People who almost 2.000 years ago took the Limes road from Praetorium Agrippinae and travelled east for some eight kilometres would eventually arrive at the next castellum protecting the Rhine border. According to the Peutinger Table (Tabula Peutingeriana), this castellum was called Matilo(ne), a name of unknown origin. The precise…
Summary The people’s tribune Tiberius Gracchus launches a comprehensive land reform program; Gracchus’ proposal for a Lex Sempronia agraria is vetoed by his colleague, the tribune Marcus Octavius; After a second version of his land reform bill is again vetoed by Octavius, Gracchus issues a blanket veto on all public…
Summary The pontifex maximus Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio dies in exile in Pergamum; Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus is elected in his stead (132 BCE); The consul Publius Rupilius ends the First Servile War on Sicily (132 BCE); Scipio Aemilianus returns from Spain and celebrates a triumph for his…
Summary The former censor Appius Cladius Pulcher dies (ca. 130 BCE); The consul Marcus Perperna defeats and captures Aristonikos, but dies soon afterwards (130-129 BCE); The populares Marcus Fulvius Flaccus and Gaius Papirius Carbo become members of the land reform committee (ca. 129 BCE); The Lex Sempronia agraria leads to…
Summary Gaius Gracchus serves on Sardinia as the consul Lucius Aurelius Orestes’ quaestor (126-125 BCE); The consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus introduces a bill to grant full Roman citizenship to Rome’s Latin and Italian allies, but it is withdrawn after encountering stiff opposition from both the Senate and the people (125…
Summary Gaius Gracchus is elected people’s tribune (124 BCE); The consul and later proconsul Gaius Sextius Calvinus defeats the Salluvii and the Vocontii of Southern Gaul and founds the colony of Aquae Sextiae (124-123 BCE); Gaius Gracchus launches an ambitious legislative program that includes bills about land reforms, grain prices,…
Summary The popular assembly adopts the Lex Sempronia de provinciis consularibus, which stipulates that the Senate selects the consular provinces before the consuls themselves are elected (122 BCE); Gaius Gracchus is opposed by his colleague, the people’s tribune Marcus Livius Drusus (122 BCE); Gaius Gracchus’ proposal to grant citizenship to…
Summary The people’s tribune Quintus Decius puts the former consul Lucius Opimius on trial for executing Gaius Gracchus’ supporters without trial; Opimius is acquitted (120 BCE); Gaius Marius is elected people’s tribune (120 BCE); A law tabled by the people’s tribune Lucius Calpurnius Bestia allows the former consul Publius Popilius…
In the first century BCE, very few people lived in what is now the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. Experts estimate that the population may have been 9.000 at most. The area was swampy and prone to flooding by the sea. The inhabitants were members of the tribe…
Summary The consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus successfully campaigns against Viriathus, but fails to end the war against the Lusitanians (145-144 BCE); King Ptolemaios VI Philometor of Egypt defeats Alexander Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire; the latter is succeeded by Demetrios II Nikator; Ptolemaios himself succumbs to his injuries…
Summary The consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus fights against Viriathus and the Lusitanians with mixed results (142-141 BCE); Scipio Aemilianus and Lucius Mummius Achaicus serve as censors (142-141 BCE); The new Jewish High Priest Simon confirms the treaty of friendship with the Romans (142 BCE); Viriathus is officially recognised by…
Summary Viriathus is assassinated by his friends, who have been bribed by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio; Caepio defeats Viriathus’ successor and forces the Lusitanians to surrender; they are resettled on fertile lands; end of the Lusitanian War; The Senate renews the war against the Numantines, but the consul Marcus…
Summary The consuls Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio and Decimus Junius Brutus punish deserters from the war in Spain (138 BCE); Two tribunes arrest the consuls during the levy and throw them into prison (138 BCE); The consul Brutus is sent to Spain, where he reaches the Atlantic Ocean in…
Summary The consul Quintus Calpurnius Piso pillages the territories of Pallantia, but does not attack Numantia; Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus is elected consul for the next year to end the Numantine War; A Syrian slave called Eunus leads a slave revolt on Sicily, the so-called First Servile War; Eunus…
Summary Small slave revolts in Rome, in Attica and on Delos are quickly crushed (134 BCE); The consul Gaius Fulvius Flaccus fails to end the First Servile War on Sicily (134 BCE); The consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus sails to Spain where he restores discipline in the army and commences…
Summary The consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus and the praetor Servius Sulpicius Galba massacre the Lusitanians; The Numidians annihilate a Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal the Boetharch; Claiming the Carthaginian offensive was illegal under the 201 BCE treaty, the Romans begin preparing for a new war with Carthage; The Senate decides to…
Summary Utica surrenders to Rome; Carthage surrenders as well, and is told to give the Romans 300 hostages and obey all instructions given by the consuls; The consuls Lucius Marcius Censorinus and Manius Manilius land in Africa and order the Carthaginians to surrender all their weapons and artillery; Censorinus orders…
Summary Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Marcus Claudius Marcellus die; King Masinissa of the Numidians dies; Scipio Aemilianus divides his territories among his three legitimate sons, Micipsa, Gulussa and Mastanabal; Manius Manilius leads a second expedition to Nepheris and is again unsuccessful; Himilco Phameas defects to Rome; The consul Lucius Calpurnius…
Summary The Roman fleet commander Lucius Hostilius Mancinus captures a part of Carthage, but has to be rescued there by Scipio Aemilianus; Scipio restores discipline in the Roman army; Scipio leads an attack against the Megara suburb and captures part of it; realising he cannot hold his conquest, he abandons…
Summary As proconsul, Scipio Aemilianus destroys the Carthaginian field army at Nepheris; Although Scipio offers him and his family safe conduct, Hasdrubal the Boetharch refuses to defect to the Romans; The Romans break into Carthage through the cothon or harbour; The Romans fight their way to the Byrsa or citadel;…
