Achaean War
| Achaean War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Roman Republic | Achaean League | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, Lucius Mummius Achaicus |
Diaeus | ||||||||
The Achaean War was an uprising by the Greek Achaean League, an alliance of Achaean and other Peloponnesian states in ancient Greece, against the Roman Republic around 146 BC, just after the Fourth Macedonian War. Rome defeated the League swiftly, and as a lesson, they destroyed the ancient city of Corinth. The war ended with Greece's independence taken away, and Greece became the Roman provinces of Achaea and Epirus.
The Roman Republic had developed close ties to the Achaean League through similar religious and military beliefs and a cooperation in the previous Macedonian Wars. But despite co-operation in the latter part of the third century and early second century, political problems in Achaea soon came to a head. Two factions began to emerge - one, championed by the Achaean statesmen Philopoemen and Lycortas, which called for Achaea to determine its own foreign policy according to its own law, and one, championed by figures like Aristaenus and Diophanes, who believed in yielding to Rome on all matters of foreign policy.
Achaea was, in addition, undergoing internal pressures beyond the question over the nature of the influence of Rome. The withdrawal of Messene from the Achaean League and further disputes with Sparta over the nature of its position in the League led to growing amounts of micromanagement by the Romans, including the sending in 184 of a Roman, Appius Claudius, to judge the case between Sparta and Achaea.
The taking of thousands of hostages by Rome in order to guarantee the compliance of Achaea during the Third Macedonian War, which involved the deportation of the historian Polybius to Rome, was the source of much diplomatic quarrel between Achaea and Rome, and it is arguable that this contributed in large part to the souring of relations between the two powers. No less than five embassies were sent by Achaea to Rome seeking the return of the hostages and Roman intransigence demonstrates the power difference between the two. This diplomatic standoff was the beginning of the events leading to the Achaean War.
...
Wikipedia