Greece

Cleisthenes promoted democracy. After helping to oust the tyrant Hippias, he brought in laws in 508 BCE restricting the power of the aristocratic Council of the Aeropaus and established a limited democracy based on the small-farmers. This was the first step to wider democracy established by Ephialtes half a century later in 462 BCE, and radicalised by Pericles fifteen years after that to allow the franchise to all male adult citizens.

Cleisthenes' limited democracy was a practical compromise to get his measures through against the influential aristocratic minority and avoid civil war. In fact his reforms went into abeyance during the Persian invasion of 480-479 BCE and afterwards, when the aristocratic party regained influence for organising a successful defence and establishing Athens as a successful power leading the ongoing resistance of the Delian League to Persia. It was the defeat of Persia in 466 at Eurymedon which ended that real threat, and allowed Ephialtes the opportunity to reassert and strengthen people-power (democracy - demos = the people, kratein = to have power). He was murdered for this, and Pericles replaced him in furthering and entrenching the development of democracy.

Rome did not actually invade mainland Greece. It annexed it after 69 years during which she fought six wars. She was drawn into several wars to support her Greek allies in the conflicts between Greek states and, finally, to end the expansionist aims of the kingdom of Macedon, the largest and dominant state in mainland Greece.

Rome's involvement in Greece started because Philip V, the king of Macedon, allied with Hannibal, who was invading Italy, and wanted expand westward to the Adriatic coast (which lies opposite Italy). On that coast he attacked Illyria (which was under Roman control) and western Greece. The Romans fought the First Macedonian War (215-205 B.C.) with the aim of stopping Phillip's expansion close to Italy and preventing him from sending aid to Hannibal. They were supported by allied Greek states: the Aetolian League, the Kingdom of Pergamon and the cities of Sparta, Ellis and Messenia. The war only involved minor battles and was inconclusive. The Romans signed a peace treaty and withdrew from Greece as they had achieved their objectives.

Rome fought the Second Macedonian War (200-197 B.C.) because of Phillip's new wars aimed at conquering the islands and the Anatolian shores of the Aegean Sea. He tried to weaken the island of Rhodes, the great naval power in this Sea, seized Greek territories in western Anatolia (present day Turkey) and attacked the Kingdom of Pergamon, the largest Greek state in Anatolia. Rhodes and Pergamon asked Rome for help and allied with her. Rome sent some ambassadors to try to find a negotiated solution. They made their way to Athens to meet Attalus I, the king of Pergamon and diplomats from Rhodes. They found little desire for war among the Greek states along their route. However, Athens declared war on Macedon and the Macedonians attacked her territories. The Romans issued an ultimatum to Phillip V demanding him to stop attacking any Greek state. Philip ignored this and seized the city of Abydus in Anatolia. Rome declared war. She fought with the help of Greek allies: Rhodes, Pergamon and the Aetolian league. Rome gained the upper hand and this led to some cities of the Achaean League (which was an ally of Macedon) to defect and side with Rome. Since he had only few Greek allies left, Philip had to raise a mercenary army. He was defeated and had to sue for peace on Roman terms. He had to give up his conquests in Anatolia and withdraw from territories in mainland Greece. The Romans left Greece, but left garrisons in three key Greek cities for three years.

The next war Rome fought in Greece was the Roman-Seleucid War (192-188 B.C.) The Seleucid Empire, which was based in Syria, was the most powerful Greek state in Asia. After defeating Ptolemy V, the Greek king of Egypt, in Coele-Syria, Antiochus III, the Seleucid king, conquered all of Ptolemy's territories in Anatolia. He then moved on to Europe and conquered part of Thrace (to the northeast of Greece). The city of Lapsacus asked Rome for help. This lead to three years of negotiations which broke down when Antiochus offered to ally with Rome in exchange for retaining his conquests in Anatolia and Thrace. Rome rejected this and wanted that Antiochus to leave Europe and restore the freedom of the Greeks in Anatolia. Meanwhile, the Aetolian League ended their alliance with Rome, allied with Antiochus and wanted a war against Rome, claiming that Antiochus would liberate Greece from the Romans. In 192 B.C. the Aetolian seized the city of Dementria, but failed to take Sparta and Chalcis. The Romans threatened intervention if Demetria was not freed. This led Antiochus to invade Greece. He expected that Sparta and Macedon would ally with him. Instead, many Greek states allied with Rome: Rhodes, Pergamon, Macedon and the Achaean league. Only the Athamatians joined him. The Seleucids were defeated both in Greece and Anatolia and had to give up most of their possessions in Anatolia. The Romans gave most of these to her main ally in the area, Pergamon.

In 197 B.C. Philip V of Macedon died. His successor, Perseus, had expansionistic aims. He increased the size of his army and made alliances with the kingdom of Epirus (in western Greece), some Illyrian tribes (an area which was under Rome's sphere of influence) and some enemies of Thracian tribes allied to Rome. King Euemenes II of Pergamon accused Perseus of violating the laws of other Greek states. Concerned about their position in Illyria and of their Thracian and Greek allies and the balance of power in Greece, Rome declared war. She fought the Third Macedonian War ((171-168 B.C.) with the support of Pergamon. When the Romans won the war, they took Perseus and members of his court and the aristocracy to Rome as prisoners and enslaved 300,000 Macedonians. Some Macedonian cities and villages were destroyed. Macedon was split into four client republics and their political and economic contacts were restricted.

The Fourth Macedonian War (15O-148 B.C.) triggered by rebellion incited by Andriscus, a pretender to the throne who posed the son of king Perseus and wanted to re-establish the kingdom of Macedon. Andricus was defeated and two years later Macedon was annexed as a Roman province. In the same year (146 B.C.) there was the Achaean war. The Achaean League waged war against Rome and was quickly defeated. The Romans destroyed the main city of the league: Corinth (which lies on the narrow stretch of land which joins the peninsula of the Peloponnese in the south of Greece to the rest of Greece). Rome annexed the Greek territories south of Macedon in central Greece and the Peloponnese Achaea. The also annexed the kingdom of Epirus, in western Greece. Both were incorporated into the Roman province of Macedon.