Punic Wars As Reason Of Rome Empire
The Roman Empire is now known as one of the greatest empires and still has an impact on us to this day. Ancient Rome began as a small town in italy and grew into an empire that encompassed europe, britain, western Asia, northern Africa, and the Mediterranean islands. Rome quickly rose to a position of great political and cultural power. There are many reasons that Rome rose to such great power. I believe that three of the most important reasons that Rome rose to such great power was the Greek influence, the Second Punic War, and the strong military.
The Greek communities in southern Italy had a significant impact on the development of Rome. “ In Rome, the wealthy young would learn Greek language, poetry, rhetoric, philosophy from Greek teachers; rhetoricians and philosophers performed.” (Hutchinson). One of the most important things that the Romans took from the Greeks were histories. The Greeks taught the Romans how to write histories. We know that these histories came from the Greeks first. 'The first Greek histories were written in the fifth century, but the earliest Roman ones did not appear until over two centuries later' (Boatwright 33). Another important thing that the Romans learned from the Greeks was architecture. The Romans witnessed how Greeks built things and they took this knowledge and built onto it. The Romans added in the use of cement and today there are still remains of these buildings.
I believe that the Punic Wars also led to Rome’s great expansion as an empire. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars that went on between the Roman Republic and Carthaginian empire. These wars resulted in “..the destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its population, and Roman hegemony over the western Mediterranean.” (Augustyn). I believe that the second punic war is the one of most importance and what helped Rome rise to power. The second punic war was fought between Carthage and Rome. In the end “20,000 Carthaginians had fallen while Rome suffered fewer than 5,000 fatalities.” (Cartwright). Besides winning the second punic war they won other things as well. They requested that Carthage give up their entire fleet, all elephants and all Roman prisoners. “Further, Carthage could not make war without Rome’s permission, had to recognise the territories of the new Numidian king Masinissa, and pay reparations to Rome the huge sum of 10,000 talents over the next half century. The Romans also took possession of southern Spain.” (Cartwright).
Once Rome was in power they were able to keep that power. One thing that I believe really helped Rome maintain its power was its strong military. The Roman Army is widely regarded as one of the most effective fighting forces in human history, influencing the development of military tactics for generations afterwards. The Roman empire had a large amount of land, and the military was solely responsible to maintain that land. “It is often called the first professional army, but the key to the longevity of its study lies in the fact that it was the first army with a professional attitude which trained to a degree that modern armies seek to attain.” (Bishop).
There are many different parts and pieces that explain how Rome rose to great power. These three examples that show how they established such great power is just a small piece of the puzzle. The expansion that Rome created changed the world then and today we still see their history. We learned from what they created. From Rome’s language, history, art, architecture, legal system, and political structures, we were able to mold our own language, add to history, create more art, get inspiration from previous architecture, and change our whole government system. We took what Rome already created, learned from it, and made it our own.
