Many Roman military commanders expanded the Roman territories
into Europe beyond Italy. Among them there were Scipio Africanus
who took southern Spain from the Carthaginians in 206 BC, Quintus
Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus who annexed Greece in 146 BC, Pompey
the Great who defeated king Mithridates VI of Pontus in Turkey in
63 BC and Julius Caesar who conquered Gaul in the Gallic Wars
(58-50 BC).