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Roman Greece

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   This article is part of the series on:

   History of Greece
   Prehistory of Greece
   Cycladic Civilization
   Minoan Civilization
   Mycenaean Civilization
   Greek Dark Ages
   Ancient Greece
   Ancient Greece
   Hellenistic Greece
   Roman Greece
   Medieval Greece
   Byzantine Empire
   Ottoman Greece
   Modern Greece
   Greek War of Independence
   Kingdom of Greece
   Axis Occupation of Greece
   Greek Civil War
   Military Junta
   The Hellenic Republic

   Roman Greece is the period of Greek history following the Roman victory
   over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the
   reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by
   Emperor Constantine I as the capital of the Roman Empire (as Nova Roma,
   later Constantinople) in 330.

   The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and the
   Aegean islands were added to this territory in 133 BC. Athens and other
   Greek cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by the
   Roman general Sulla. The Roman civil wars devastated the land even
   further, until Augustus organized the peninsula as the province of
   Achaea in 27.

   Greece was the key eastern province of the Roman Empire, as the Roman
   culture had long been in fact Greco-Roman. The Greek language served as
   a lingua franca in the East and in Italy, and many Greek intellectuals
   such as Galen would perform most of their work in Rome.

   Several emperors contributed new buildings to Greek cities, especially
   in the Agora of Athens, where the Agrippeia of Marcus Agrippa, the
   Library of Pantaenus, and the Tower of the Winds, among others, were
   built. Life in Greece continued under the Roman Empire much the same as
   it had previously. Roman culture was highly influenced by the Greeks;
   as Horace said, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit. (Translation:
   Captive Greece took captive her savage conqueror.) The epics of Homer
   inspired the Aeneid of Virgil, and authors such as Seneca the younger
   wrote using Greek styles. The Roman nobles who regarded the Greeks as
   backwards and petty, were the main political opponents of Roman heroes
   such as Scipio Africanus, who tended to study philosophy and regard
   Greek culture and science as an example to be followed. Similarly, most
   Roman emperors tended to be philhellenic. The emperor Nero visited
   Greece in 66, and performed at the Olympic Games, despite the rules
   against non-Greek participation. He was, of course, honoured with a
   victory in every contest, and in 67 he proclaimed the freedom of the
   Greeks at the Isthmian Games in Corinth, just as Flamininus had over
   200 years previously. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks;
   before he became emperor he served as eponymous archon of Athens. He
   also built his namesake arch there, and had a Greek lover, Antinous.

   At the same time Greece and much of the rest of the Roman east came
   under the influence of Christianity. The apostle Paul had preached in
   Corinth and Athens, and Greece soon became one of the most highly
   Christianized areas of the empire.

Later Roman Empire

   During the second and third centuries, Greece was divided into
   provinces including Achaea, Macedonia, Epirus, Thrace, and Moesia.
   During the reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century, Moesia was
   organized as a diocese, and was ruled by Galerius. Under Constantine I
   Hellas was part of the prefectures of Macedonia and Thrace. Theodosius
   I divided the prefecture of Macedonia into the provinces of Creta,
   Achaea, Thessalia, Epirus Vetus, Epirus Nova, and Macedonia. The Aegean
   islands formed the province of Insulae in the prefecture of Asiana.

   Greece faced invasions from the Heruli, Goths, and Vandals during the
   reign of Theodosius. Stilicho, who acted as regent for Arcadius,
   evacuated Thessaly when the Visigoths invaded in the late 4th century.
   Arcadius' chamberlain Eutropius allowed Alaric to enter Greece, and he
   looted Athens, Corinth, and the Peloponnese. Stilicho eventually drove
   him out around 397 and Alaric was made magister militum in Illyricum.
   Eventually, Alaric and the Goths migrated to Italy, sacked Rome in 410,
   and built the Visigothic Empire in Iberia and southern France, which
   lasted until 711 with the advent of the Arabs.

   Although Greece remained part of the relatively unified eastern half of
   the empire, the land had still never fully recovered from the Roman
   occupation almost 500 years earlier. It had become poor and
   underpopulated, and the focus of the Greek east had moved to
   Constantinople and Anatolia during Constantine's reign. Athens, Sparta,
   and other cities were ignored, and many of their statues and other art
   were removed and taken to Constantinople. Nevertheless, the area
   remained one of the strongest centres of Christianity in the late Roman
   and early Byzantine periods.

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