Why was it important to the Romans to control the Mediterranean?

Answer 1

Rome's expansion around the Mediterranean was not due to a desire to control the Mediterranean. It was due to a series of separate events and processes, rather than a design of conquest.

Rome fought three wars against Carthage. The first one was a dispute over Sicily between these two big powers of the western Mediterranean. The second one was a war of revenge against Rome by the Carthaginian general Hannibal and in the third one Rome wanted to destroy her rival. The result of these wars was Rome's control of the western Mediterranean, but this control was not the cause or reason for them. At that point, Rome was already the superpower in the Mediterranean.

Rome's annexation of Greece occurred because she had made alliances with some Greek states. She was dragged into four wars there because of pleas for help form her allies during disputes with other Greek states. Fed up with this situation of continuous troubles, Rome decided take over.

A king in western Turkey who was a Roman ally bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. This is how Rome reached Turkey. Rome then expanded into the rest of Turkey and into Syria because the king of Pontus, in northeaster Turkey, fought three wars against Rome, which Rome finally won with the result that she took over the mentioned areas.

After the second war with Carthage Rome was already the biggest power in the Mediterranean and she did bot need to worry about control over it. She was sucked into expansion in the eastern Mediterranean by events there.