Free The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire by Eric Nelson Page B

. E .) unified Macedonia, created a professional army, and conquered the rest of Greece. He brought the Greeks together for a combined attack on the Persian Empire. (There’s nothing like a good war against a common enemy to bring fractious people together.) Unfortunately, Philip was assassinated on the eve of this expedition.
    Philip’s 20-year-old son, Alexander, took his father’s place. After putting down some of the disorder that erupted in Greece, Alexander went on to conquer Persia, Egypt, and all the territory over to the Hindu Kush mountain range. A ruthless and brilliant general, Alexander never lived to try to make something permanent of his conquest. He died at the age of 33.
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    Â  Great Caesar’s Ghost! Several Romans tried on Alexander the Great’s mantle as a god-like and youthful conqueror. The famous general Gaius Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) was given the name Magnus in emulation of Alexander because of his youth and his great victories in the East. Julius Caesar defeated Pompey for control of Rome. Caesar was in part marketing himself as Alexander by using the trappings of royalty while making sweeping plans for eastern conquests (like Alexander’s) at the time of his assassination.
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    After Alexander’s death, his generals divided up the regions of his empire. The general Ptolemy governed Egypt and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty (this period of Egyptian history is known as Ptolemaic). The general Seleucus eventually controlled the east and founded the Seleucid dynasty that ruled over that area. The general Cassander controlled Macedonia, but descendants of Antigonus finally came to rule it in an Antigonid dynasty. Greece and Macedonia were thereafter in turmoil as Macedonians struggled for power, Greek city-states jockeyed for position, and other Greek areas (such as Aetolia) formed powerful leagues. The Romans eventually put a stop to the commotion.
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    Â  When in Rome Barbarian is originally a Greek word, and probably comes from emulating how non-Greek speakers sounded (“ bar-bar-bar-bar”). To the Greeks, it would, have applied to everyone who did not speak Greek (including the Romans!). Romans used the term to apply to tribal peoples whom they considered less civilized than cultures, such as the Greeks and Etruscans.
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Magna Graecia
    On the other side of the Mediterranean, things were a bit calmer, but only a bit. Southern Italy and Sicily had been colonized by the Greeks since the eighth century B . C . E ., and powerful city-states such as Neapolis (Naples), Tarentum (Tarento), and Syracusa (Syracuse) were well established by the time Rome began to develop into a city and regional power. Like their mainland counterparts, however, the Greek city-states of Magna Graecia never could cooperate effectively and thus were unable to resist Roman expansion. Only Tarentum put up an effective fight, and that was, in part, by calling in help from Epirus.

Gauls and Other Barbarians
    The barbarian tribes that lived in the far north of Italy and beyond the Alps played a major role in Rome’s history and development. As far as Rome expanded, the people along its northern border, whether that was in northern Italy or along the Danube, were both a menace and a source of wealth, conquest, manpower, and vitality. Across the Adriatic, Illyrians and the kingdom of Epirus were also to play a vital role in Rome’s expansion, and during the period of the Empire, in providing both the troops and the emperors who held the Empire together in a period of crisis.
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    Â  When in Rome The term “ Gaul ” is a catchall term for the Celtic and Germanic tribes that fought and migrated their way back and forth over Europe for centuries. In other places, you will find some of these people differentiated as Celts, Germans, or by their specific tribal names.
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Gauling Developments
    For the Romans, Gaul was the lands that lay just before and beyond the Alps to