?The Roman Empire was a strong hold over the Mediterranean for manyyears. Being the goal of most all world leaders, the Romans wanted land alongwith their power. They set their eyes on the valuable lands around them and theMediterranean world as well as parts of Northern Europe and Asia.
The Romancivilization and culture was much influenced by the Phonetians and Greeks. Later,the Romans were in control of these lands and their people. Three of their prizeprovinces held at much value to them were Thrace, Macedonia, Greece. These three lands were all located in the same area, providing a throughwayto Rome for trade routes from China and the Middle east. Thrace, being on thesouth western coast of the Black Sea made it easy for the Romans to sail fartherinland to what is today Russia. Greece was located on the Agean Sea andMacedonia was to the north of it tieing all three provinces together.
Before Romans conquered Greece, there was a great civilization in itselfthat has influenced much of the Western culture of today. The Greeks were peoplethat believe in beauty and the good of life. They people had a well developedgovernment system, religion, architechural advances, literature, and beautiful art. Many scholars and philosophers had began to discover the longtime mysteries ofthe world.
The Greeks had a system of writing and were very well educated. Theywere eventually taken over by King Philip V of Macedonia. He made and alliance withGreece and gave them military aid in order for control of their government andpeople. King Philip dreamed to make Macedonia a world power and intended onstarting in the Mediterranean. Rome had also set these same goals for theirfuture and there was nothing stopping them.
One of Philip’s allies, Hanibel, wentagainst him and fought him for Macedonia. The Macedonians allied with theCarthagenians and the Romans with the Aetolian League. By 168 B. C.
Rome hadMacedonia in their command. After this, the Archaen League in Greece soughtfreedom after the long rule of Macedonia. They tried to fight against the mightyarmy of the Romans, but this only resulted int he destruction of the city, Corinth. In 146 B. C. the Romans had abolished all leagues in Greece, and most trade wasstopped in the big port cities.
Rome would be over this land for sixty years tocome. Meanwhile, the Romans realized the value of such things like gold. They soonfound out that deposits of gold and other minerals were in the uncultivated landof Thrace. The people of Thrace were for the most part, barbaric, warlike, andunorganized.
The Romans did not have as many troubles obtaining this land,considering the people weren’t as advanced as the Greeks. Thrace would link Romecloser to Asia through the port city of Byzantium. This city was along the majorroutes coming out of the middle east and China. The Romans left their mark on all of these areas from architecture tonames. Byzantium was soon named Constantinople after the emperor,Constantine, moved the new capitol of Rome there. He was the first Christianempire of Rome.
Today the church based in Constantinople (now known asIstanbul) is the Eastern Orthodox Church. Ninty-eight percent of Greeks are ofthis donomination. After the Romans realized they had destroyed the beautifulcities of Greece they rebuilt and restored many of the buildings, but they addedtheir own culture to them in the same movement. Hadrian, a good emperor,beautified Athens and restored many other ruins. Constantine also restored muchof Byzantium while he was there in his reign. Eventually, the Romans grew weak and the western portion of their empirefell to the invaders that would soon make their demise.
After Constatine hadmoved to the east and he left, the empire kept dividing into east and west. Whilethe west was on raided regularly the Germanic visgoths crossed the Danube tosettle in Roman territory. This tribe became allies with the Romans but soonrevolted to crush and defeat the Romans. This defeat made a domino affect thatthe Romans could not control leading to their fall. History Essays
