"Zeus most glorious and most great, Thundercloud, throned in the heavens! Let not the sun go down and the darkness come, until I cast down headlong the citadel of Priam in flames, and burn his gates with blazing fire, and tear to rags the shirt upon Hectors breast! May many of his men fall about him prone in the dust and bite the earth! "
-Homer - The Illiad
534 Ab Urbe Condita
Silanos – Historiai
(written about 130 BC)
Who is Silanos?
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Silanos was a greek historian who lived from 200BC to 120 BC. He came to Rome [under reasons that have not happend yet - this will be edited]. His account on the Roman history are of high value since he followed the pragmatic histiography like Demosthnes of Ancyle.
Book VI […] So it came that the year 534 ab urbe Condita [220 BC] saw the start of a series of conflicts. But before the reader is able to understand what lead to the second Epirus war and the second Punic war as well, the reader has to look at the political situation that preceded the war. To the west of Rome Carthage was expanding in Spain to compensate the losses of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. Carthage was a trading nation and the coast of Spain offered new possibilities for trade. To the east the kingdom of Epirus was waging war against Macedon. In 536 AUC [222 BC] the Romans signed a formal treaty with the Macedon king Antigonus III Amynous to send money and supplies to the Macedon cause. A year later the Macedons lost another battle so that Antigonus III had abandoned most of the Macedon home land. The Romans felt a moral obligation to aid their allies against the king of Epirus Polyanthes Aiakides and without much hesitation and trouble they sailed a full legion to the coast of Epirus in the year 534 AUC [220 BC]. At that time the king of Epirus, Polyanthes Aiakides, was residing in the capital Ambrakia with only his royal guard to his protection. His army was campaigning against Macedon out of his reach. When the Romans realized that Polyanthes was in the capital without any troops they quickly started laying siege against the city, closing every road in and out of Ambrakia. It is said that Polyanthes screamed “Bring me the man who taught those primitive Romans how to use a boat!” when he became aware that he was trapped. Despite being a proud and brilliant military leader and king Polyanthes agreed, heading his advisors to negotiate with his enemy. The Roman consul Quintus Atilius Scaevola received the proud king in his army tent, greeting him with all military honours. There the consul made clear that the Roman people had no interest in killing Epirotes and plundering Polyanthes lands. What both man talked that day is not written down, so I cannot retell the story about it, but in the end the king of Epirus agreed to stop making war against the Macedons and restore their land to the status quo while the Romans would return to their land and make peace with Polyanthes. So in the autumn 534 AUC [220BC] the conflict seemed to be over already. In the winter of the same year a group of Carthaginian ships landed in the port of Emporion, a Greek city-state situated in Spain and allied with Rome. The Carthaginian ships destroyed a few Greek ships and plundered some minor goods. It was by all means clear to the Carthaginians that this action against an ally of Rome was a direct threat to Rome itself. But it has puzzled many historians as well as myself as of why the Carthaginians were eager to battle the Romans again. Yet this small incident was the beginning of a long and bloody conflict in Spain. At the same time Polyanthes was already planning his next step against the Macedons and the Romans. In this sense, the year 534 marks a new step in the history of Rome, as it was more and more drawn into the affairs of the Greeks.
Re: [Multi-AAR] - History of men - EB part
Originally Posted by Mediolanicus
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