LOOTING DURING THE WAR AGAINST PERSEUS IDLE HANDS…

Rome’s short war with Perseus is perhaps best known for its enormous profits. They were so huge that it was possible to exempt Roman citizens from paying tributum, property tax. Livy estimates the value of the booty as more than 30,000,000 denari. The booty also contained high-class art. Unsurprisingly, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus celebrated a triumph, and the praetor Gnaeus Octavius celebrated a naval triumph, both over Macedon and king Perseus.

By Christa Steinby

However, the start of the campaign had not been easy. Livy offers a ‘different’ history of how two Roman officers, the praetors Gaius Lucretius Gallus and Lucius Hortensius, caused protests among Rome’s allies, and legal proceedings in Rome, by their private enterprises, corruption, and chaos while in charge of the campaign. Idle hands The Third Macedonian War was different from other Roman campaigns in that it was fought without the usual allies. Rome’s military power had produced an increasing number of conquests, and the conquered had been forced to provide troops and ships to support the Roman war effort. At the start of this war, ships and crew had been called as well, and the allies gathered in Chalcis, on Euboea, in 171 BC. However, the praetor decided that there was no…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XVII.1

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