Greek vase with Pallas Athena (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden).
After his defeat at Beneventum, King Pyrrhus of Epirus had returned to his kingdom, only to get himself killed in the streets of Argos on the Peloponnesos a few years later. Pyrrhus’ departure allowed the Romans to complete their conquest of Southern Italy. The entire region that was known as Magna Graecia – “Great Greece” – and where about 40 Greek city states were situated, fell into Roman hands. By 265 BCE the Romans also controlled all of Apulia, Lucania and Bruttium. Roman expansion in the south was now only stopped by the sea, and many wondered whether the landlubbers from Latium wanted to cross that sea.
Conquests in the 270s BCE
Rome had emerged fairly well from the war with Pyrrhus of Epirus, but she had suffered significant losses in manpower. While the censors of 280 BCE had registered 287,222 citizens, those of 275 BCE counted only 271,224.[1] The reduction in the number of citizens by almost 16,000 was substantial, but it was hardly dramatic and can, moreover, probably not be attributed in its entirety to the war with Epirus. Roman reserves were in any case large, and those of their Latin and Italian allies even larger. In 273 BCE the consul Gaius Claudius Canina almost effortlessly continued the war in Southern Italy. The consul won victories against the Lucani, Samnites and Bruttii and was granted a triumph for his successes. Worthy of note is the fact that de Samnites continued to resist Roman presence in their territories. On paper there had been just three Samnite wars, the first (343-341 BCE), second (326-304 BCE) and third (298-290 BCE), but in the real world the wars against the Samnites simply continued even after 290 BCE. Historians do not speak of a fourth Samnite war in their books, but this may be the result of a paucity of sources rather than a lack of fighting.
Southern Italy and Sicily (https://awmc.unc.edu/).
Samnite war gear: helmet, cuirass and greaves (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden).
In 272 BCE both consuls had their hands free for the war in the south. Lucius Papirius Cursor and Spurius Carvilius Maximus worked closely together and were awarded triumphs the next year for their victories over the Samnites, Lucani, Bruttii and Tarentines. After his departure from Italy, Pyrrhus had left a garrison in Tarentum which was commanded by his son Helenos and general Milon. In 272 BCE the city was nonetheless taken by Papirius Cursor after a brief siege. During the siege the Romans had called upon the Carthaginians to help them with their fleet, in conformity with the treaty the two states had made in 279 BCE. According to Livius the Carthaginians subsequently violated the treaty by helping the Tarentines[2], but a late source, Zonaras, seems to suggest that the Romans close off the city on the landside, while the Carthaginian navy dutifully blockaded it from the sea.[3] However this may be, Milon quickly realised that the situation was hopeless. He opened negotiations and was ultimately granted safe passage back to Epirus for himself and his troops. When they had left, the city surrendered. Weapons and ships were handed over to the Romans and the city walls were demolished. Henceforth the Tarentines were required to pay a tribute to Rome. This caused a lot of resentment, and sixty years later the citizens of Tarentum would side with the Carthaginian Hannibal against Rome.
After the conquest of Bruttium (present-day Calabria), which was known for the excellent quality of its timber, the Romans could focus on the city of Rhegium on the Strait of Messina. During the war with Pyrrhus this Greek city had fought on the Roman side. To prevent Rhegium from falling into the king’s hands, the Romans had sent a contingent of 4,000 men under the command of one Decius Vibellius to protect it. These soldiers were Roman citizens without voting rights, but they were also Campanians. Some ten years previously Campanian mercenaries had captured the city of Messana on the other side of the Strait. Vibellius established relations with these Mamertines and ultimately decided to follow the example that these kinsmen of his soldiers had set. Instead of protecting Rhegium, he occupied the city and murdered part of the population.
View of the Forum Romanum from the Capitoline Hill.
Because of the war, the Romans had to wait until 271 BCE before they could respond to this betrayal. But when they did, their reaction was determined and harsh. The consul Lucius Genucius Clepsina was sent to Rhegium with an army and began the siege of the city. Rhegium proved to be a tough nut to crack, and the fact that Vibellius and his men knew very well what cruel fate awaited them if the Romans took the city made them double their efforts. Dionysius of Halicarnassus states that in the end Rhegium was taken by Gaius Genucius, the brother of the consul, who himself served as consul in 270 BCE.[4] However, the Fasti Triumphales suggest that it was the other consul of 270 BCE, Gnaeus Cornelius Blasio, who defeated the rebellious Campanians. According to the Fasti, it was Blasio who was awarded a triumph for the capture of Rhegium. The 300 Campanians that had survived the fighting were sent to Rome to be scourged and decapitated in the Forum as a warning. A people’s tribune (tribunus plebis) reportedly tried to stop the execution, and the case of the Campanians, who were, after all, Roman citizens, was brought before the popular assembly. Eager for revenge, the people voted in favour of the death penalty and the Campanians were led away to be flogged and beheaded.
Conquests in the 260s
For the 260s BCE the Fasti Triumphales mention a large number of triumphs. For unknown reasons the Romans got into a conflict with their former allies the Picentes in 268 BCE. The Picentes lived in the region that was known as Picenum in Antiquity (now the Marche). The consul Publius Sempronius Sophus defeated their army and captured their capital of Asculum.[5] Many of the survivors were deported to Campania, where the town of Picentia was founded for them. In 267-266 BCE the Romans then defeated the Sallentini and Messapii in the heel of Italy and took the important port city of Brundisium (modern Brindisi). The region that was known as Calabria in Antiquity was now subjugated (note that modern Calabria is actually in the toe of Italy). All of Southern Italy was now under Roman control.
Fresco from one of the Golini tombs in Orvieto.
In the north the consuls Decimus Junius Pera and Numerius Fabius Pictor successfully took on the Sassinates, an Umbrian tribe, in 266 BCE. What is remarkable is that these were the same consuls that subjugated the Sallentini and Messapii. It is therefore likely that these were all pretty small-scale and very brief wars. The situation was much more serious in the Etruscan city of Volsinii (Velzna; modern Orvieto). The city seems to have been a Roman ally, having been defeated in a war some fifteen years previously. However, internal disturbances had broken out between the original citizens of Volsinii and former slaves, who had obtained citizenship and formed a new plebeian class. The situation had prompted the Romans to intervene in this power struggle on the side of the autochthonous Volsinians. In 265 BCE, they sent an army north under the command of the consul Quintus Fabius Gurges.
Gurges defeated the former slaves in open battle and drove them back to Volsinii, but things went horribly wrong when he tried to assault the city itself. Apparently the consul refused to stay safely in the rear: leading his men in storming the city, he was mortally wounded and died a little later. The Romans had to send the second consul of 264 BCE, Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, to replace him and continue the siege. Flaccus starved the city into submission, razed Volsinii to the ground and relocated the original Volsinians and some of their loyal servants to a new site where a new city was founded (on the shores of Lake Bolsena).
Italy and Gaul (https://awmc.unc.edu/).
Diplomacy, colonisation and economy
The Roman victory over Pyrrhus of Epirus had made a great impression in the Hellenistic world. In 273 BCE the Romans sent their first delegation to the court of Ptolemaios II Philadelphos, the Macedonian king of Egypt (285-246 BCE). As usual the delegation was composed of three men (triumviri), in this case Numerius Fabius Pictor, Quintus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Ogulnius.[6] King Ptolemaios showered the three Romans with precious gifts, and his generosity was followed by a treaty of friendship between Rome and Egypt.[7] In accordance with this treaty the grandson of Ptolemaios II, the fourth Ptolemaios, would send the Romans the grain they so desperately needed at the height of the war against Hannibal over sixty years later.
Roman conquests always went hand in hand with the founding of colonies in former enemy territory. In 273 BCE Roman colonies were founded at Cosa in Etruria and Poseidonia in Lucania. The latter town was henceforth known as Paestum and is world-famous for its well-preserved temples from the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, two for Hera and one for Pallas Athena. Of greater importance was the founding in 268 BCE of two much larger Latin colonies at Ariminum in former Celtic territory and Beneventum in Samnium.[8] Nowadays we know these cities as Rimini and Benevento. Beneventum was the site of the Roman victory against Pyrrhus seven years ago. At the time the city was still called Maleventum, but since that could be translated as “bad occurrence”, the Romans had decided to rename it. Beneventum – “good occurrence” – sounded a lot less ominous.
Tomb painting featuring gladiatorial fights. Image from Paestum.
Bronze Roman coin.
Around 268 BCE the Romans began minting silver coins. Previously they had only known bronze coins. The wealth of a Roman was traditionally measured by how much land and cattle he owned. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Latin word for money, pecunia, derives from the word for “cattle”, pecus. With the introduction of bronze coins, possibly in the fourth century BCE, the Romans had taken the first step towards a monetary economy. The introduction of silver coins around 268 BCE was the obvious next step. The Romans also progressed to the next stage in the construction of aqueducts. At the time the city had just one aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, which had been built from 312 BCE onwards by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus. In 272 BCE the censor Manius Curius Dentatus started building a second aqueduct, the Aqua Anio Vetus. Lastly, the growing revenue from the subjugated parts of Italy had led to an increased need for financial magistrates. To that end, the number of quaestors had been doubled from four to eight in 267 BCE.[9]
Notes
[1] Livius, Periochae 13-14.
[2] Livius, Periochae 14.
[3] Zonaras 8.
[4] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Book 20.16.
[5] Modern Ascoli Piceno. Not to be confused with Ascoli Satriano, where Pyrrhus had defeated the Romans in 279 BCE.
[6] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Book 20.14.
[7] Livius, Periochae 14.
[8] Velleius Paterculus, Book 1.14; Livius, Periochae 14-15.
[9] Livius, Periochae 15.