Italy and Sicily After the Punic War (255-200 BC)
After the conclusion of the war with Carthage, the Roman Republic was as peaceful and prosperous as it ever was. All of Italy south of Cisalpine Gaul was under their control, along with the islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia. The great city of Carthage, the foremost of all the Phoenician cities in the Mediterranean, paid tribute to the Republic. With this swath of influence, the Romans effectively controlled the trade between east and west, as a bulwark separating the two halves of the sea. As they recovered from the long war with Carthage, few Romans doubted where their next priorities lay: Cisalpine Gaul and the Illyrian coastline. To the north, the Romans were wary of sharing an unprotected border with Celts, with the sack of Rome by Brennus less than a century and a half in their past. To the east, the piratical Illyrians preyed on Italian commerce, and as that became more synonymous with Roman commerce, the Senate could not abide that. During this period, while the government of the Roman Republic concerned itself with military campaigns to consolidate its position within the peninsula, the economy of Italy was developing rapidly under the stability brought by Rome.
In Cisalpine Gaul, the region just south of the Alps, as the Etruscan civilization waned in the face of the successes of the Roman Republic, the land increasingly fell under the sway of various Celtic and related tribes. Of these, the most notable were the Boii, who hailed from far to the north of the Alps. Though the Romans would write that they invaded and maintained their more primitive ways of living even after settling in the fertile valley of the river Padus (Po), it is likely that they mingled with the remnants of Etruscan civilization. To the west of the Padus valley were the Ligurii, and to the east were the Veneti. Both groups were semi-Celtic in their cultures, but were regarded by most of their neighbors as distinct peoples.
Greek traders in a Celtic village
As the Romans looked to expand their influence in the region, they found that the Veneti were the most amenable to frienship with the Roman state, as they grew concerned with the power of tribes such as the Boii just beyond their lands. Lucius Caecillius Metellus, one of the Consuls for the year 250 BC was able to establish an alliance with the Veneti, and it was with this pretext that the Romans were able to consistently wage war against the Celtic tribes of Cisalpine Gaul. Though Metellus did lead soldiers in battle himself against the Boii, the conquest of the region was undertaken in a piecemeal fashion, with several Consular armies being sent into the region over a period well over a decade long. Roman interests were usually not entirely focused on the people of Cisalpine Gaul, leading to this half-hearted expansion into the territory. So long as the Legions were consistently winning, most of those in Rome did no feel any particular urgency in defeating the Celts decisively.
That would change, indirectly, when the Republic was able to secure the alliance of the Ligurii, in 234 BC, under the leadership of Consul Titus Manlius Torquatus. Between the consistent victories of the Roman legions and their co-opting of the coastal peoples, the Celtic tribes gathered up a sizable army to push back the Romans, under the leadership of the Boii. This combined army was met by one commanded by the two Consuls of 232 BC, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and Marcus Junius Pera, north of the town of Faesulae. At this battle, the Roman forces were divided, as the Consuls did not expect to meet the Celts in that location. The Celts took the opportunity presented to them and attacked Pera's forces viciously, and were on the verge of utterly crushing that portion of the Roman army when Gracchus' legion was able to relieve them. In their eagerness, the Boii had overextended themselves and were now trapped between the two Roman armies. Though it was entirely accidental, the Romans had achieved a near perfect envelopment of the enemy, and they annihilated the Celtic army.
In the aftermath, the various tribes quickly sued for peace with the Republic, and Rome now nominally held sway over all of Cisalpine Gaul. However, there was still one major challenge to their pacification of the region, and it lay in the form of the Gaesatae, a Celtic people from beyond the Alps who were drawn to the opportunity to subjugate their recently weakened brethren south of the Alps and plunder the land. This tribe was known for their ferocity and their tendency to fight in the nude, as a display of their bravery. When they crossed south in 229 BC, they were met with little resistance among the remnants of the Celts of the region and many of those who still had the will to fight sought to join the invaders, though the majority were said to have wanted nothing to do with the newcomers.
Gaesatae warriors charging into battle
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus was given command to confront the Gaesatae, and his army met them as they were attacking the settlement of Clastidium. Lepidus' army was almost 80,000 strong, while the Celtic force was over 60,000, but almost certainly well less than 70,000. While the Celts were outnumbered, they did have a superior cavalry component which could have decided the battle in their favor. However, as the Celts were divided by their attack on Clastidium, the Romans were able to bring superior numbers against them before the Celts could bring all their numbers to bear. By the time the entire Celtic army was engaged, much of it was exhausted and demoralized, and the Romans secured another victory. In the wake of this victory, and several smaller ones as they crushed the Gaesatae utterly, the Romans were harsh in their treatment to many of the Celtic tribes in Cisalpine Gaul, and not always perfectly in relation to which ones sided with the invaders. Much land was confiscated and many military colonies were established in the region, in order to more effectively pacify it and ensure that, even if future invaders chanced the Alpine passes, they'd find an unfriendly welcome.
While the legions were securing the Roman frontiers to the north, the Republic was also determined to secure their eastern flank, the Adriatic Sea. There, various bands of Illyrian pirates were not respecting the might of Rome, and were continually preying on merchants that looked to the Roman state for protection. This could not be permitted, and Roman envoys were sent across the Adriatic to secure the sealanes from Illyrian warships. The Illyrian kingdoms were not quite as sophisticated or powerful as those of their Greek neighbors, and most such raiding was done by opportunistic individuals with galleys of their own, most popularly the liburnian style.
Liburnian Galley
The most powerful king in Illyria was Agron, king of the Ardiaei, the Illyrian people who border Epirus directly to the north. Agron had expanded into Epirus and taken many of its northern and coastal territories, and the Roman Senate saw him as a useful potential ally, as they were uninterested in dealing with smaller kings that might not be able to deliver on any promises of safety. Rome also made sure that, while negotiating with Agron, they called upon the maritime levies that Carthage owed them - a request that the Carthaginians were all to happy to comply with, as the Punic merchants had little love for the institution of piracy. Backed up with the might of the Roman legions and the Carthaginian navy, the envoys to Agron had little difficulty in securing peace with the king in 242 BC and piracy within the Adriatic was greatly limited. The piracy was still greater than that which the coastal populations of Italy facing the Adriatic would have liked, but the Senate saw little way forward that did not greatly outweigh the effort. Further, the Senate hoped that, at some point, Agron's powerful kingdom would inspire enough fear in his still-piratical neighbors that they would beg Rome for protection and abandon piracy of their own free will, enabling the Republic to check this small but growing power.
The peace with Agron and Roman plans to check his kingdom were undone, however, when, in 231 BC, he was murdered by an ambitious Greco-Illyrian commander named Demetrius, from the island of Pharos (Hvar). Demetrius intended to take over as ruler of the Ardiaei and installed himself as regent for Agron's son, Pinnes and married an Illyrian noblewoman, Triteuta, Agron's first queen. Agron had set Triteuta aside and acquired a new queen, named Teuta. Whether Triteuta was jealous and conspired with Demetrius against the younger queen, or was concerned for the safety of her son, Pinnes, or was simply a victim of the situation is unknown. What is known, however, is that Teuta fled the Ardiaei in fear for her life when Demetrius came into power, certain that she would be disposed of just as her husband had been.
The obvious destination for Teuta was Rome, and there she went, ahead of assassins sent by Demetrius to kill her, and envoys sent by Demetrius to secure Roman support for his coup. The two sides argued their case before the Senate, with Demetrius casting the blame on Teuta for an attempt on Pinnes' life. In Demetrius' version, he stepped in the only way he could see to protect the heir to the throne and had no quarrel with Rome. Agron's death was a tragic accident, but Pinnes, under Demetrius' regency, would of course honor his father's obligations to the Roman Republic. Teuta was far less sophisticated in her rebuttal, and questioned what Roman honor meant if they would ever consider befriending a man who murdered a man who was called a friend of the Roman people. The Senate was divided, but Teuta's story managed to strike a chord with the population of Rome as a whole, with many seeing her as a tragic figure, Illyria's own Lucretia. The popular pressure was enough to tip Senatorial support for her cause, and Rome declared Demetrius' coup illegal and insisted that the interests of Agron's widow, Teuta, be protected. A few rounds of diplomatic exchanges crossed the Adriatic before war formally began in 230 BC.
Teuta, Queen of the Ardiaei
Demetrius seemed to have hoped that the time spent negotiating with the Romans would afford him time to secure allies and strengthen his position, but it also gave the Romans time to once more call up their naval resources from Carthage, so that when the war began, the Romans were quickly in complete control of the sea. Enough of the Italian allies could provide naval support to the Roman invasion that the Carthaginians were not strictly needed, but the Romans wanted their invasion to be a strong show of all the might that the Republic could call upon, in order to ensure that there would be no doubt when the war was won - victory was a forgone conclusion. Indeed, the Romans were quickly able to secure several Greek cities that were under the control of the Ardiaei, most notably Corcyra (Corfu), off the coast of Epirus, one of Agron's conquests.
Demetrius' forces met the Romans outside the city of Epidamnos (Durrës), hoping to prevent the Romans from securing access to the Illyrian mainland through the city's harbor. The Romans were victorious, even as they could not bring the entirety of their army to bear against the Illyrians, as Demetrius attacked while they were still disembarking. However, Demetrius also could not bring all of his forces to bear on the Romans, as combined Italian and Carthaginian naval force attached to the battle had quickly driven off their Illyrian counterparts, and their marines were attacking the city. Demetrius was thus forced to divide his forces while the Romans were able to land relatively unmolested. After securing the city (and renaming it Dyrrachium), the Romans then marched north to the capital of the Ardiaei, Scodra (Shkodër), and laid siege to it. It was not a particularly long siege, and before the city fell, Demetrius fled to Greece, where he faded into obscurity, likely as a mercenary commander.
The Roman Republic was victorious in this short war in 229 BC, and they then divided up the lands of the Ardiaei. The independence of Corcyra was restored, as a Roman ally (bound to provide naval support and patrol the Adriatic for piracy), while the lands of the Ardiaei themselves were divided in two. Pinnes, under a regency led by his mother, Triteuta, was allowed to rule in the northern reaches of their lands, while Teuta was offered the southern territories. However, she had decided that she preferred life in Rome and ultimately married one Titus Livius, a prominent plebeian politician. In her place, an Illyrian commander named Scerdilaidas was placed on the throne, and a relative peace was established. Pressure was continually placed on the rest of the Illyrian coast, and the Romans utilized their strong position on either side of the Adriatic to bring the lesser Illyrian tribes under their influence, which continued over the coming years without much difficulty. Armies were occasionally dispatched, though this was often just as much a matter of demonstrating the might of Rome (and giving magistrates the opportunity for some glory) rather than a proportional response to the danger represented by any of the tribes. By 200 BC, the Adriatic was without a doubt peaceful and free for commerce.
It was quite fortunate that the troubles with pirates in the region were being resolved, as Italy was growing increasingly prosperous, and the number of merchant vessels plying the waves seemed to increase every year. The rapid growth in North Africa was not isolated to that land, and as increasing numbers of merchants between Africa and Italy traded more after the Punic War, much of that prosperity began to emerge in Italy, as well. The new agricultural developments with the use of fodder such as the tagasaste plant found their place in much of Italy, particularly the southern regions, and, though Italy was not quite as suitable an environment for the crop as Africa, it did provide a welcomed boost to the many estates that dotted the countryside, and Italian cities were soon awash in wool, just as the African cities were.
During this time, there was so much wool in the markets that spinners could hardly keep up with the supply. At some point, the oversupply was so much that some ingenious tinkerer was able to come up with a solution. Supposedly, it was Archimedes himself, working on behalf of the king of Syracuse, who was concerned over the decline in revenues coming from the wool industry. However, it was just as likely to be some unknown artisan, who happened to live in Sicily, and since he was a contemporary of Archimedes, the claim went to the more famous man. Whomever the credit is due to, the invention was just what was needed. It was a wheel on which wool could be spun, and could do the work of ten spinners. Now, the demand for wool could easily keep pace with the supply, and it was ultimately cloth, not wool, that became inexpensive. The cities of Italy, Sicily, and North Africa, were soon producing much more cloth than they ever had before.
Spinning Wheel
As the 2nd century BC dawned, the urban civilization of the Western Mediterranean was still far less wealthy than their eastern counterparts under the rule of the Hellenistic successors to Alexander, but they were advancing rapidly. Cities and farms were prospering, and trade was flourishing. The advances made in the west would not remain there, and estates in Greece, Anatolia, and Syria would all see similar growth, and it is no surprise that the spinning wheel, invented in the very Greek Syracuse, would spread to the other Greek cities. The less civilized and settled regions of the Mediterranean and Europe beyond would be slower to adopt the new technology, but they would still benefit, as they could raise flocks for wool just as well as Punic, Berber, Italian, and Greek herdsmen. Many of the Celtic lands beyond the Mediterranean were well suited to pastoral pursuits, and if the Celts did not have the wherewithal to spin wool, they certainly could sell it to their southern neighbors who did.
Afterword
Long delayed, but the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul was boring to write, even when I tried to tweak history a bit to be recognizable but different. The Illyrian War was more fun, since it was a war driven by personalities, and Teuta is marginally famous (even if only due to Crusader Kings 2). Ultimately, I just had to get the wars out of the way so I could focus on my love of economic history and the spinning wheel. Introducing Tagasaste to the Mediterranean crop package was nice and all, but it was just an excuse for me to justify someone inventing the spinning wheel 700 to 1000 years early. This is the game changer, the humble spinning wheel that birthed so much more of modern technology than rarely appreciate (unless we're fans of James Burke). I'm very eager to give the Hellenistic world a crack at what you can do with a bunch of excess cloth lying around. I wonder what the Medievals did with it?
