The Show of the Roman Power in Greece

While reorganizing Macedon and imposing terms on Greek communities, Paullus also marked his victory by a ceremonial demonstration of Roman power. In the year following the battle at Pydna, he put on a grandiose and expensive fes¬tival thanking Rome’s gods for his victory. First, he dispatched ambassadors to invite cities and kings to send delegates to Amphipolis to witness and participate in the event. Elaborate processions, some military in nature, filled the festival, along with musical, dramatic, athletic, and equestrian contests. Banquets and drinking parties were held throughout. Either now or in his later triumph in Rome, Paullus also publicly executed some Greeks who had deserted from the armies of his allies. Finally, he arranged for captured weapons to be burned in a great bonfire as offerings to the Roman gods Mars, Minerva, and Lua Mater (a goddess associated with battle). Throughout the festival, Macedon’s royal trea¬sury and the plunder from some of its cities were prominently displayed, and Paullus gave expensive gifts to both individuals and communities. Altogether, by these means he was matching the kind of thanksgiving ceremony that Hellenistic rulers had customarily used to advertise their military power, their successes, and their great wealth in the relentless search for prestige, allies, and supporters.

Without question, festivals of this sort had a great impact on the fortunes of kings and cities. At them, the leaders of powerful states displayed their great wealth, their large and well equipped armies, and the breadth of their connections, all key indicators of power. Perhaps for this reason, Antiochus IV of Syria chose to stage a festival of his own in the very next year, 166. Just after the victory at Pydna in 168, a Roman embassy led by Gaius Popillius Laenas had forced Antiochus to end his invasion of Egypt under threat of war. Following this rebuff and probably seeking to restore his prestige, Antiochus invited cities and kings to come to Antioch for a festival thanking Apollo for his victories. Antiochus’ mili¬tary processions and displays of wealth rivaled Paullus’, and some even judged the quality of his performances to be higher. Antiochus followed his festival with more military campaigns in regions far from the Romans.
Roman expansion created opportunities in many areas for Italian businessmen or negotiatores (singular, negotiator), individuals who were at once speculators, merchants, and financiers. In the second century, such negotiatores make their appearance in many regions of the Mediterranean, and especially in the east where the potential for profit was so high. The names of negotiatores preserved on inscriptions they left in the cities of Greece and Asia Minorshow that they came from many regions of Italy, but that residents of Campania, where commerce had long been important, were especially numerous.

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