Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments xiii

List of Credits xv

1 To 336: Four Peninsulas and a Delta 1

Timeline 1

Principal Themes 1

1.1 Introduction 2

1.2 Bronze Age Connections and Dark Age Divisions 4

1.3 Resurgences of the Early Archaic Age 7

1.4 Political Innovations of the Archaic Age 8

1.5 Greeks vs. “Barbarians” 11

1.6 Athenian Prosperity and its Discontents 12

1.7 The Rise of Macedonia 15

1.8 Conclusions 16

Further Reading 17

2 To 336: Roman Origins and Institutions 19

Timeline 19

Principal Themes 19

2.1 Introduction 20

2.2 Italy in the Bronze and Dark Ages 20

2.3 The Roman Monarchy 21

2.4 The so‐called Struggle of the Orders 25

2.5 Roman Diplomacy and Empire in the Early Republic 28

2.6 Early Roman Society 31

2.7 Conclusion 33

Further Reading 33

3 To 321: Alexanders in Asia and Italy 35

Timeline 35

Principal Themes 35

3.1 Introduction 36

3.2 The Ascent of Olympias and her Family 36

3.3 One Alexander, in Asia 37

3.4 Another Alexander, in Italy 41

3.5 In Egypt and Mesopotamia 43

3.6 Absolute Power 45

3.7 The Second Samnite War 48

3.8 Imperial Styles: Persia, Rome, and Macedonia 49

3.9 Conclusions 50

Further Reading 50

4 To 295: An Elusive Equilibrium 51

Timeline 51

Principal Themes 51

4.1 Introduction 52

4.2 The Limits of Alexander’s Mystique 52

4.3 The Infrastructure of Conquest in Roman Italy 56

4.4 Athens under Demetrius of Phaleron 57

4.5 Other Western Powers: Syracuse and Carthage 59

4.6 Political Epiphanies 60

4.7 New Philosophies of Politics and Participation 63

4.8 The Battle of Ipsus and its Aftermath 64

4.9 Rome vs. Italy at the Battle of Sentinum 65

4.10 Conclusions 67

Further Reading 67

5 To 264: The Path of Pyrrhus 69

Timeline 69

Principal Themes 69

5.1 Introduction 70

5.2 The Education of Pyrrhus 70

5.3 The Collapse of Demetrius Poliorketes 71

5.4 Pyrrhus and Rome 74

5.5 Pyrrhus and Sicily 79

5.6 Celtic Migrations to Asia Minor 79

5.7 Alexandrian Erudition 80

5.8 The Mediterranean Without Pyrrhus 81

5.9 Conclusions 83

Further Reading 84

6 To 238: The Three Corners of Sicily 85

Timeline 85

Principal Themes 85

6.1 Introduction 86

6.2 The Origins of the First Punic War 87

6.3 The New Roman Navy 89

6.4 The Emergence of Minor Kingdoms in the Hellenistic East 90

6.5 Romans in North Africa 93

6.6 Boxing Matches, Part 1: The Ptolemies and the Antigonids 94

6.7 Boxing Matches, Part 2: Rome and Carthage 94

6.8 Boxing Matches, Part 3: The Ptolemies and the Seleucids 96

6.9 No Peace 97

6.10 Rome’s Cultural Melange 98

6.11 Conclusions 100

Further Reading 100

7 To 201: The Expanding Roman Horizon 101

Timeline 101

Principal Themes 101

7.1 Introduction 102

7.2 Historicism in Literature: Naevius and Apollonius of Rhodes 102

7.3 Rome’s New Neighbors 104

7.4 Successors to the Successors 105

7.5 The Origins of the Second Punic War 107

7.6 Rome’s Initial Failures 109

7.7 Adolescent Kings in Syria and Egypt 110

7.8 The Five Fronts of the Second Punic War 111

7.9 Rome, Triumphant and Transformed 113

7.10 An Imperial Culture 116

7.11 The End of the Second Punic War 117

7.12 Antiochus III Becomes “Great” 117

7.13 Conclusions 118

Further Reading 118

8 To 186: Hercules and the Muses 119

Timeline 119

Principal Themes 119

8.1 Introduction 120

8.2 Philip V Faces East, Then West 120

8.3 “Freedom of the Greeks” 122

8.4 Romans in Spain 124

8.5 The Roman Wars with Antiochus III and Aetolia 124

8.6 Rome and the Other: Embrace and Rejection 129

8.7 Conclusions 131

Further Reading 131

9 To 164: Hostages of Diplomacy 133

Timeline 133

Principal Themes 133

9.1 Introduction 134

9.2 Rome as Referee 134

9.3 The Power of Pergamon 135

9.4 A New Balance of Power in the East 137

9.5 Spain as the Laboratory of Empire 138

9.6 The Plight of Perseus 138

9.7 The Sixth Syrian War and the “Day of Eleusis” 140

9.8 The Year 167 141

9.9 Three Celebrations 143

9.10 Outsiders Regarding Rome 146

9.11 Conclusions 148

Further Reading 148

10 To 133: The Price of Empire 149

Timeline 149

Principal Themes 149

10.1 Introduction 150

10.2 Internationalized Family Networks in Rome 150

10.3 Royal Pretenders 154

10.4 The Morality of Empire 156

10.5 The Carthage‐Corinth Coincidence 157

10.6 The Roman Reorganization of Egypt, 145–139 159

10.7 Economic Crisis and the Rise of the Tribunate 161

10.8 The Reforms of Tiberius Gracchus 163

10.9 Conclusions 164

Further Reading 165

11 To 101: The “New Men” of Rome and the Mediterranean 167

Timeline 167

Principal Themes 167

11.1 Introduction 168

11.2 Aristonicus and the People of Pergamon 168

11.3 Paos, Harsiese, and the People of Egypt 169

11.4 Gaius Gracchus and the People of Italy 171

11.5 Adherbal vs. Jurgurtha, in Numidia and in the Roman Senate 173

11.6 Marius and the People of Rome 175

11.7 A Celtic Resurgence 176

11.8 Shifts Among the Ptolemo‐Seleucids 176

11.9 Mithridates VI 177

11.10 So‐called Pirates and Bandits 179

11.11 Conclusions 179

Further Reading 180

12 To 79: Boundless Violence 181

Timeline 181

Principal Themes 181

12.1 Introduction 182

12.2 Marius and Saturninus, Cornered by/in the Senate 182

12.3 The Cappadocian Throne: Mithridates VI vs. Rome 183

12.4 The Origins of the Social War 184

12.5 Attempts to Recover Asia Minor 186

12.6 The Conclusion of the Social War 186

12.7 The Resurgence of Mithridates 187

12.8 Sulla Seizes Command 188

12.9 Genocide, of a Form, in Asia Minor 189

12.10 The Sack of Athens 190

12.11 Sulla’s Dictatorship 192

12.12 Conclusions 196

Further Reading 196

13 To 63: Extraordinary Commands 199

Timeline 199

Principal Themes 199

13.1 Introduction 200

13.2 Sertorius, Mithridates, and the “Pirates” 200

13.3 Spartacus 202

13.4 Rome Steadily Consolidates 204

13.5 The Consulship of Crassus and Pompey 205

13.6 Lucullus and the Origins of the Third Mithridatic War 206

13.7 Tribunes and Imperial Commands 207

13.8 Pompey Becomes “Great” 209

13.9 Rome in the Absence of Pompey 211

13.10 The Conspiracies of Catiline and Cicero 213

13.11 Conclusions 214

Further Reading 215

14 To 52: The World According to Pompey 217

Timeline 217

Principal Themes 217

14.1 Introduction 218

14.2 Pompey’s Pompa 218

14.3 The so‐called “First” Triumvirate 220

14.4 Clodius’s Imperial Tribunate 222

14.5 Poets and Politicians 224

14.6 The Scandal of the Alexandrian Embassy 226

14.7 Caesar in Gaul 226

14.8 The Return of Cicero 227

14.9 Displaying the “Exotic” 229

14.10 Challenges to the Triumvirate 231

14.11 Conclusions 232

Further Reading 233

15 To 44: Roman Alexanders 235

Timeline 235

Principal Themes 235

15.1 Introduction 236

15.2 Pompey’s Sole Consulship 236

15.3 A Planned Eastern Mission, Divisive and Unrealized 238

15.4 The Start of a New Civil War 239

15.5 Siege and Sojourn in Alexandria 241

15.6 Caesar in Asia, Then Africa 242

15.7 A Month‐Long Triumph 244

15.8 Caesar’s Hellenistic Capital 246

15.9 Conclusion: Caesar Exits a World 248

Further Reading 248

Epilogue: Not the End 249

Ep.1. New “Funeral Games” 249

Ep.2. The Second Triumvirate 251

Ep.3. The Return of Cleopatra and the Ptolemies 252

Ep.4. The End of the Roman Republic, but Not of the Hellenistic Mediterranean 254

Index 257

About the Author

JOEL ALLEN, PHD, is Associate Professor of History and Classics at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and Executive Officer of History at the Graduate Center.