Roman Imperialism and The West

• In 218BC, Provincia ordered that Spain and 'Africa with Sicily' would be assigned to the consuls.
• Spain remained on that list annually.
• It’s likely a new set of values and culture will emerge from the colonized land.
• Gosden argues that some places would have been “colonialism without colonies”.
• Roman involvement in Spain started with the growth of Roman power in the Mediterranean via the wars against Carthage.
• In 218BC, the Romans landed at the Massiliote colony of Emporion, with only links to the now destroyed Saguntum.
• Massiliote trading posts across the east coast.
• Roman farmers who were consistently drafted may not have accepted the burden of constant war.
• There was occasional reluctance from the people to go to war but was brought forth by ideas of self-defence.
• Romans suffered 90 major defeats during the years of the Republic suggesting that not all the people they were fighting were inherently victims.
• Polybius thought that to accept a plea for protection from a weaker state was typical of all great states.
• Rome’s rule was based principally on loyalty and consensus among its subjects, or at least those who were rich and powerful enough to matter.
• The idea of one type of Roman imperialism does not hold up.
• Their methods varied in intensity and frequency over time.
• Roman culture at the time often contained small apologies for colonialism.
• Rome claimed to follow the principles of "just war" (bellum iustum) but there was no body who would critically judge this and ensure it was carried out.
• The slave trade grew rapidly as the Roman empire developed.
• Livy said between 297-293BC over 66,000 were enslaved.
• Roman imperialism was driven by financial and economic motives, as evidenced by the presence of slave dealers who followed Roman armies.
• Romanization was not a unilinear process but rather a multi-faceted one, with elements of continuing cultural traditions of indigenous societies.
• By the end of the conquest of Spain, three provinces (Baetica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis) had been established.
• Rome took no immediate steps towards the colonisation of Sicily, but it is theorised that they increased its security around it.
• Romanization was not a deliberate process but rather a by-product of Roman expansion.
• The definition of a provincia in its late republican territorial sense developed alongside Roman imperialism.
• In Spain, the use of the Roman alphabet and similar administrative arrangements were reported by Artemidorus, a 2nd century BC geographer.
• There is no sign that Sicily was made a Provincia.
• Romanization led to the loss of indigenous customs and speech, with many ending up wearing togas and adhering to Italian ways of life.
• Rome's aggressive expansionism was driven by fear, greed, glory, or a combination of all three.
• Senatorial interests were landed ones and would not have often considered the interests of merchants.
• Some saw Rome's expansion as an aristocratic means of controlling the state by focusing on natural glory.
• Rome was in charge of Sicily from 241 but had not considered it what we would define as a provincia.
• Some say Rome's expansion was driven by greed.
• In Sardinia, things were very different after the first occupation of the island by the Romans.
• Caesar took 1million people as slaves during the conquest of Gaul.
• Modern def of imperialism is the process and attitudes by which an empire is established and maintained.
• High status men were complicit in the process of globalisation.
• Not a single example of a Roman province in the Greek East.
• More probable than the complete destruction of a subservient culture.
• This means that there was a mulitlateral cultural change, and there was a high level of accomodation between colonizer and colonized.
• Roman word for power was imperium.