Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Historical Outline 35
Pyrrhos, king of Epiros in northwest Greece. After two costly victories,
Pyrrhos was finally defeated at Beneventum in southern Italy
in 275 b.c.e. Then, in 168 b.c.e., the Macedonian king Perseus was
defeated by the Romans at Pydna in southern Macedonia. In 149
b.c.e., Macedonia was reduced to the status of a Roman province.
Three years later, a doomed Macedonian revolt took place, which
the Romans ruthlessly suppressed. The Seleucid dynasty in Syria
surrendered to Rome in 69 b.c.e. The Ptolemies were Roman vassals
until the death of Cleopatra in 31 b.c.e. , when Egypt became a
Roman province.
One of the most enduring legacies of Roman rule in mainland
Greece was depopulation and economic decline. The population
reached its peak in the fourth century b.c.e. and seriously declined
in the second century b.c.e. A major reason for this was the enslavement
of large numbers of Greeks, most of whom were transported
to the capital. In fact, Rome’s conquest of Greece constituted the
single greatest interruption in the daily life of Greeks living on the
mainland at any time in antiquity, and it is regrettable that we have
very little evidence to help us form a picture of the consequences of
this momentous event for those who remained.
The following observation by a friend of the Roman orator Cicero is highly
revealing of the condition of mainland Greece in 45 B.C.E. as a result of Roman
intervention:
At sea . . . on my way back from Asia I was looking at the shores round about.
Astern lay Aigina, before me lay Megara, on my right the Piraeus, and on my left
Corinth—all once teeming cities, which now lie ruined and wrecked before our
eyes. (Letters to Friends 4.5.4)
Greece’s economic and political decline notwithstanding, its people
and culture were to continue to exercise a profound influence
upon the Romans, as they had done from the fourth century b.c.e.
onward, and indeed earlier. As the Roman poet Horace memorably
phrased it, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, “Conquered Greece
conquered its fierce victor” (Epistles 2.1.156). From the middle of
the first century c.e., mainland Greece underwent a considerable
revival in its fortunes. Nero (reigned c.e. 54 –68) was extremely cultivated
in all things Greek and did much to foster an appreciation
for Hellenic customs and culture, both among the aristocracy and
among the common people. In c.e. 66, he began a tour of Greece,