Pompey cel Mare !

 1-Acest articol este copiat .

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1.

ANTE DIEM TERTIVM CALENDAS OCTOBRES SESCENTI NONAGINTA DVO AB VRBE CONDITA (September 29, 61 B.C.), CNÆVS POMPEIVS MAGNVS (Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus) celebrates its third triumph, for his victories on pirates and the end of the Mithridatic Wars

POMPEIVS MAGNVS (Pompey the Great), was commissioned to conduct a new war against Mitridate VI King of Pontus, in the East in 66 BC), thanks to LEX MANILIA, proposed by the TRIBVNVS PLEBIS (Tribune of the plebe) CAIS MANILIVS (Gaius Manilius), and politically supported by IVLIVS CÆSAR (Julius Caesar) and Cicero. The latter in particular exalted in SENATVS (Senate) the greatness of POMPEIVS (Pompey) defining him as one who "has done more campaigns than others have read, has conquered more provinces than others have not wanted".

This command entrusted to POMPEIVS (Pompey) essentially the conquest and reorganization of the entire Eastern Mediterranean, having the power to proclaim the peoples of the client and the enemy peoples with unlimited power never before conferred on others, and attributing to them all the military forces beyond the borders of Roman Italy. This position was the second in which IVLIVS CÆSAR (Julius Caesar) expressed himself in favor of POMPEIVS (Pompy).

Having understood that it was necessary to continue the war against Mithridates, he made the necessary preparations, recalling also the Valerian legion. Arriving in Galatia, coming from the south after passing through the "gates of Cilicia", he met LVCVLLVS (Lucullul) on the way back to a village in this region (in Danala near the Trocmi people.

The campaigns lasted from 66 B.C. at 62 b.C. and were led by POMPEIVS (Pompey) with such military and administrative capacity that, Rome annexed much of Asia under a firm control. POMPEIVS (Pompey) not only destroyed Mithridates, but also defeated Tigrane the great king of Armenia, with whom he later fixed treaties. He conquered Syria, then under the rule of Antiochus XIII, and then moved to Jerusalem, which he occupied in a short time.

He then decided to reorganize the Roman Orient and the alliances that gravitated around it (see Customer Kingdom). In Tigrane II he left Armenia; in Bosnaeus at Farnace; in Ariobarzane, Cappadocia and some neighboring territories; in Antiochus of Commagene he added Seleucia and parts of Mesopotamia he had conquered; in Deyotarus, a tetrarch of Galatia, he added the territories of Minor Armenia, bordering Cappadocia; he made Attalus the prince of Paflagonia and Aristarchus the one of Colchis; he appointed Archelaus as a priest of the goddess worshiped in Comana; and finally he made of Castor of Phanagoria, a faithful ally and friend of the Roman people.

Pompey had not only succeeded in destroying Mithridates in 63 BCE, but also in beating Tigrane the great king of Armenia, with whom he later fixed treaties. POMPEIVS (Pompey) imposed a general reorganization to the kings of the new eastern provinces, intelligently taking into account the geographical and political factors related to the creation of a new frontier of Rome in the East. The last military campaigns had thus reduced Pontus, Cilicia campestre, Syria (Fenicia, Coele and Palestine) to new Roman provinces, while Jerusalem had been conquered. The province of Asia had in its turn been enlarged, it seems to add Frigia, part of the Misia adjacent to Frigia, in addition Lidia, Caria and Ionia. The Pontus was then aggregated to Bithynia, thus coming to form a single province of Pontus and Bithynia. To this was added a new system of "clientele" that included from Armenia of Tigrane II, to the Bosphorus of Pharnaces, to Cappadocia, Commagene, Galatia, Paflagonia, up to Colchis.

With the winter of 63 B.C. -62 B.C. POMPEIVS (Pompey) distributed donation to the army of 1,500 drachmas attic for each soldier, and in proportion to the officers, all for a total cost of 16,000 talents. Then he went to Ephesus, where he embarked for Italy and Rome (autumn of 62 BC).

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Roma vs Mitridade !

 1-Acest articol este copiat .

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1.

3-Gaius-Marius.

Fall of the Republic (Part VII)

“At the height of fame and fortune.”

While 100 BC was noticed at the time for the record unprecedented fifth successive consulship of Gaius Marius, a far more important event was taking place. Aurelia Cotta, a pretty young patrician who had been inundated with suitors, had followed the advice of her uncle, Publius Rutilius Rufus, in choosing her own husband. She thus chose the handsome, although relatively poor, son of Gaius Julius Caesar (not that one!), whose sisters had married Marius and Sulla. Young Julius had already had two daughters with Aurelia, and in 100 BC they would have their only son – Gaius Julius Caesar (yes, that one!), the nephew to Gaius Marius who would go on to deliver the death blow to the terminally ill republic.

But that is all still half a century away! But that is all still half a century away! Marius’ sixth consulship saw the demagogue Saturninus win election as tribune of the plebs, enacting agrarian law to share land among legionary veterans, further enhancing Marius’ reputation, and to for the senate to secure the price of grain so the poor would not be impacted by price fluctuations caused by famine. In order to secure these laws, he included in the bill that the senators had to swear a pledge of allegiance to uphold the law, or face exile and a heavy fine. Ever a man of principle, Metellus Numidicus remained defiant, had his slaves bring dozens of bags filled with silver to the senate to pay the fine, and went into voluntary exile in Rhodes. His son earnt the cognomen “Pius” for his staunch defence of his father, though it was in vain. Saturninus kept pursuing his Populare agenda, and eventually had one of his rivals murdered in public during the consular elections. In the resulting violence and unrest, the senate issued Marius with the ultimatum to quell the violence, as he was the Consul. Keen not to further alienate the Senate and jeopardise his seventh consulship, Marius blocked off the Capitoline Hill which the radicals were on and besieged them, capturing them and locking them in the Senate House to keep them alive. However, Optimate supporters climbed onto the roof, removed the tiles and threw them onto Saturninus and followers, killing them all.

Marius spent some time relaxing at a coastal villa with his wife Julia Caesar, having spent little time with her during the wars of the last decade. When he awoke feeling sluggish one morning, she burst to tears at the sight of a great man unable to move the left side of his body – Gaius Marius had had a stroke. Although he was soon at work making his recovery, his stroke meant that Marius would be unable to contest the next consular election. His star appeared to be on the wane throughout most of the decade, with his opponents even blocking his election to Censor (a post which requires to holder to have been a Consul). Marius opposed the return from exile of Metellus Numidicus, though was ignored as his former commander and rival was welcomed back to Rome, only to die at home soon after.

While Marius was fading, Sulla was in the ascendancy. Returning to Rome, he now found his path clear to be elected as Praetor urbanus – a blessing and a curse, to hold the post in Rome. While he would not have to leave the city and could spend time with his family, he would not be able to amass a personal fortune from overseas (as Marius had done in Hispania), and thus secure his independence from Marius, rather the continuing to effectively be his client. His chance would come in the next year though, when he was elected to the governorship of Cilicia as Propraetor in 96 BC.

Having recovered well from his stroke but now lacking political clout, Marius decided to take an expedition to Pontus. The Senate had received ominous reports of the resurgent kingdom, with King Mithridates VI “Eupator” seeing his kingdom (in central north Turkey) extend across most of the Euxine (Black) Sea. He had also installed his son as the king of Cappadocia, something the Romans could not tolerate. While Rome was not intent on conquering and occupying foreign lands at this stage, it was determined to maintain a balance of various kingdoms and vassals, ensuring there was not one that could rise to prominence and threaten Rome.

Mithridates was a fairly typical eastern king, continuing traditions such as having others prostrate before him, having many wives, and taking his sister as a wife. He was tall, powerfully built man who dressed in a lion skin and believed himself a descendant of Hercules. The Pontic royal court also had the treachery and intrigue of eastern royal families, where it was common for claimants and kings to resort to patricide, fratricide and matricide to ensure their position, even going so far as to kill their own children if they became rebellious. After surviving one such royal purge in his youth, Mithridates had fled to the mountains and survived with tribes, during which he ingested a wide variety of poisons to make himself immune to poisoning. He also would disappear from the court and travel incognito, including spending time in Rome’s Asia Province (south west Turkey) to get an idea of what these fabled warriors were capable of. What he found was a land ripe for revolt, with an oppressive Roman governorship allowing greedy tax farmers to exploit the population. The Senate would tender contracts for tax collecting, so were unconcerned about how much was collected, or how. For example, if the census said Asia Province had 500,000 people would could pay a silver talent each, the Senate would expect 500,000 silver talents, or more, and would sell the contract to whoever bid the highest. It was then down to the contractor to ensure they collected this tax, and made a profit, with little recourse for those who were exploited – as expected, this often led to revolts and unrest.

Rome had Bithynia (on the Hellespont) included as a “Friend of Rome”, which put Pontus in a difficult position as an enemy of Bithynia, though not wanting to provoke the ire of Rome. Hearing of Mithridates’ military build-up, Marius toured through Greece with his family, the arrived at Cilicia where he left them and travelled on with just a guide and small escort to Cappadocia. Arriving after a great battle, he displayed the typical Roman haughtiness in orders Mithridates to bury the enemy dead, rather than let them fester. He then demanded Mithridates return to Pontus, which he scoffed at, saying he could kill Marius there and then, and nobody would know. Marius replied saying that if he dead, there would be legions in Pontus before winter. Mithridates was cowed by the threat and returned to Pontus, but did not dismiss his ambition.

When the Senate heard that Mithridates had installed his son as Cappadocian king following Marius’ departure, and had agreed an alliance with King Tigranes of Armenia, Sulla’s governorship provided him with the opportunity he needed to strike out. With his young son accompanying him, for his wife Lia Caesar had committed suicide, Sulla hastily pulled together four auxiliary legions in Asia Province, and marched these into Cappadocia, where Mithridates had an army almost 100,000 strong. Undeterred by the numerical odds, especially given his service with such odds against him when fighting the Cimbri, Sulla ordered Mithridates to return to Pontus and return the old king to the throne. So awestruck was Mithridates by Roman organisation and building, he agreed, though was becoming increasingly embittered.

Sulla then moved to check Tigranes and prevent him from realising his alliance with Mithridates. He marched his army east, through Armenia, paying for what his army used in a clear show that this was no marauding force. Sulla marched his forces east across the Euphrates, and then deep into Persia to the banks of the Tigris, the furthest east a Roman army had ever been. Tigranes ran to his Parthian masters, and on the banks of the Euphrates, Sulla became the first Roman magistrate to meet with a Parthian emissary, Orobazus. Sulla’s scheming saw him position his seat so that he would look down on his guests, a slight for which Orobazus would later be executed. The two sides agreed that the Euphrates would serve as the boundary betwixt Roman and Parthia spheres of influence, and agreed a peace – somewhat ironic given that, at an intermittent 681 years, the Roman-Persian wars would become the third longest-running conflict in human history. A Parthian prophet told Sulla at this meeting that he would die “at the heigh of his fame and fortune” – a prophecy that he would hold dear for the rest of his life. Having driving Tigranes from Cappadocia, returned the rightful king, seen himself declared “imperator” in the field by his troops, Sulla returned to Rome jubilant – and rich – in 93 BC. He aligned himself with the Optimates, in opposition to Marius’ Populares. Sulla would soon be grateful that his son had gone with him, for after returning to Rome, the child fell ill with fever and died – causing his father to become increasingly reclusive, evading the chance to capitalise on his new success.

Throughout this time in Rome, Marcus Livius Drusus, who had survived the massacre at Arausio, had been living with Young Caepio, each taking the other’s sister as his wife. Drusus had also struck up an unlikely friendship with Silo of the Marsi, who had been with him at the battle. The result of the battle, and subsequent mistreatment of the Italians who had shared Rome’s anguish in defeat and joy in victory, had moved him to a political position of wanting to roll our Roman citizenship widely. Caepio was vehemently opposed to this, as were most of the Optimates, wanting to keep it exclusively for Romans. The two feel apart when Drusus learnt that Caepio had been beating his wife, and Caepio then left to invest his father’s stolen Gold of Telosa into setting up discreet foundry towns in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italia).

Gravitating towards the Populares, Drusus was backed by Marius in winning election as tribune of the plebs. Despite much opposition, he began to push through a series of laws that would culminate in general enfranchisement for all of Italy – giving Roman citizenship to all Italians. Italia had a mix of classes, with Roman citizenship the highest – citizens would always have a trial (in theory), could not be crucified, and enjoyed many other benefits. Beneath them, as a half-way house, was the Latin rights which extended to many. Most though, including prominent tribes like the Maris and Samnites, were just Italian allies. They may provide the bulk of Rome’s armies, but they were overtaxed and got a poor return of war spoils. There was much resentment, and a feeling they should be classed as Roman citizens. Citizenship, and Latin rights, had been rolled out to many towns, though there had been a slowdown in this following the Second Punic War, when many tribes defected to Hannibal.

Drusus was preparing to make his grand announcement to the tribunate, confident they would overrule the Senate and force through his bill for general enfranchisement. He had faced opposition, particularly when it was discovered he planned to make all of Italia his clients, and Young Caepio and Metellus Pius were vociferous in their opposition, desperate to keep Roman citizenship a closed club. Harsh measures had been taken out against the Italians by his opponents, particularly when they falsely detailed themselves as Roman citizens en masse in the latest census, with those who had forged their citizenship flogged and fined. Silo and the Italian allies looked on expectantly, optimistic that he could see the bill through and ensure a peaceful resolution to their quandary. On the day before Drusus was due to present his bill, he was assassinated in a private gathering at his home. The Optimates were delighted – Roman citizenship would not be rolled out, and the sheep farmers of Italia would remember their place. The Italian allies were devastated, as their hopes for peaceful reconciliation with Rome had been dashed. There now remained only one path open for them to achieve equality – war.

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Mostenirea lui Iancu-de-Hunedoara !

 1-Onoarea si demnitate .

2-Strategie de aparare dusa la un nivel de top .

3-Armate de top .

4-Noi metode de lupta!

               1-Cavaleria rol de baza .

               2-Liniile redeveneau vitale pe campul de lupta .

5-Unitate intre Valahia si Transilvania-cel putin pentru scurta vreme.

6-Batalia de la Belgrad .

7-Comert de top .

8-Sprijin real pentru Vlad-Tepes .

9-Aliante foarte profitabile .

10-Reputatie militara !

Grecia si razboaiele-sale !Top-10!

 1-Razboaiele cu Imperiul-Persan .

2-Razboaiele-civile.

3-Razboaiele-Cartageneze.

4-Razboaiele cu Roma.

5-Razboaiele cu triburile-hispanice.

6-Razboaiele cu Macedonia-perioada celui de-al-2 razboi-punic.

7-Razboaiele cu triburile-italice.

8-Razboaiele cu  triburile-germanice.

9-Razboaiele cu triburile din Africa-aliati-Cartagenei.

10-Razboaiele cu  legiunile-siciliene.

Gaius-Marius !

 1-Acest articol este copiat !

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1!

Rufus (who had served with Marius in Africa) chose to send his junior Consul Maximus north to face the returning Cimbri. It is uncertain why Rufus, who had military experience himself, chose not to go, though Maximus too was a decorated and accomplished general in his own right. Like Gaius Marius, however, he was also a “novus homo” – a new man, lacking an illustrious family lineage and only having recently joined the Senate and the Patricians. As such, when he arrived, Caepio – who as a former Consul was outranked by maximus – refused to demean himself to serving under him, despite the looming threat of the returning Cimbri.

Caepio’s haughtiness saw him set up camp with his army on the opposite bank of the Rhone. The panicking Senate sent member to persuade the Caepio to cross the river, though even when he did that, he insisted on setting up a separate camp, ten miles further north of the Consul’s. The initial skirmish saw a cavalry force sent my Maximus routed by the Cimbri, and when their general was brought before King Boiorix, he displayed the typical Roman arrogance in warning them to flee now before they were defeated by the legions. Laughing at his impudence, Boiorix had him burnt alive in front of the camp.

While Maximus sought to meet with the Cimbri and negotiate their departure, Caepio thought he would lose the opportunity for glory. He had his men burn (almost!) all of the boats they had crossed the river in, confident of Roman supremacy, and ordered an attack against the heavily fortified Cimbri camp. Unsurprisingly, the 40,000 legionaries struggled to break into the camp holding around 300,000 soldiers, and his men were soon completely routed. Caepio himself managed to escape with his son on one of the few remaining boats, keen to hurry back to Rome to avert blame for the disaster away from himself.

Buoyed by an easy victory, the barbarian army then marched south to surround Maximus’ force. The men were already thoroughly demoralised from having witnessed the annihilation of their comrades, and while Maximus did form them up for battle, they were simply overwhelmed. With their backs to the river, many more drowned trying to escape. It must have been a truly horrific day to be a Roman soldier, seeing an endless swarm of barbarians encompass your army, feeling the utter despair of defeat and praying to Jupitar and Mars to allow your escape.

The Battle of Arausio in 105 BC saw up to 80,000 Roman and allied soldiers dead on the field, and up to half that number of support staff too. Coupled with the decline in soldiers meeting the land requirements, and the two previous defeats, Rome was now left defenceless, with an alarming lack of manpower and an enemy army ready to cross the undefended Alps. Among the injured with Marcus Livisu Drusus, whose service there alongside the leader of the Italian Marsi tribe, Silo, would have huge implications for how he came to view Rome’s Italian allies.

The Roman public blamed the defeat on the arrogance of Caepio in refusing to cooperate with Maximus, rather than on the deficiency of the legions. Despite the horrified cries of “Hannibal is at the gates!”, fearing the imminent attack of the Cimbri following Rome’s worst defeat since Cannae, the Cimbri failed to head south into Italia. Instead they marched west again, making for the Pyranees and the fertile lands of Hispania, buying the Romans valuable time to prepare their defence.

The sheer scale of the loss meant that almost everybody in Rome would have lost a father, a son, a brother. Around 100,000 men dead in one day, at a time when population levels are far less than they are today. It’s hard to imagine such losses even today, a one day battle causing almost twice the number of dead as the USA suffered in the entire Vietnam War. Utter despair and grief swept over the city. The impact would be on far more than family loss though, with farms now to go untended, and a huge swathe of the aristocracy annihilated, leaving the Senate and the other government apparatus depleted.

Caepio’s arrogance had also stroked the flames of anguish against the aristocracy that the Brothers Gracchi has lit, and now the lower classes demanded better governance. They were fed up of seeing aristocrats appoint their incompetent brethren to military commands, only for them to be the ones who paid the price with their lives. The grief was also shared by the Italian allies, who had provided around half of the troops, but often got a raw deal from any campaign, with little recognition of loots, coupled with their lower status in not being granted Roman citizenship (I’ll explain this more thoroughly when we reach the Social War). The economic cost was also huge, with all of the arms and equipment of those men who had fallen at Arausio also lost.

How can a society recover from such a loss? Most did not. When Persia took the same number of heavy blows from Alexander, the two centuries-old Achaemenid Empire collapsed. When Rome delivered such punched to Carthage and Macedon, the independent civilisations fell. What made Rome remarkable in the ancient world was its ability to recover from seemingly fatal setbacks. The Eternal City did it after Cannae, and she would do it again after Arausio. In the face of such disaster and public unrest, the Senate acted swiftly. Desperate times call for desperate measures. With a lack of skilled generals, Rome turned to her one military genius who was still in the field. And so, despite having been Consul just three years prior, and not even being in the city (a requirement to stand for election), the Senate elected Gaius Marius as senior Consul, issuing him with the mandate to return from Numidia and save Rome from the destruction of the Cimbri.

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