View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by CSUN ScholarWorks MOTIVES FOR ROMAN IMPERIALISM IN NORTH AFRICA, 300 BCE TO 100 CE _______________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of San Diego State University _______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History _______________ by Michael A. DeMonto Summer 2015 iii Copyright © 2015 by Michael A. DeMonto All Rights Reserved iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to Sara. Thank you for supporting my education venture for these past six years. Your love and support means everything to me. I love you! v ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Motives For Roman Imperialism in North Africa, 300 BCE to 100 CE by Michael A. DeMonto Master of Arts in History San Diego State University, 2015 Previous examinations of Roman imperialism in North Africa are insufficient because they lack an appreciation of the balance between the defensive, political, and economic motives. These past arguments have focused on specific regions around the Mediterranean world, but have failed to include North Africa – an integral part of the Roman Empire. This region was politically and economically integrated into the empire during the first century CE. This study closely examines the ancient sources for Roman imperialism in North Africa from 300 BCE to 100 CE to construct the narrative for Roman imperialism while juxtaposing corresponding ancient and archaeological evidence. This study examines the ancient and modern constructed narratives against anthropological models for interstate warfare and cooperation. The ancient written sources include Polybius’s Histories, Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita and Periochae, Appian’s Roman History, Dio Cassius’s Roman History, Sallust’s Jugurthine War, Julius Caesar’s De Africo Bello, Velleius Paterculus’s Roman History, Augustus’s Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Tacitus’s Annals and Histories, and Pliny the Elder’s Natural Histories. A wide range of archaeological data are examined including settlement patterns, economic structures, agricultural patterns, amphorae studies, roads, the Fossatum Africae, and military structures in North Africa, which offer corroboration of or disjunction from the written source material. The Roman state aggressively expanded across the Mediterranean from 300 to 100 CE, during which period the Romans incorporated North Africa into their empire. Chapter one establishes a definition of imperialism and considers the usefulness and level of scrutiny required in the examination of the ancient written, epigraphical, and archaeological evidence. Chapter two offers the defensive motives for Roman imperialism in North Africa through cause, effect, and postwar outcomes. Chapter three examines the role of politics at the state and individual levels in addition to political structures. Chapter four focuses on the economic motives for Roman imperialism in North Africa including commodities and structures. Chapter five brings together this range of motives to illustrate the complexity and imperialistic nature of Roman expansion into North Africa from 300 BCE to 100 CE. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 2 DEFENSIVE MOTIVES .............................................................................................21 3 POLITICAL MOTIVES ..............................................................................................47 4 ECONOMIC MOTIVES .............................................................................................68 5 CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................89 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................98 APPENDIX A MAP OF ANCIENT NORTH AFRICA ....................................................................103 B MAJOR EVENTS IN ROMAN HISTORY ..............................................................105 C ROMAN COLONIES OF NORTH AFRICA ...........................................................107 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Pollard for all her help in each stage of my thesis, from figuring out a topic to completion. Also, Professor Cobbs and Starkey provided a wealth of thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. I thank all of you for your efficient readings of my work and helpful suggestions. Thank you to Louis, Emma, and Pete for always being there for emotional support. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The Romans have subjected to their rule not portions, but nearly the whole of the world and possess an empire which is not only immeasurably greater than any which preceded it, but need not fear rivalry in the future. -- Polybius, Histories This quote from Polybius illustrates a foreigner’s perspective on the massive expansion program of the Roman state that had already occurred by the 150s BCE. Polybius witnessed first-hand the Roman expansion as a conquered Greek magistrate. From 300 BCE to 100 CE, the Roman state conducted constant warfare, colonization, and economic exploitation in their imperialist expansion across the Mediterranean world. Many scholars have referred to this expansion as Roman imperialism, but with little consensus on its nature or the motives for it. A primary concern with “imperialism” for many scholars was Rome’s near completion of world conquest as a republican government. The Roman state’s rapid expansion brought about the conditions for the so-called Roman imperial period and fall of the republic. From 509 to 30 BCE, the Roman Republic expanded their political hegemony from their Italic city-state to nearly the entire Mediterranean world before ever being considered an empire. Republican Rome’s expansion led to the transformation of its political system, which scholars often mark as the beginning of the imperial period, 30 BCE to 476 CE.1 The use of the terms “imperial” and “empire” in the study of Rome and other historical research causes much contention and confusion about the term “imperialism,” so this term requires the development of a working definition. Furthermore, the subject of this thesis necessitates an examination of “imperialism” in relation to Roman interactions with the North African kingdoms including the Carthaginian Empire. After 30 BCE, the concentration of state power 1 The traditional imperial period is divided into the more accurate principate (30 BCE to 284 CE) and dominate (284 to 476 CE) periods for this study. 2 rested on the shoulders of a single individual with the republican institutions remaining in place, known as the “principate.” Under the principate government, the Roman state began to strengthen and consolidate its political and economic power over its entire empire, which culminated in a slower territorial expansion than during the republican period. This thesis seeks to explain the motives and processes involved in the Roman state’s political, territorial, and economic expansion into North Africa from 300 BCE to 100 CE.2 Furthermore, this thesis examines the nature of these expansions in terms of the defensive, political, and economic motives, interests, and outcomes involved in Roman imperialism in North Africa. While this thesis will consider imperialism in general and in conjunction with the Roman state’s actions, its primary focus is on the motives, interests, methods, events, goals, and results of Roman expansion into North Africa. The ancient region of North Africa consisted of the regions north of the Sahara Desert, west of Egypt, and east of the Atlantic coast of Mauretania. This region included Cyrene, Carthage, Numidia, and Mauretania in the ancient world (see Appendix A). From 580 to 396 BCE, Carthage expanded into a large empire that included colonies in coastal Spain, the Atlantic coast of Africa, and various Mediterranean islands in addition to their primary territory in northern Tunisia. Numidia’s territory (modern-day southern Tunisia and Algeria) was often divided into several kingdoms that warred against each other resulting in unifications under one of the rival kings. Mauretania was a kingdom that avoided interaction with the Roman state, but often interacted with Numidia, Carthage, and other peoples in the region, including the peoples of Spain. Cyrene was a Greek city-state until Augustus’s annexation as a province, which included the region that is modern-day Libya. These regions were well-populated with Carthage as the primary power until the end of the Second Punic 2 The difficulty in assessing motives for an ancient empire is that the only sources we have are of events and secondary thoughts, outside of maybe Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar. In assessing motives, we must examine the cause and effect relationship of the events deemed as imperial acts. “Motives” are the reasons for a behavior or actions that are somewhat hidden or unknown. Another challenge in this subject is that the Roman state for a time is in republican form, with many voting institutions, political voices (i.e. magistrates), a senatorial body, and often an unruly mob. The motives, decisions, and actions of this state are derived from an amalgamation