Titus Quinctius Flamininus

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Titus Quinctius Flamininus (ca. 228-174 B.C.) was a Roman general and diplomat whose victory over Philip V of Macedon at Cynoscephalae freed Greece from Macedonian domination but led to an increasing Roman involvement in Greek affairs.

Flamininus was a member of the Roman patrician nobility. About the age of 20, in 208 B.C., he was elected a military tribune and in 205 was put in charge of the southern Italian city of Tarentum, with the rank and powers of a propraetor. It was in this city, largely Greek in language and culture, that he probably formed the philhellenism which was to be of importance in his life and work.

After holding various minor offices, in (or before) 199 Flamininus became quaestor and in the same year was chosen consul for 198, although he had neither been aedile and praetor nor attained the required age of 30. His election was probably dictated by the combination of philhellenism and diplomatic skills which he had already displayed, for Rome was involved in the Second Macedonian War and needed the support of Greece.

Flamininus proceeded to Greece and after some preliminary victories entered into extensive diplomatic negotiations. His command in Greece as proconsul was extended from 197 to 194. In June 197 at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly, Flamininus defeated Philip V and in the peace treaty forced Philip's withdrawal from Greece proper. After settling various side issues of the war, Flamininus proclaimed the freedom of Greece at the Isthmian Games in 196. Danger from Antiochus III of Syria caused Roman troops to be retained in Greece, and in 195 Flamininus defeated the adventurer Nabis of Sparta. In 194 Flamininus departed from Greece, was honored by the Greeks as their liberator, and celebrated a magnificent triumph in Rome.

The following years were involved in defending Roman interests in, and the autonomy of, Greece, both through military action and diplomacy. In 189 Flamininus was made censor, but after this he played an increasingly less important and active role in politics, perhaps because of disagreement over Roman policy toward Greece, which grew ever more imperialistic. In 183 he led a Roman mission to Prusias, King of Bithynia, to demand the extradition of Hannibal, who had fled to him for protection, but Hannibal committed suicide.

Further Reading

The ancient sources for the life of Flamininus are Polybios, Livy, and Plutarch. A recent study of his career is E. Badian, Titus Quinctius Flamininus: Philhellenism and Realpolitik (1970). See also J. B. Bury and others, eds., Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 8 (1930); F. W. Walbank, Philip V of Macedon (1940); and H. H. Scullard, Roman Politics, 220-150 B.C. (1951).

Flāminīnus, Titus Quinctius (d. 174 BC), Roman statesman and general, consul 198 BC. In 197 he was sent to Macedonia where Rome was engaged in the Second Macedonian War against Philip V of Macedon. Flamininus won a pitched battle against him at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly, and by this victory the Romans found themselves responsible for the settlement of a newly-liberated Greece. When Flamininus announced the liberation of Greece to the crowds gathered at Corinth for the Isthmian games of 196, he was hailed as a saviour. In 194 he left Greece, where, however, peace was short-lived (see MACEDONIA). In his philhellenism Flamininus was comparable with Scipio Africanus.

Coin of Titus Quinctius Flamininus. British Museum.

Flaminius restoring Liberty to Greece at the Isthmian Games.

Titus Quinctius Flamininus (c. 228 BC – 174 BC) was a Roman politician and general instrumental in the Roman conquest of Greece.

Member of the gens Quinctia, and brother to Lucius Quinctius Flamininus, he served as a military tribune in the Second Punic war and in 205 BC he was appointed propraetor in Tarentum. He was a curule aedile in Rome in 203 BC and a quaestor in 199 BC. He became consul in 198 BC, despite being only about thirty years old, younger than the constitutional age required to serve in that position. As Livy records, two tribunes, Marcus Fulvius and Manius Curius publicly opposed his candidacy for consulship, as he was just a quaestor, but the Senate overrode the opposition and he was elected along with Sextus Aelius Paulus.

After his election to the consulship he was chosen to replace Publius Sulpicius Galba who was consul with Gaius Aurelius in 200 BC, according to Livy, as general during the Second Macedonian War. He chased Philip V of Macedon out of most of Greece, except for a few fortresses, defeating him at the Battle of the Aous, but as his term as consul was coming to an end he attempted to establish a peace with the Macedonian king. During the negotiations, Flamininus was made proconsul, giving him the authority to continue the war rather than finishing the negotiations. In 197 BC he defeated Philip at the Battle of Cynoscephalae in Thessaly, the Roman legions making the Macedonian phalanx obsolete in the process. Philip was forced to surrender, give up all the Greek cities he had conquered, and pay Rome 1,000 talents, but his kingdom was left intact to serve as a buffer state between Greece and Illyria. This displeased the Achaean League, Rome's allies in Greece, who wanted Macedon to be dismantled completely.

In 198 BC he occupied Anticyra in Phokis and made it his naval yard and his main provisioning port.^[1] During the period from 197 to 194 BC, from his seat in Elateia, Flamininus directed the political affairs of the Greek states. In 196 BC Flamininus appeared at the Isthmian Games in Corinth and proclaimed the freedom of the Greek states. He was fluent in Greek and was a great admirer of Greek culture, and the Greeks hailed him as their liberator; they minted coins with his portrait, and in some cities he was deified.^[2] According to Livy, this was the act of an unselfish Hellenophile, although it seems more likely that Flamininus understood freedom as liberty for the aristocracy of Greece, who would then become clients of Rome, as opposed to being subjected to Macedonian rule. With his Greek allies, Flamininus plundered Sparta, before returning to Rome in triumph along with thousands of freed slaves, 1200 of which were freed from Achaea, who had been taken captive and sold in Greece during the Second Punic War.^[3]

Meanwhile, Eumenes II of Pergamum appealed to Rome for help against the Seleucid king Antiochus III. Flamininus was sent to negotiate with him in 192 BC, and warned him not to interfere with the Greek states. Antiochus did not believe Flamininus had the authority to speak for the Greeks, and promised to leave Greece alone only if the Romans did the same. These negotiations came to nothing and Rome was soon at war with Antiochus. Flamininus was present at the Battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC, in which Antiochus was defeated.

In 189 BC he was elected censor along with Marcus Claudius Marcellus, defeating among others Cato the Elder.

In 183 BC he was sent to negotiate with Prusias I of Bithynia in an attempt to capture Hannibal, who had been exiled there from Carthage, but Hannibal committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner. Although nothing is known of him after this, Flamininus seems to have died around 174.

Notes

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

1. ^ Polybius XVIII 28, 45.7, XXVII 14, 16.6.
2. ^ Plutarch, Flamininus, 16, gives selected text from a Chalcidian hymn to Zeus, dea Roma and Flamininus: available online at Bill Thayer's website [1] (accessed 13 July 2009)
3. ^ Livius, Titus; A. H. McDonald, Henry Bettenson (1976). Rome and the Mediterranean: Books XXXI-XLV of the History of Rome from its Foundation. Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0140443189. 

External links

• Plutarch's parallel lives - Flamininus - Loeb edn. at Bill Thayer's website (accessed 13 July 2009)
• Livy's History of Rome

v • d • e The Works of Plutarch Works Parallel Lives · Moralia · Pseudo-Plutarch Lives Alcibiades and Coriolanus1 · Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar · Aratus of Sicyon & Artaxerxes and Galba & Otho2 · Aristides and Cato the Elder1 · Crassus and Nicias1 · Demetrius and Antony1 · Demosthenes and Cicero1 · Dion and Brutus1 · Fabius and Pericles1 · Lucullus and Cimon1 · Lysander and Sulla1 · Numa and Lycurgus1 · Pelopidas and Marcellus1 · Philopoemen and Flamininus1 · Phocion and Cato the Younger · Pompey and Agesilaus1 · Poplicola and Solon1 · Pyrrhus and Gaius Marius · Romulus and Theseus1 · Sertorius and Eumenes1 · Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus and Agis & Cleomenes1 · Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus1 · Themistocles and Camillus Translators and Editors John Dryden · Thomas North · Jacques Amyot · Philemon Holland · Arthur Hugh Clough 1 Comparison extant · 2 Four unpaired Lives

Preceded by Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Villius Tappulus

Consul of the Roman Republic with Sextus Aelius Paetus Catus 198 BC

Succeeded by Gaius Cornelius Cethegus and Quintus Minucius Rufus

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