53. Death of Nabis: Livy 35.35–36. Cartledge, Paul and Spawforth, Anthony, Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A Tale of Two Cities, 2nd edition (Routledge, 2002), pp. 70–72.
Chapter 8
1. While the canonically version of the Aeneid was composed by Vergil during the Augstan age, Cato the Elder already made Aeneas central to his Latin history of Rome. (Servius on the Aeneid 1.267, 4.620, 6.760). The mid-Republican Roman poets Naevius and Ennius also made Aeneas the grandfather of Romulus: Naevius et Ennius Aeneae ex filia nepotem Romulum conditorem urbis tradunt. (Servius on the Aeneid 1.273). While mid-Republican poets differed from the later Vergilian account on the details, the basic Trojan connection was well established.
2. Appian Syrian Wars, 46. Livy 35.45.9.
3. For the relationship between Antiochus III and Athens, and the possibility of Seleucid benefactions to the city, see Habicht, Hellenistic Monarchies, 157–164.
4. Livy 35.50.4
5. Livy 35.23–24
6. Antiochus takes Chalcis: Livy 35.50–51.
7. Thessalian blitz: Livy 36.9
8. Burial of Macedonian skeletons at Cynoscephalae: Livy 36.8
9. Further Thessalian operations: Livy 36.10.
10. Livy 30.40.9.
11. The Latin term ‘province,’ provincia, at this point referred less to a specific geographic region with set, than to a specific ‘tasking’ or ‘area of operations.’
12. The standard biography is Astin, A.E., Cato the Censor (Oxford, 1978).
13. Fabius Maximus and Scipio Africanus had been two of Rome’s greatest generals during the 2nd Punic War, but had clashed vehemently about military strategy. The elderly Fabius wished to maintain a defensive strategy of attrition. Scipio favoured an aggressive invasion of Africa (commanded by himself, of course). Scipio’s policy prevailed, but the ensuing popularity and prestige attached to the victorious Africanus excited significant jealousies in rival factions.
14. Cicero (De Senectute 32) explicitly states that Cato was a military tribune, not a legate. The imperial author Frontinus (Strategems, 2.4.4) also describes him as an ‘elected military tribune (tribunus militium a populo). In the future, senior advisors to Republican generals would usually serve as ‘picked’ legati, rather than elected military tribunes.
15. Livy 36.14, Appian, Syr. 17.1.
16. Ogden, Polygamy argues that Laodice was still very much alive, although some scholars point to the emphasis of Laodice in the establishment of the royal cult may suggest that she passed sometime before 194 BC.
17. Ibid. 137–138.
18. Ibid.
19. For an overview of ancient sexuality, based largely on Roman medical texts, see Rousselle, Aline, Porneia:On Desire and the Body in Antiquity (Blackwell, 1993).
20. Polybius 20.8.4 (Athenaeus 10.439.c-f.) καὶ τοὺς γάμους συντελῶν ἐν τῇ Χαλκίδιαὐτόθι διέτριψε τὸν χειμῶνα, τῶν ἐνεστώτων οὐδ’ἡντινοῦν ποιούμενος πρόνοια.
21. On the marriage with Euboea: Polybius 20.8. 1–5; Livy 36.11.1–4; Appian Syrian Wars, 16; Diodorus 29.2. Plutarch Flameninus 16.1–2. Gruen, Coming of Rome, 637.
22. Athenaeus 10.439 C οἰνοπότης ὢν καὶ μέθαις χαίρων.
23. ORF(3), Fragment 20. Astin, Cato the Censor (op.cit), 149. Antiochus epistulis bellum gerit, calamo et atramento militat.
24. Baebius had a force of approximately 25,000 men, to which Acilius added 10,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. (Livy 36.14.1) Some soldiers, however, would have subsequently returned to Rome for discharge, while others would have been assigned to garrison duty. Acilius’ field army consisted of 22,000 men, 20,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry.
25. Livy 36.14.
26. Herodotus 7.215.
27. Herodotus 7.200–7.238.
28. This despite Cato’s own hostility toward Greek culture. Cato had served in Sicily, and was good friends with the trilingual poet Ennius, who according to one source tutored him in Greek. Plutarch (Cato the Elder 12.5) indicates that Cato spoke to Greek audiences in Latin through an interpreter, but could have, if he wished, addressed them in fluent Greek.
29. Diodorus 16.37–38.
30. Diodorus 18.12.2–4.
31. Pausanians, 10.19–20.
32. Bar Kochba, Seleucid Army, 161.
33. Livy 40.34.5; Valerius Maximus 2.5.1. The Temple was dedicated ten years later in 181 BC.
34. Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 14.1.
35. Battle of Thermopylae: Appian, Syrian Wars, 18–20, Plutarch, Cato Maior, 13–14. Livy. 36. 15–19.11, Polybius 20.8.6. Bar Kochba, Seleucid Army 158–163.
36. For Roman Logistics, see Roth, Jonathan, The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (Brill, 1999) and Erdkamp, Paul, Hunger and the Sword (Brill 1998).
37. Livy 36.15.
38. Polybius 20.10.
39. There is no evidence that Laelius was bitter for the loss of his command, as he later praised Scipio’s character to Polybius. The Laelii and Cornelii Scipiones maintained close ties, so that two generations later, Scipio’s adopted grandson Aemilianus was close friends with the Laelius’ grandson, also called Gaius Laelius.
40. The best book on the naval history of the Republic remains Theil, J.H., Studies on the History of Roman Sea-Power in Republican Times (North Holland Publishing Company, 1946) and Grainger, Roman War: 247–306, both upon which the following sections of naval affairs are heavily indebted. See also Grainger, John, Hellenistic and Roman Naval Wars: 336–31 BC (Pen and Sword, 2011).
41. Polybius 10.29.3. Grainger, Prosopography :114.
42. Battle of Cissus: Livy 37.4
43. Polyxenidas assault on Samos: Livy 37.10–13.
44. Livy 37.9.7
45. Salinator attacks Lycia: Livy 37.16.
46. Aemilius war council: 37.19.
47. Achaean moment of glory: Livy 37.20.
48. Livy 37.21.
49. Battle of Side: Livy 37.23–24.
50. Livy 37.22.2.
51. Battle of Myonnesus: Livy 37.27–30. For a more detailed discussion of the naval aspects of the Syrian War, see Theil, J. H., Studies on the History of Roman Sea-Power in Republican Times (North Holland Publishing Company, 1946), 293–372.
52. Appian, Syrian Wars, 23.
53. Ibid.
54. Heraclea ad Latmos: Austin Hellenistic World, No. 202. Ma, Asia Minor, 366–67.
55. Appian, Syrian Wars 29 is incorrect in identifying this son as Scipio Aemilianus, who destroyed Carthage. This Publius Cornelius Scipio obtained the office of praetor, but his political career was derailed by ill health. He did, however, adopt the son of Aemilius Paullus, the future Scipio Aemilianus ‘Africanus’. Appian is merely off by a generation.
56. Livy 37.34–35, Polybius 21.13–15. Appian Syr, 29. Gruen, Coming of Rome, 639.
57. Livy 37.34.
Chapter 9
1. Cf. Appian Syrian Wars 32.
2. Livy 37.37. Appian, who is either summarizing Livy, or possibly Livy’s source Polybius, rounds Antiochus’ strength up to 70,000 (Syrian Wars 32).
3. Bar Kochba, Seleucid Army, 9, 168.
4. Livy, 37.39.
5. Appian (Syrian Wars, 31) generally confirms these numbers, rounding them to 30,000 altogether, including 3000 Achaean peltasts and 3000 cavalry. Bar Kochba Seleucid Army: 165.
6. Sekunda, Nicolas, The Republican Roman Army (Osprey, 1996) provides a well-illustrated but still substantial introduction to the army of the Roman Republic. Erdkamp, Paul (ed.) A Companion to the Roman Army (Wiley Blackwell, 2007) provides a summary of current scholarly work. The locus classicus for the equipment of a Roman soldier is Polybius 6.19–23.
7. On the archaeological evidence for the Roman sword, Quesada-Sanz, Fernando. ‘Gladius Hispaniensis: an Archaeological View from Iberia’, Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies, Vol. 8, 1997 (pp. 251–270).
8. Varro, de Lingua Latina, 5.89. Agite nunc, subsidite omnes quasi solent triarii.
9. I hope to publish my thoughts soon on the tactical arrangement of the Roman legions.
10. Livy 8.8.5–9.
11. Polybius 18.30.8. The passage in Polybius has been variously interpreted, but the best reading would mean that each Roman soldier has a frontage of six feet, some of which is shared with the soldier next to him. The ‘file width’ of each Roman soldier in open order was therefore approximately 4.5 feet (.1.35 m).
12. Harl, Kenneth. ‘Legion Over Phalanx’ in Howe, Timothy and Reames, Jeanne (eds) Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza (Regina Books, 2008), 275 correctly assigns credit for command to L. Scipio.
13. Livy 37.41.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid.
16. Justin 38.8.6. Bar Kochba, Seleucid Army, 170.
17. Livy 37.4.3
18. For the confrontation of legion and phalanx, Polybius 18.29–32. Taylor, Michael ‘Fear the Phalanx’ MHQ The Quarterly Magazine of Military History, Winter 2011, Sabin, Philip, ‘The Face of Roman Battle’, Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 90, 2000, pp. 1–17.
19. Livy 26.51.
20. Livy 37.44.1.
21. Grainger, Roman War, 328 estimates a minimum of 10,000 KIA on the Seleucid side. However, Antiochus suffered 10,000 KIA at Raphia against the Ptolemies, and the Romans proved more aggressive than most ancient armies at pursuing slaughtering survivors once enemy formations were shattered. For comparison, Hannibal suffered 20,000 KIA at Zama, while Perseus lost some 20,000 KIA at Pydna. Although these numbers are rounded, they are generally considered accurate.
22. Polybius 21.16.1.
23. Livy 38.13.8–10.
24. Wells, RC # 44.
25. Orosius 11.119, Cohen, Getzel, The Seleucid Colonies: Studies in Founding, Administration and Organization (Steiner, Franz Verlag, 1971), 82.
26. Livy 38.37. Ma, Asia Minor.
27. Hannibal fled the Seleucid court to that of Prusius of Bithynia, where he committed suicide in 183 BC.
28. Antiochus’ total indemnity to Eumenes was therefore 477.2 talents.
29. Polybius 21.43.
30. Livy 38.39.
31. It is possible to view the so-called ‘trial of the Scipios,’ supposedly for embezzlement, as a Roman tax revolt, as Scipio’s political enemies were emboldened by a populace weary from the costs of on-going wars, as well as a expensive program of road building in Italy itself. The refund effected by Vulso can perhaps be seen as the conclusion of the ‘tax revolt’.
32. Sachs and Hungar λd # 187. Kurht and Sherwin White, Samarkhand, 216.
33. Diodorus 28.3.1, Strabo 16.1.8, Justin 32.2.1.
34. Because of imprecision about Antiochus’ precise regnal years, sources vary at the total length of his reign. Appian (Syrian Wars, 66), claims thirty-seven years. The Babylonian King list (below), reports of a reign of thirty-five years, although this dates from the formal proclamation in Babylon, and not Antiochus actual assumption of rule two years previously.
35. BM 35603. Text and translation by Bert Van Der Spek, available online at www.livius.org, s.v. ‘Babylonian Kinglist from the Hellenistic World.’
Chapter 10
1. Late payment: Livy 42.6.7. Attempt to despoil Temple of Yaweh: 2 Maccabees 3.11–13.
2. Appian, Syrian Wars 45.
3. Sekunda, Nicholas, Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC (Foundation for the Development of Gdansk University, 2006), 84–86.
4. On the Battle of Pydna, Hammond, NGL ‘The Battle of Pydna’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 104, (1984) 31–47.
5. On the ‘day in Eleusis’ Polybius 29.2, Livy 44.19.13, Diadorus 31.1.1, Justin 34.3. Gruen, Coming of Rome, 689–692.
6. Granius Licinianus 28.6.1 (Critini).
7. Appian, Syrian Wars 66; Polybius 31.9; Diodorus Siculus 31.18; 2Mac. 1.14.
8. Josephus, AJ, 12.258.
9. Polybius 31.2, Appian Syrian Wars, 46–47.
10. Polybius 32.2–3.
11. Even Demetrius’ friend Polybius admitted that he was often drunk for much of the day (Polybius 33.19/Athenaeus 10.440B).
12. Army size: Justin suggests 80,000 soldiers, which if rounded up is not implausible (compare 72,000 at Magnesia and 68,000 at Raphia). Reports of hundreds of thousands of camp followers are undoubtedly false exaggerations.
13. Kurht and Sherwin White, Samarkhand, 222.
14. For a political history of the collapse of the dynasty, see Bellinger, Alfred. ‘The End of the Seleucids’, Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 38, 1949, also Habicht, Hellenistic Monarchies, 174–242 (=CAH II, vol. 8 324–87).
15. Diodorus 40.2–4, Appian Syrian Wars, 70.
16. Ὃτι Ἀντίοχος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐδόκει κατὰ μὲν τὰςἀρχὰς γεγονέναι μεγαλεπίβολος καὶ τολμηρὸς καὶτοῦ προτεθέντος ἐξεργαστικός, προβαίνων δὲ κατὰτὴν ἡλικίαν ἐφάνη πολὺ καταδεέστερος αὑτοῦ καὶτῆς τῶν ἐκτὸς προσδοκίας.
Appendix II
1. Grainger, Prosopography, 36–37.
2. Grainger Prosopography, 22–26.
3. Grainger, Prosopography, 45.
4. Ibid, 8.
5. Ibid, 71.
6. Grainger, Prosopography, 44, 71; Livy 37.44.6.
Selected Bibliography
Adcock, F.E., The Greek and Macedonian Art of War, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957.
Ager, Shiela, ‘Familiarity Breeds: Incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty’, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol 125 (2005), 1–24.
Allen, R.E., The Attalid Kingdom, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.
Aperghis, Makis, The Seleukid Royal Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Archibald, Zofia H., Davies, John, Gabrielsen, Vincent and Oliver, Graham (eds.) Hellenistic Economies New York: Routledge, 2001.
Astin, Alan E., Cato the Censor, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1978.
Austin, Michael, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest (2nd Edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
— ‘War and Culture in the Seleucid Empire’ in War as a Cultural and Social Force, (Tonnes Becker Nielsen and Lise Hannestad, eds.), Det kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 2001.
Badian, Ernst, ‘Rome and Antiochus the Great: A Study in Cold War’, Classical Philology, Vol 54 No 2. (April 1959) pp. 81–99.
Bagnall, Roger S., The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions Outside Egypt, Leiden: Brille, 1976.
Bagnall, Roger, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association, Vol. 146, No. 4 (2002), 348–362.
Bar Kochba, Bezalel, The Seleucid Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
Bevan, Anthony, The House of Seleucus: A History of the Hellenistic Near East, Edward Arnold, 1902.
Bevan, E.R., ‘Antiochus III and His Title ‘Great King’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 22 (1922), pp. 241–244.
Bickerman, E.J., Institutions Des Seleucides, Paris, 1938.
Bilde, Per, et al., Religion and Religious Practice in the Seleucid Kingdom, Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1990.
Billows, Richard, Antigonus the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990.
— Kings and Colonists: Aspects of Macedonian Imperialism, Berkeley: UC Press, 1995.
Brunt, P.A., Italian Manpower: 225 BC–AD 14, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Bugh, Glenn R. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Burton, Paul, Friendship and Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Carney, Elizabeth and Ogden, Daniel (eds.) Philip II and Alexander: Lives and Afterlives, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Carsana, Ch
iara, Le Dirigenze Cittadine nello Stato Seleucidico, Como: Bibloteca di Athenaeum, 1996.
Ceccarelli, Paola, ‘Kings, Philosophers and Drunkards: Athenaeus’ Information on the Seleucids’, in K. Erickson and G. Ramsey (eds.) Seleucid Dissolution The Sinking of the Anchor, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012.
Champion, Craige Brian, Cultural Politics in Polybius’ Histories, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
Chaniotis, Angelos, War in the Hellenistic World: A Social and Cultural History, Oxford: Malden, 2005.
Cohen, Getzel, The Seleucid Colonies: Studies in Founding, Administration and Organization, Steiner: Franz Verlag, 1971.
Coudry, Marianne and Humm, Michel, Praeda. Butin de guerre et société dans la Rome Republicaine/Kriegsbeute und Gesellschaft im republikanischen Rom, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009.
Dabrowa, Edward (ed.) Orbis Parthicus: Studies in Memory of Professor Jozef Wolski, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, 2010.
Debevoise, Neilson, A Political History of Parthia, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Dmitriev, Sviatoslav, The Greek Slogan of Freedom and Early Roman Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
— ‘Antiochus III: A Friend and Ally of the Roman People’, Klio, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2011). pp 104–130.
Downey, Glanville, A History of Antioch in Syria: from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.
Dreyer, Boris Die romische Nobilitatsherrschaft und Antiochus III: (205 bis 188 v.Chr), Hennef: Buchverlag Marthe Clauss, 2007.
—How to Become a ‘Relative’ of the King: Careers and Hierarchy at the Court of Antiochus III. American Journal of Philology, Vol 132, no 1. Spring 2011, pp 45–57.
Duindam, Jeroen, Artan, Tulay, and Kunt, Metin (eds.) Royal Courts in Dynastic States and Empires: A Global Perspective, Brill, 2011.
Eckstein, Arthur, Senate and General: Individual Decision Making and Roman Foreign Relations, 264–194 BC, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987.
— Moral Vision in the Histories of Polybius, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
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