qualitative/conceptual.905 Integral to this process are norms, as a grammar of human
societies, inherently defining the interactions within and between groups (including
states).906 In setting formal and informal linguistics, including contextualized ethical
judgments, norms not only color the cooperative aspects of human behavior but also the
violent and destructive ones.907 In the case of the latter, it is as much a form of organized
human social interaction, with its own evolving sets of norms.
More is going on, and needs to be considered carefully, in how people think and
talk about the use of force in IR, and how they strive and even succeed in legitimizing it,
in ways that to outsiders or opponents seem incongruous with the devastation inflicted.
The perceptions and avowals of acceptable instances and people involved in intra- and
inter-group use of force thus not only reflect the morals and values of a particular society,

905

Power is thus defined here as a relational, complex phenomenon, involving social interaction (complete
with norms, identity, and culture), the potentials and effects of physical capability, and elements of
opposition and collaboration. Weber (1921-1922/ 1976: 28) compresses these elements well in his
definition of Macht: the opportunity to have ones will prevail within a social relationship, also against
resistance, no matter what this opportunity is based on. See also Weber (1919/ 1999: 7); Morgenthau
(1960: 5); and Deutsch (1967: 232).
906 On the concept of norms as a grammar of society, see Bicchieri (2006).
907 These last behaviors, however, are least associated with norms by positivist scholars (both neo-realist
and neo-liberal), whose rationalist/materialist approaches have artificially separated morality (as an
absolute) from considerations of power cf. Thomas (2001: 2ff.).

372

but also the structures, practices, and expressions of its power as a political entity.908 In
return, by setting and modifying socialized parameters, norms largely anticipate the who,
what, and how of relative success.909 The key, therefore, is to understand norms as both
the products and sources of power in politics, be they within or across the perceived
bounds of statehood.

908

See, among others, Finnemore (1996) and Price (1997). The term war convention, which derives
from Walzer (1977: 44), is sometimes used to refer to the effects of ethical understanding on the use of
force (on the third-level in particular). For examples dealing with modern history, see Bailey (1972);
Howard (1979); Reisman (1991); Arend and Beck (1993); Howard, Andreopoulos, and Shulman (1994).
Among classical scholarship, the focus is more on international law as a (predominantly classical) Greek
conception, see, among others: Adcock (1948); Bierzanek (1960); Mosley (1973) Karavites (1982);
Missiou-Ladi (1987); Tenekides (1993); Nakategawa (1994); Bederman (2001); Piccirilli (2002);
Butkevych (2003); Chaniotis (2004); Low (2007). On relation of Greek laws to Rome: Ager (1996);
Bauman (1996); Amelotti (2002); Phillipson (2001); Martini (2002); and Giovannini (2007).
909 As noted by Osiander (1994: 11), physical and conceptual norms set the political game: i.e., who
shall play, what the board will look like, and what moves are acceptable.

373

Abbreviations
ArchEph
Austin1/ Austin2

BAC

B-D2
BCH
Burstein
Byrsa I
Byrsa II
Byrsa III
Cedac
Corinth I-XX
Curty
CAH
CRAI
Dlos
Dorandi
FGrH
FIRA
Fornara
Gonnoi
Green

Archaiologike ephemeris.
The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest: A
Selection of Ancient Sources. M.M. Austin. 1st edition
(1988); 2nd edition (2006).
Biblioteca di Antichit Cipriote. Roma, 1971-.
The Hellenistic Period: Historical Sources in Translation. 2nd ed.
R.S. Bagnall and P. Derow, 2004.
Bulletin de Correspondance Hellnique.
The Hellenistic Age from the Battle of Ipsos to the Death of
Kleopatra VII. S.M. Burstein., 1985.
Byrsa I : rapports preliminaires des fouilles (1974-1976), sous la
direction de Serge Lancel. J.-M. Carrie et al. (eds.). EFR,
1979.
Byrsa II : rapports preliminaires des fouilles (1977-1978), niveaux
et vestiges puniques, sous la direction de Serge Lancel. S.
Lancel et al. (eds.). EFR, 1982.
Byrsa III : rapport sur les campagnes de fouilles de 1977 a 1980,
la basilique orientale et ses abords. Pierre Gros. EFR,
1985.
Cedac (Centre dtudes et de Documentation Archologique de la
Conservation de Carthage) Carthage Bulletin. 1978-.
Corinth Volumes. ASCSA. 1929-2003. Available online at:
http://www.ascsa.edu.gr/index.php/publications/browse-byseries/corinth
Les parents lgendaires entre cits grecques. Olivier Curty, 1995.
Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 1-21, 1971-2005.
Comptes rendus des sances - Acadmie des inscriptions & belleslettres.
Exploration Archologique de Dlos. Fasc. I-XXX. V. Grace et al.,
1970.
Anaxarchi Democritei Fragmenta, in Atti e Memorie
dellAccademia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere La
Colombaria 59. T. Dorandi, 1994, pp. 9-59.
Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. F. Jacoby, 1923-.
Fontes Iuris Romani Antejustiniani, I-III. 1941-3.
Archaic times to the end of the Peloponnesian War. C. Fornara,
1983.
Gonnoi. I: La cit et son histoire. II: Les inscriptions. B. Helly,
1973.
From Alexander to Actium: The Hellenistic Age. Peter Green,
1990/3.
374

IC
I.Dlos
I.Delphi
IG
IGRR
I. Lampsakos
ILLRP
I. Magn.
ISE
LSAM
Milet

Inscriptiones Creticae, I-IV. M. Guarducci, 1935-50.

Inscriptions de Dlos. 1926-.
Fouilles de Delphes, III: pigraphie. G. Colin, 1909-.
Inscriptiones Graecae. 1903-.
Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes. ed. Cagnat.
Die Inschriften von Lampsakos. P. Frisch, 1978.
Inscriptiones Latinae Liberae Rei Publicae. ed. Degrassi.
Die Inschriften von Magnesia am Mander. ed. Kern, 1900.
Iscrizioni storiche ellenistiche III. F. Canali de Rossi, 2001-.
Lois Sacres de lAsie Mineure. ed. Sokolowski, 1955.
Milet. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem
Jahre 1899. 1906-.
Mller
Geographi Graeci Minores. Karl Mller, 1855.
OGIS
Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae. W. Dittenberger, 1903-5.
Olympia
Olympia V. Die Inschriften. Ed. Dittenberger-Purgold, 1896.
ORF
Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta. Heinrich Meyer, 1832.
P.Hamb.
Griechische Papyrusurkunden der Hamburger Staats- und
Universittsbibliothek. I-IV, 1911-1998.
P.Oxy
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vols. I-LXXV. Egypt Exploration
Society in Graeco-Roman Memoirs, London.
Ramon
Las nforas Fenicio-Pnicas del Mediterrneo Central y
Occidental. J.Ramon Torres, 1995.
RC
Royal Correspondence in the Hellenistic Period. C.B. Welles,
1934.
RDGE
Roman Documents from the Greek East. ed. R.K. Sherk, 1969.
RE
Realencyclopdie der Classischen Altertumwissenschaft. PaulyWissowa.
REG
Revue des tudes Grecques.
Robert, Documents Documents dAsie Mineure. Louis Robert, 1987.
Roman Statutes
Roman Statutes (BICS Suppl. 64). ed. M.H. Crawford, 1996.
RRAM
Roman Rule in Asia Minor. D. Magie, 1950.
RS
Roman Statutes. M.H. Crawford, 1996.
Ruggiero, Diz. Epigr. Dizionario epigrafico di antichit romane. Ettore de Ruggiero,
1895.
SEG
Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum. 1923-.
SNG-DEN
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum Denmark.
Staatsvertrge
Die Staatsvertrge des Altertums. H.H. Schmitt, 1969.
SVF
Stoicorum veterum fragmenta. H. von Arnim. Leipzig, 1903-5.
Syll.3
Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum3. ed. W. Dittenberger, 19151924.
Walbank, Comm.
A Historical Commentary on Polybius. I-III. F.W. Walbank, 19571974.
ZPE
Zeitschrift fr Papyrologie und Epigraphik.
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