Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Timeline
- 1 Introduction, approaches, review of sources and secondary literature
- 2 Illyricum in Roman foreign affairs: historical outline, theoretical approaches and geography
- 3 Roman trans-Adriatic engagement (229–168 BC)
- 4 Rome across the Adriatic in the late Republic (167–59 BC)
- 5 The construction of Illyricum: Caesar in Illyricum and the Civil Wars (59–44 BC)
- 6 Octavian in Illyricum
- 7 From senatorial to imperial Illyricum: Bellum Pannonicum
- 8 The failure of Greater Illyricum: the Bellum Batonianum
- 9 Iulio-Claudians in Illyricum: the tale of two provinces
- Conclusion: the construction of Illyricum in Roman political discourse
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - Roman trans-Adriatic engagement (229–168 BC)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of maps
- List of tables
- Acknowledgments
- Timeline
- 1 Introduction, approaches, review of sources and secondary literature
- 2 Illyricum in Roman foreign affairs: historical outline, theoretical approaches and geography
- 3 Roman trans-Adriatic engagement (229–168 BC)
- 4 Rome across the Adriatic in the late Republic (167–59 BC)
- 5 The construction of Illyricum: Caesar in Illyricum and the Civil Wars (59–44 BC)
- 6 Octavian in Illyricum
- 7 From senatorial to imperial Illyricum: Bellum Pannonicum
- 8 The failure of Greater Illyricum: the Bellum Batonianum
- 9 Iulio-Claudians in Illyricum: the tale of two provinces
- Conclusion: the construction of Illyricum in Roman political discourse
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
PRELUDE TO THE ROMAN TRANS-ADRIATIC ENGAGEMENT
Roman active political involvement across the Adriatic started in the later third century. Their domination over Italy, and especially its southern part, brought the Romans close to the important axis of communication between the south-eastern tip of the Apennine peninsula and the Balkan peninsula. The foundation of Brundisium as a Roman colony shows Roman awareness of this geo-strategic axis, which was the shortest route between Greece and Italy. Roman initial trans-Adriatic engagement was focused chiefly on the south-eastern Adriatic coast, but they also developed an interest in the control of maritime routes over the whole eastern Adriatic coast in this phase. Roman dealings with the Illyrian kingdom formed part of many significant discussions in the earlier scholarship, and this chapter attempts simply to recognise the global patterns of the events, rather than to give their detailed narrative, because this has been dealt with elsewhere.
The most obvious reasons for the beginning of Roman interest in the south-eastern Adriatic, according to the sources, were the rising influence of the Illyrian kingdom and its endemic piracy in the southern Adriatic and Ionian Sea. This piracy interfered in the trade of Rome's Italian and Greek allies who demanded protection from Rome. Piracy at moments even disrupted the Roman supply routes for North Italy shortly before the second Illyrian war in 220 BC. However, a seemingly even more important factor than piracy that influenced Roman conduct was the possible impact of the Illyrian kingdom on the general political situation in Macedonia and Greece, so that Rome became concerned with the possibility of the establishment of a hostile anti-Roman, Illyrian-Macedonian alliance.
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- Illyricum in Roman Politics, 229 BC–AD 68 , pp. 44 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010