HANDOUT FOR NOV. 7: ROME AND THE GREEKS
Censor: Roman magistrate in charge of enforcing public morals.
Chronology:
c.280-275: Gauls attack Greece, pillage Delphi, settle in Galatia in Asia Minor.
247: Rise of Parthian kingdom in eastern Iran.
234-149: Cato the Elder, famous censor and moralist.
200-196: Philip V of Macedon defeated by Romans; Rome proclaims "freedom of the Greeks."
c.198-118: Polybius writes History explaining rise of Rome, covering 264-146 BC.
186: Senate investigates and outlaws cult of Bacchus (Dionysus).
175-163: Antiochus IV, Seleucid king of Syria.
168: Final victory over Macedonia, which becomes Roman province. Meanwhile, Roman envoys literally draw a "line in the sand" and force Antiochus IV to withdraw from Egypt.
168-164: Antiochus attempts to forcibly Hellenize Jews; Maccabees ("Hammers") revolt and establish independent kingdom.
161: The newly-independent kingdom of Judaea allies with Rome.
161: Senate orders expulsion of all philosophers from Rome.
146: Corinth (Greece) and Carthage both destroyed. Greece becomes Roman province.
141: Parthians conquer Iran and Mesopotamia; Seleucid kingdom reduced to Syria.
139: Senate orders expulsion of astrologers from Rome.
133: Attalus of Pergamum bequeaths his kingdom to the Romans; it becomes Roman province of Asia.
88-66: War with Mithridates of Pontus, who conspired to massacre Roman civilians in Asia. Finally defeated by Pompey. Syria becomes Roman province.
53: Roman army clashes with Parthians at Carrhae in Syria.
30 BC: With death of Cleopatra VII, Egypt becomes Roman province.